Over the weekend, after much heavy lifting of dirt and mulch and tilling and shoveling, we accomplished enough in the gardening world to allow time for other interests.
When we first planned to take an Alaskan vacation (now deferred), I decided I needed a travel rod to fish for salmon and steelhead (arctic char?) in the great Northwest. Anybody could buy one — what fun is that? So I purchased components and went to what, for me, was extraordinary lengths and expense to buy a rod blank made in the USA. It’s a 9 foot 7 weight St. Croix, four pieces. I used an uplocking cocobolo insert reel seat, single-foot ceramic guides throughout, and an olive sort of Orvis colored winding thread without ornament so as not to draw any attention of the fish as I wave it around.
All done now but for the overcoat of UV-blocking spar varnish over the epoxy on the windings. At the end of the week I will try it out after the coatings are good and hard. Then I plan to take it to Tortola to hopefully hunt bonefish.
There is a satisfaction and calm feeling of accomplishment experienced with using a tool built with your own hands. It is similar to the pride of eating vegetables you have grown and sharing them with friends and family. I feel pleasure in these pieces of reality, implements and food you can hold in your hand and examine and use. Much more rewarding to me than the abstract, virtual world of cyberspace where we live so much of our lives. Like this.
