Cabela’s 50th Anniversary Glass Fly Rods

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Ed Mitchell

When it comes to trout fishing, I’ve long been an advocate of fiberglass fly rods. Their slow, forgiving action is ideal wherever short casts, small flies and fine tippets apply. So when Cabela recently issued a line of 50th Anniversary glass fly rods, I scrambled to their store to take a look.

Out of the group, one really really caught my eye. It was a 5’9″, 3 piece, 3-weight, with spigot ferrules and a slide band reel seat. The blank is green, carries PacBay components, and comes with a decent tube. Now I have a Winston glass “Stalker“, a 2 piece, 6’6” for 3-weight rod. It’s the shortest fly rod I have owned; and it’s fun to fish. Love the thing in a spinner fall or when fishing tiny dries. So I have a soft spot for little fly rods and decided to pick this Cabela puppy up; it was 99 bucks. Yeah, made in China. And it’s a good thing I did, a day or two later the store sold out, and the rod is presently back-ordered 13 weeks.

If you cut your teeth on “fast” action graphite rods, this short, glass rod is apt to kick your backside. Slow down my friend; take you’re time with the cast. Relax. And if you need to reach out bit, don’t use more force. Instead, lengthen your casting stroke – the distance your arm travels during the cast. That’s the secret with a slow action fly rod.  A little lawn work proved it threw a 3-weight WF reasonably well, but cast a 2-weight WF much better. And I’ll guess a 2DT might be perfect. The rod easily reached out 20 plus feet, and that’s great. With a rod this size, you best fishing range is inside 15 feet. Why? You can’t “mend” much line with such a short rod, and you’ll get better hook sets in close. But hey, most trout on eastern rivers are caught inside 15 feet.

I dug up an old 3″ Ocean City fly reel, that fit the slide band reel seat. Slide band seats can be fussy. Added a 9 foot 5x leader, and took the new rod fishing. Using a size 14# bead-head caddis and an indicator, I soon had a 12″ rainbow aboard. What a major blast! Fought like he was 18″. In fact, every fish I tangled with seemed 6″ bigger. Man, this is a sweet little rod. Well worth the moolah!

Posted in Fiberglass Fly Rods, Fly Fishing in Freshwater, Fly Rods, Gear | 2 Comments

Keep Maine Green

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Ed Mitchell

Keep Maine Green

Keep Maine Green: Early one September morn, I was driving down a rural road in Maine, near the northeast corner of Moosehead Lake. Gorgeous, cool, dry, northwoods day, stellar. Just as I was taking a swig of coffee, this billboard appeared. Man, I hit the brakes. Coffee poured down my shirt. Damn it.

Putting my coffee mug down, I wiped off my shirt and popped the Jeep into ‘R”.  I needed to see this thing up close. After backing up a bit, I put her in “P” and got out. What a great handmade sign, ever so cool. Loved it. From the backseat I retrieved my camera. Snapped a picture or two, and got back in the Jeep with a smile. Now I’ve seen my share of Smokey the Bear signs, but this baby had all those beat, hands down. The message was so direct, so well-said, so unforgettable. Yeah this is God’s Country; lets keep it green.

Posted in Environment, On the Road | Leave a comment

My Trusty Sage RPL+ Fly Rod

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Ed Mitchell

My Trusty Sage RPL+: I bet you have a “go-to” fly rod, the one you reach for first. In the salt, I do. And that rod is a 9′, 2 piece, Sage 10-weight. Over the years I’ve have caught more fish on it that any other fly rod I own. I trust it.

Now, if you’re a veteran of the brine, you’re thinking my rod has to be the old Sage RPLX. Well it’s not. Granted the RPLX was a very good rod that – at one point – took the salt scene by storm. Everyone had to have one. It was built with a brand new patented rod construction method developed by Fenwick. This method, as I remember, employed a coil of graphite that ran the  entire outer length of the blank. It gave the rod great hoop strength, making it a very durable and powerful rod. Fenwick called their creations “Iron Feather’ rods and licensed the design to Sage. Sage took it and called their rods RPLX. In turn Fenwick refrained for selling “Iron Feathers” in larger line weights in the US.

There was only one problem with these rugged Sage rods; they cast like a club. Too stiff. In fact most anglers had to go up one or two line weights in order to make them comfortable to use. Or end up with a tennis elbow or sore shoulder; your choice. Eventually Sage made another rod using the same process.  But this baby had a more sophisticated compound taper that allowed the rod to load deeper into the midsection. It was designed by Jerry Siems, I believe. Sage called it the RPL +.  Wow, this rod was smooooth distance machine, a great improvement. But most anglers shunned it, because it wasn’t the famous RPLX. Mistake.

My Trusty Sage RPL+

My trusted rod is Sage Graphite III, RPL +. I got a blank and had it custom wrapped by noted rod builder Kevin Pelletier.  Most importantly, I wanted special guides that would enhance line speed. The butt section has a 20mm, and a 16mm Fuji stripping guide. Huge compared to some salt water fly rods. Hell the biggest stripping guide on my first 10-weight was 10 mm! The tip section starts with a 14mm,and then drops to a single foot 12mm stripping guide. This brings the fly line down closer to the blank and more concentric with the snakes guides.

Eventually my big fat thumb busted through the cork grip. I taped it over and still fished the rod. But then the reel seat’s threads eroded away. Ugh. After that the rod sat in a basement corner for a couple years. Recently I replaced the grip and the reel seat with REC components. Quality stuff. Hope to get many more years out of this terrific old rod.

My Trusty 10-Weight Sage RPL+

Posted in Fly Fishing in Salt Water, Fly Rods, Gear | 2 Comments

A Shrimp Sedan on Big Pine Key

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Ed Mitchell

 One morning down on Big Pine Key, I saw this car in front of a tackle shop. Now you got to love it. I spend the rest of that day sight-fishing in the backcountry. Wonderful stuff. Later I hit the hay, but boy what a dream I had.

In it, the shrimp sedan from the tackle shop was racing all over town. Why? Right behind it was another car, with a bonefish on the roof. That’s what a day in the sun can do to you.

Posted in Fly Fishing in Salt Water, On the Road | Leave a comment

The 22LR Firearm is a Great Training Tool

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Ed Mitchell

A 22RL Firearm makes a great training tool

Ever go to a public range and notice how many people shoot handguns poorly? Even at a short distance, their target has holes all over the place. And when you look down range, you see holes in the ceiling and the walls. Yeah, there are a lot of lousy shooters out there. It’s an epidemic

Maybe they never received adequate education. Or perhaps they simply forgot what they learned. That happens too. But another common factor is caliber. Why? As soon as they get their pistol permit, many shooters go out and buy a powerful gun. They get a 40SW, or a 45ACP, or a 44Magnum. Wrong place to begin, big mistake. Instead of learning how to shoot, they find themselves constantly fighting recoil. Soon they develop a finch. Their ability to hit the target takes a nosedive. And then they start blaming the gun, or the ammo, or what they had for dinner last night.

If you want to learn how to be a “pistolaro”  you should own a 22LR early in your career. Revolver, semi-auto, take your pick. Bingo, you have no recoil, no blast, and the ammo is cheap, allowing to shoot more often.  Now you are free to concentrate on the shooting fundamentals: grip, sight alignment, sight picture, follow-thru, breath control, trigger control, stance…..Now you’re learning!

“Be a Safe and Responsible Gun Owner”

Posted in Shooting Sports | 2 Comments