LAST CALL - Let's Have a Bad Ass Summer Giveaway

UPDATE - The winners have been picked by random number generator and listed HERE.

We're up earlier than normal this morning since our daughter (who's been having her own "Bad Ass Summer" studying in Florence, Italy the past two months) is flying home today and we were going back and forth over WhatsApp making sure she was packed, made it to the airport, her (over-packed) suitcase was accepted, she made it to the gate, and then on the plane.  You know, parents worrying and excited that she's coming home kind of stuff...

It also gave me time to read through many of the entries so far for the Let's Have a Bad Ass Summer giveaway that ranged from fly fishing trips near and far, parents teaching their children about fishing and the outdoors, new fiberglass fly rod experiences, triumphs with sobriety, dealing with health issues or those close to them who passed away, quitting jobs to travel and work remote, bike rides with a glass rod in hand to the Lowcountry flats for tailers, rotator cuff surgery after "Hero Casting", and so much more.

 

 

The many emails have been a great insight into so many summers and this huge giveaway (over $5,000 in gear with three prize packages) is winding down this weekend.  You have through Sunday night to get  your email in and you can say as little or as much as you want.  All the entries count.

 

One entry per email address but if someone has a couple email accounts that they use, I'd send an entry from each account.  You'll receive an auto-reply email back when your entry is received.

Get all the details in the Let's Have a Bad Ass Summer giveaway post and good luck!

STEGEMANN FLYRODS - The Making of Zorro

Even with it's screwed up algorithms, I still get a lot out of Instagram and recently came across the work of Manual Stegemann of Stegemann Flyrods.  He was just beginning a new Zorro build and I asked if he'd chronicle it with a few photographs.  He also provided a short introduction of himself, the design focus of the Zorro 3-weight, and how it was built. 

I've added Stegemann Flyrods to the Fiberglass Fly Rod Makers list and look forward to seeing what he has going on next.  His many talents as a fly rod builder are clearly evident.   

 

Manual wrote...  "My name is Manuel Stegemann from Switzerland.  I am a husband, father of three and I work as a paramedic.  Besides that, I am enthusiastic fly fisher and rod builder. I started building my own rods five years ago.  

The more I went down the rabbit hole, the wish came up to design my own blank. With some effort and a lucky coincidence, the Stegemann Zorro was born. It is a 7 1/2 foot three-piece 3-weight black S-Glass blank.

The finished rod is perfect to fish smaller streams and is just right for spontaneous, intuitive flyfishing.  Short, direct, with a medium fast action.  Ideal for stalking with the dry fly. 

The name Zorro comes from the fact that I look like him when I drill a fish.  At least my friends say so.   The guides are from Snake Brand and the red stripping guide is made by Ernest from Perfect Europe.  All wrapped with classic red Pearsall’s silk and packed in a thin, smooth finish.  The insert and reel seat hardware made of high strength aluminum are all shop made. 

The shape of the grip may look hard edged at first sight, but it feels very comfortable when you fish thumb on top. The rod comes with a nice matching bag made by my lovely wife and a tube made of ash wood."

You can see more of Manuel's work on the Stegemann Flyrods website and be sure to follow along on Instagram too.

Spring Break Road Trip Redux - A Few Rounds of Golf

As plans were coming together for our spring break road trip, we were in the thick of Finn's school golf season.  Almost daily after school practice started sometime in January and continued into February with match play beginning in early March.  He was a little worried about not swinging a golf club for over a week during our trip and while comparing the map of where we'd be, where we wanted to go, and where we would end up, we figured out a way to fit in a few rounds of golf that really helped make our trip something special.

If you're wondering why I'm talking about golf on what's usually a fly fishing focused website, I explained it in this T.F.M. post awhile back and if you're following along on Instagram, there's been quite a bit of golf talk there as well.  The truth of it is Finn is REALLY into golf right now and that means I'm REALLY into golf right now too.  I don't hate it.  I've actually embraced it even if the scorecard doesn't reflect it. 

 

NORTHWOOD GOLF CLUB

As mentioned in "The National Parks" post, we wrapped up that part of our trip by staying with family in Turlock which meant an early morning drive up to Monte Rio.  My aunt is a longtime golfer and she wanted to came along with my son and I for what would be a special and unbelievable day of golf.

Northwood Golf Club had already been on my radar but it was a recent episode of Adventures in Golf that had me jonesing even more to experience this course.  Dr. Alistar MacKenzie designed the Northwood Golf Club in 1928 and this striking 9-hole track weaves its way through a mature redwood forest with a carpet of lush grass.

 

We left my aunt's house at 5:00 a.m. since we were worried about traffic along the way and ended up arriving a couple hours before our tee time.  We had breakfast at the cafe next door, putted, warmed up, and they ended up starting us a bit early.  The vibe of the place was super laid back and the three of us couldn't have had more fun playing the track twice to make 18.

 

Northwood Golf Club was everything that I'd read about, seen online, and so much more.  I mentioned it in an Instagram post after we played that it was hard to put this place in perspective and scale with massive redwoods looming over slender fairways and what seemed like smallish greens.  It's a special and magical place.  

My only suggestion for Northwood Golf Club is that they design a logo for the course built around one of the carved wooden owls.  These carved owls are iconic to the course and I would have loved to have had a visor or cap with a simple and low-key embroidered design on it. 

PACIFIC GROVE GOLF LINKS
A couple weeks before we were leaving on our trip, my buddy Jay sent a text asking what our route was through California.  He knew that we were spending a day at Northwood Golf Club but wondered where we were headed afterwards.  I sent a text back with our route through San Fransisco to Monterrey and then taking the Pacific Coast Highway south all the way back to Los Angeles. 

He immediately called and said, "You've got to play the back nine of Pacific Grove."

The back nine of Pacific Grove Golf Links has been dubbed "Poor Man's Pebble Beach" and poking around on the internet a bit confirmed that we needed to make time for a stop there.  And it only made sense that if we were going to carry golf clubs all the way to California, playing more than once just seemed like a good idea.   

After leaving Monte Rio, we traveled down to Monterrey for the night and had an early morning tee time just to play the back nine.  We didn't have time play the entire course and for the first 75-minutes of the day, it's allowed to skip the front and go directly to the back.

We had a 7:20 a.m. tee time which had us there as things were waking up.  The back started by the Point Pinos Lighthouse with two holes without too much view and then as we walked to the third tee box, the rest of the back opened up with a panorama of crashing waves, rocks jutting out of the surf, and a track that was laid out just perfectly amongst the elevations, the wind shaped trees and rocks, and rough.

Finn and I worked our way through the nine holes and actually finished earlier than we expected.  We were wishing that we could play the back again but there just wasn't time.  We needed to continue on to the last part of our trip.    

The neat thing about both of these golf courses is that they are public and the cost is much less than you'd expect for the quality and experience.  We were just blown away in all respects by Northwood Golf Club and Pacific Grove Golf Links.  We'll be back to both places for sure...

Where else should we have thought about playing in those areas?  Please email to let us know.

A FEW NOTES ON TRAVELING WITH GOLF GEAR

I am very familiar with airline travel and how to get fly rods and all the gear needed to wherever we're going but golf clubs, and two sets at that, was a new problem to solve.  

 

A few weeks before the trip, I ordered a Club Glove Last Bag (the smallest size) and Finn and I each picked out eight or so clubs to place in my Jones Trouper golf bag. This made for one over packed golf bag but everything somehow fit.  We were able to pack golf shoes, rain gear, golf balls and everything else needed in the travel bag.  It worked but we were pushing 45 pounds or so.

 

Having just one golf bag meant that we carted instead of walking.  I would have rather walked both of these courses to experience them more fully.  Next time.

 

Speaking of half sets, I've been tracking on the idea of less is more for awhile (Thanks @lessthan14 and others) and honestly, I didn't really miss not having my full set with me on the trip.  If I remember correctly, I took my driver, hybrid, 5, 7, and 9-irons, a couple of wedges, and putter.  I was all set.

 

All of this has gotten me thinking about two smaller golf bags (MacKenzie, maybe?) with half sets might be our best travel option going forward.  Instead of playing out of a single overstuffed bag, we'll both have smaller, lighter, and easier to carry individual bags. 

Like fly fishing, golf has it's own set of gear musings to keep it interesting. 

THE MISSION - Issue 34

How's your week been?  Mine...busy as usual.  Let's all dive into the latest issue of The Mission for a fly fishing all over the world reprieve from the daily grind.  Second (or third) cup of coffee, please. 

CHECK IT.

6 Good Reads

Here's a Monday morning six-pack of great articles to get you through your day.  If your weekend was like mine, you need a bit of a diversion.

PATAGONIA FLY FISH - A FEW THOUGHTS ON "CATCH & RELEASE"

MARSH WEAR - LOTS OF GOODNESS IN THE TIDE LOG


THE DRAKE - HEX, HEX, HEX, AND MORE HEX

C. BARCLAY FLY ROD CO. - SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR AURELIO

DUCK CAMP - THE MANY HOUSES OF MILL

RED CLAY SOUL - FAMILY VACATION GOLD

For the record, the Mortenson "Family Vacation" sketch would a lot different than the Red Clay Soul family but we're likely in different tax brackets, have teenagers now, and more.  It's still gold all the way around.

SAGE - Trout Season - The Town Stretch

As the kids say, river towns just hit different.  This is a good one from Sage and continues their investment into compelling short film storytelling that we've seen with each new season.

Press PLAY and enjoy...

 

 

Check out the Sage website (sadly, no glass...) and click subscribe to their YouTube channel.  

AMFF - Fishing The Collection // Season 1 // Episode 1

The American Museum of Fly Fishing has begun a new film series dubbed 'Fishing the Collection' and I seriously dig the idea of putting vintage gear in the hands of a modern day angler.  Hopefully we'll see some old school glass fly rods highlighted in future episodes.

It sure looks like that 1973 Orvis Battenkill 8-weight has some life left in it. 

Visit the American Museum of Fly Fishing website and consider supporting their work of preserving the history and heritage of fly fishing with your membership.

FOLLOW THE WATER - A Journey to Restore America's Everglades

Many may not realize how fully invested Orvis is involved in protecting the places that we enjoy outdoors and since 1987, they have been giving 5% to Nature.  A focus over the past several years has been water issues in Florida and Follow the Water highlights what the Everglades is facing right now.

Visit the Follow the Water webpage for a deeper dive into this ongoing project in preservation and restoration.

Let's Have a Bad Ass Summer Giveaway

UPDATE - The winners were chosen by random number generator and emails have been sent to each winenr.  Thanks to each of you that sent emails in.  I had a good time going through the nearly 500 emails.

GRAND PRIZE - Daniel Mitchem

SECOND PRIZE - Zach Chambers

THIRD PRIZE - Samuel Bush

A few weeks ago I was going through my stash and found three ECHO Bad Ass Glass Quickshot 8-weights that I had been sent to me some time ago to use for a giveaway.  Life got in the way and that contest never happened but it got me thinking that it would be fun to handpick some other favorite fly fishing gear and apparel items that make summer even better.  It didn't take too long until the plan was firmed up and today we're kicking off the 'Let's Have a Bad Ass Summer' giveaway.

So, beginning today and continuing through the end of July, I will be taking entries through email where I'm looking for what you're doing to have a "Bad Ass Summer".  It's worth your time to send an email as there are three seriously stacked prize packages that total over $5,000 in gear and gift cards that are up for grabs. 

WHAT WE'RE PLAYING FOR

It's fun to give away fiberglass fly rods but it's REALLY fun to totally kit out three prize packages with some of my most favorite gear and apparel.  As mentioned above, there's over $5,000 in gear and gift cards wrapped up in these three stellar prize packages.

GRAND PRIZE

ECHO Bad Ass Glass Quickshot 8-Weight Fly Rod

ECHO Bravo Fly Reel

TURTLEBOX Gen 2 Speaker

Sea Run Cases Riffle Daily QR Travel Case 

SKWALA Carbon Jacket
BAJIO Sunglasses

Scientific Anglers Fly Lines

Patagonia Great Divider Gear Bag

Vedavoo "Built-to-Order" VooDoo Pack

Howler Brothers $150 Gift Card & A Decade of Howler Brothers Book

Marsh Wear $250 Gift Card

SECOND PRIZE

ECHO Bad Ass Glass Quickshot 8-Weight Fly Rod

ECHO Bravo Fly Reel

Scientific Anglers Fly Lines

Vedavoo "Built-to-Order" VooDoo Pack

Howler Brothers $100 Gift Card & A Decade of Howler Brothers Book

Marsh Wear $100 Gift Card

 

THIRD PRIZE

ECHO Bad Ass Glass Quicshot 8-Weight Fly Rod

ECHO Bravo Fly Reel

Scientific Anglers Fly Lines

Vedavoo "Built-to-Order" VooDoo Pack

Howler Brothers $50 Gift Card & A Decade of Howler Brothers Book

Marsh Wear $50 Gift Card

 

THE RULES

Today through July 31, 2022, please send an email to tfmcontests@gmail.com and answer the question of what you're doing to have a "Badass Summer".  I will accept one email per email address.  It can be one word to paragraphs long answers.  I'm here to read them all.

You should receive an auto-reply to confirm that your giveaway email submission was received.

The three winners of the giveaway will be chosen by random number generator the week of August 1, 2022, and the three winners will be contacted by email that they have won.  Winners will also be announced on T.F.M. and the T.F.M. social media pages. 

 

MAYBE FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM

Giveaways along with the many other things that happen on The Fiberglass Manifesto wouldn't be possible without the support of the companies and brands within fly fishing and the outdoors.  I've been really fortunate over the years to develop a circle of industry friends who get what's going on here and I really appreciate it.

If you're not already, please consider following the following companies on Instagram who have supported this giveaway...

ECHO Fly Fishing

TURTLEBOX

Sea Run Cases

Skwala Fishing

BAJIO Sunglasses

Scientific Anglers

Patagonia

VEDAVOO

Howler Brothers

Marsh Wear

 

I think that's about it.  Get your email in before midnight on July 31st and look for some gear reviews and other content over the next couple of weeks to talk about some of the gear that is part of this giveaway.

C. BARCLAY FLY RODS CO. - The Store is Flush Right Now

If you didn't notice it yesterday when Chris Barclay of C. Barclay Fly Rod Co. announced it on his social media pages, he's been spending considerable time in his new Winston-Salem shop and has a few builds that are up for sale, along with pre-orders for others, listed in "The Store".

If you've been considering a build from Chris, and you should, now's the time to take a look. 

 

From Chris Barclay...

"Hey everyone!  I've been busy settling into my new shop lately and enjoying the new vibe.  I'm now taking orders on a limited basis and have seven fly rods available in my store right now.  These range from 2-weight to 7-wieght in both my Synthesis new Parabolic series  Check them out on my website.  As always, I really appreciate the support."

Visit the C. Barclay Fly Rods Co. website to give the current offerings a look and don't sleep on the pre-orders either.  There's some sweet sticks listed right now and excited for what's coming too.

JP ROSS FLY RODS - Nerding Out with the Beaver Meadow S-Glass

I'm not sure if beers or mixed drinks were involved (my guess is yes...) in these "scientific studies" but Jordan Ross of JP Ross Fly Rods and Mark Usyk have gotten together for a couple of videos to extol the benefits of glass, specifically the Beaver Meadow S-Glass in 2-weight and 5-weight with a couple different tippet sizes to show breakage points and just how much these blanks can take.

Click PLAY and get in on the fun they are having...

It's no secret that glass excels in protecting tippets and these videos only hammer that point home.

Visit the JP Ross Fly Rods website to check out the Beaver Meadow S-Glass fly rods and blanks.

THE MISSION - Issue 33

We have gotten a little bit behind since the latest issue of The Mission (which we'll share soon) went live this week but if you haven't read through Issue 33, take some time for it now.

CHECK IT.

Spring Break Road Trip Redux - The National Parks

Some time back I mentioned that we had been on a Spring Break Road Trip Redux and I know that it's been quite a delay to roll out the follow up posts but everything that I was going to talk about makes as much sense now over summer break as spring break. 

Our trip started by flying into the Ontario International Airport and I'll say it now that anytime I need to get to southern California, ONT will be my preference.  It was easy in and out with zero hassles.

This was planned as an eight day trip that was broken into three specific parts that started with a swing through a handful of national parks.  We saw the desert, the mountains, and everything in between on our 500 mile trek between the parks.  

Two suggestions in your own trip planning if hitting up a bunch of national parks is to take advantage of your 4th grader with a free parks pass with the Every Kid Outdoors initiative or check out the many different annual passes that are available through the National Parks Service.  A few years ago we did another national parks road trip when Finn was in 4th grade and the Every Kid Outdoors pass sure came in handy.  Otherwise the $80 annual pass isn't a bad deal at all considering the access it gives you.

 

JOSHUA TREE

I've been to some weird places but Joshua Tree National Park will likely always rank up there as an immense landscape that was tough to fully comprehend.  The rock formations, desert life, stars galore, and endless Joshua Trees covering the landscape made for some amazing vistas. 

The children couldn't get enough of climbing on the rocks and we followed along to a few places that mom and dad were going to get out of.  I had a few scrapes on my knees and legs that were a good reminder over the next few weeks that maybe I'm not as "agile" as I once was...

I'd suggest getting into the park early as it can sure heat up by afternoon.  We were back at our funky Airbnb in Twentynine Palms for a soak in the small back porch pool by mid-afternoon. 

SEQUOIA & KINGS CANYON
We left Twentynine Palms right after breakfast knowing that we were going to be on the road for awhile to get up and through Sequoia and Kings Canyon before heading over to Turlock to stay with my aunt that night.  We were tracking on the weather as snow was likely at higher elevations. 

As we began climbing up from the park entrance in Sequoia, we watched as the temperature reading kept ticking down from the low 50's to the mid 30's and a light rain turned to sometimes heavy snowfall.

I am always in awe of the big trees and they are tough to even comprehend unless you're there standing near them.  To be in a forest of sequoia or redwoods is always an experience.  The snow this go around was a nice added touch.

We didn't see much of Kings Canyon this trip as the overlooks were fogged in heavy and we needed to get out of the park (by way of a In-N-Out Burger) to where we were staying that night.        

YOSEMITE
I'm going to say this here as a reminder to myself the next time we are planning a trip to Yosemite that you really need more than just one day in the park.  Preferably several days, if not a week.  We were able to do the loop through Yosemite Valley, had a great picnic lunch, and the kids did their traditional jump into the Merced River for a quick swim. 

And of all parks we did on this trip, it was certainly the most crowded as everyone else was on the main loop as well.  It was spring break and we weren't the only ones on family road trips. 

At some point we want to get back out there again for some off the loop adventures and hikes.  There's a lot more to see in Yosemite that we just haven't had time for yet.

Lastly, it's tough to beat the "Tunnel View" where El Captain, Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall which was a good way to say goodbye to this great place.

Leaving Yosemite meant that our national parks portion of the trip was over and now we were looking forward to a couple days of golf and seeing some new areas we hadn't been to before.  More on that in the next post...