Gary Meyer | Tuesday, 29 January 2019
There is not much for me to write about this week. The weather sank into the dregs of winter for us here in South Florida, but as usual, it was nowhere as bad as in the rest of the US. While the air temperature only dropped into the 50 degrees F range, it rained almost the entire time and the wind howled in the tree branches outside my windows. That is about as uncomfortable as it gets in these parts, so I spent my weekend inside.
As others have described some very artistic patterns of late I will not bore y’all with the simplistic patterns I tied to refill my boxes. In fact, it felt as if I spent more time looking for materials that I have run out of than actually dressing flies. The good news is I made a list of what I was missing. With any luck, I will be able to replenish those missing materials later in the week when I attend the major fly show that is rolling into Atlanta.
I look forward to attending this show. The flavor of this show definitely leans more toward freshwater and trout fishing than saltwater so it offers up some cultural diversity. In my case trout fishing is but a dalliance that I sample only a few times a year, yet I appreciate the dedication and techniques the experts exhibit and share. I am a strong believer in that you can learn something from every angler no matter how long you have been in the game. When the other anglers are experts I pay close attention, even if their quarry is not the same as mine. I am constantly on high alert for techniques that may translate into my fishing and I can use all the help I can get when it comes to trout.
In between the seminars and fraternizing (the latter a technique I am admittedly very poor at) I will be on the casting ponds. My goal is to cast as many of the top main brand rods as I can. I always bring my own reels and lines so I can get an apples to apples comparison between the different manufacturers’ models.
This year I am bringing two reels loaded with GT125 lines, a 5 and an 8. For a new twist, I hopefully will have time to put them on my analytical balance at the lab. I plan on marking the lines at each length that equates to the AFTMA target weight along the heads. I am not sure if that will work but it might be interesting to see how each rod feels right at their labeled weight.
The reels are two of cheapest, most beat up clunkers that I own. Maybe this year, unlike last, I will come home with both of them? Fool me once…
I’ll give y’all a report next week if anything interesting pops up.