Member Appreciation Story (UPDATE)

MarshRat

MarshRat

Steelhead
In December 2021, I made a plea on the site that shall not be named, asking members for a beater 8 wt rod.

Background of the story- my wife and I moved from the wet side of WA to the Lowcountry of SC in July, and I sold off all trout gear keeping only my travel 8 wt. After 5 months of crashing through the marsh and bouncing lead-eye clousers off my rod tip- the 8 wt could hold no more and met it's end.

Anticipating no end to this aggressive fishing and poor fly rod care, I turned to my favorite fly fishing community for a solution.

Graciously, @Phil K responded to my plea and provided a rod with it's own story- at one point taking residence in a Nantucket cabin. This rod is no show pony, but definitely fishable and with undefinable character. @Phil K was extremely generous with his offer, and the rod was received well packaged in short time.

Since December, this rod has seen a couple dozen days on the marsh, and has brought redfish and seatrout to hand without hiccup.

I hope the newest chapter of this community carries forward with the same camaraderie and openhandedness.

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Carry on.
 
Cool story bro. The rod in question (a TFO 890 Lefty Kreh) had really been rode hard and put away wet. The former owner lived on Natucket, fished a lot, and definitely didn't baby his gear. It had some corrosion, flaking paint, and functional but not pretty wrapping repair work when it came to me free via my brother. I can be a bit fussy about things like that and had looked into getting it fixed up, which would have cost more than made sense. Turns out I found a great deal on a newer version on old... what's that site name again? I'm glad this rod found such a deserving home! Oh, and I'm totally jealous of that fish.
 
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Actually, I'm just a punter compared to its former owner. He made a pile of money in the drill'em, fill'em, and bill'em business and when he relocated to Jackson donated the proceeds from the house, boat, and jeep he sold on Nantucket to a land trust which bought a property in the Teton Valley with the ~3M$ proceeds.
 
Phil K said:
Actually, I'm just a punter compared to its former owner. He made a pile of money in the drill'em, fill'em, and bill'em business and when he relocated to Jackson donated the proceeds from the house, boat, and jeep he sold on Nantucket to a land trust which bought a property in the Teton Valley with the ~3M$ proceeds.
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As someone whose formative early adult years were spent in Teton valley in the 1970s, and who has been unhappy with what has become of that valley since then, this story warms my heart. Unfortunately, ~3M$ wouldn't buy much there today; then it would have bought - and preserved - half the valley!
 
UPDATE: The beater 8wt fought it's last fight, and died doing what it loved.

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The old warrior snapped mid-fight on a decent redfish.

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With any luck, there's another beater 8wt gathering dust in a garage somewhere... PM me if you know of one!
 
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The Cooper, Wando, and all the creeks off the Intercoastal Waterway back behind Caper's and Bull Island used to be my home waters. Love those speckled trout, redfish, and flounder!
 
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