Beers, Brothers and Broken Rods

Earlier in the fall, my wife accidentally slammed my only remaining spinning rod in the trunk of our VW.  Me, seeing that the dashboard lamp indicating that the trunk was ajar, opened the trunk and slammed my rod in it again.
To be honest, I did not care much for the rod.  It was a Shakespear Tiger Spinning rod, available exclusively at Walmart.  It was cheap, and it brought in a lot of fish.  The rod was cracked pretty severely just below the female ferrule, but it wasn't totally broken; I was going to fish with it until it met its end.
I'd prefer to fly fish, but I will not fly fish with my 8 month old daughter on my chest-- I don't trust my fly casting ability-- and most opportunities I have to fish are with her when I take her for walks.  Despite the damage, the rod still landed some serious salmon out of the Menomonee River!  But finally, in the end, it was a 22" coho that did it in.  I still landed the fish.

My brother has been trying to make a trip to our side of the lake since August, but a new position at his job made finding a free weekend unpredictable.  After my rod broke, I told my dad and he has more gear than he knows what to do with in his mancave.  He had a couple of old rods that he was going to send with my brother when he finally came.  Shane usually has his head in the clouds, but he likes to get on the water occasionally when he's not flying.  We were planning hitting the Milwaukee for smallmouth in the summer, but salmon are prevalent in the Menomonee even so late in the fall.

Me and Shane, 2009

Shane after flying an Extra 300

Magician Lake Bass trip, 2012

Shane showed up late friday, we went to Cafe Hollander for beers and conversation.  after the beers, we skipped stones in the river for way too long before calling it a night-- it's so much more fun after a couple beers.  The next morning, I swapped the reel on one of the rods my dad sent for my nicer one.  Shane, Lilyhammer and myself walked out the front door and hit the Menomonee while my wife stayed home.  We walked for a mile or so before we saw fish, and then it wasn't long before I had one on.  I instantly asked Shane if he wanted to land the fish-- He had never caught a salmon.  He said "I don't not want to land the fish," or something along those lines.  Lily and I readied the net, Shane took the line.  Shane eventually brought the fish to the to the net, the fish came ashore, pictures were snapped and the fish was released.

Shane's salmon

He wanted to see me catch one, but I couldn't get another fish to bite.  That's fine though, I've caught a dozen or so this season.  There will probably be a couple more before the weather gets really cold, and then there is the spring steelhead run!

Where Do I Even Begin? (part III)

Okay, so you don’t know anyone with a man cave full of fishing stuff and you don’t have the patience to summon your inner tonberry and haggle your way through a flea market.  You do, however, have some money that you’ve been saving.  Now we are going to talk about the quickest way to dissolve your funds and get you elbow deep in fish slime.

Buying brand new fishing gear is so much fun!  With all the fishing I do, I can only recall three times when I actually went out and picked out a new rod and reel.  When you decide to get new gear, there are some things to keep in mind.  Big box stores may have great selections and even better prices, but a lot of the time the people behind the counter can’t tell you anything about the gear, and a lot of stuff on display is broken.  You are better off going to a smaller fishing shop where the prices may be a little higher, but the staff is very helpful.  They can help you pick out a good rod, and even give you tips about where to fish and what to use.  And if you support a smaller shop, you know where the money is going.

Ultimately, like a wand from Ollivander’s, the rod chooses the angler, but the staff will help it find you!  There are many different choices for handles, length, action (flexibility), reels, guides (eyes), and the number of pieces the rod breaks into.  Most rods are two-pieces.  Two-piece rods break down small enough to pack and carry without sacrificing a lot of strength. One-piece rods will always be stronger, but harder to store away, or put in the trunk of your car, so there is a trade off.  A good starter rod would probably be a 6’6” medium action two-piece rod with an open face reel.  Long and heavy enough to catch some big fish, but delicate enough to feel the smallest trout strike your bait while still being easy to transport and store.  Later on if you feel the need, you can worry about rods for specific fish, such as an ultralight rod for panfish and a heavy action rod for catfish.

A great rod for fishermen of any skill level is the Ugly Stik, made by Shakespeare.  Ugly Stiks are made in the USA, quite affordable, and among the most durable rods made.  You will not find a better rod for the price.  Most Ugly Stik rod and reel combos range in price from $20.00 to $50.00.  As testimony to the reliability of an Ugly Stik, they have a seven year warranty against defect, but if you break it when you run into a tree while off road biking from one fishing spot to another (as I have), you’re just going to have to try to repair it on your own. 

My medium action 6'6" Ugly Stik strung with 6 pound
 test line caught this 32" chinook salmon out of Lake
Michigan in downtown Milwaukee after a 45 minute fight.

If you are looking for a brand new fly rod, there is a lot more to a fly rod setup than just the rod, reel and the line.  There is the thick braided line that is tied to the reel, this is called the backing line, or, just “the backing.”  The backing is tied to the fly line, which is the portion that is cast.  The end of the fly line is then finished off with the tapered leader which is usually about 9’ in length.  Your fly can be tied to the leader, but as the flies break off, or are cut off and changed, your leader will get shorter and thicker.  To add this length back, you need to tie on a very fine section of line, called the tippet. There are some good starter kits that have most, or all of these things.  My first fly rod was a two-piece Scientific angler 5/6 weight 9’ rod.  It came with the rod, reel, backing, fly line, and leader.  The kit also came with instructions on how to tie all the correct knots for each of the different types of line, because it needed to be assembled.  What I like about this is that you will get firsthand knowledge of how to put it all together.  I don’t think they make that exact kit anymore; the one I see on the shelves at Gander Mountain and other places is a four-piece rod with everything assembled and ready to go. It also comes with some flies and an instructional DVD.  This kit costs about $110.00.  Cabela’s makes a good affordable fly rod under the name “Three Forks,” you can pick up a rod with all the line on the reel for $74.99 on the website.  My current fly rod is a two-piece 8’ 6” Three Forks 5 weight rod and reel combo.  Three Forks is an all around great rod for most occasions if you don’t have pockets overflowing with gil.  If you do, go somewhere that specializes in fly fishing.  They all have at least one high quality rod with the beginner in mind.  A local shop in Milwaukee, called The Fly Fishers, has some really nice fly rod and reel combos for around $300.00, and they sell used gear!

Once you have gotten a rod, there are still some other things you will need before you are really ready to get out on the water. If you get a rod at a thrift store or from dad’s man cave, you can assume the line needs to be replaced.  Even the line on a brand new rod may need to be replaced rather quickly.  There are also tackle boxes, hooks, lures, floats, sinkers, and all kinds of fun stuff yet.  We will talk about these things in a later post, until then!

Where Do I Even Begin? (part I)

Never fished a day in your life? No big deal.  There is some essential gear you are going to need.  There are three very different paths you can go down to get your gear.  The path of least resistance is to buy new gear.  The mid-resistance, less money option is used gear. Then there is the most rewarding, most challenging path, the free path! Today, let’s talk about the free route to getting started.

Chances are that you have a dad or grandpa that was an avid fisherman at some point. This person has acquired and hoarded way too much gear, trust me!  Start talking to this person about how you’d love to go fishing with them sometime but you don’t have a rod and things will probably fall into place; unless you really don’t want to go fishing with that person, then it’s time for a different approach.  

My dad and his old Viking fishing boat.

You can go visit dad and casually bring up that you want to take up fishing (again), but you don’t know what happened to your gear.  You can say, (over a beer [or three {and shots of whiskey}]) “hey dad, did I leave my fishing gear over here last time we went out?  I haven’t seen it in like fifteen years!”  Or, “didn’t you give me a fishing rod for my thirteenth birthday? I don’t think I ever even used it!”  He’ll start digging around in the garage, or basement, or whatever area he considers his man cave, and eventually he’ll come up with a rod that he’s not sure where it came from.  When he says, “Is this yours?” You should respond with “Well, I’m not sure, I don’t think so.  Damnit, what happened to my stuff?”  Then ask if it would be okay if you “borrowed” a rod.  If this works, you just got yourself a free fishing rod!  You could also ask about some tackle, just sayin’! 

If you have a dad like mine, he’s just waiting to get out on the water with you, and if you don’t have any gear, he’s gonna hook you up.  I cannot recall how many rods, nets, tackle boxes, and lures my dad has given me over the years.  The man just wants to take you out, and show you up.  Dad, you can show me up any day... except that one day when I caught that 31” salmon on your birthday, and... you didn’t go... because it was raining (damn it).

Dad catches the biggest bass.