Avoid this one mistake when buying your first fly rod
How's that for a clickbait title? The CFS first-fly-rod buyers' guide, Winter classes open now, and a push against crude fly names.
CFS crew: 'tis the season for giving, especially when it comes to fly-fishing gifts.
I've had a couple folks reach out and ask about their first fly rod. If you're in the market for your first fly rod, check out our rundown of how to buy your first fly-fishing rod.
And for the love of all that is sacred, I ask you but one thing. Take your time in the purchase. From someone who owns many, I tell you this: You only get one chance to buy your first fly rod. So make it last.
Nick Parish
Buying a fly rod is like buying a saddle for a horse. Like buying your first new boat. Hell, it's like buying an engagement ring, or your first pair of really nice shoes, or your wand in Diagon Alley (sorry, the kid's going through a Potter phase and we've read that part a hundred times).
You're buying a fun-finder. You're buying a vehicle. You're buying a portal to another dimension.
Winter classes are open
Call a buddy, bring a friend. Our Winter term classes (Tuesday evenings in February) are available and filling up.
We're in the classroom in the wintertime, but folks who take this class are still welcome to join us at a casting session or fishing outing later in the year when the weather (and fishing) is more amenable.
What's in a fly name?
For all the hundreds of different fly patterns, there are hundreds of names, most initiated by the fly pattern's creator. And they range from descriptive to fanciful, culturally relevant to today and old-timey and outmoded from yesterday. There are a few that are uncomfortable and cringe.
It's nice to see MidCurrent raising the idea that it might be time to cut and retie pattern names you wouldn't ask your mother to fish. This is a decades-old debate, and will never be something that's resolved immediately and resolutely, but rather through calling attention to the issue and making better choices. We've changed the common names of fish and of natural features and areas to get with the times and stop perpetuating old ideas, so this should be relatively easy.
MidCurrent Staff
Gear that goes the distance
I really enjoyed this diary from a Patagonia field tester, that shows the level of effort the company puts into making sure their apparel is bombproof at the grassroots level.
It's a good thing to remember as you head into our most commercial time of the year: sometimes it's better to buy the more expensive item, when you only have to buy it once.
Current Flow State is a weekly newsletter from me, Nick Parish.
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