Another Vintage Reel For The Collection

It's true, I not only collect vintage fly rods but I am also now collecting vintage reels.  If we can, let's keep that a secret between you and I please.  Melissa doesn't need to know about another thing I am collecting.  I've been keeping a list of reels I would like to add to my collection on my phone in the Notes.  Getting old stinks and this helps aid in my recollection of what I would like.

Recently, I was able to score a Berkley 520 Deluxe Single Action reel.  The Berkley 510 was on my list but this particular one caught my eye.  This reel was made with parts from Japan but assembled in the United States.  I was watching this item for a while on eBay.  It first went on sale at 25% off.  Within a week it was half off and I immediately hit the Buy It Now button.  The reel appeared to have been never used or at the very least lightly used.  It came with the original box and paperwork.  For less than $18 I felt as though I could not pass it up.

Upon receiving it, it certainly lived up to my expectations.  The box is beaten up, which I knew going into the purchase.  The outside of the box contains a price tag that reads Gibson's $5.97.  I, naturally, googled the name and learned that Gibson's was a department chain store company that seemed to be throughout the Midwest during the 60's, 70's and into the 80's.  I believe this reel dates around the late 60's or early 70's.  Disappointingly, I could not locate any year of manufacture or year of copyright on the box.  Inside the box, I found four different pieces of paperwork.  They are as follows: Reel Parts Catalog, Fishing Tips, a Berkley guarantee, and Tying Knots with Trilene. All of these are in really good condition without any torn or missing pages.

The reel looks like it just left the factory.  The decal is bright and clean on the back of the reel proudly showing the Berkley name in the red heart and the model number, 520.  A turn of the reel produced that fantastic click sound we all know and love.  Well, some of us anyways.  It has very little surface wear on it.

I am very pleased with this purchase which isn't what always happens.  While I am a collector of sorts, I also believe in still using these items.  I am hoping to pair this reel with one of my vintage 5wt rods such as a Cortland Pro Crest or Cortland FR-2000 that I use on a regular basis.  I will, as always, be keeping my eye out for more deals like this one.

Yomogi in Action

I'm not much of a trout fisherman.  There....I said it.  I admit it fully...I would rather chase bass and panfish on the fly.  I love it.  I can't help myself.  Regardless of my addiction and professed love of warm water fish, I do occasionally attempt to catch trout.  My choices are somewhat limited where I live.  In order to chase browns or brookies, I have to travel some distance.  Pursuing pellet heads is closer to home but my least favorite thing to do.

I wanted to get out and give the Yomogi a whirl.  However, I was short on time so I decided to go to the local pellet head stream.  I was really on the fence as to whether or not I wanted to soil this marvelous new Yomogi I had in my possession with pellet heads but I also knew that I wanted to try it out.  So....short on time, I made up my mind on the pellet heads and headed out.

Upon arrival, I noticed that the stream was low and the water was clear.  I decided to pair the rod with a Cortland Crown II reel in the small size.  I have had this reel for probably twenty years.  I really dig it.  I also went with the Rio Products InTouch Rio Gold trout series fly line in a WF4F.  After selecting my fly and tying it on, I headed down to a pool below a bridge where the stockers like to hang out.

After watching the trout for a few moments, I carefully waded in and started casting.  Immediately, I noticed that the rod was soft but powerful.  I had no problem zipping line out.  It was smooth like butter.  A few drifts through the pool produced this little rainbow pellet head:

I was also able to land this guy a short time later:

I was truly amazed with this rod.  It is not only soft but also full flexing with power.  I had no problem delicately dropping dries or slinging some weighted streamers with it.  I could not recommend this rod enough.  It was a pure joy to fish with hidden power.  Well done Kazutomo Ijuin on creating such an awesome profile.  Splendid indeed!

Long Time Coming

First, I have to apologize to my good friend and master rod builder Zeb from Snowman Custom Rod Works.  This post has been a long time coming and I should have gotten to it sooner.

After casting Cameron's Epic 686 up at Beaver Island, I knew I wanted one.  I had been following the builds of Zeb for a while and decided to contact him and work out a build for an Epic 686.  Needless to say, I was not disappointed.  If you would like to read about it, you can here at Epic Build From An Epic Rod Builder.

Since I was not disappointed with what Zeb did with my Epic 686 I decided to contact him again to have an Ijuin Yomogi built.  I was looking at getting the 7'3" 4wt which comes as a three piece.  I already have a few rods in the lower line weights so I was hoping this would put another arrow in my quiver so to speak.  We worked out all the details which went something like this:

Zeb: What would you like? color? reel seat? etc.
Me: I don't care just make it look nice.

I have stated before that Zeb is an artist in his own right.  I never feel comfortable telling people who are true artists and craftsmen how to do their jobs.  I really just didn't care to dictate how it looked.  Based upon what I saw from my Epic as well as what I saw from his other builds, I knew it was going to be a stunning build.  As always, Zeb kept me informed as he went along with the build.  I allowed him free reign to choose everything.  I hope he enjoys the freedom, but maybe he likes to be told what to do...who knows?  Anyways, back in February Zeb was passing through the area and we were able to meet and greet.  At the time, he brought along my rod for me to see even though he was't done with it yet.  Talk about being a big tease!  It looked fabulous in the photos and even better in person.  Man I could not wait to get my hands on it.  Finally, Zeb was able to finish it and it shipped.  Without a doubt I am happy that I chose Zeb to build another rod for me.  It's a looker for sure!

Bass Fishing in November???

Bass fishing in November?  Who would have ever thought it?  Not I, that's for sure.  Well, I did manage to do some bass fishing just last week.  Here in Maryland it was in the low 70's. Hard to believe that we had such nice weather so late in the season.  I did not want to waste an opportunity so I decided to see if a friend of mine would let me have access to his pond for a few hours.  I have had the chance to fish this pond before with great results.  After a few texts were exchanged, I headed out with my friend Greg.

Upon arrival, Greg and I could see that the pond appeared to be muddy and stained from a distance.  I was worried about fishing it, so I walked down to check it out.  This is the sight that I was met with:

The water was definitely up, muddy and covered with pine needles and leaves.  Needless to say, I was not pleased.  After a quick discussion, Greg and I decided to give it a try.  We figured why not given the warm sun and beautiful weather we were having.  I strung up the Cabela's CGR 7'6" 7/8 and headed down to the pond.  As a side note, I have been using the CGR 7/8 for a while now and I love it.  I have been pairing it with a Waterworks-Lamson Konic II reel spooled with RIO Products Smallmouth 7wt line.  I like to use braided leaders and Scientific Anglers Freshwater tippet in various sizes when I am chasing largemouth.  This is just my setup and what I enjoy using at this point. Anyways, we headed down to the pond and started slinging some bugs.  I chose a size 10 black masked bugger.  I enjoy tying these flies and they seem to be loved by the fish.  For those interested, you can find tying instructions for them here.  

The fishing was slow going with a lot of pine needles and leaves being dragged in with the fly.  In an effort to get a good strip without carrying along debris, I would try and pick out lanes of traffic that I could strip the fly through.  This seemed to work in eliminating some of the debris but not totally. Regardless, after a while the stars aligned and I was able to connect with a fish.  Immediately, I knew it was a good one.  The line went taught and within seconds the fish went airborne.  The fight was on. The largemouth would jump another three times and make several attempts to hide in various submerged logs before I was able to land it.  While not particularly long in length, it made up for it in girth.  It was clearly a fish that was packing on the pounds in an effort to weather the coming winter season.  

Given my initial success, we decided to stay around and fish a while.  Several hours later, I managed to land another small bass.  That was it.  Two fish in three and a half hours.  I guess it could have been worse...I could have been Greg.  He didn't catch a thing all day.  For me though, it was a great time.  I got out of the house, enjoyed some gorgeous weather and the company of a good friend.  I can't ask for more than that.

 

So I Went To The Fly Shop Last Week

and I came home with a few things......

All were "needed" items.  Do I have a problem?  I'm not sure.  

I Love Glass This Much

Just a quick post today about my awesome mail day.  I'm sure it won't come as a shock to anyone that I love fiberglass rods.  I made the switch to glass about three years ago.  Love it.  For me its a perfect fit because I enjoy the vintage glass as much if not more than the newer glass rods.  I really do love hunting for these older rods and finding a bargain.  Anyways, I got another box of swag from Cameron over at TFM.  I'm happy to be rocking some of the new click and pawl stickers.  I do love a good click and pawl reel.  It's even better when it's paired with a vintage rod.

Casting For Recovery

Melissa and I were approached last year by a returning customer to make a special popper for the ladies at Casting For Recovery.  If you don't know about this organization, take a moment to read about it here.  I have been a supporter of Casting For Recovery, Project Healing Waters, and Wounded Warrior to name but a few.  I truly believe the work these organizations do saves lives.  We had been wanting to donate some flies to one of these worthy groups for a while now.  Well, we finally got the opportunity.  Our customer asked us to partner with him to design a popper for the ladies.  Melissa took some time and did some research on Casting For Recovery.  She was able to come up with a design that both she and the customer liked.  It was to be a simple popper with a pink stripe in the middle surrounded by purple stripes.  That way the pink stripe would be the focus of the popper. We also came up with some Persuaders in purple and pink to do as well.  Naturally, we were very excited about this.  Sadly, not everything goes as planned.  My injury made getting these awesome poppers out last year impossible.  It took us until this year to make these happen but I am so glad that we did it.  We both feel a sense of pride and happiness in giving a little something back to the community and in helping to support a worthy organization such as Casting For Recovery.  Both of our families have been touched by cancer.  We have lost loved ones on both sides so this was very important for us to accomplish.  Upon delivery, we heard that the ladies loved them.  Hopefully, one day someone will share some photos of what they caught with them.  Until then, enjoy these photos of what was created for the ladies.

Log Books

Logbooks....how many of you use them?  I do but I am guessing not a lot of you out there do. Nowadays with the technology we have, I am sure there is an app to log your fishing adventures. For me personally though I still enjoy using a book and a pen to capture on to paper how my outing was.

I started fly fishing in 1993 but it wasn't until 1997 that I discovered logbooks.  For me, these books have been a wealth of information over the years.  I love going back and seeing what fish were caught (or not caught) and what flies worked during a particular period of the year.  Admittedly, some years contain more information than others.  Apparently, I totally forgot to log all of 2012 and the little fishing I did in 2013.  Good thing I have it all written down on a notepad and in my Notes app on my iPhone.

The particular logbook I use is called Fly-Fishing Logbook by F-stop Fitzgerald.  It has a copyright of 1995 and retailed for $14.95.  I bought my first two at Hudson Trail Outfitters.  They, however, have done away with their fly fishing selection.  A shame really.  Anyways, since then I have bought them on Amazon, Half.com and eBay.  I now own five of them.  Three of them are full.  I need to buy a few more of them to store.  They are getting harder to find.

The book has sections for Expeditions, Launch Sites, and Fly Fishing Partners.  In the Expeditions section there is room enough for 78 trips to be logged.  The Expeditions section contains the following fields which can be filled out: Location, conditions (date, time, weather, temp), water (temp, clarity, depth, tide), flies (presentation, color, size, pattern), fish (species, number caught, length/girth, weight), and tackle (rod, line, leader, weight).  Unfortunately, half of the Expeditions section is taken up with photos of various flies.  It makes the book look sexy but it does take up valuable space that could be used to log more trips.  In fact the amount of trips could be almost doubled if the book didn't have these photos.

A total of 18 Launch Sites can be recorded and things such as the location name, marina, distance, telephone etc. can be captured.  Regarding the Fly Fishing Partners section, 33 fly fishing friends can be added.  Maybe I am a loner or I don't have a lot of friends but that seems like a lot of people.  I only fish with maybe 7 or 8 different people.  However, for you more popular folks there is room enough for a lot of people to be included.

Pros:
78 trips recorded
easy to do
inexpensive (from .75 cents up)
launch sites documented
friends and their info can be added
allows you to go back and see what worked in years past

Cons
becoming hard to find
might be outdated (several apps on the market)
needs to be filled out after each trip (not years later)
bulky for storage (need a book shelf as opposed to the great storage area of the internet)
only half the section of expeditions can be used given photos on pages

Regardless of whether you capture your fishing data via iPhone, iPad, iPod or other similar device or within the pages of an actual book, I can't stress enough just how important this information can be for future fishing trips.  This isn't a book geared towards you bragging about what you caught, how big it was or how many of them there were.  Please don't get me wrong as there are places for that within the book and it is somewhat important.  The valuable information though is where the fish were, the time of day, temp, etc.  That's what allows us years later to look back and see what was hatching, when and where the fish were thus allowing us to continue catching them.  If you aren't already using one, I would highly encourage you to start.  As a side note, while writing this post, I bought two more of them to store.

Where to Purchase
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0821221639/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A21KTJ96PLML86

http://product.half.ebay.com/Fly-Fishing-Logbook-by-F-Stop-Fitzgerald-1995-Hardcover/1427231&tg=info