Top Secret Covert Black Ops

[Jerry Andrews]

OK, I'll have to tell the quick story about that jumping on the rods!
I was fishing a little out of the way stream, walked in about 4 miles on railroad tracks, starts to rain, here comes a guy walking back out. Pretty well dressed gent, looked like he just robbed the Orvis store. We stopped to chat for a second, he asked me if I wanted to have a bad day back in here fishing with a primitive tool like I had. I tried to talk to him about the beauty and advantages of bamboo, but he insisted it was a piece of worthless junk and proceeded to tell me as much. Said they broke when you looked at them. That's when I asked him to lay his graphite rod down on the rails and let me jump on it and he could do the same to my cane rod. He asked what the hell was wrong with me, I told him if the rod was so fragile then let's jump on each other's rods. He didn't go for it and that was that. He sulked away, the same bitter person I'd met 10 minutes earlier, just a bit humiliated. I regret doing it. I should have simply smiled and been polite and not gotten so redaxxed over the event. Some say I have a temper, I don't believe it!
PS. I bought a dandy Eagle grade Smith with the incorrect forend metal. Does anyone have good pics of an Eagle engraving on the forend metal you could send me? Thanks much, & sorry for the lengthy story.
One more PS. I think John Gierach, the Trout Bum had a similar condescending thing happen in a book of his.

Jerry- I have that great book, about 20 some years ago after a TU group trip to fish the Bow in Alberta, my best fly fishing buddy and ace seven card stud player gave me a copy. I'll look it up.

One thing they don't seem to teach in the Orvis and other fly fishing schools is good streamside manners- I gave up steelheading on the PM (Michigan- Baldwin area) some years ago for two reasons: (1) My old friend and mentor Merle T. Nolph had passed away- before that I always parked at his home, near Doc Green's bend and just about where the Baldwin Creek connects to the main branch- "Simmy" got me a permit pass so I could be on the PM R&G Club properties w/o facing a trespassing charge- (2) The Johnson's Orvis Lodge upriver- their guides were A-OK-, but some of their clients acted like they owned the river for the day, as they were paying for the guide fee-

I don't see where you were "off base" as the other gent made comments about your fly rod, etc first- But you are right, in retrospect- it might have been better to have walked away, shaking your head in wonder- As a long-time Leonard man, I know the cross section (like a guided bend test for API- and ASTM code welding) of a six-sided bamboo rod will stand more "gaff" than any hollowed out "soda straw" synthetic fly rod.

What gets me is all the high prices and hype for these graphite rods- and the distance casting claims- "Casting ain't Catching"--