Take a look at this Hardy Perfect Reel. It just won Best in Show at the Denver Fly Show. Although the Perfect was introduced in 1893, this new one is modeled after the 1927 version. Do you know what's different about the new Perfect and the old one? Nothing. Same guts, same material, same milling process as the ones created back in 1920s ye old England. This really struck a chord with me, because it proves that good gear will always be good gear. While it's always exciting to see what modern technology will produce in the fishing world, wouldn't it be nice if more tackle companies reintroduced some stuff that anglers already know is rock solid?

I'll use Penn as an example. They've come out with some pretty innovative reels in recent years, yet cruise the fishing message boards and you'll see plenty of guys griping about the discontinuation of a bunch of their models. I paid $200 on eBay for a mint-condition Penn 704 Greenie because it's one of the best surf reels ever made. Why? Because the simple one ball-bearing design and minimal guts mean you can actually get a few grains of sand in it and not have to throw it away. It's a workhorse that even I can take apart and get back together. A few years ago, there was a baby buzz that Penn would reintroduce the Greenie, but I'm still waiting.

Are you still fishing a classic? Anything you want to see come back? I'll admit that I'm all about buying old tackle because there's something cool about fishing "vintage" gear that's more reliable than a lot of stuff on the market now. I'll leave you with a hot tip: If you are into old tackle, check out crazedlist.org. The site lets you search multiple Craigslist locations at the same time. I'm totally addicted.

JC

While surfing the web the other day, I stumbled across a bit of pure genius. Operating under the slogan "Looks Like Crap, Tastes Like Chicken" is a new website called Garbagefish.com. What you'll find is a site dedicated to catching, cooking, and being generally unashamed of chasing species like dogfish, skate, and sea robins...a.k.a. "trash fish." They're even selling catch flags with these species emblazoned upon them.

Here's a quote from their site: "Tired of seeing that 52' sportfisher pull into his slip, flying a quiver of brag flags? You know the ones, the yellowfin tuna flag, the mahi flag, the white marlin flag, etc. Well we don't catch those fish, so we don't make those flags!"

I can really get behind this effort, because truthfully, your Joe-average weekend angler doesn't catch any of those fish either, but damn if he doesn't reel in loads of dogfish on the $3 eels he's dropping for stripers. I would proudly fly a garbage fish flag on my boat. I catch more than my share.

The site is in fledgling stages, so info and photos are lacking a bit, but I do think this site needs to branch out into sweetwater. What fish would have to be on their stickers for you to slap one on your truck? It's suckers and creek chubs for me, but I bet you've got other ideas.

JC

Anybody else do this? Make a line-remover out of a water- bottle cap and bottle. It's fast, cheap, and you can use it to store line or throw it away as you like. Here's how.

Photo by John Merwin

Photo by John Merwin

Take a common water-bottle cap and drill a centered 1/4-inch hole, within which you'll use washers and nuts to fasten a 2-inch-long by 1/4-inch-diameter bolt. The bolt shank will stick out of the top of the bottle cap.

Screw the cap on an old water bottle, and chuck the bolt shank in your cordless drill. Tape the end of your line to the bottle, and set your reel at a very light drag setting or in free-spool. Then rev up your drill to remove all line from the reel very quickly. 

Works like a charm with baitcasting, spinning, and even fly lines (although I know that fly lines should be stored in large, loose coils).

We ran a post yesterday under Field Notes about how California's governor wants to tap into state fish-and- wildlife funds to rescue his general-fund budget. This is going to be coming up more often as state budgets feel the squeeze of a tight economy.

For both sportsmen and fish-and-wildlife agencies, though, there might be some hope. Back in 2003 when Mitt Romney was still governor of Massachusetts, he tried to tap that state's fish-and-wildlife fund to help cure a general statewide deficit. Fortunately for anglers and hunters, he ran head-on into the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), who said that kind of monetary diversion is a no-no, at least not if Massachusetts wanted to retain some $4 million in annual federal wildlife aid. As reported at the time by the Boston Globe, Romney quickly back-pedaled, and the state legislature nixed the planned raid on fish-and- wildlife monies.

State wildlife agencies get millions of dollars every year through excise taxes paid by sportsmen on hunting and fishing gear along with boating fuel. The program is administered by USFWS, which doles out money to the states as matching grants that are linked in part to fishing and hunting license sales. If that license revenue is diverted somehow from fish and wildlife, then the corresponding federal aid is apparently not payable and would instead be apportioned the other states.

Various state governors and legislators who try reaching into the fish-and-wildlife cookie jar this year may thus wind up getting their fingers burned as Romney did. At least I very much hope