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July 2, 2004 |
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Greetings everyone and I hope you
all have a safe and fun holiday! I
plan on having a good time celebrating my youngest son’s birthday, his
anniversary, and the 4th, at South Padre which will result in the
closing of the ‘shop’ on Saturday and on Monday, the 3rd and
5th of July. Business as
usual on Tuesday the 6th of July.
I continue to receive inquiries
about the offshore fishing trips with ‘Team Navy’ and have compiled quite a list
of names of people interested in offshore fishing, and offshore fly fishing, but
I must ask you to make your own inquiries direct with Capt. Glasier on his cell
phone 361-385-0121 and tell him I gave you his phone number. I can provide you with names and phone
numbers of people that may want to ‘fill in’ your trip. The Navy guys want to keep the boat
operating and they have quite a few dates open through the summer months. The costs are unbeatable and the
equipment is a tournament rigged 38 foot Fountain with all new trolling rods and
reels. They do not,
however, provide fly
gear. I have several
photo's of Dolphin fish and of a 110 pound Yellow fin Tuna the 'team navy' guys
got a day after I last fished with them while fishing in the same general area
we fished the day before. They said
it took them 1 hour and 40 minutes to land it on 30 pound tackle with a good
amount of chasing after the fish. I
attempted to attach the photo's to my newsletter but the file is too large. As you might expect, I would like to
provide you with the appropriate flies, leaders, and custom built Sage 10 – 13
weight rods should you have a need for specialized gear. A 10 or 12 weight Sage Xi-2 four piece
rod costs around $550 as opposed to a new factory built Sage of the same caliber
for $670, and in my opinion, my custom built rod is better all around. I
have a good supply of blanks in the Xi-2 6wt, 7's, 8's, 9's, 10's and 12's, and
a 13 weight. I have been
interviewed by phone for two upcoming articles to be published in Texas Parks
and Wildlife Magazine about big game fly fishing (cir. 420,000!) in which I
stated my prices for labor to build these rods is the same as it was in 1989 -
$75 plus components! I am either
too cheap, or perhaps my skills have improved after building thousands of rods
and the time it takes for me to complete is greatly
reduced.
C. D. McGehee and Bill Childs of the
Shonto Ranch (www.shontoranch.com) are
telling me they have some real quality Bass, Brim, and Catfish eager for the
taking. To hear C.D. tell it, you
would think the fish would jump into your pocket! The ranch is lush green from the
rains as it will ever be with the water clear and clean, prime for bank fishing,
kayaking, float tubing, or canoeing.
Great summer experience for very little
cost.
I received an email from my friend
Harry Lane (www.sanjuantroutfitters.com –
email sjtroutfitters@zianet.com)
telling me about his day early this week with an ant hatch going on the San Juan
– he and a friend caught 60 trout on size 12 ant patterns. Doesn’t get any better than that! He also said he has several openings
this summer and if you haven’t fished with Harry or on the
Herb has me busy ordering new fly
tying materials, hooks, and new flies etc. for fly tiers nights on Monday’s
from
If you haven’t taken advantage of
this service and are up to listening to more stories than you probably bargained
for, and would like to learn the art of tying or tying a particular fly, come in
and sit down with Herb. Herb and I are in process of ordering flies from a
new supplier and will be expanding the fly section of the
shop.
Dennis O.
Freeman
RODMAKERS
210-479-3477