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Equipment – Standardize!

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I’ll have to update this once I settle on a standard for fly fishing – but I’ve got to get smart there first….

Anyway, over the years I’ve bought a huge amount of gear.  Reels would break, rods would break and I would get frustrated.  My initial mistake was sucumbing to the hard-eyed stare of the Basswife and going for the cheapest thing on the shelf.  Holy malfunction!  Seems like that rod/reel combo for 15 bucks would never really work just right and eventually dies a miserable death in the middle of a trip – either self induced as it ground itself to a miserable end of jammed gears or killed by me in reaction to a lost trophy… that one that got away.  It’s one thing to lose a fish because I screwed up, it’s intolerable to lose a great fish because your reel jams.

Interestingly enough, I did not start out by going cheap.  In 1975, when I graduated from college I bought a cheap car (Datsun 710) and spent the rest of my savings on fishing and camping gear.  I still use the tent today and the reel I bought – a Garcia Mitchell 301 – works just fine.  As I threw out yet another reel last year, I realized the error of my ways – cheap stuff is not cheap in the long run.  After replacing key gear components over and over, I realized (as I stared at the 301) that I should apply the same standard to gear as I apply to tools.  I learned the quality lesson years ago on my woodworking gear.

With that, I quickly settled on my standard for a rod and reel.  For the rod, it was a no-brainer.  The Shakespeare Ugly Stik had a hugely positive reputation for being indestructible.  I saw a review in BASS magazine that gave it very high marks – and the price was not bad.  Here’s another review that I linked up.

The reel was another easy choice.  With the solid heritage of the 301 and over 30 years of positive experience with it, I settled on the Garcia 308 for Bass and the 310 for trout.  By buying a couple of them, I also got the spare spools for the line that make dealing with a birds nest on the stream a snap.

I’ve been using these models for about 2 years now.  No problems, no issues, maximum flexibility.  I wish I had swapped out my dog’s breakfast of gear years ago.

With the standards, I can load up my spools with 10 and 12 pound line for Bass and 4 or 6 pound line for trout.  Now, it’s trivial to swap down to 4 pound when I head to the SNP for the little guys and stick with the 6 for the North Branch where monsters do lurk.

The Ugly Stik comes in ultralight, light, medium, etc actions – so I have the correct range of them as well.  Since I believe a man can never have too many fishing rods or guns, I keep each set fully loaded – a reel for every rod.  This really makes it nice in the canoe when I am after Bass – I can rig a system for plastics, another for crankbaits and a third for top water.  After all, you don’t catch any fish while you are tying on a new rig!

I’ll figure this out quickly for my new fly stuff.  While I did get the cheapest possible in my starter set, I do realize that I’ll need to move up as soon as I can figure out what the best match is to my price point and minimal skill level.

Bottom Line: Get the best stuff you can afford.  You will get years of use from it. 

These things all look the same – the size is the only thing that is different between the models.  This is the 308.

Here’s the 310 – great for ultralight rigs.  I’m going to figure out how to fish nymphs this season using the bad boy and a fly rod on fast moving water… just read a book on why this is the right, but wierd choice.

Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore

Disclaimer and Warning:  The contents of this site reflect the opinion of the author and you, the reader, must exercise care in the use and interpretation of this information.  Fishing is a dangerous sport.  You can slip and fall on rocks and sustain severe injury.  You can drown.  You can get hooks caught in your skin, face, eyes or other sensitive places.  All sorts of bad things can happen to you when to go into the woods to visit the places documented here.  Forests, streams and lakes are wild areas and any number of bad things can happen.  You must make your own judgment in terms of acceptable behavior and risk and not rely on anything posted here.  I disclaim all liability and responsibility for any actions you take as a result of reading the articles on this site.  If you do not agree with this, you should not read anything posted on this site.

Disclaimer and Warning:  The contents of this site reflect the opinion of the author and you, the reader, must exercise care in the use and interpretation of this information.  Fishing is a dangerous sport.  You can slip and fall on rocks and sustain severe injury.  You can drown.  You can get hooks caught in your skin, face, eyes or other sensitive places.  All sorts of bad things can happen to you when to go into the woods to visit the places documented here.  Forests, streams and lakes are wild areas and any number of bad things can happen.  You must make your own judgment in terms of acceptable behavior and risk and not rely on anything posted here.  I disclaim all liability and responsibility for any actions you take as a result of reading the articles on this site.  If you do not agree with this, you should not read anything posted on this site.

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