Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Carptastic Glass



Still digging the Cabela's CGR, and still digging glass in general, perhaps because the first fly rod I ever picked up and caught (totally accidentally) a fish on, was the very glass-like original Fenwick HMG graphite six-weight that is still my all-time favorite rod.

I know it's crass, poser flyfishing hipsterism to proclaim love for both fiberglass and carp in the same paragraph, but besides the obvious fact that I'm a large, fleshy, unrepentant Oklahoma Bubba (which automatically disqualifies me from hipster flyfishing membership, anyway) I'm also just about the most bumbling, clueless, incompetent, untrendy, uncool wannabe fly angler you'll ever meet (I don't own a single piece of Simms gear or Howler Brothers clothing, seriously).

Oh, I try. I really do. I read the Drake, but I don't understand half the shit those bearded hippie weirdos are talking about, not really. And whenever I find myself in trendy, photogenic mountain towns on summer vacation, I seek out fly shops in which to skulk (I prefer the term "hang out"), hoping to pick up on the mannerisms, the patois, and the style of the modish, surfer-like flyfishing bros who all look just like the lead singer of some hairy indie folk group. I try to watch a few of the approximately 1.5 million earnest, slo-mo-infused flyfishing lifestyle films on Vimeo, but frankly, many of them bore the shit out of me because they're so derivative. And because I'm jealous.

So I'm really not trying to be "that way." Nope, I do have good, honest redneck excuses for both the glass and the carp love. I like the glass not because I'm trying to be pretentious, but because  I - a totally self-"taught" flycaster - suck so badly at casting that the forgiving nature of the glass tends to mask my casting atrocities. And it's cheap. At least the CGR is. I got mine for about $75 on sale. The 7/8 weight CGR  is on sale right now for $65, and I'm having a really hard time not buying one.

As for the carp, I live on the southern plains. I don't fish for carp because it's fashionable to fish for carp. I fish for carp because they're just about the only damn fish available to me, especially on our local rivers and ponds in the dead of summer. And because carp are awesome, of course. I'd still fish for them even if I didn't have to. Carp are, to me, a lot like Sriracha sauce: Yes, they both may be insufferably trendy, but just because they're trendy doesn't mean they're not still great. 

* All pejorative references to the Drake are purely tongue-in-cheek. It's a pretty cool rag, and one of the few mags to which I still subscribe, even though I'm way too damn old to get much of it.  

10 comments:

  1. Do you eat the carp? maybe with Sriracha? I might not be a Bubba, but I am plenty redneck and I'd damn well eat the carp once it's out.

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    1. Nope, about the only fish I murder and consume on a regular basis any more are perch, crappie, and catfish. Pretty much everything else gets a pass.

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  2. Always great Chad, you might try that trendy glass on a hybrid bream with a breamkiller on it. Then write a story about that and send it in to The Drake and wait for them to figure out what a hybrid bream is and breamkiller. Those guys will eat it up and you will start a new fad. Then both you and the hippy dudes will be on the cutting edge again.

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    Replies
    1. I should try to send something into the Drake some time, I guess. Never pitched them before...

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  3. Chadster
    I too have a culinary question: Seeing as you have a truck, have you tried taking the carp home alive and letting them purge in running water? Hugh Fearlessly eats-it-all did a show once where he swore it was the way to really get the best from the flesh.
    SBW

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    Replies
    1. I don't eat them, but one of these days I'm going to go on a rough fish exploration, try common carp, freshwaters drum, garballs, etc. May be pleasantly surprised.

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  4. Heck, you threw the gauntlet down in the Drake now, you have to send an piece in. There is lot's weirder stuff in there than what you write! When you look at "this is fly" and "southern culture on the fly" they print some really good writing and photos - but I don't always get it. But I sure like to see (for the most part) the new ways that fly fishing is moving. More places, more people, but more pressure to keep the waters somewhat clean and access for all. Singlebarbed does a good job of being the lead on the brownlining side too. TK

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  5. I don't have any astute comment. I just like this post.

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  6. I had that Fenwick HMG rod; 8'6", 6wt. 3pc. Found it in a North Texas pawn shop wearing a Chinese Pflueger Medalist copy frozen nearly solid with gunk, a level line with about 10' of heavy mono tied on, and a rubber spider missing a couple of legs. They wanted $15; I got it for $10. A couple of the guides had been reattached with sewing thread; I fished it like that for a long time but finally got it fixed. It was my first good fly rod. I sorta-gave-sorta-loaned it to a friend who was kinda broke and moving to New Mexico and didn't own a fly rod. He's in Iowa now; don't know what he uses it for up there. The reel cleaned up fine but it had a Browning Midas on it when I sent it to him. Maybe I'll get it back one day.

    I fish for carp too; Prairie Bonefish!

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