For those of you who don't know, the American Museum of Fly Fishing, located in Machester, Vermont, is the home to the "the world's largest collection of angling and angling-related items, numbering in the thousands." Along with this huge collection, the museum is a non-profit, educational institution that helps to publish many books, art, catalogs, etc. They also publish a quarterly journal, "The American Fly Fisher", a beautiful, scholarly, & informative publication. The museum also has a library & is staffed with knowledgeable angling historians, making it a rich resource of information & one of the premier institutions of fly fishing in the world. The museum's mission statement reads: "The American Museum of Fly Fishing promotes an understanding of and appreciation for the history, traditions and practitioners of the sport of fly fishing. It collects, preserves, exhibits, studies, and interprets the artifacts, art, and literature of the sport and uses these resources to engage and benefit everyone." Along with their permanent collection, the museum also hosts other collections from time to time & they have a busy schedule of events & educational programs that are available for everyone to enjoy. If you are the least bit interested in the history of fly fishing, I urge you to visit the museum's website to learn more about this great institution.
I just posted another fly rod on my "available" page. It's a 6 ft, 2 piece-2 tip, 5/6 wt that is ready to buy with no waiting. This is a great rod for both trout & small mouth bass fishing. This rod has been barely used & is as good as new. Plus, because it has a been used as a demonstration rod & it has had some repair work done to the all cork reel seat spacer, I've reduced the price of this rod dramatically. Normally, this rod would sell for $750. I'm listing this one for $450. Go to my "available" page to see photos & read all the details about this rod.
An Irish priest loved to fly fish, it was an obsession of his. So far this year the weather had been so bad that he hadn't had a chance to get his beloved wadders on and his favourite flies out of their box Strangly though, every Sunday the weather had been good, but of course Sunday is the day he has to go to work. The weather forcast was good again for the coming Sunday so he called a fellow priest claiming to have lost his voice and be in bed with the flu. He asked him to take over his sermon. The fly fishing priest drove fifty miles to a river near the coast so that no one would recognise him. An angel up in Heaven was keeping watch and saw what the priest was doing. He told God who agreed that he would do something about it. With the first cast of his line a huge fish mouth gulped down the fly. For over an hour the priest ran up and down the river bank fighting the fish. At the end when he finally landed the monster size fish it turned out to be a world record Salmon. Confused the angel asked God, "Why did you let him catch that huge fish? I thought you were going to teach him a lesson." God replied "I did. Who do you think he's going to tell?" I've just posted a couple of fly tying books on my "available" page. Both books are in great condition & reasonably priced. Go to the "available" page & scroll down to read about them. Both books are, in my opinion, very good.
The "Orvis Fly Tying Manual", by Tom Rosenbauer, is a first edition. This book is a great intro to fly tying &/or a good chance for experienced tiers to pick up a few tricks. Much has been written in reviews of this popular book. "Modern Fly Tying Materials" by Dick Talleur, also a first edition & now out of print, covers many subjects including the different materials that have come along, tying vises, fly tying tools, etc. With so many different tying materials on the market, this book will help to clarify what they are, what they're for, & how to use them. Plus it covers traditional materials as well (feathers, capes, etc). This book is invaluable in learning how to tie better flies & will help you to add variety to you fly box. I thought I'd share with you an interesting find. The images below come from an old 1979 Herters catalog I recently found buried in the depths of my bookshelf. Looking at it is like stepping into the "wayback machine" & traveling back in time. It wasn't that long ago, was it? For those of you who don't know, Herters was a large retail & mail order business that sold anything you would need if you so much as stepped outside of your house, not to mention if you were going hunting & fishing. Think of them as the Cabela's of a bygone time. Anyway, this catalog is full of neat historical information & I'll share some things from it every now & then.
Today we'll look at a couple of pages that cover some of the fly rods available from Herters back in 1979. Ahhh, the years when glass rods were still common & using one didn't make you "different" & graphite was still relatively new. So much has been written about the sport of fly fishing. I've heard it said that there are more books on the subject of fly fishing than on any other sport. That's not hard to believe when you look at lists of fly fishing books available for sale today; not to mention the many more books that are no longer in print. Well, with all these books on the subject there's bound to be a few poignant quotes concerning the sport. I will, from time to time, share some of my favorite with you. Some will give you a chuckle & others will make you reflect. Either way, they're all food for thought. So, without further ado, todays fly fishing quotes: "It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming." ~John Steinbeck~ "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." ~by Henry David Thoreau~ "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot."
~by Steven Wright~ |
The Pliant RodNews from the shop of Chris Lantzy, Custom Rod Maker along with industry news, profiles of interesting characters, reviews, history, & whatever else strikes our fancy. Your comments & feedback are welcome. Please email me your thoughts. Celebrating two decades of making custom fly rods!!
leather accessoriesCases, bags, wallets, & other fine leather angling accessories.
See more photos from the rod shop & stream sides!
SEE MORE ROD PHOTOS!!!Please visit my Flickr pages to see even more rod photos including those available for sale, different rod features, & more. I'll be continuing to add photos there, so check it often.
Watch Some Videos!!Take a look into the rod shop & see some rods in living color motion pictures!! Check out my youtube videos.
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