THE CODE
“House for Sale; - Cute bungalow on a quiet cul-de-sac in a good neighborhood.” You know what it says, and if you have been around the block at least once you know what it means. ‘Cute’ should be translated small, or more precisely, very small. ‘Quiet cul-de-sac’ means that the neighbors only throw wild parties every other week, and a ‘good neighborhood’ simply means that it is unlikely that your neighbors will shoot you but make certain that you lock your car!
In the legal profession these are called ‘weasel words.’ They are not exactly lies, but they don’t completely reveal the entire truth. ‘Cute, quiet, and good’ are all words that are subject to personal definition. It’s like beauty; it’s all in the eye of the beholder. We have a tendency to believe the best about others, especially if they have the ‘appearance of respectability or expertise,’ and that is the trait that is exploited by those that would use weasel words to separate us from our money.
Earlier in the season I was website hopping around the Internet when I chanced upon a fishing report for a local fishery. The report was posted by an outfitting and guide service that services the area where this fishery is located. The report stated that ‘the river is high but fishable;’ not exactly untrue but certainly misleading. From personal observation I knew that this particular river, like all of the other rivers in the area, was running bank full of spring run-off, it was quite cold, and visibility was less than a foot along the banks. None of the locals were fishing it, and no one that I know would have considered it to be ‘fishable.’ Oh yes, you could spend a day casting all manner of flies or lures into its turbulent muddy waters, but the chance of you catching anything but a cold could be measured in negative numbers, likely slim and none.
Now I am not going to be so bold to suggest that whoever posted that fishing report intended to intentional mislead the reader, but it’s important to learn to ‘read between the lines’ and to take some statements with a grain of salt. I believe it was President Regan that said, “Trust but verify.”
The world of fly-fishing is filled with descriptions that are subject to the need for verification. Recently I was talking to an old friend that has fished one of our local fisheries for several decades. He was relating to me how much the fishery has declined over the years, and he was amused when he overheard two visiting anglers discussing their day on that particular stream. It seems that they had spent the day fishing and had each caught a couple trout. They were obviously enthusiastic, and were raving about what a great day they had. My friend related that if he went out and fished all day and only caught two trout he would hardly consider it a noteworthy day. Now if you were to encounter these two anglers and they told you that the fishing was great they would hardly be lying. From their perspective it would be true.
In the world of fly fishing paraphernalia the key to selling the newest model is the use of descriptive words that will elicit a positive response on the part of the buyer. Key words are lighter, faster, stiffer, softer, and such words as revolutionary, innovative and state of the art. When confronted with these words my mind, which works in mysterious ways, reverts back to my years as a judge. My first question would be its lighter than what? How much faster is it and what is it being compared with? How stiff is it and compared to what? What makes it revolutionary?
In most cases a modern graphite fly rod is lighter than a comparable rod made of bamboo, however, we are talking about ounces and not pounds! How important is the difference between a rod that tips the scale at 2½ ounces and one that weights 3 ounces? How many anglers could honestly tell the difference?
The key to “The Code” is to understand that words like lighter, faster, stiffer, softer, more responsive, and similar phrases are the marketing departments’ way to get you to believe that the equipment that you currently own is somehow heavier, slower, wimpier, less responsive, etc., than the model that they are offering. This is a subliminal suggestion that your current model, even if it is their last years’ model, is somehow not quite as good as their current offering. Sellers from automobiles manufacturers to snake oil salesmen have been using these methods for years to separate hard earned cash from the hands of reluctant customers.
I have always found it a bit interesting that the current model is always so much better than anything else on the market, including the advertisers last year model which, coincidently, was the very best just one short year ago. Modern technology is wonderful, but I sincerely doubt that we can make truly revolutionary changes in such basic items as fly fishing equipment with the passage of just one year.
Now I’m not suggesting that this is a bad thing. Manufacturers need to sell their product and they need to induce buyers to reach for their wallets. They do this by creating a need, either real or imagined, in the mind of the buyer. As a buyer you just need to understand “The Code” before you reach for that credit card.