Abe Mathews
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Not surprised…
A friend of mine is a Renzetti dealer. He sells not only their vises but the rod lathe. He related a customer service nightmare involving a product materials change on the rod lathe that’s left him with an extremely POed customer who is out a pile of money for a lathe that won’t work more than 30 seconds at a stretch. When I was looking at buying a Traveler from him, he suggested that I take into account that in his experience, Renzetti will not stand behind their products, and will blame their customers for design or construction defects that crop up.
Hence why I’m tying on the Peak now, and was considering everything but the Traveler to replace it.
OK, you’ve got to be nuts to reply to your own thread three times, but a new update from today.
The company I bought the vise from originally, as well as the new jaws, contacted Peak and has worked out a deal where I’ll ship them my vise back (Kurt @ Peak wants to see what’s wrong with it), and Peak will ship me a new vise that’s been tested with both standard and saltwater jaws.
I’m hopeful, but we’ll see how this goes.
Another week, another update.
It looks like I’m done with my Peak.
I’ve now tried 2 sets of the saltwater jaws.
I think PJ what your finding speaks more to other issues. Where newstands and magazine racks *used* to be chock full of Bullit and Hook media… It’s been supplanted by other stuff,I could easily buy 5 diferent muscle mags at every stand. It almost seems like a closet industry.
We ARE a closet industry, I think.
I was talking to a co-worker (who’s probably in his late 40’s) about a recent grouse trip he took to WI.
Let me tell you how this neurotic fisherman would prefer his articles…
First, let me say that I’ve got next to no experience fishing compared to the lot ‘o you. I fished for walleyes with a spinning rod as a kid, then gave up fishing until after a motorcycle wreck 3 years ago. That’s how long I’ve been fishing. But I read, study, and ponder like an absolute freak.
Still, I giggle like a schoolgirl every time I turn out a pheasant tail nymph that doesn’t look like it’s been run over by a truck. I’m completely amazed when I can cast an indicator rig more than 30 feet without creating a day-ending tangle in my leader. And yes, I have still never caught a fish on a wooly bugger.
But at the core of it, I’m still an engineer. I’m a tech guy, always will be. What do I want to read? I want tying articles. I want “rod shootouts” – but give me the equations (even if they’re simplified) on how rods flex. Interview a materials guy on what the hell modulus means. Sink different shaped rocks in hydraulic test chambers and show me how rivers flow around them with food coloring. Gimme the tech stuff.
That said, some of my all-time favorites (and Midcurrent does them pretty well) are the “what’s in X’s flybox?” articles. I love hearing why folks carry and fish certain patterns – even if I don’t fish that type of water. I guess that’s why Gierach’s “Good Flies” is one of my favorites.
So maybe I’m one of the bottom-of-the-barrel newbies that mags are looking for, I dunno. I do know that unless I’m getting on an airplane, I’m not very likely to buy many of the magazines (although I have enjoyed Fly Tying Journal and Fish and Fly).
But fly fishermen are not alone. As a guitar player, I’ve read guitar magazines for the past 20 years now. I’ve seen similar changes, recycled articles, and folding of otherwise great magazines (I still pine for Guitar Shop, now gone almost 15 years). Every niche market magazine industry faces similar challenges.
I think the hard part now is going to be getting folks to pony up real $$ for content they’ve become accustomed to for free through blogs, message boards, and podcasts. No offense Zach, but if the Itinerant Angler podcast was pay-per-listen, I may not have ever tried it. Blame the “information demands to be FREE” internet.
The other thing for me about Orvis reels, and this may be primarily a perception, is that the Orvis reel line is a bit more stable than Sage.
Lee Church mentioned the Blue/White above. I was reminded of that last week.
I showed a co-worker (the guy who built my 8wt incidentally) one of the Crease Flies I tied last weekend. He’s now placed an order – never had anyone offer to pay for a fly I tied before.
He wants me to tie up some Crease Flies in a color scheme as close to what he calls “Sexy Shad” as possible. So I searched for it, and low and behold:
It’s a white and blue pattern with a splash of yellow. This is supposedly the hot lure on the pro bass circuit now. I wonder if a sprig of yellow Krystal Flash in a blue/white clouser would be a similar LMB slayer?
Be aware that I’ve never fished caddis pupa, I’ve only tied up a mess of them for my brother who fished them for steelhead in MI.
If you’re looking for defined legs, have you considered something like one or two turns of starling feather (dark iridescent black) for legs?
Don’t know why, but the first name that came to mind was “Hazel”.
SWMBO threw out “Tippet”, to keep it fishing-related.
