I. Went. Fishing. (was Kabuto 8053, pt 2: A "review;" and vulgarity laced musing on dry fly purism and gearsnobbery.)

Yesterday was April 20th, 2024.

 

I went fishing.

 

I forgot what it's like to go outside the house. Also, holy FUCK did I get fucking FAT. And my feet hurt. And I don't know where any of my shit got to so I just grabbed random shit that was all teh worst shit ever for a fat fucking fuck stuck on the banks because I cant' fit into my waders and I didn't wanna wet wade coz its fucking cold and I'm a baby.

 

But.. I went fishing. So that counts, right? Shit, I still know how to do it!

 

Also here's something that was waiting as a draft from 1/10/18. I'll never complete it. Hell, I won't even READ it, but I'm gonna fuckin' post it.

 

So there you have it.

 

---------------------------------

 

After my first year or three of fly fishing, I'd settled into patterns. I only fished dry flies, or a dry/dropper with an unweighted fly 18" or so under a bushy dry, and I frequented 20' to 30' wide tree lined creeks. I was,  I think, moderately successful, at using these flies and setups and was only getting better at it. At the time, I was busy formulating my fishing timearound these two styles.

Traditionally speaking, "dry fly action" rods were fast, tip, action regardless of the material. If you look at current dictum, assholes say you fish dry flies with slow rods, and this is why they're assholes. Slow rods don't dry your flies on a cast. Slow rods aren't precision tools that generate tight loops into small targets. Slow rods don't set the hook with aplomb when you're fishing up stream and with mended line across braids. Those are all attributes of faster rods.

What slow rods do well, though, is provide that tactile and great feeling of a rod loading and unloading. They provide a more visceral enjoyment in casting your line, which is arguably the draw to a dry fly purist. The thing is, a fiberglass (or bamboo) rod can provide that feeling as you get to enjoy the feeling of the rod's loading and unloading due to the mass in the tip, the way you can feel the energy roll out your arm and down the rod and line.

Home, sweet home.

I'd spent some time looking for the right rod to fit the criteria of how and where I fish the aforementioned dry fly purist thing in small, usually forested, creeks. I'd gone from an 8' 4wt Versitex rod (fished with a SA GPX 4wt line, making it essentially a 5wt rod) to a Fenwick 756, 7'6" 6wt rod which really helped me understand that fiberglass didn't mean limp. In usage, the two rods basically handled the same, the two (or, really, one) line weight difference being lost in the way the material itself handled casting (glass versus IM6 graphite).

All of this long-winded preamble shit basically sets up my preferred choice to fish these flies in these waters: A rod that's a true medium (to med-fast, if you must), 8', AFTMA 5wt, and (for me) fiberglass. It also had to look fucking stellar because this was going to be my perfect rod. So, I ordered a Kabuto 8053 blank; based on word of mouth, it met my requirements. Now I've finished it, and fished it quite a few times, and I'm willing to tell others what I think, because I'm a big enough fuckin egotist to assume you give a shit.

And its my blog, so whatever.