Okay, my mind is going a hundred miles an hour today (must be the meds kicking in)
Anyway, How many out there have to have the new toys out there. Buy some new gaget (rod, reel, chest packs, vest, etc)and it is cool but, then it ends up hanging or piled or even lost somewhere.
I know I have several rods and I keep adding to it. The sad thing is, I get a new rod I really like and the others get stuck in a corner. I realized I haven’t used my Far and Fine all year, and I am thinking I really want to get the new 7’9" 5wt four piece.
Is there a point when it get excessive?
Could be spending that money on a lot worse things. 
Spoiled, nah…Greedy, no way. 
This sport is addicting but in a very good way. I also have the problem of a growing rod collection. I love it!
I have several rods that I truly love that I have not fished for years! I have had to force myself to only buy tying materials and tippet and maybe a couple of new lines a year. I ask myself now before every purchase “will this help me catch more fish?” If I can not honestly answer yes then I do not buy it.
Fly Goddess:
It’s the old, “if I knew then, what I know now”, adage; and, most of us do but, do nothing about it.
We listen to the industry and the beat goes on. You can’t safely land a 3# LMB unless you’re using an 8wt. You can’t catch this without that…the same garbage I succumbed to years ago when I was spinning and casting (before I got religion and fly fish only).
This new material makes our rod…blah, blah, blah…and we shell-out $700 for a rod that will catch the same fish as our SA kit rod and reel.
IT’S MARKETING, FOLKS!!!
And, if any of you are thinking about a rebuttal, including our leaders, better read Neil Travis’ article again! He’s still catching tons of fish on 40 year old rods…
My main go to rod is a 55 year old bamboo rod. I find I like the old reels better than the new ones (windup reels are an exception) It is the same with most hobbies. I am a ham radio operator and you should see the sales hype on new equipment! At up to ten grand for a tranceiver you can work the world! I work the world on pre world war two equipment. Works for me.
I fished with a bunch of guys this past weekend. No one used more than two rods, and yet there were piles of rod tubes everywhere.
We spent evenings talking about rods, cane and glass mostly. Once in awhile someone would string one up and go down to the dock and cast it.
“Yup, that’s a nice rod, casts like a cannon”
For the record, I caught every one of my fish on the closeout W**mart rod I bought last spring for $13. 8)
Don’t worry, just think of it as doing your part to keep the economy moving! 8)
Fly Goddess
I have several rods that I love including my first bamboo that arrived today from John Channer! I don’t fish all of them as often as I’d like to but that’s o.k.
Lately I have started thinking I’d like to start spending my money on fishing trips instead of rods, since I’m to the point that I have rods for all my fishing needs and any more would be just because I want them…
VEE
I haven’t found that to be true…
Cool web site October Woods.
I haven’t found that to be true…
[/quote:3d822]
[b]Hey October Woods,
An absolutely beautiful collection.
Looks like there’s enough laying there on the table to put a kid through his first year of Med. School! LOL!!!
Man I love spending the kids inheritance, ain’t it sweet!
Terry[/b]
I haven’t found that to be true…
[/quote]
[b]Hey October Woods,
An absolutely beautiful collection.
Looks like there’s enough laying there on the table to put a kid through his first year of Med. School! LOL!!!
Man I love spending the kids inheritance, ain’t it sweet!
Terry[/b]
:D[/quote:bcc16]
We were never able to have any but such is life. That is only a portion of Pandoras Box. Here is another portion… 
I have tons of rods and reels but I always want more. I have a new rod on the way which should arrive tomorrow and I’m already planning on the next rod which MIGHT get used a half dozen times a year but I HAVE TO HAVE IT! I have 6 rods on my short list and a few reels too and yet I absolutely have every combo I need.
But my sickest addiction is extra, just-in-case stuff. I HATE when products are changed or discontinued so I buy extras, just in case. I have at least a dozen brand new fly lines of a certain type because they were discontinued, two extra pair of Chota STL’s, extra soles for my Korkers, spare walkie-talkies, at least a dozen spare zingers, nippers, hemos, and just about everything you can imagine.
I once thought that Orvis was discontinuing their Strike Putty that I love so much so I went to the local Orvis shop and bought every one they had in every color. I now have 14 extra containers of Strike Putty. They didn’t discontinue it BTW but if they do, I’m set!
If you saw the extras I have at the fly bench you wouldn’t believe it, I have more extra materials than a lot of fly shops. When I decided to try my hand at tying classic wet flies I bought over 100 pairs of quills, just in case.
So guess what Fly Goddess, you are normal as far as I’m concerned.
October Woods made me cry. 
I am happy with the two rods and reels I have, not counting 3 wally world $30.00 jobs the kids troll with.
Two is enough . I made a decision to either go to fishing and attend some fish-ins or buy new equipment which I really don’t need. Fishing won out.
My weakness is fishing vests, lanyards, pouches, backpacks, plus older cheap reels, flyline, etc. The ones that I try that dont’ quite work how I wanted go in the ‘out of service’ cardboard box. If they dont’ get used in a year or so – I give them away to new flyfishers, young flyfishers, or both. Money well spent giving away an old SA reel with perfectly good flyline on it that’s only seen a couple fishing trips…to a 13 year old up-and-coming flyfisher. Hopefully the next national champion!
DAN
Fly Goddess -
Interesting question.
Are we spoiled? When viewed from a historical perspective - or even currently, from a world perspective, the answer has to be “yes”. Most of us live in countries where we’re free to do whatever we want, when we want. We’re engaged in sport - I don’t think many of us fly fish to feed ourselves or our family. Can you imagine doing that just a few generations back or even today in many parts of the world, where the next meal is uncertain? To say nothing about access to public areas that not all that long ago were the purview of only royalty or the very privileged.
Greedy? Maybe yes, maybe no. Depends on your focus. Wanting the latest gear is one thing - putting it first in your life is another.
Excessive? Well, we’re probably all guilty as charged here to some degree. I do think though, this is a question of balance, as much as anything. While I have enough equipment to outfit a small sporting goods store, the day more of my time and resource is consumed on my own recreational pursuits - at the expense of my family, friends and community, is the day that it becomes excessive. I’d like to think that day will never come…
Bamboozle, that’s one, bad Jones you have there. Like the old saying goes, “…if you think you have it bad, just look around you…” It’s time to call my wife to the computer so she can see there’s someone out there spending more money than me on fishy stuff. :lol: You’re making me looking ‘good’ in spite of my bad habits.
Fly Goddess, your affliction is more common than you might imagine. If you’re not spending as much as Bamboozle, you’re ahead of the curve. Spend on! Keep the local fly shops in business so we have somewhere to hang ou when it rains (like today in Cleveland).
Joe
Joe:
I have no kids so my guilt when buying stuff lasts until I write the check for my wife’s cars each month.
Fortunately she doesn’t fish and has no idea what I got. I have become a master at C.A.F.E. (Covert Acquisition of Fishing Equipment). I could sneak a bass boat past her and she wouldn’t know ;).
RIGHT ON!
Bamboozle, that’s one, bad Jones you have there. Like the old saying goes, “…if you think you have it bad, just look around you…” It’s time to call my wife to the computer so she can see there’s someone out there spending more money than me on fishy stuff. :lol: You’re making me looking ‘good’ in spite of my bad habits.
Fly Goddess, your affliction is more common than you might imagine. If you’re not spending as much as Bamboozle, you’re ahead of the curve. Spend on! Keep the local fly shops in business so we have somewhere to hang ou when it rains (like today in Cleveland).
Joe[/quote]
To Joe and Bamboozle,
I do have it bad, one advantage is I worked for Orvis Store so I got a great discount. When the store closed we had all our flies, fly tying stuff on sale for twenty five cents. You wanna guess what my fly tying room looks like?!
But I did have to get at least one of everything (in somecases two cause my ol’ man took mine LOL)
Then went to work at a store that carried Loomis,…OhhOhh
But I am still an associate of Orvis thru guiding.