Fred and I had a chat the other day about writing specific posts or a general direction for the site.  Something we havent done to date as its worked pretty organically.  There was a pretty funny exchange straight away.

1:12pm

Fred Davis

Maybe you want to do rods and reels for the salt?

Peter Coetzee-Grylls

Fred Davis

me too! hahaha

I don’t know why or how we fell in love with these rods.  The chances are at some stage in your early years you struggled with below par tackle.  Then one day you picked up your first decent rod (with a decent line) and all of a sudden it all came together.  For me that happened with an SAS 9wt.  I was in love…and felt like I could finally present like Flip and the boys in the everglades.  Also, back then Scott had an advert in FFISW with a guy standing on a boat dead lifting an anchor with a rod.  That blew me away.  I must have been about 9 years old and already had been getting a fair amount of hate and trout comments from the bass kids around the dam.  This gave it some extreme appeal.  The posters have always been pretty fresh.

So maybe its because my cast developed on these rods that nothing feels the same to me.  As much of a cliche as it may seem, my S4s 10wt feels like an extension of my arm.  I can cast as perfectly with an 8, 9 , 10 , 11 or 12 wt sinker or floater and even spend a lot of time using 500g sinking heads in the surf.  Every time I try out another brand I always think of that scene in Rob Roy.  Neeson does win (if I remember correctly) but is clumbsy with his broad Scottish sword.  Thats how the other rods feel to me.  Ill get there but it doesnt feel pretty to me.  The Scott makes it feel more like fencing than sword fighting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEtPluUi0_U

Felt soul did a little production where one of the guys speaks about a client who fished a rod absolutely to death and then “retired it”.  “somebody’s best fishing partner”.  It had become an old friend.  I feel those exact same emotions when I look at mine.  Maybe its that a pretty decent looking Theresa Van Noosen still hand paints the logo on each rod.  If they had me before I saw the video it was game, set and match after seeing that.

Meeting someone else with the Scott obsession is like finding an old friend.  That “aaah, he gets it!” feeling.

Ive never seen one win a fly rod shootout, but I’m not looking for a machine.  I’m looking for tool.  A yew bow as opposed to a compound recurve.  Maybe they don’t have the best warranty either, but if I’m honest Ive never really compared.  Ive had to send one rod home to Colorado for some TLC.  Shes finally ready and its been like having a family member in hospital.  I just want her home now.

As my Alaskan friend Rob says, “they never wanted to get big”.  I like that.  Ive never met one of the guys but I feel like I’m part of the team.