SnaG05

Ive been using Maui Jim's for a couple of years now. They make great glasses. They are light, stick to your head like glue (without giving you a migrain), have multiple choices of lenses, and the polarization is second to none. One drawback, they do scratch relatively easily. Although I do not presently use prescription glasses, that day is at hand and Maui Jim does prescription lenses. I can't give you a dollar figure but I am sure their prescription lenses are gonna be expensive, as their cheap sunglasses start at around $190. I'm thinking of purchasing a prescription pair exclusively for fishing because I like mine so much.

I'd have to say Sage Z-Axis 490 with a Sage 2540 reel. I love mine, ive caught 26" browns and bows with it on the Bow, fishing drys and nymph rigs, and Ive caught 16"+ browns with it on Stauffer Creek fishing tiny drys, nymph rigs, and streamers. Not least of which is Sages replacement service rocks!! I broke my XP 586 last fall and they had a new tip to me in 8 days. If this is your first rod, you may want to consider a 6 weight version of this combo as it probably will allow you to fish a wider variety of locations and conditions. Once you become infected with the fly-fishing disease though, you will want to have specific rods and reels for every occasion, and fly boxes, and boats, and 4X4's, and GPS, and pack trains, and guides, and.....................

I would have to say that one of the reasons I buy good gear is because I expect it to get wet. Some routine maintenance once in a while is all that should be needed to keep good gear in top form. How much water gets in your reel when you are fishing in the winter and there is ice on your line? Good gear is meant to handle being soaked, as long as you put it away clean and dry it will be fine. SnaG05

Perca flavescens Yum

I'm not sure about this whole thing, what I do know is I have watched Fishhead put his whole line out with no hauls and only a false cast or two. In fact under his tutelage I managed to break my XP 586 last year after 2 false casts got about 75 or 80' of line out and the ensuing shot to the shore popped it about 6" above the ferrule. Timing is everything baby!! More precisely, One-Up, One-Down for 60 to 80 feet and then mend. SnaG05

Fishhead, I know who she was and willl vouch for you, for this feat of unprecedented musical fishing!!!! The 80's & 90's are memorable. SnaG05