Equipment
By Neil M. Travis, Montana/Arizona
The most asked questions that I see in the Bulletin Board section
of FAOL center around equipment; has anyone used this rod, reel,
leader, etc. Mostly it seems the questioners want to know if the
product is worth the expenditure of their limited funds or if they
would just be better off sticking with their old Pflueger reel or that
old Shakespeare fiberglass rod for just one more season. All of
these questions reminds me of the years when JC and I put on
fly-fishing clinics back in the Midwest.
Just before the opening of the trout season in Michigan we
would put on a series of clinics around the area. We would
get a local school to allow us to utilize their gym on a Saturday,
and we would invite all the local trout anglers to bring their
fly-fishing equipment and we would show them how to use it.
We had demonstrations on knot tying, fly tying, and then we
would put on a casting clinic. JC and I would demonstrate
proper casting techniques, and then we would work with
individual anglers using their equipment. During those clinics
we saw some truly abominable pieces of equipment; rods that
were more suitable for poking bats out of a chimney than casting
a fly line, fly lines that had more cracks than an ice cube dropped
in boiling water, and reels that were heavy enough to anchor a
small tug boat in a substantial gale.
However, much of the equipment was very serviceable even if it
wasn't top of the line, but the owners usually expressed the
opinion that 'if they just had better equipment they would be
better anglers.' When JC or I would take their equipment and
execute a series of reasonably perfect casts they would usually
shake their heads in amazement. Wow, it's not the equipment
but the user!
Recently I took up a new sport, sort of an age appropriate
sport called shuffleboard. I call it geezer sport. I am now a
card carrying member of the Arizona Shuffleboard Association,
District #2, and I play in a league. I think that official makes
me not just a geezer but an old geezer. [Geezer — an eccentric
or irritable senior citizen, especially a man]
The equipment used for playing geezer sport [shuffleboard]
consists of an adjustable stick with a U-shaped end that is used
for pushing the puck down the court. Now it would seem that
little could be done to an adjustable stick with a U-shaped end,
but you would be wrong. While the stick is basically beyond
much manipulation the U-shaped end has evolved from a simple
U-shaped piece of metal to a device with rollers on the tips,
Teflon coated slides, and various other 'improvements' to
supposedly give the player greater control over the puck.
Recently I watched an older lady, who was old enough to be
my grandmother, use a simple adjustable stick with a plain
U-shaped tip, whip the pants off some dandies with their fancy
sticks equipped with rollers and Teflon-coated slides. Her
technique was flawless, her touch exquisite, and her humility
unsurpassed. Wow, it's not the equipment but the user!
Given the reality that it's not the equipment but the user, what
then is the answer to the question, "What equipment should I
buy?" When JC and I were confronted by that question years
ago our stock answer was 'Buy the best equipment that you
can afford." Since the most common excuse for an angler's
inability to cast properly is their equipment if you have the best
equipment and still cannot cast you have just eliminated the most
common excuse for failure. Wow, it's not the equipment, it's the
user!
Now this is not to suggest that an angler should simply strap
a cheap reel to a broom stick with guides and be content.
However, if you have almost any modern fly rod from a
major manufacturer that is matched with the correct weight
fly line and a reasonable amount of coordination any lack of
casting and presentation skills are not the fault of the equipment.
So when you hook your hat on your forward cast, tie your
leader in a knot, or drop your fly three feet from where you
intended it to land place the blame where it belongs. It's not
the equipment, it's the user. ~ The Chronicler
From A Journal Archives
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