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Your Favorite Gear Of All Time

10K views 91 replies 72 participants last post by  BC33 
#1 · (Edited)
I feel like we need a positive version of the worst rod of 2020 thread! What's your favorite fishing related items, of all time? It can be anything; rods, reels, gadgets, doodads, etc.

8ft 4wt Redington Classic Trout Rod
I sold this rod a while back, because I no longer had a use for it. However, this was by far the best rod I've ever had and also one of the cheapest. I don't know why, but it just felt good to fish with.

Redington Clark Fork Mesh Vest
I started out with a hand-me-down vest, when I was about 10. It took 20 years of playing around with every "best" new pack system, to realize that there's nothing better than a vest. This is a simple, cheap, vest that has everything I need and nothing I don't.

Renzetti Traveler Vise
I've had this vise for about a decade now and I'm still impressed with it. It will probably be my last vise.

Tacky Fly Boxes
These fly boxes are inexpensive, but make every other fly box I've used seem like garbage.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Granger 8642 Victory Bamboo fly rod. 8'6" 5 weight. Works with my float tube, swinging wet flies, fishing dries.

Hardy Uniqua reel.

Any Hardy Fly box.

Filson lightweight fishing vest.

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Great story about the name of the rod. Granger's rod designer Bill Phillipson was fighting with Granger's office manager about making improvements to the company's fly rods. Phillipson won and named the new fly rods Victory. The office manager must have done a slow burn each time she had to ship one of the rods.

She got even in the end by torpedoing the sale of the Granger fly rod company to Bill Phillipson. He returned the favor by leaving and starting up the Phillipson rod company which produced some outstanding bamboo rods.
 
#4 ·
I too, am a fan of the Redington Classic Trout. I have two of them, a 3 wt and 5 wt, both 8 1/2'. I'm very attached to my McVey cane rods, but I like the 5 wt best and use it the most. I have a bevy of wonderfully performing fly rods, including Spey rods. However, among the latter, I'm ass over tea kettle infatuated with the CND 12' Spey Tracker and 13' 4" Solstice. If carbon fiber rods can have soul, these two have it in spades.

I could never have too many Hardy reels, so I have a few. I'd never part with the better made Ross Colorado trout reels because they are that good. And my custom made Shamburg Spey reel that is patterned on the ancient Dingly, is a joy to use because it is just so damn well made.

I try not to be a gear junky, but sometimes I just can't help it.
 
#19 ·
Buck's Bag South Fork. Once I got the oar extensions, good went to great.

Powell LL 945. 30 years old, still my rod.
I can't throw mine away...valve leak also 30 years old-ish maybe older...Bucks Bag Mustang...Has not been used in a decade...or more...Fish Cats are what I have now... That Bucks bag is/was amazing...but I sat lower in the water in it...which is good and bad. One thing I will saw...it was a lot easier to land steelhead and salmon in when going for a Nantucket Sleighride at Drano.
 
#10 ·
I can't think of any gear I've owned that I couldn't make work for its intended purpose, but some I've liked more than others.

The old clear headed Rio OBS lines. Still my favorite line ever for throwing big stuff a long ways.

Linekurv stripping basket. Best 60 bucks I've ever spent on fly fishing gear.

Costa Fantail 580g glasses with Sunrise Silver Mirror lenses. They excel in low light and are the best lenses for seeing into the water Ive ever used.

I've had a lot of great rods, but a few stand out.

Redington Link 9' 8 wt. Caught more coho on that damn rod than I could begin to count.

Redington Vapen 9' 12 wt. Just an incredibly tough, strong 12 wt. Ive caught an awful lot of albacore on this rod. It casts great, has a ton of backbone, and puts up with major abuse on the ocean. I paid 100 bucks for it.

Hardy Zenith 8' 10" 7 wt 1 piece rod. Perhaps the nicest casting fly rod Ive ever used. Super smooth, plenty of power when needed. I haven't fished it in a few years, which is a shame.

Scott Meridian 9' 6 wt. My all time favorite big flies, big wind, big fish 6 wt.

Orvis Helios 3 9' 6 wt. My favorite all around 6 wt.


For reels the original Orvis Hydros SL for being flat out work horses.

Bauer Rogue 4 as my personal favorite reel.

Renzetti Master vise. I have a love of vises, and have owned and tied on most production vises at some point, but the Master wins for me. Will hold any hook on the planet. Lots of nice little touches like a material clip that works well and isn't in the way, and a rotary tension screw that actually holds tension where its set.

Stonfo Dubbing brush machine. Totally changed my fly tying.

Triumph 170cc boat for opening up the entirety of the Puget Sound.
 
#11 ·
7'10" Micro Poke Boat, circa 2000. 17 lbs empty, fits inside my various fishing rigs over the years, no legs dangling in 40° water. Countless days of fishing small water. Maker is no longer around :(

9' 4wt Albright A5 rod, also circa 2000. Have many more expensive rods, but this one is perfect for me. Company is long gone, so I will probably weep if I ever break it!

Everything else is replaceable
 
#20 ·
I started beach fishing in 1999 and used a Loomis IMX 7wt 10ft 2 piece that I had built several years earlier for steelhead. That rod was the best beach fishing rod of all the ones I’ve cycled through since then.

At the time I had it paired with a Redington AL 7/8 with a Rio Aqualux 8wt throwing pink and white craft fur clousers for pinks - good times.
 
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#21 ·
My first graphite rod is still my favorite of all time. In the mid to late 80's I decided I could trade up from my 7'6" 6wt Eagle Claw. I was at the annual Portland Sportsman's Show perusing the goods, and noticed a bin of rods in the corner. One of the employee made these in his spare time. The one I picked was only 7'8", and the only writing said "Chalk stream." I was assured that it was a 4wt. It was a 2-piece. I loved that rod and caught many fish with it. The butt section shattered in 2013, stupid me, trying to yard out a fly from a tree across the stream. I mourn to this day.
 
#25 ·
Paul Young Parabolic 15

Scott G 8'8" 3 wt 3 piece

Charlton 8500 SS .8

Peerless #2 & #3 reels

REGULATOR 23 CC

Wife of 52 years (consultant...can I.....yes/no.....ok???)

The friends I've made fishing.

The road to and from those friends, the discovery aspect
 
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