Fly Rod

     Better than a year ago my son stumbled on an old fiberglass fly rod at some sort of sale. Knowing I like those kind of things he gave me a call. Turned out it was a Johnson Profile 600, 8 1/2 foot, 8 weight from the early 60s, Allan worked out a deal on it and come Christmas it became mine. Good present. It's size says it's suited more for bass and pike than small stream trout. That's okay, I'm not much of a trout fisherman anyhow. 

     In most ways it's a clean rod. There was a loosening thread on the ferrule but I carefully worked it into place, laid on a few coats of varnish and she's as fishable as the day it came from the store. Back when it was made the Profile was a pretty spiffy rod, near the top of the line for a rod builder, Phillipson, known for its quality. The 600 is one step down from their gold-plated 800 but shares the same blank, not a problem for someone who's allergic to gold anyway. A year and a half has passed  since that Christmas and I still haven't used it, or any other fly rod for that matter. Call it the irony of being old enough to own something you'd like to have had twenty years ago and now the effort to sling a feathered hook sounds a little challenging.

     Anyhow, my intention is to change that when we're up on the Canadian border. There's a world of smallmouth bass swimming in the rocks along the shores of Namakan Lake and I wouldn't mind hooking up with a few. Actually, one would be nice. If for some odd reason I tied into a wall hanger pike, that'd be okay also. And if the pike proved too much for the rod, all things considered, it'd be a better way to go than being snapped off in a car door.