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Post 17 Nov 2017, 15:28 • #26 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/10/15
Posts: 385
Location: US-NJ
I like gear that works. Regardless of who it is made by. When I find gear at great prices that I like, I dance a damned jig. At times I get a hankering for something beyond my means...but I have found most of my tastes lie somewhere between "cheap and causing a divorce" .


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Post 17 Nov 2017, 16:34 • #27 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
horsehead wrote:
Ron, what's the baitcaster on that other rod?

hi friend, that's a Lew's salt, 25-SW, Shimano design, unfortunately discontinued, but essentially the same reel as the Lew's 25th Anniversary reel (25-SE) - just doesn't have the gold-plated decorations or the wood/velour instrument box.
Image
There's a good discussion of lew's and what makes them cast farther on Spin forum - titled something like why baitcasters


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Post 17 Nov 2017, 17:40 • #28 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
I don't, nor ever have, equate fly rod quality with cost. That could be because I never did pay much attention to major fly rod advertisements or reviews/brand mentions in the outdoor magazines, a subdivision of travel writing in which the writers are generally fueled by freebies. Good for them; they do get good stuff that way. But you don't see many articles about a poor venue, poor service, and lousy equipment. Editors know what they need to put between the advertising. Advertising, too, can be informative, but the purpose is to create the aura--it is real--as described in the wine-tasting example. If the affective realm of stuff ownership is appealing, that's a choice too. Study all the mags, read all the ads, check the latest and greatest and go to all the shops--people have a ball doing that, even knowing It is a conditioning process they can chose or lose. I do very little of it, and even with partners I have fished with for decades, I could only recall a brand or two of rod or reel they had--if they had a preference at all, if we ever talked about it, or if I ever noticed. When we went fishing, we fished, and I noticed how they fished and we noticed what was effective and what wasn't. So the effective realm--function based--can be more important to some people, and that's the choice I always tried to make.

Most are on balance of this spectrum; it needn't be one or the other. Anywhere along the way could be perceived as snobbery, but it isn't.


There are many examples of this range just within the growth and change of a company. Orvis was a fly reel and fly rod company. It became, under well directed leadership, a "life style" company. The image of that life style is carried by fly rod, even if the owner of the rod never does buy a dog bed. The image grew the company and gives satisfaction to many Orvis buyers.

There is something out there for everyone, but a label like snobbery is in the eyes of the perceiver, not the ones who own or do something, or both in a certain way. People immersed in fulfilling activity and ownership, whatever the balance, are too busy to waste time feeling better than someone else.

Casual disparaging use of the term "snob" (and I felt from the start, as the OP later clarified, that it was not being used in that way) is sad, because it conceals the underlying emotion of envy. People consumed by envy find it harder and harder to climb out of or even recognize, so their personal psychological defense is to critique others. If they would just get what they want and do what they want with it, the envy would dissipate and so would their need to superficially judge others, or the misconception that others are doing the same. As the old saying goes, "You would not worry about what others thought of you if you knew how seldom they did."

Thank goodness we have a range of interests here, nonsnobs if I can use that term, with a variety of stuff and angling techniques, and a common interest to share thoughts and information.


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Post 17 Nov 2017, 18:33 • #29 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/29/09
Posts: 512
Location: 2 hrs from all good things Northern Californian
Clearly, snobs come in all shapes and sizes. Budget snobs, top-end snobs, grass/glass/graph snobs, fly/spin/bait snobs, moving water snobs, still-water snobs, and on-and-on.

I once tried to be social with a fellow one morning at well-known lodge; asking how his trip was going. He gave me a nice enough answer. When I asked whether he had plans to try a local lake that was fishing well, I got "I don't fish lakes" and a look like I was a heretic and the scum of the earth; kind of like when we were turned away from church one Sunday coming fresh out of the mountains in camping clothes when I was a teen. Not fishing lakes is not what made him a snob, but the looking-down-his-nose attitude is what did. I get plenty of comments from guides and other anglers about using glass, but only once did I sense condescension.


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Post 17 Nov 2017, 18:55 • #30 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
I don't fish lakes, either, but it's almost entirely because of the heat on a lake here - it's miserable by 9am - even for the fish.
Rivers here are often enclosed in cypress tunnels, making them 10-degrees cooler than being out in the sun, and often fish best at 2pm.
The coast, 99% of the time, has the good coastal breeze making it tolerable most of the day.

I've been in some strange fishing conversations with people. It just tends to be people with narrow horizons who don't listen, anyway, so just move on.

There's a guy in my Sunday-morning cycling group who always ends up in the peel-off group going for coffee. Don't get me wrong, I consider him a friend, even though his specialty is passing in the most dangerous possible places - it's his competitive nature that makes that real important for him. I have never been allowed to answer a single question he has asked me. The fact is, he just doesn't have room for other people's experiences.
Before you can get your answer out, he has interrupted with his story and wherever his mind has wandered. So I just shut up and listen - it ain't gonna mess my coffee. What creeps me out, though, he too often makes rude lascivious and loud comments about the young ladies walking the upscale downtown urban borough, without regard for who might be sitting at the table next to us. Both cycling and fishing can be solitary, escapist activities, so they often don't make for good conversation.


Last edited by bulldog1935 on 17 Nov 2017, 18:58, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 17 Nov 2017, 18:57 • #31 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/12/16
Posts: 4093
Location: USA-CO
Some very good observations above, and I agree that this forum shows no signs of snobbery. To me, those signs are: first, refusal to associate based on equipment or practice; second, continual 'one-upmanship' games.

There's a variant of the guy Bulldog1935 describes. It's the guy who asks a question, and before you get 3 words out interjects "No" and proceeds to give his answer. He wasn't looking for your contribution either.


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Post 17 Nov 2017, 19:15 • #32 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
that one made me laugh - too bad we don't have a like button :hat

In fishing, I ran out of things to prove years ago, so the friends, multiple interests and food are most important to me - fish are gravy.


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Post 17 Nov 2017, 19:17 • #33 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/15/10
Posts: 589
Location: Elizabethtown & Germania, PA
My wife and I happen to like nice things and fortunately we can afford them. So my gear is pretty high end. Like horsehead said, I enjoy the functionality, aesthetics and value of a nice rod. I certainly wouldn't begrudge anyone for fishing whatever makes them happy; inexpensive, expensive, vintage or new. I don't think I'm better than anyone else, I'm just a very lucky bastard who likes to fish.


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Post 17 Nov 2017, 20:25 • #34 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/22/11
Posts: 1720
Location: US-TX
I liked whirl and kitefly's definition of snob. A person possessing either envy and/or condescension. Either rarely seen in this forum. Okay I may have envied a few rods here and there :)


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Post 18 Nov 2017, 09:15 • #35 
Sport
Joined: 07/22/16
Posts: 46
Location: US-TX
I like finely made and, typically, expensive outdoor gear of all kinds. I only fish Orvis rods because that’s what I started with and have continued to buy. I also collect vintage Orvis reels.


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Post 18 Nov 2017, 10:15 • #36 
Guide
Joined: 10/01/17
Posts: 230
Location: Vermont
I'm glad to see such a great group of fly fishers that are all opened minded to gear of all types and prices ranges :) and I consider my self lucky to be a part of this group. Consider my question answered, and thank you all for all the honest input. :)


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Post 20 Nov 2017, 12:23 • #37 
Master Guide
Joined: 04/27/09
Posts: 573
Location: US-SD
Snobbishness about fly rods is always out of place. One should fish with whichever rod the butler hands one.


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Post 20 Nov 2017, 13:18 • #38 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/15/10
Posts: 589
Location: Elizabethtown & Germania, PA
Yes, but make sure to wear your Orvis tweed waders.
Image


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Post 20 Nov 2017, 14:11 • #39 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
gillie

There was an episode of Fly Fishing the World where they fished Scotland - they began with golf, and their caddies were also their gillies, handing them fly rods at the 9th hole.


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Post 20 Nov 2017, 20:01 • #40 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/04/12
Posts: 705
Location: SE Pa
Quote:
Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

As for me I think that I will go fishing. :)

I 2nd that. Some people like to espouse their preferences and even dis some others, but many times it's about what your Dad used, your Mentor, or just something that strikes your fancy. It's about what we each like and thank goodness it's not all the same.
.


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Post 06 Jul 2021, 15:02 • #41 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/25/16
Posts: 1069
Location: Rocky Mountains - Colorado
I was re-reading this and it got me to re-look at the pile of rods and reels that I am using and the searches on the web and the recent purchases and what I keep and what goes bye bye.

I have a solid interest in vintage rods that link to Colorado and or my childhood, Granger/Wright/McGill, Phillipson, Dave Cooks store brand and the like. I also have a solid interest in Fenwick, as that was what my uncles and step dad fished.

So I am kind of a snob...I want to fish 2 digit Fenwicks, Pre-65 Phillipsons and I want to fish them with Medalists and JW Youngs.

Price...well I like good equipment as cheap as I can get it.


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Post 07 Jul 2021, 17:53 • #42 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/30/11
Posts: 1231
Location: Fresno, CA
I'm not a snob in the typical sense I just have my preferences like anyone else. For fly rods I mostly prefer vintage rods. I have some newer glass rods and a few graphite rods but I'm always suspicious of the "latest and greatest". If an old rod was a good fishing rod, just because there is new "better" rod doesn't mean my old fly rod is no longer a good fishing rod. I have/had a fishing buddy that always had to have the newest latest rod from Sage, it seemed he never fished the same rod for more than 6 months before he would sell it to buy the newest model. He could never understand why I wanted to fish with rods nearly twice my age. I haven't fished with him in a few years so I don't know if he is still doing that. I'm a pretty sentimental guy and as corny as it sounds I tend to really develop an attachment and relationship with the rods I fish the longer I have them. I couldn't imagine buying a rod keeping it for only a few months to sell it to buy the newest model. For fly reels I like vintage as well but I also have modern reels. I just don't care for large arbor reels all that much I no longer have any, I gave away my last remaining large arbor loop fly reel a few years ago.

Like others have said true snobbery on both ends of the spectrum is what annoys me. The guy who turns up his nose at anything under 700 dollars and tries to make others feel less than for fishing more budget minded gear, as well as the guy who denigrates anyone who likes to fish with nicer stuff since he can "catch the same fish with his Walmart rod" .


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Post 07 Jul 2021, 18:50 • #43 
Master Guide
Joined: 07/05/05
Posts: 742
Location: US-VA
Maybe I'm a reverse snob. At a certain price, I won't pay it. I've never seen $500 worth of difference in rods.


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Post 08 Jul 2021, 00:12 • #44 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 2462
Location: Seattle, WA
Yes, I'm am positively a Featherlight snob. There I said it. :P


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Post 08 Jul 2021, 07:46 • #45 
Guide
Joined: 12/16/15
Posts: 135
Location: MSP
I guess I am, but inwardly - in that I'm really discriminating in my choices for my own gear and freely admit I get the most pleasure from using the nicest-performing or most sentimentally-valuable rods and reels that I own. I am a good enough caster I can discriminate the nuances between rod tapers (flex points, recovery, swing weight, etc) and give feedback on those characteristics. I did a saltwater rod eval for an upcoming trip a number of years ago with a shop in Indianapolis and after giving a couple rods some casts in the lot, the shop guys were bringing me rods and asking my opinion on them. What I liked, what I didn't, why, and so on. That was amusing, interesting, and somewhat humbling.

I'm comfortable saying I could duct tape a handful of #6 snake guides to a stick, string up a length of 10wt fly line and go catch a trout, but it wouldn't be fun (aside from the novelty now that I seriously think about doing it). I like gear that has that feel I am looking for and I know it when I know it. I've turned down some of the highest performing rods on the market because they didn't do what I needed them to. I also happily use some junkers because they mean something to me or they are special in some way.

Anything else is just tolerable.


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Post 08 Jul 2021, 12:50 • #46 
Guide
Joined: 12/28/19
Posts: 129
Bamboozle wrote:

Funny thing is, I never met a high end or low end snob who was condescending towards my tackle choices anywhere but on an Internet message board...

)


Well duh , thats because you have impeccable taste and stand 6'6", weigh 275 lbs and have purple hair . lol j/k

No I am not . However I do think walking billboards are a little ridiculous .


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Post 08 Jul 2021, 15:26 • #47 
Guide
Joined: 06/07/15
Posts: 162
Location: US-PA
Fishing gear are just tools to do a job. Some may have sentimental value but when I am fishing one, as long as it does the job, I don't care what kind it is. I pick a rod and reel to do the best job for the water I'm fishing that day.
I am usually so focused on presenting and fishing the fly that, if someone asked me what rod I have, I would have to stop and look at it to tell them.


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Post 14 Jul 2021, 15:16 • #48 
Sport
Joined: 11/16/20
Posts: 73
I'm cheap. Grew up in poverty and the theme runs deep. My "snob rod" is a $260 Phillipson that I like almost as much as my Fenwick, Silaflex and Conolon rods. Most of my 20 or so rods are under $120.

Those 3 brands I mention above get me going. Also like Medalist reels as I now have 4.


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Post 15 Jul 2021, 19:34 • #49 
Sport
Joined: 12/18/15
Posts: 95
Location: Annapolis, MD
Possibly, but I'm still enjoying a bunch of decent rods that I bought back in the 70's. I snagged a couple of nice Orvis bamboo kit rods ($79 in 1972, so that's roughly equal to about $430 today) and built a nice collection of Fenwicks from blanks. I look at the fly shop catalogs and I'm thankful I'm not getting into fly fishing today.


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Post 21 Jul 2021, 02:36 • #50 
New Member
Joined: 07/15/21
Posts: 13
I think the original question actually meant " are you a rod tart " as snobbery is rather different.
Seems to me, as Mr Gierach said, there are a lot of young bucks in America taking up fly fishing because it's perceived as a ' cool ' ( or to use an old word ' hip ' ) sport.
Top end manufacturers lure them into buying their top price goods. Its called consumerism and one could say - those with plenty of money must have something to spend it on.
The snobbery comes into it ( and believe me in England we know all about snobs ) when these ' Simms everything ' types look down their noses at blokes with less than top of the range tackle. They actually judge folk as inferior because of it ! Just as the chap driving a Bentley looks down on a Skoda owner.
They won't converse with, associate or even acknowledge those they perceive to be beneath themselves and such American snobs aren't judging ones tackle per se. They slot other people into their own particular social compartment based on the cost or value of their possessions.
In the USA you may not have the age old social strata we have, so you use wealth as the defining factor instead.
In the USA, praying to the ' Money god ' serves the same function and it works well there because one can elevate ones perceived station in society by having more of it.
I've been fishing all my life, I'm pushing 70 now and only bought my first ( 2nd hand ) Sage light line a few years ago, after being amazed by a friends LL.
Most of my rods were bought used, as is pretty much of everything else I own. Over here I'm not judged by that, even if I had top of the range tackle, car, clothes, even home, I will always be ' working class ' because I was born that way. There is no way up or out. Even if I became a millionaire I would be termed nouveau riche and no better than working class.
It certainly doesn't bother me. All the ' best people ' are working class anyway HA !


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