Please Don't Loan Out Your Rod

by John Evans
(San Antonio, TX)

I confess that I made a horrible mistake a few weeks ago. The whole episode started innocently enough, when I decided to loan my Suntech Field Master 39 to my wife, Robin. Forgive me. I just didn’t realize what a blunder I was making and what a tangled path I was heading down.

We were fishing the South Llano River near Junction, TX when Robin thought she needed a longer pole to reach a particular spot of water. Normally Robin enjoys using shorter tenkara rods because she says they give her better control. But, on that fateful day, she needed the extra length.

The only other rod I had brought with me was my beautiful Field Master. “Here,” I said. “Try this.” What was I thinking?

Robin was doubtful at first, but she took it anyway and began to fish. And then she fished and fished some more, landing one stocker rainbow after another. You see, the spot of water she had been trying to reach really was the right spot.

The next day she asked if she could “re-borrow” the rod so she could fish the same place. Now right there is where I could have politely declined, but I’m a soft touch. Once again, she out-fished hubby - with my own rod! Talk about embarrassing.

Two weeks later we traveled to Blanco State Park in Blanco, TX, and Robin asked if she could borrow “her” rod again. Wait a minute . . . When did my rod become HERS? To make matters worse, she landed an unseemly number of channel catfish that day. Turns out that Field Masters and channel catfish go together like ketchup and fries. Oh, why did that Suntech rod have to work so well? The handwriting was on the wall, and the news wasn’t good for yours truly.

So, I decided to make the best of a bad situation and “gift” her with the Field Master 39. Hey, I was only acknowledging the painfully obvious. At least I had an excuse to order another rod from Chris Stewart, while Robin smiled sweetly and looked the other way.

So please don’t loan out your rod. Chances are, you won’t get it back.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” - Benjamin Franklin

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.