Greetings everyone, especially to
the new email recipients. I
continue to receive new registrations from my Web site (www.rod-makers.com), a sign up list in the
shop, and most recently from records received from the former One Shot
Outdoors. I can only hope the
emails prove productive for me and informative for you, God only knows the
trials I have endured with this blankety blank computer. I am one person in this world that has
always been in control of his life, reaping rewards for good judgments and hard
work, suffering consequences for poor judgment or decisions, but never have I
had to depend on the whims of an electronic message! There are many friends and family that
have assisted me and put up with my tirades while tweaking my computer, but all
in all, it’s a good thing, and for them my gratitude will always endure. Not to rattle on but in one of my
tirades I was asked why I felt the way I did, and in fact, why I had so many
opinions on such a wide variety of subjects! I thought about that. . . . .
remembering when much younger, I didn’t have many opinions and relied on my
mentors to provide me with ‘their’ opinions. I believe opinions are a result of
experience and once experienced, you are justified in voicing an opinion, and in
MY case, once I have repeated an opinion it becomes a FACT! Ha! Have you ever listened to an older,
wiser, and more experienced fisherman?
If you are not in his league, do you think he will listen to your
advice? I find myself in the
‘older, wiser’ category having fished and hunted (not any more) from the
You have heard the old axiom that
‘size matters’. In my opinion, they
must have meant in the length of the fishing rod for the intended purpose and
fish to be caught! Rods vary in
length from very short (5 footers) to very long (9 ˝ footers and longer!). Generally speaking, short rods are best
suited for ultra light spin fishing, or for use by a small person or child, or
when fishing a river bank with overhanging trees etc. Shorter rods do not have larger fish
fighting capabilities unless you get into Tuna Rods. Medium length rods (6 – 7’) typically
use 8 – 17 lb line and are better suited for casting and fighting of medium to
medium large fish principally in fresh water and with heavier weighted
lures. Longer rods typically use
LIGHTER line weights resulting in longer casts, lighter lures and have an
unmatched fish fighting ability. As
any Speckled Trout enthusiast knows, large trout are seldom caught near a boat,
especially with artificial bait.
They are not known for chasing a lure back to the boat in the manner a
Redfish will. I have blanks made
for Steelhead fishing the western rivers and salmon fishing in the Great Lakes
and Pacific in lengths of 7’ 9”, 8 ˝’
9’ and on occasion for the guy who
wants to cast a top water lure into the next zip code, I build spinning rods on
9 ˝’ fly rod blanks! You can
imagine the fight with 6 – 8 lb test at the end of a 100 YARD cast! The next time you are in, ask me about
the advantages (and a couple of disadvantages) of the long
rods.
After spending 70 some days straight
in the shop, I am going to fish with Capt. Chuck Naiser and friends and
customers Mike Smith and Clay Wilson next Friday the 18th and with my
son Ryan (partial reward for constantly working on my damn computer) on Saturday
the 19th. Looking after
the shop will be Shad Goldston, a friend and former employee and rod maker at
One Shot Outdoors.
Not a lot of fishing stories of late
although I did get visual evidence from Solomon Abdo along with a brief
explanation. Seems yesterday (April
13th) he gave as a birthday gift to his sister-in-law celebrating her
40th, a day of guided fishing with Pete Cooper of Port Aransas. If you go to the rod-makers.com Web site
you will see a photo of four good looking gals with more fish than I have seen
in a long time. Solomon wanted me
to mention the rod in the lower left of the picture was seen here in the shop
only a few days ago! I can imagine
the gals had a great time.
My fly tier Gary Lehman has been
doing his share of catch and release on the hill country rivers.
I need one or two more for a Fly
Fishing Clinic to be held this Thursday at the Shonto Ranch. My good friend and rod maker Lt. Col.
Randy Bland will conduct the group.
Cost is $125 and includes fishing over large trout, bass etc., lunch with
equipment furnished if needed. The
Shonto is located just north of
This was to be a ‘short’ email,
sorry. Tight Lines. Dennis.
Rodmakers
210-479-3477
Email:
rodmaker@rod-makers.com