Don’t Know What You’ve Got Til It’s Gone
- This topic has 19 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated Sep 7, 2007 at 9:56 pm by
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When I saw the title and the author I thought this was going to be about hair????? ;D ;D
But I knopw what you mean, I had an old Diawa Lochmore click drag which when everywhere from Tasmania to Montana, Alaska twice, all over and I finally wore the teeth off the cog on the spool.There is some serious line burns in the frame from big sockeyes, etc.
I would have replaced the spool but its too good to throw away and too cheap to repair.
Hence it sits over my desk, full of memories.
Vale Pro-GraphiteSteve
An old gentlemen that I have known almost my entire life made me my first “nice” fly rod. It was a two piece 5wt rod. I am not sure of the blank brand, but it was a sweet rod. The neat thing about this story is this is a guy who was a city judge and later on the mayor of the little town of Deer Lodge MT. When I was in High School he took my drivers license away TWICE!! And still our friendship continued to grow over the years. He is actually the person who really introduced me to fly fishing and so when he gave me this rod it really meant a lot to me. And then it happened…I stepped on the upper section of the rod right before a backpack trip. I panicked and my heart raced! I thought for sure that I broke the rod, but to my surprise the rod appeared to be fine. Fine that is until I caught my first fish on that backpack trip. One hook up and the rod snapped in half. That was maybe 10 years ago and I have still not musturded up the courage to ask my old friend if the rod came with a warranty. :-/
Zach you can’t put a price on sentimental. And to that I lift my glass of Trout Slayer to you and that old St. Croix and hope that someday you can find your peace.
Joel
Lifting a Pacifico in San Diego for that St. Croix Zach. I lost my original fly rod (Sears fiberglass) in a car door via an old girlfriend. Got rid of her right when we got back from that trip.
Man, that sucks… >:(
I think everything you take for granted are the ones one should take care of. Just because it makes life so nice & easy that you forget about it. But I won’t get philosophical on my third day as an entrepreneur 😉
I guard my rods (and there are old and treasured ones) with my life. Nobody is allowed to move the tubes but me! ;D
take care!
Jay
Hey Joel, speaking of memories you conjured another one. Not the rod, though I know how you would feel.
But Trout Slayer _ hard to find here in the South _ but those words bring back some fine memories of the Cellar in Ketchum, still wet from the Big Wood (?) serious caddis hatch and then this fine product and good company.
There is some less clear ones of the Casino later that night, shots being drunk from jewellery adorned belly buttons and one hell of a hangover.
Fine memories.Cheers
SteveAw man…the pain I feel as I read each of these stories.
I broke the first rod I ever built myself….3 times!
Okay, so you’re going to think that I’m slamming all of these rod memories stories, but please recognize that’s not my intent.
This is kind of odd.
I’m sitting here with a Killian’s (What Beer Drinkers Drink When They Aren’t Drinking Beer) and thinking about maybe going fishing tomorrow.
Nice story, Gary.
I mean… very touching story that remind me some these unforgetable moments ;)…
Thanks for sharing.I had a story want to share… sort of related to FF couple months ago. It’s a car accident and thanks god I am still alive and can chat with you guys… copied from my note…
This is a sad story, but if you had a bad day, probably my story will make you feel better. It is a good lesson to me, and I would like to share with FF friends.
Me and my fishing buddie Denny planned a trip to fish some mountain creek in Northern Georgia- it’s close to blue ridge mountain (part of the Appalachian mountain ridge). He scheduled a day off from work and I was in the spring break from school. Our plan was drive up to Atlanta city to get some great Japanese food, keep heading north after dinner, stay in a motel and fish next day. The place we were heading is a very mountainous area governing by Nature Conservation Unit, GA. They open to public every Weds, Sat. and Sunday. It’s a public water, artificial, C&F only. This place is great for trout fishing (easy access, gem clear water) and the scenery are beautiful. They manage it as a wild trophy trout area. In order to achieve higher fishing quality, you need to make a reservation before you go, 15 people a day, and 3 days of a week. The trout are huge (bows and browns), no kidding, 20-24” are normal, 5-6” are common, 16-18” are rare. Mountainous gem clear water and lot’s of wary trout (I made this reservation 2 months ago). The fish is truly wild type and beautiful.
We started the trip on the Tuesday afternoon, loaded up totally 7 rods and 5 reel and tons of flies… I don’t know what were we thinking…maybe just too excited about this water… On the I 85 high way toward the Atlanta, hit the rush hour, the traffic was in a good size, 4 lane one direction, we were talk about fishing all the way, had a great time. Just right before entering the city, I realize a white car approach me and getting too close, actually she was hiding on my right side (dead spot), after I realized her approach, I still keep straight forward try not to change any direction… 2 seconds later, I heard BANG, my car started to shake, at 70 MPH. I lost my control, veer toward right lane and hit another red bull car, both of us start to spin, I thought we were going roll… because my car kept sliding 45 degree from the road. Another BANG, I hit the sidewall and the car gradually stop on the roadside. Me and my friend had seatbelts on. I am totally fine (no thing really hurt), but Denny absorb some of the power on his right shoulder. He bent over for few minutes. He was OK… just like get smashed by somebody, he told me with funny facial appearance. It was a big mess…my car was totaled, but the good thing is no body really get injured. Police officer came, two witnesses stopby and help us out. They told me the situation could be worse. Because he was driving a tank truck behind me, at that moment he though he will run all over this.
A tow truck give us a ride to a junk yard, somehow we thought there are nothing we can do at this moment. We decided keep going, as we planned. I called a yellowcab, ride to the Atlanta airport just nearby. We rent a car, loaded up all our gear and head to our reserved motel. The other day was a bright sunny spring day. Gorgeous! I pretty much pretending not thing happened last night. Geared up and checked in with an officer in the conservation area. Denny took aspirin in that morning and he want hit the fly shop first to get his fishing license. I started with two flies rig. Split shot-6”- Egg pattern-8”- crayfish pattern- The creek is gem clear and fish are tremendous wary… pretty much I am crawling with my arms and knees, hiding behind bushes and try to make a ghost cast. Few casts later I got some 5-6” fingerling on, but the barbless hook were quick released from these fish. I was using high sticking with a mixtured pulling downstream tech (Czech nymphing). (Indicators were more likely to put them down in this creek.)
Move to another pool, the water looks just right, I cast to the head of the pool, leading my flies down stream, a short pause I set the hook. A nice bow was on. He took the egg pattern. It was a pretty good looking buck, have few jumps, zigzagging, gave me a really good fight in this tiny creek. Denny had some little 5 inchers hook up, took yellowstone nymphs (#14). It looks like I had a better luck with these eggs. Actually I just read an article that was interviewing a trout professor Dr. Robert Behnke in Colorado state university. He used “high energy gain/per unit” perspective to explain why trout can not resist the egg attraction. I am surely happy to prove that! We then, moved up to a dead log pool. The water was two feet deep, (this time was Denny’s turn) few roll casts later, he got no response but hooked up the log. While he was trying to rescue his flies (egg), I saw a huge 20-23” monster dart out and dart in on that hole. Well, it was too late to know…
We moved up stream to and keep fishing these tub size holes. I got some 5-6” but they were too lively to keep them on a barbless hook. Around noon, we had been fishing for 3 hours, I saw a pretty good run, I sneaked up and position myself just on the tail of the run and a sideway pool. First cast, let the flies drift about two feet, I set the hook by instinct, saw a white flash in the pool, few head shakes later, this thing just bounced around from rock to rock, it is a great looking buck. I have to say these fish really familiar with the streambed topography. After landing this trout, I am kind of released from all the built up pressure. We decided to get back our real world, head home and deal with this messy car accident. Later, back to my house, Denny said “this could be a better trip”. Well, I guess this is the true life. No body lives in the perfect world. So, I guess I will take it and deal with it.Been there – I was trying to teach my son how to cast with my glass eagle claw that I had learned on (and had gotten from my grandfather) – I watched in horror as he got it hung up in the fence and broke the tip off – and that’s been years – I still miss catching bream with that little rod –
Mark
Sorry Zach, I am sure that rod meant alot to you sentimentally but this is weird but I really don’t feel your pain :-[
I have been FF for quite awhile but is never really attached to my FF equipment…rod or reel.
I think unconditional lifetime warranty has turned me into an uncaring person :-[..break a rod, sent it back and get another one that looked like the first one that you caught a memorable fish but then it is not the same rod :-[ 🙂 🙂
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