doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Fly rods and double guns

My thoughts are likely kind of ugly. They are what they are.

Give a couple of muskrat hides and a big boar coon hnde for my first fly rod in the 60's. Rotted cat tippet with a straight leader.

Was in the Northern Tier of Pa. and Southern Tier of NY growing up. Although the growing up part could be debatable.

If you didn't shoot an Ithaca 37 or a Rem 870 back then you were considered some type of communist. But for league shooting at the clubs very few shot a SxS, or hunting. If they did you felt sorry for them because you knew they weren't going to hit anything. And seldom did.

Watched my youngest son shoot a 49 for high gun at the Owl league at Ithaca Gun Club ~15 years ago with a B. Rizzini. He won several shoots in Mn and Wi. and his name is engraved on plaques on the walls of quite a few clubs.

My FIL who has since passed away and I watched him shoot a 50x50 in a blizzard at Ithaca gun club. They gave him a 49 but he was still high gun. Had our pick and could have signed him up for Sayre which is actually in Athens Pa. but signed him up for Waverly NY. Just wanted to get him on the roster back then, many options although the Owl league has long since gone down the toilet drain.

Friend from Alaska and I were excited when we pulled into England before Desert Shield\Storm. The birthplace of Fly Fishing. We took our rods with us on deployment. And despite paying "per rod" was worth it.

A year later held him in my arms as he was dying. He could not talk, but his eyes.. Never will forget that as long as I live. Lungs may not allow you to talk but the eyes can scream at you. Honestly messed me up at the time but things worked up in the end.

Except for him. For a minute and a half I was paralyzed and that is an eternality in real world chit. It worked out in the end. But only by the Grace of God.

Haven't fly fished much since. Just can't bring myself to do it like I used to.

Yeah many of the city folks are waders only and did I mention City folks? But can roll cast or strip a line without waders if you are on the prowl for a fair lady. Without the city boy waders. And fishing slot limit trout from 12-14".







Honestly I have a hard time fly fishing now. Would rather and do spend more time with the dogs getting ready for hunting birds.

I only use SxS guns for birds but that did not occur until I reached my 60's. There are a lot of factors involved in the maturation process.

In the mid 80's came around a bend on the Schrader and was pulling trout out with each cast. A kid ran up to me that was dunking worms in the pool upstream and asked me if I could teach him how do that. I said sure as long as he joined the Navy. He did. When I brought him home after enlisting at MEPS his father was sitting in full dress uniform on the porch. He ran over and opened the door and asked his son if he as a squid. His son said yes sir I am and proud of it.

After his son went in the house he looked me in the eye and said you SOB they nailed an anchor on the door of my office today. He was the CO of the Williamsport Army Reserve Center and a graduate of West Point.

No right or wrong IMO. It is what is IMO. Which is what you paid for it. Make the best of it and what works for you. Life is too short to be a City Boy, then again I have zero tolerance for them. Do what works for you. I have a couple of ugly sticks in the garage along with more than dozen fly rods. I do what ever it takes to catch fish. Or kill birds. Pointy dogs get the hell out of the way we are going in for the kill.