Confessions of a Gear Whore.

We are in the middle of step 4.

After conducting a searching and fearless fishing gear inventory, it has come to our attention that, despite trying to practically GIVE rods, reels and lines away, we still have far too much fishing gear for one sane individual to actually fess up to owning.

Uh, lessee...at least a few halibut rods layin' about...a bunch of old pitchin' sticks and one-piece trigger blanks from the bass days, as well as a couple of stout spinning rods...3 or 4 jiggin' sticks, a half-dozen mooching rods, and at LEAST a dozen steelhead gear rods. A metric assload of old levelwinds, and probably just as many twisty-reels.

Oh.

Flyrods?

Yeah, we got a pile of those too...

Thing is, none of the rods were acquired with any ulterior motives, or for any reason other than fishing.

Some fellas get the latest and greatest, some get the most expensive, some get the one that matches their wardrobe the best, and some buy gear looking for the "silver bullet" the magic that will make their cast longer and straighter while whitening their teeth and losing 20 pounds of ugly flab...others are content to have one rod or one reel and make adaptations as needed.

Us...well, in case you haven't noticed, we're Übergeeks when it comes to fishin' gear. We like to futz and putter with gear, checkin' out the different static and swing weights of all manner of rod, flexing and wiggling a blank while admiring the nodes, scrutinizing fit and finish...more than that, we like the way each rod that we own has its own distinct soul, a different feel, a certain chutzpah about it that makes it a pleasure to cast or to fish with.

We make this last distinction because we readily admit that yes, we have actually purchased rods that are damn near worthless as fishing tools, but are fun as hell to cast.

To this pile, we add one more.

Pros: Good aesthetic, slim blank, whippy in the right way, super-fast recovery, light as a duck fart.
Cons: Lumpy, oversized handle...C'mon Jerry, take some of that cork off, fer chrissakes...crappy name.

We'll see if the new girl holds her own as a fishing tool come spring. Until then, she will just have to take her lumps from the other rods.