Lightening My Wallet Eased the Back Pain

As we came into the weekend, Dad's back was hurting a bit too much, and he wanted to wait a couple of days before we headed out again. I suggested perhaps we head to Bass Pro Shops, and he readily agreed. So off to Indiana we headed with D.
We lost enough flies the first two weeks that I decided I better learn to tie my own, or this was going to get expensive quick. Just the drive to Bass Pro Shops for replenishment chewed up a significant amount of gas. As an early part of my anniversary gift, D bought me a White River Fly Shop Fly Tying Kit - Bass Tying (more on that in a later post). 

I'm pretty serious about mastering this, and so I studied the included DVD, and tried tying everything multiple times. Needless to say, I consumed quite a bit of material as I went as well, and I was starting to get short on hackle and I wanted to get some different colors of material too. 

That was all that was on my list, and I figured the Chief was going to want to check out some flies at least. His anniversary is coming up, and so I checked with my mother, PJ, to see if she wanted me to go ahead and pick something up for him while I was there. She gave me a budget.

Well, D has shown some interest in tying flies as well. At they very least, we were going to need another vice and pick up a few additional tools. We started collecting. She grabbed a modest priced set of tools, the Chief grabbed some flies, I collected a couple of Prince Nymphs, got some materials for poppers, and we continued to browse.

I was already dreaming about my next rod. I am maxing out the capabilities of my current cheap one. As the Chief and I looked around, we found a couple of #5 and #6 rods for $20 that were considerably better than what we already had. That is when I mentioned to him that I had a budget if he wanted anything else, and then I walked away. 

Well, about thirty minutes later, he had picked up a Hobbs Creek HC II Reel fully loaded with a #5 line. I was jealous and asked for a six. So ultimately, a weekend without fishing landed us two new rod-and-reels.

Then it was off to dinner at my favorite restaurant. I enjoyed the drive up and back and the opportunity to drool and daydream about everything I wanted to get in the future. Even better though, when we got home, D started tying flies with me.