GREENS AND STREAMS BLOG
Fishing This Weekend?
Be sure to check out local stream reports to see what they're hitting on!
For the best in the Midwest, check these out:
Reports are saying the bite is on up north on the PM and throughout the Lake Michigan fishery. If you're looking for a day on the water, visit Jeff Hubbard at Outfitters North.
I'm heading up to the Driftless this weekend and hoping the forecasted rain stays away on Saturday and the BWO's and hoppers are on the menu. If you're heading up, be sure to drop by the Driftless Angler for some Morrish Hoppers!
Illinois Smallmouth Alliance - Cast and Compare
This past weekend, the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance hosted their Cast and Compare event on the Fox River, giving their members the chance to see what's hot on the market and what's coming down the pipe later this year.
With Dave and Doug from Sage and Redington there to help fine tune your casting, or make an educated recommendation on rod and reel choices, as well as Jeremy from DuPage Fly Fishing Co., there were plenty of options to cast. There were speycasting lessons, and even kayaks to check out.
In a rush out the door, I figured I'd grab a few rods to bring along. I only have at best, middle of the road graphite rods, but take a lot of pride in my glass collection, as they've all come out of my kitchen (I mean shop). With the blanks available on the market these days, building is simple and a great way to stay connected to fly fishing in the winter. It's not a big collection, but I recently completed a 7'6" Katbuto 4 weight, started my collection with a 7' Lamiglass 3 weight, and added a Blue Halo (Gen 1) 8' 5 weight along the way. Each built with the help of Eric Heckman from Coren's Rod and Reel, and with a lot of pride.
The Kabuto seemed to be a hit, and I was thrilled when a people liked it enough to request a build of their own. I've always loved to start building rods for other people, but other than a favor here and there, and a rod for my pop, I prefer to keep them in house. So it's a great feeling when someone appreciates the work you've done.
It was an all around great day and I had a blast casting some great new rods, some old school original glass and fell in love with the newer Sage reels. All around a great day, met some really cool new people, found some rods I may have to consider in the future, and have already started putting my pennies away in hopes of getting a new Sage reel this winter.
Mixing Hobbies with Work
Photo attributed to: etotheipiplusone.net
So I came out of the gates early explaining that I'm like most of you out there. Up and out the door before 7am, working through lunch, taking calls late, and battling rush hour traffic to get home to give the wife a hug, walk the dog and kick the shoes off. On good days, I can sneak out over lunch for a bit of fishing, or wet a line with a buddy in the evening. Maybe even hit a bucket of golf balls here and there.
But I can honestly say I'm one of the lucky ones. I love my job, most of the people I get to work with, and the products I sell and support. To keep a long story short, I sell software and 3D printing hardware to the manufacturing industry. That fly reel you're holding, there's a good chance my software, SolidWorks CAD tools, was used to design it.
My day to day job is kind of like living an episode of "How It's Made" or "Modern Marvels". I get to learn how things work, how the products we use day to day are designed and produced, and believe it or not, a lot of my customers do a ton of fishing. Lately it seems more and more companies are putting out videos of their processes, and how they go from raw materials to finished products. The guys over at Florida Fishing Radio swung by Tibor Reels to connect with Ted and talk more about how he came up with his reels.
A customer and good friend of mine happens to be one of the design and development guys over at Bettinardi Golf, and he's gotten the boys over at Abel Reels involved with some of the anodizing of their new project putters. Recognize any of their finishes? Also, check out how they take a similar process and turn bar stock in to a finished putter.
If you've got some bucks to spend and happen to enjoy a day on the links, check these out....