Resurrection – a term usually
thought of in a spiritual way, maybe is on my mind as a prominent San Antonio
pastor is building rods in my shop and I am picking up on some much needed
positive influence, but the resurrection I am speaking of is in the restoration
of those old memory ridden rods that some of us have put out to pasture. In addition to selling new equipment, I
do rod repairs some of which requires simple replacement of a guide or two or a
tip top, and some of which require a resurrection! I still have my father’s old rod and
reel and every time I walk past them displayed on a bookshelf in my den, I can’t
help but think of the pleasure they had given him and to marvel at how
technology has changed our fishing equipment. This thought came to me again last night
as I was watering a plant in my yard that I discarded 6 years ago as it appeared
to have reached the end of the line.
I dumped the plant and the dirt upside down from a pot to fill a hole the
dogs had dug near my air conditioner and somehow, even through my initial
neglect and surviving 6 winters in San
Antonio (it was a house plant!), it today is full of
blossoms and quite pretty. This
plant I initially gave to my mother on Mother’s Day when she moved into a
retirement home in Kerrville and she nurtured that plant from a
window sill in her room until the day she died 6 years ago. Some things we need to hang onto as long
as we can!
I fished with a good friend and
customer,
Solomon
Abdo and guide
Chuck
Naiser (361-729-9314) last week and experienced very
difficult conditions, to say the least, but a degree of success was achieved
when Solomon caught his first Red Fish (a nice 26 incher!) on a fly. First day out the wind was howling but
early on the fish were everywhere with a good current as the water was leaving
the bay pushed by a strong norther – tailer’s, moving fish and wakes, but it was
impossible to outstrip the forward movement of the boat. The boat was on the fish almost
immediately and we couldn’t get any movement of the fly. Very frustrating, however that day
Solomon made the perfect cast to a very aggressive Red and landed his fish. The next day wind conditions improved
but due to the strong norther, the tide didn’t come in and we experienced no
water movement at all resulting in the fish just laying there, motionless on the
bottom in very skinny water – no tails, no wakes just all day of saying “damn,
there goes another” as the boat approached. Do you suppose my lack of success is due
in part to my inability to see the fish, or maybe that my reflexes are just a
bit slower? Nah! Days such as we had do make me second
guess my abilities. I NEED one of
those ‘no-brainer’ days just for confidence.
Remember Monday evenings for fly
tying and instructions from
Herb
Mossman, creator of the ‘butt ugly fly’ aptly named after
Herb’s anatomy. He usually has from
2 to 6 people but there is room for more and remember, it’s free! Up to the point of acquiring a vise and
tying paraphernalia! Also on that note, retired Navy Captain
Bob
Ferguson, creator of the
WonderFurl Leaders so many
of us enjoy using, will be in the shop during fly tying on May 24th
from 5 to 8 p.m. He said
he would bring along his ‘Mokai’ boat for people to see and visualize its
applications. More on this in the
next newsletter.
As Ben Hogan said about golf holds
true for the fly fisher – “Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of
what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a
perfect ‘fly casting stroke’!
Please come see me if for no other
reason than to practice you’re casting out back and a little B.S. exchange. Happy Mothers Day to you
moms!
Dennis O.
Freeman
RODMAKERS
13457 Blanco
Road
San
Antonio,
TX 78216
210-479-3477
rodmaker@rod-makers.com
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