I live in SE NC but grew up in Knoxville and fish the South Holston and Watauga with regularity with my Fly rfishing club. You are in a vey special part of the world with some spectacular fishing, Enjoye

I have never cleaned a rod handle except to flick some fish scales off. A good rod deserves to have a well-stained handle showing years of catching fish and casting. I’ve had cork need some repair work but cleaning them is not something I do. I bet many of the readers will have fished far harder than I and have cork that really could use some cleaning. But mine have never gotten to that point.
Coregonus

Down here in North Carolina we have a state fishing education center in Fayetteville that takes used tackle. I think they use if for young people and wounded veterans. I’m still using my fairly impressive collection but after my two sons take what they want and my fly fishing club takes what it wants, I plan on donating them to the John E. Pechmann Fishing Center in Fayetteville, NC or to the state aquarium at Fort Fisher (south of Wilmington) that has a guy who takes old equipment and gives it to kids. Let’s get the younger generation fishing and give them rods that actually work. Those pixie rods work for a few hours- maybe even a week. But then…. IN my opinion, it is up to us to come up with our exit strategy for our collection of rods and reels. Some of us are lucky to be able to amass quite a collection. They could be sold at pennies on the dollar but why not just give them away to a group that will put them into the hands of kids or wounded warriors who will actually use them. More power to you in your endeavors. Then there is the fisherman’s prayer- “And when I’m gone, please don’t let my wife sell my stuff for what I told her I paid for it,”

Down here in North Carolina we have a state fishing education center in Fayetteville that takes used tackle. I think they use if for young people and wounded veterans. I’m still using my fairly impressive collection but after my two sons take what they want and my fly fishing club takes what it wants, I plan on donating them to the John E. Pechmann Fishing Center in Fayetteville, NC or to the state aquarium at Fort Fisher (south of Wilmington) that has a guy who takes old equipment and gives it to kids. Let’s get the younger generation fishing and give them rods that actually work. Those pixie rods work for a few hours- maybe even a week. But then…. IN my opinion, it is up to us to come up with our exit strategy for our collection of rods and reels. Some of us are lucky to be able to amass quite a collection. They could be sold at pennies on the dollar but why not just give them away to a group that will put them into the hands of kids or wounded warriors who will actually use them. More power to you in your endeavors. Then there is the fisherman’s prayer- “And when I’m gone, please don’t let my wife sell my stuff for what I told her I paid for it,”

Oops on the Reston and not Ruston- I went to seminary in VA where it is Reston.
Coregonus

Dear Papa Dog,
We’ll, I’m 76 and all of your equipment looks brand new/ top of the line to me. A Quick or Mitchell spinning reel would have fit the profile just as well.
Since you are from Reston, LA, did you know Charlie Willoughby? His daughter was the choir director in the congregation (Presbyterian) I served in Jackson and Charlie and I worked side by side for a week in south Mississippi after Katrina. He was a class act. He died several weeks ago- a real saint, Marine and Baptist to the core.

Impressive. Thanks for telling us.

Lots of great ideas. Being a saltwater guy who enjoys going after red drum in the marsh on very high tides, I got my brother to weld a simple frame for the front of my 16’ long x 48” wide bottom Alumacraft Jon boat so we could hang flounder gigging lights on it. We don’t gig very well so I took off the lights, leaving the frame so my aging buddies and I have leaning post when we’re in the marsh with our fly rods. So, I launch the boat, tie it up to the dock, go park my car/trailer and use the frame on the front of the boat to grab as I swing myself into the boat. In addition, I use it to climb up on the deck when it’s my turn to cast as well as using it to get back onto the dock at the ramp when it’s time to leave. With an artificial knee and hip (not on the same side), I have some mobility issues but this feature makes boating possible.

Not that it matters that much but how did it get bent in the first place? Bet there’s a story there.

And you know whereof you speak. As I recall, Corvallis had 8” of snow Christmas night. We were driving there from the Portland airport to visit son, daughter-in-law and granddaughters in the wee hours of December 26. The last 30 miles took forever. Most of the rest of our family is somewhere in the path of this latest storm. Thanks for your prayers and bringing to our attention.

Can you imagine being asked to spell that name in a Spelling Bee- or even being asked to pronounce it as a judge? It is pretty, though.

I just turned 76 and wrote an essay for our fly fishing club recently suggesting we all need an exit strategy for what to do with all of the gear we have gotten over the years. I like the idea of getting it into the hands of young folks, perhaps through a local program at the Y the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts or even an area aquarium (the case here in Southeastern NC). I’m in the prime of life so I’m not ready to make the switch, just to start thinking about it. I don’t want any vultures at a yard sale buying my stuff and then reselling it for twice as much. There’s a special place in Hades for those jerks. Family gets first refusal but the rest….? What thoughts do they rest of you have?

I, or my fishing companions, seem to have a knack for breaking tip-tops off. So, I carry a little baggie with a batch of tip-tops of varying sizes, a glue stick and a cigarette lighter with me in my fishing bag. I also carry a tip-top gauge so I can find the right size to use. This has saved countless fishing trips for me and/or my friends over the years It may cost $50 to get the wide selection but it is worth every penny to have it. We can get back to fishing in less than 10 minutes. Also, never throw the broken tip away. Often you can heat the tip-top, pull out the broken part and add the tip-top to your collection for future use. Why not re-use the old top? Rods are tapered and with the break-off, it is likely you will need a larger sizie for the replacement. Coregonus

We have a guy down our way who works magic on speckled trout with a “walk-the-dog” lure and a cheap K-Mart rod he’s had forever. He broke a line guide and bought a new rod that never lived up to the old cheapie. He mentioned it to me. Since I build a few rods for family, I offered to put a new line guide on for him. He’s back catching speckled trout with that old piece of junk that has the perfect action for his fishing style. Priceless and irreplaceable! I, too, have 30-40 year old rods that still work just right for spinner baits or Hopkins or large jigs. Keep the reels going (or buy a new one now and then) and I’m set to go. A rod can tell you what lure(s) it really likes. I’ve even turned broken 1-piece rods into 2-piece rods with success. Sometimes they work better than the original rods. And never throw away any of the line guides unless they are beyond hope.

Anytime any of you want to be half-backs, we will be glad to welcome you to North Carolina which is half-way-back from Florida and the Northeast. A whole batch of them have found a warm welcome in the Old North State (as opposed to South [Carolina]). Coregonus- SE NC.