You gotta love a woman......

[Michael T]

So it's Thursday evening and I left work ontime....how strange for me, but I have taken Friday off. I told my boss I needed a mental health day and would she mind that I take tomorrow off. She laughed and told me to enjoy the river. I'm so transparent.

 

I make it home and sit on the couch with a gin and tonic, just mixed by my wife, ready to relax. While I though she followed me in from the kitched, I hear her walking upstairs. After a half a minute, she walks around the corner with her arms behind her back and a big smile. She says "I have a present for you" and hands me a minty green fly tube! There's no mistaking that miserable color of the Ross FlyStik Light! WOOHOO! She bought me the 6-weight 7'11" Ross fly rod!! SCOOOOOOOOORE!

 

Now how outstanding is it that she not only paid enough attention to remember I talked about loving this "nasty colored Thin-Mint green" short flyrod at a recent casting event, but she drove to One More Cast and asked Joseph for help. Being the top-notch gent that he is, he remembered exactly which flyrod I loved and packaged it up for my bride. Cheers mate on remembering it was the 6 and not the 8 weight.

 

I took it to the backyard and casted using 4 different reels each with a different line. What a blast casting this rod, changing reels and seeing the difference in a 6 year old Orvis floating 6wt, a Clouser 5wt, a Clouser 7wt, and a Cortland sink-tip 6wt. I can't recommend this rod enough. I tried not to sing its praises too much at the short rod casting event, but after some quality time with it tonight, it's a beauty!

 

You gotta love a woman that'll buy you a new flyrod for no other reason than "for being you."

 

 

[John Loebach]

Nice! Lets hear how it handles a fish(or 5), you lucky dog.

[Gary L]

I guess food is not always the way to a mans heart. Sounds like you will have a great day on the water tomorrow. I do hope you write about your new rod.

[Guest rich mc]

i like that color! it may make the xmas list for me, but the 8wt. i fishedthe kish for 45 mins tonight and a shorter rod would be helpful there with the overhanging trees. 4 northerns and sheephead on a salmo crank. rich

[Joe D]

wow, does she have any sisters ??????

 

 

Joe

[Mark O'Donnell]

Then you woke up! Right?

 

Mark O'Donnell

[ronk]

I hear they make spinnng & baitcasting rods too but only a flyrod can ellicit that much excitement.Of the 3 floaters which did it seem to cast best with?

[Brandon]

You've got yourself quite a woman there! Let us know how the rod works out.

[maineman]

Michael, congratulations on passing through to a parallel universe I am not familiar with. Was your gin and tonic laced with hallucinogen?

Ron

[Mike Clifford]

Before: Think inane thought. Tell wife. Eye roll.

 

 

Now: Think inane thought. Twitter inane thought. Read to wife. Eye roll.

 

Speaking of "The Warden", her influence runs deep....

 

I told my daughter tonight there were starving kids in China who would gladly eat her dinner. She said, "Yeah? Name a few."

She gets this from her mother.

[jude]

Nice! You know....they say God works in mysterious ways. Maybe he gave you such a good wife to make up for the fly tying skills he forgot to bless you with.

[Steve S.]

I don't have a wife but somehow I ended up with three new fly rods!

 

Michael, you're a good dude and it appears your wife thinks the same. I think that was a pretty cool move on her part. Those are the kind of gestures that will keep your relationship strong and I'm sure you will return the favor by giving her the TFO in an 8 wt., just for comparison.

 

 

[Guest rich mc]

for those that dont know jude and michael that barb was all in fun as they both have won the fly tying contest. they tease each other often. rich, who will win the next tying contest.

[Guest airbornemike]

I read the warning but Im still jealous. Thats one of my favs from the shoot out Mike, let us know how she fishes, ie line wieght and type......its the least you owe us for the mental torture.

[Michael T]

As Rich commented about a small river with overhanging trees, I hit an area of the DuPage I haven't been in two years. It's a narrow section, with a deep hole at a bend with overhanging trees. It's a no brainer when it comes to low water condition in the dog days of summer. In fact, this spot is such a given at hitting some smallies, even "that Jude guy" might catch a fish! Of course, someone would have to explain to him about not throwing rocks in the water before fishing. He did this the last time we went fishing, running along the bank skipping stones and giggling like a 8-year old girl.....very annoying.

 

But seriously, that hole paid off with several nice fish on Clouser's Swimming Nymph. One in the 16" range, and 6 others all 10" to 14". The FlyStick Light lived up to its name: the 12 inchers put a nice bend in the rod and the 16 incher took a fair amount of time to land. While fighting the 16 incher and with the water crystal clear, another smallie of equal size was chasing and doing everything it could to steal the fly. Too bad I didn't have a trailing fly.

 

I put an old fly reel with the 6wt Orvis line Friday morning. That was a mistake; there's no life left in that line and felt sluggish almost sticky as I tried to shoot some with each cast. In the backyard, this combo was terrific, so I guess the heat of the day and/or the water softened the line up way too much. Fortunately the smallies were cooperating and took my mind off how poorly the line performed. After a few hours, I broke for lunch and changed reels/line. I placed a reel with 5wt Clouser line on the new Ross rod........sweet! The 5wt line was just heavy enough to load the rod and carry a medium sized deer hair popper. It really is a great combo, but I wonder how the Clouser 6wt would perform? I didn't bring the reel with the Cortland sink-tip, but the dozen casts in the backyard with it seems like it'll be a winner too. The 7wt Clouser I think would have been too heavy in the water. With the added tension the water and a soaked fly gives to the rod, I don't think this combo would work. The 5wt Clouser/Ross rod combo roll casts beautifully. After 6 hours of fly casting the Ross in Friday heat, my arm stil felt reasonably fresh, which is another benefit of this outfit.

 

One thing I didn't notice at the Short Rod casting event was the locking nuts to hold the reel have O-rings to prevent the nuts from backing off. Very nice feature. The cork is also high quality and full wells which I prefer, not the cigar style.

 

AirborneMike: treat yourself to this rod, while I've only been trout fishing once, but I could easily see this rod doing double duty.

Rich: don't make me laugh! You and "that Jude guy" are going down in 2010.

Steve: 3 new rods? get your own post!! Steve dropped by my house once once with his daughter to see my Bulldogs and pick up some fly tying material. My wife was upstairs working, man she was CRABBY that day. Steve, you're probably wondering what drugs she's been taking to turn into the flyrod-buying wife. That's top secret as I'm working on a patent.

RonG: it was a double; hallucinogens unnecessary.

Don: Don't encourage "that Jude guy", just pretend he's not there.

Brandon: This rod is a no-brainer, especially at its price!

Mark: I admit, the tension of the week disappeared instantly upon seeing the fly tube, but no....not dreaming.

Joe: bwahahaaa...no, thank goodness.

Gary: Sorry I missed your visit.

John: This new rod is all due to you, since you put that outing together with Joseph supplying the rods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bjensen]

Congrats on the new rod, Mike. Getting something like that out of the clear blue is really special. I haven't cast a Ross rod yet, but definately want to. I'll look for them at the Chicago Fly Fishing Show (Great Waters) the first of the year. I go every year with the primary intent of casting rods.

 

I've also got one of those "one in a million" wives. Every Christmas I have a box under the tree with something special (boots, waders, reels, etc.). Not sure if she actually loves me that much, or if she just knows it will give her free-reign when she walks into a quilt shop!!!

 

The wife was at the mall shopping one day last fall and picked up a neat t-shirt for me. It has trout flies going across the chest and underneath the flies, in very tiny letters, says "The way to a man's heart is thru his fly". How true.........

 

Brian