Nice read, JC. Cuban cigars, single malt, waxed cotton, side by side double guns, and cane. God love them.
Here’s a thought. Historically, more fish have probably gone to cane than any other rod. Not fancy six piece affairs. But a genuine piece of bamboo cane, a piece of black line, a mustad hook, a fish worm, a farm boy, and a brook trout stream. But are they still out there catching fish? Haven’t seen a cane pole at Wallmart. Haven’t seen black line in a while. Fewer farm boys. But there are still worms. So who of you, in their most desparate hour, hasn’t slipped a wimph on? Not the Old Master for sure. Maybe me. I’ll never tell. And nothing will get a wimph down under a log jam better than a fly rod? Old Master said, “Fish a worm down under that log Bobby, you might come out of there with a big brown.” But he never would. I miss him.
So fish on with that cane JC. I will too. There is a long tradition in the wood. I can feel it in my heart. It is not a snob thing. You have to feel it to know.
Let me see here, Cuban cigars…check, single malt…check. Barbour Jacket…check, Cane rods…check, Side by side…NOPE!!
OMG this is almost me. I use a over & under tho
Bob, (& JC)
When I first started fishing with my dad, we used fly rods to still fish off the bottom and worms or Mike’s Indian Cured Roe. We caught more fish faster than anyone around us. Ya, it was lake fishing for limits, but it was fishing with dad. In the mid to late ‘50s in the Seattle area, I fished with a bamboo pole about 12’ long with a line tied to the end. It worked great for panfish.
Here is a techy question for those interested; What is the difference between a fishing pole and a fishing rod?
A pole has the line tied to the end of it.
A rod has line guides and a reel attached.
Don’t know if that’s true, but I buy it.
Yup! Bamboo has a fond place in my heart, and always will.
JC, I’ve got to take issue with something that you said in your article. (I’m sure that’s a huge surprise…) I can’t say that you are “such a snob”. Let me make my point. To say that I am an indifferent caster is to be kind to the point of straining honesty. And yet you and your Lovely Bride have both taken the time to help me out, repeatedly, over and over, reviewing the same mistakes, again and again, with more patience than it takes to read this sentence. Knowing that I am not poetry in motion, you have placed a marvelous Gatti fly rod in my hands. Then you scared me half to death by putting one of the finest fly rods in the world in my hands. Thanks to the kindness of you and LadyFisher, I have had a chance to cast a Kusse Quad. Surely a snob would have been loathe to allow me close to such a rod, let alone thrust it into my hands and order me to cast it.
There are some who will say that upstream and dry is The Only Way to fly fish. That is different from saying that it is the way that one prefers to fly fish.
So I’ll have to respectfully disagree with your statement that you are a snob. And for a guy who married a woman like Deanna and who has a Kusse Quad, you have a great deal to be snobbish about.
regards,
Ed
P.S. You’re also a pretty darned good caster, too.
In Flyfishing: A Trailside Guide (1996) It says it is a matter of definition, if it cost less than $10 its a fishing pole, more than $10 its a fishing rod. Not sure where this definition comes from but I knew I read it somewhere once.
EdD … JC put that Gatti in my hands too. What a dream rod. I cast it and marveled at the nice tight loops I was making as opposed to the more opened slopper loops I had just been producing with my Sage launch. I remarked as much to Jim.
Now here is a man with true insight … He said, “Your sage will do the same thing, I noticed that you were overpowering your cast a bit. With the Gatti you aren’t shocking the line.”
He was, as usual, right on the money. Because I was intimidated and I was afraid of doing something wrong to that awesome rod. I was casting it much softer than I normally do. If someone is going to break the Gatti Its not going to be me.
Later when I was alone on the Selway with no one watching me. I tried “soft casting” with the sage and there it was! Just as Jim had said it would be. My Sage was casting tighter loops like the Gatti had done.
There is just something about that beautiful Gatti that makes it my all time favorite. Perhaps its because Jim always makes me cast it, giving me tips as he does so.
