Mr Mom

Love the idea of handing a watch down to my son. I wear an Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon… it will be passed to my son at some point… either his 18th birthday or something similar. That Tudor is also a very nice looking piece.

I knew very little about fly fishing until about 3 years ago. I had been on a few guided river trips for trout and salmon but that was it. Then I got the bug… since then, I have fished for reds here in Louisiana, and bonefish, tarpon, and permit in the Bahamas, Belize, and the Florida Keys. My biggest bone was about 6 lbs and I leadered a 85 lb tarpon. I don’t want to talk about Permit :-). I now own Orvis Helios 3D rods in 5, 8,9, and 11 wt. I even started tying my own flies. I find it very relaxing and I enjoy learning new things. I fully admit that I am VERY much a novice but look forward to learning as much as I can.

The only 2 applications that I use a spinning set up for are popping corks and fishing a weightless fluke or worm. The problem with bait casters is that the cheap ones suck. You can get away with a cheap spinning reel, but not a cheap bait caster.

If you want to go custom, you can talk to Bo at Bo’s custom rods in Denham. He knows his stuff. While not cheap, his rods are more than fairly priced for custom rods. I think his basic rod starts around $225 but you can spend a lot more. I think the last one i had made was just under $500.

I prefer fluorocarbon mainline on my baitcasters as well. My favorite right now is Sunline Sniper… usuallly 14 to 18 lb depending on what i plan on using the rod for. I like having one less knot to fail… also my casting rods all have micro guides and I cant stand the feel of the knots going through them.

That happened to a guy filling up a boat on a Saturday morning at Campo’s about a month or so ago. Robert and FJ were PISSED b/c all that fuel ended up in the water... and the bait tanks were in the water. They ended up giving all the shrimp away that morning b/c they were all going to die anyway.

I have a Primo Oval XL at home and love it. I have a a Rectec RT-700 at the camp and love it as well. Hard to really go wrong with either. Something cool about tossing some ribs on the Rectec before I go fishing then coming back to ribs for lunch!!! You really can't go wrong with either style smoker.

Ive worn Costa 580G in green mirror for years and they are great. I recently bought a pair of Maui Jim's with the maui sunrise lens... It is a rose/pink lens with a mirror finish... they are fantastic. Also, they feel about 14 lbs lighter on my face than the Costas do.

FG knot is best but a pain to tie... and no way am I doing it on the water. I use the "lefty kreh leader knot". It is even easier than a surgeons loop and I have never had one fail. It will bite a little on a micro guide if you are fishing with heavier line but other than that it is bulletproof.

At this point I think I might have too many to list but my core is:

Popping cork: Stradic Ci4+ 3000 on a Cajun Custom Delta 7'3" Med Fast

Jigging Trout: Daiwa Coastal SV TWS on a St Croix Avid X 6'6" Med Fast

Jigging or Sight Casting Reds: 13 Concept TXZ on a Cajun Custom Delta 7'3" Med Fast

Fly: Orvis Helios 3D 9wt Mirage IV reel