It could be a California angling phenomenon, but I see more guys wearing pink than girls.
… and while fly line color continues to be debated with great ferocity in the forums, the SIMM’s G3 Guide vest in rust orange debuted with hardly a murmur…
Now that embedded jungle cock and spray of gaily colored feathers adorn our rod blanks ( along with a pancake layer of thick epoxy to guarantee a dead spot ) and brightly colored Fisher-Price artwork emblazon our reels, have we given up the stalk and seduction of fish in favor of a clandestine fling with a brother angler of like mind?
It could be the water, lord knows we’ve listed the offending hormones often enough, and what’s not been specifically mentioned can be inferred – but all this bawdy-house gear bespeaks of a fundamental shift in the angling psyche.
The old military gear, the olive drab’s and mustard Flecktarn, the muted earth tones designed to blend with bush or bank, the painstakingly crafted digital camouflage, all discarded in a race to announce your presence to the fish with authority.
It could be that the majority of the better streams have enough neon motel signs, fast food restaurants, and traffic lights on their banks that pine trees are outnumbered. The big fish lying doggo in Taco Bell’s riffle could associate bright with inanimate, and all the mobile green-stuff is markedly out of place and therefore hostile…
As the magazines and books probe fish vision further – alerting us to every nuance and twice for shortcomings, we change our flies to match 
then storm through the quiet water like Liberace?
Be it fish, fowl, mammal, or human, the sacred tenet of Biology has always insisted the male displays bright colors to attract a mate. Which explains why money is green and credit cards are mostly in the vivid spectrum, red or blue, containing holograms or opalescence.
Fish are promiscuous – yet relationships rarely last past hook removal, so all this grandiose finery can’t be for their benefit, it’s apparently something deeper that is opaque to us odiferous Brownline types – yet is all the rage elsewhere.
As a Native Son, I care not about coveted glances or gang sign, I just need to know whether I’m supposed to pick a rod that is compatible with my cheek blush, or whether it’s the hue of my Manscara I need to match.
… the last thing I need is to see a fellow struggling with a tailing loop and offer a bit of friendly advice, and be met with, “STFU NoOb!”
Tags: Ross Journey Youth fly rod, Abel De Young reel, Simm’s G3 Guide vest, Flylogic reel, Sage Pink Camo, camouflage, invisible to fish, digital camouflage, Flecktarn, Fisher-Price toys
Ah, Yes. Plain or fancy. And you can’t please everyone all the time (specifically the fish), so put me into the solid drab colors, please. I got very dis-ed about a water camo shirt that I got because it was on sale. One of my buds said seriously that it made him sea-sick.
Wow, Seinfeld and epithets!
Great review, makes you wonder.
I figure it’s like this…the fancy colored stuff is for people who fish a few times a year and want cool looking gear and the drab stuff is for people that fish more often and just want to catch fish!
I’m just glad to say (after almost 6 months) I’ve finally got a fishing license again. unfortunately it’s green, and does’t match my blush or mascara! 🙁
At least you don’t have to display that green license now though.
I, for one, have never understood why one would want anything “extra” at all… I see no reason to have feathers on a fly rod, fish scales on a reel, or any of that hoopla.
PS – thanks for the link.
I keep thinking about all those slippery slopes, rock dings, and abuse that my reel receives – and will that artwork be as compelling when half has been chipped and the rest worn via use?
All old metal reels develop a compelling patina – I’m not sure that a smudged portrait of Donald Duck has the same effect.
Keith, Keep in mind that a Plastic, Martin reel is the same color all the way through… so nicks and scrapes never stand out.
Its all about getting the job done, and this reel that came courtesy of a $30 Wal-mart set (Rod, reel, line, backing leader and a few flies) gets the job done.
The people at Sage might shudder (or attempt to repossess my TXL00) at this picture:
http://www.adiposefin.com/picture/gaallery34.jpg?pictureId=4769620
TRY LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: A lot of those drab rods and reels with their treasured patina got backed over by wheels and crunched in car doors, and trod and sat on by clumsy boots and big asses – as we all can bear witness. So let’s hear it for Barbie ! You’ll now be able to find your forgotten or misplaced gear more easily, and if dropped in the stream, it will be seen and recovered with ease. Anyway, it’s time you greasy-cap nimrods got spruced up at streamside. Go Barbie !
Looks like the required gear for a metrosexual…
Just Saying.
Man, I don’t know where you are fishing, but I’ve mostly seen the pink rods on TV… not on my CA waters.
Those Able reels are really pretty, but the bonefish graphic reel is $2K, which is about what I’d spend of 8 reels… if not more. That’s nucking futs.
Manscara and rods/reels for trannies? What, no stilletto wading pumps?
What has become of the sport I so love? I think I’m going to puke.
Trolling the archives I found this post and, I swear, when I first glanced at the graphics on the Abel reel I briefly wondered why they would put Scooby Doo on a fly reel…