Jack Cummings
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The beauty of owning a Folstaff is that the factory and the owner are an email away.
Did you try contacting the them directly?
http://www.flytyerscarryall.com/On thinking about it, it seems there should be a glut of holsters around as the staff itself should be lost more frequently than the holster.
I’m in another Jeep Grand Cherokee. I can’t tell you how much trouble those beasts kept me out of in driving conditions that would float other AWD or 4WD vehicles. Narry a problem on either of them but then I have scheduled maintenance done on them… for the most part anyhow.
Don’t giggle but my next fishing machine could be a Ford Flex. Vans and minivans are the most practicle fishing vehicles but they’ve fallin out of favor. I loved having my ’70’s Dodge full sized van loaded back then with everything I needed for a quick, long weekend get away. I could carry bikes and fishing and camping gear all inside and still sleep in it. I sometimes hauled sailboards or my catamaran on top too with no problem.
The most practicle equivalent I found today is that Flex. It has the room to bunk in and will easily hold assempled 9′ rods inside where they belong. To get AWD and all the bells and whistles I would like on one ain’t cheap so I’ll probably just wait around until some lease turn-ins show up with low mileage and some warranty left.
Prettiest boat around the area’s Randy fishes for sure.
I hate hhat he has to let it go.
If you’re considering this boat, understand that Randy shoots straight from the hip and will be 100% square with you.Try it sometimes. Go outside and make some perfect casts with no fly on the line. Your leader will often crack as the line lays out before you.
Joe H, I could prove you wrong on this. In fact, I’ll probably be heading back home to Michigan sometime during the summer. Maybe we can get together then and do a little casting.
What say ye?Since you’ve already trashed the leader and don’t have yarn tied on you can actually used that audible ‘crack’ to help with your timing of the back cast, Assuming that as a beginner you don’t have the line speed to feel the back cast load, use the cracking sound to your advantage to help you with your timing of the pause. Too slow with the timing and your line will drop and you will have little power for the forward cast (the sound of leaves being snagged behind you may be a clue too)
Too quick with the timing andyou will again have no power for the forward stroke (or you will over-compensate and tail) or you will get that lovely crack sound.
Just to add to what Zach said about tailing loops, they can be cause many times by a poor application of power. Try slowly accelerating through the stroke with a swift acceleration to a crisp stop at the very end of the stroke. The smooth power will help prevent the rod tip from dipping and causing a tail. The more you can get the power snap to the end of the stroke the tighter the loop… assuming you hve good tracking and a nice straight line path of the rod tip.Enjoy the journey and build on a good, solid, basic foundation.
If the question is still ‘which is the best vise’, I would have to give that to the Petitjohn Master. Looking at it on his website isn’t all that impressive. In real life it’s a whole ‘nuther story. Exquisite workmanship, top shelf materials and superb engineering puts this vise in a class by itself…. price-wise too.
Back to reality, my Renz Presenation cam is going to be hard to get rid of. I just can’t see a reason why I should, it works that well.These days, can you be a REAL fly fisher without a Simms label showing? It seems as though that brand has taken over the classic Orvis stereotype.
The only way I’ll buy Simms overpriced imported clothes is when it is on sale… deep sale. I can get the same quality in clothes from other manufacturers at far better prices.
As for waders, I too have owned Simms waders for a number of years and find them seviceable indeed. Not magical but serviceable. I wish Cloudveil was still in the wader business because I would buy them hands-down over Simms if my Cloudveils ever break. The fit and finish of the Cloudveils beat the heck out of Simms of the time. I didn’t need a shoe horn to get my feet over the gravel guards any longer and I didn’t need a buddy to help get my legs out of them like I did the Simms. The lining in Cloudveils was a great deal more user-friendly than the grabby stuff Simms uses. Just stating the facts here as a user of both.
Having plenty of experience with Patagonia gear over the years and through many outdoor sports such as CC skiing and sailing, I know going in what to expect from Patagonia, highly funtional clothing that takes off where the original, non Speigel Eddie Bauer left off. Complete with bullet proof warranty.
I used Patagonia foul weather gear for racing and won’t blink an eye ordering Patagonia waders when a next pair of waders is in order.Passion or fashion doesn’t play much into my fishing attire. Functionality, value and fit does.
I liked flouro when it was at a minor premium in price. It’s benefits hit home on a Pennsylvania river when I was tearing ’em up and my buddy couldn’t buy a fish. I rigged him up identically and he still couldn’t hook a fish. Using his rod I couldn’t tag a fish. It was something to see and quite an issue. Bad rod mojo was all we could think.
On the drive home we realized he was using mono, I was using flouro. Case closed for me. We were nymphing and because of that experience any time I fish deep its with flouro.
To be honest, I’m not afraid to use it on dries either when the dries have a high degree of bouyancy and the water is clear and slow. Despite what many say, flouro does not sink like a rock but will, in light diameters anyhow, hover just under the surface until the next drift. This indeed eliminates the tell-tale ‘foot print’ of floating mono.
To each their own. I use both but flouro more than mono.Make the rods visually indistinguishable, the way a blind taste test would be done with wine or whatever, and then I’d pay more attention.
Back before plastic bikes became all the rage a magazine had a famous frame builder build up bikes using steel tube sets from different major manufacturers of the time (Reyolds, Columbus et al) The frames were then built up identically. The only difference other than tube material was a little number placed on the top tube which the evaluators used to write their finding on. This was truly an unbiased test and proved that those who ‘knew’ one frame material was superior to another were being partial to a brand other than cold, hard reality.
I’ve longed to see a truly inpartial test like this for fly rods for a long, long time. I think the major stumbling block is that magazines do not want to upset their major advertisers and dealers do not want to lose a product line or take risks with their profit margins.Zach, a story along these lines would endear you to everyone but a few manufacturers. C’mon man, get right on it. I see a Pulitzer in your future if any magazine had the guts to run an article like this. You get the hardware, we’ll do the blind build and testing at the FFF Concl… err… Festival later this year.
Though they’re finally trying to be equitable with line choice, if a 4 weight rod needs a 4-1/2 weight line to work right is it really a 4 weight rod?
I can’t understand why they just don’t used the line that the rod is rated to need. On not one of the rods tested were they labeled 4.5 weights.I don’t have much time with the BIIIx but the time I did have with it made me think I’m okay with the ‘old fashioned’ BIIx.
Now the Sage One… this is the first Sage that ever blew me away with its range and accuracy.
Still, I’ll just have to slum it with my old rods. The new prices have priced me out of the high end market. The big rod companies have to be reaching a point of diminishing returns.
It might be time they get creative with their marketing. If they offered the same rod at different price points depending on warranty they might win back the love of people like me.
I don’t need a no-fault, no-questions-asked warranty and don’t like paying for them. Just a warranty against materials and workmanship. These items are completely out of my control.
… and price the rod accordingly.If you’re not familiar with the Scott 6’10” 3 weight ‘G’ you should be. It’s a legendary small stream rod. They aren’t made any more and for what reason is beyond me. For a while you could still get them through special arrangement between Scott through Harry Murray in VA but the last I looked he didn’t have them any longer. This truly is the the bomb for tight spaces. It has just enough starch to stretch a cast if needed but adds a lot to catching and fighting those small brookies.
I won’t be doing any small stream rock hopping in the future and so will sell it. It is an original from Scott and not a Murray special. It’s sell that or a Winston 8′ 3 weight BIIt. I for sure won’t need both.You might consider renaming the title, One Way to Clean Your Fly-line.
You’re working way too hard at it man.
Strip the line out while walking around the house then it’s all layed out there nice and neat and ready for treatment. Walk the length of the line a time or two with a soapy wash cloth (I was told to avoid detegents by both Bruce Richards and Simon Gawesworth) then rinse the lineEnjoying a second Highland Cold Mountain Winter Ale at this very moment.
Aaron, if those brews are gone from the stores already, hows about holding onto one for old pop’s?
If another Hardy decides to leave the house, you’ll get first dibs!Being an ex-Michigander and still a Michigander at heart, the Judge holds a close place in my heart. I read his books as a kid and, like most who have read his work, wish for a time to share a few hours at Frenchman’s Pond with the old gem.
His work predates Geirach by decades. One can see a lot of Traver in Gierachs work. The big difference is what was in the ever-present tin cups!I took a couple Project Healing Waters veterans to a patch of private water here in NC. The fishing was tough. One of the gents had a few of Hess’s Squirmy Wormy’s and when he tried it he found just the ticket to wake up those sluggish fish.
I bought a few packs of the material from Dave at the Asheville fly fishing show and have been playing with the stuff a bit. The glow-in-the-dark white really woke the fish up at a club outing for a member I was mentoring.
It seems like cheating but still… the damn things catch fish!Here’s a lot of info:
http://www.castersonlineflyshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8_115_196&products_id=1191I think Winston has done a great job with using boron and lead innovation in the past ten years. The BIiX led to the Z Axis and now the BIIIX that I think feels so much better than the Sage One.
Not sure Winston gets enough credit for creating a rod with feel and power with their boron rods.
I agree 100%. With the advent of the Winston BIIx many rod makers besides Sagé went with pitching their new series promoting the stuff the BIIx brought to the dance. To see the switch from mere power to feel and range for those others had to be flattering to Winston.
The BIIx was the first rod made that would make me sell-off all of my classic, pre-Shimano Loomis GLX’s. My 6I hope you’re not offended with a few counterpoints to your points.
(1) – As you mentioned, you are comparing a travel vice to a workhorse. A fairer comparison would be the Traveler to the Dyna King Trekker or a Renz Presentation with cam jaws to the Barracuda.
As for the base, i have no trouble spinning hair with the Renz while using GSP for that matter. If you crank on the thread while pulling down you might not have had a problem either.(2) Get the cam jaw, problem solved. If no cam then just remember the small screw if for adjusting hook size and the large knob is for cranking down on the hook. Quite simple really but still not as easy as cam jaws.
(3) Something must have been out of adjustment on the Renz. On the Presentation you can make it rotate in either direction or use the factory setting that takes advantage of a one-way clutch. I use the rotation feature constantly and after 20-something years of using it have yet to have the rotation lever assembly back out on me. I never crank the center pedestal knob down enough to prevent the head from rotating, I just snub it down enough that it doesn’t rotate too freely.
(4) Some might call that washed out look a patina. On the Presentation vise it truly is. The shaft and such don’t get it as their made from the same material as the Barracuda but the brass will take on a slight dullness over time except where it is handled frequently such as the rotation lever. The knurled knobs do take on a weathered look but only where you rest your hand when tying. As for glue sticking, again not a problem on the Presentation that I can detect.
All-in-all and to be quite frank you were not comparing the same quality or price-point vises. I had to stand up for a very good vise from a very good and inventive company. Again, the Trekker vs. Traveler would have been a much fairer comparison.
Timely topic! I was hoping you would do a repeat of this method, Zach.
Not for my Renagade… that went to a friend but for my Scadden Sky. It has a very slow leak that just bugs the heck out of me.
Speaking of the Renegade, I hope JW Outfitters can regroup like Jack Charlton did from the 3M debacle and start making gear again. That Renegade and the fly tying carry-all I have from them is good stuff. I can’t help but to wonder how advanced their ‘toons would be now if they were just left alone.
