So, a couple of weeks ago I get an email from a good client of mine named Ken Praeger....a rodbuilder out of Pennsylvania. He's gonna be in town for a week with his wife and wants to know where he can go flyfishing. I said "well, bring an 8wt. and I'll pole you around the flats in Rockport for a day" So, yesterday mornin' at 5:00 am we head south to the gulf. WInd is blowin' like the devil and the seas were rough and we couldn't get to the "holy land" as I like to call it (East Flats for you locals). So we take a detour into an adjacent marsh that usually holds fish even on low tide. RIght off the bat, Ken snags three nice taiing fish on a Winston 8wt. We proceed to chase Redfish after Redfish until about 1:00 when the hunger strike hits us. 2 crawfish dinners later and lunch is over. We launch the boat again, and hit a different flat. So, now the wind has died, the water's clear and the fish are everywhere...tailing, waking, backing, crashing bait against the shore...complete piscatorial chaos. Ken says "hey, did you bing a CTS with you" I play dumb...."oh yeah bro...did you want to try it?" Uh yeah, he says, so we string it up, Borski Bonefish slider on the end. He picks it up, 2 false casts, and he turns around and says "man, this rod is really light" I go "yeah...I know". He lays out about 60 feet of line, no tailing loop, and a nice V point on the front. Now Ken is a better than average cast, but he wasn't "throwing V's" with that WInston. He was throwing nice rounded oval loops, which most of us are accustomed to seeing. A "V" shaped loop however indicates a number of things besides a very refined casting stroke, some of which are less tip bounce, and better tip dampening. With the right rod, and power applied at just the right moment, and then an immediate relaxing of the hand and drift, the loop will morph into a V shape...great for casting into the wind, The problem is that some rods throw this shape better than others because of the dampening characteristics. SInce Ken obviously hadn't changed his stroke at all, the rod was doing something to his loop shape...for the better. So, over the next 2 hours he used adjectives like comfortable, beautiful, unbelievable. He says to me " with this rod, I don't have to think about the cast at all, it works so good, I can concentrate on the fish instead"

The ultimate compliment!

So I say to him (jokingly), "Look Bro I put you on a ton of fish today, and I didn't ask you to pole the boat once! The least you can do is go on the board and say some good things about CTS. even if you don't like it" He replies "even if we hadn't seen a darn thing I was gonna do that anyway....the rod is that good"

We ended the day by witnessing a marvelous Texas Sunset over Copano Bay.

Andy Dear
Lamar Manf.

Mr. Dear I have a rather serious problem with this post! Who gave you, a Texican, permission to feed a Yank some mud bugs? Much more of that and they will ALL want to move down!

Gon

Bill,
Seriously, we were sittin' at lunch and Ken asks me "Hey, do these crawfish come from Texas? I briefly thought " man how would Stevens respond to this?"


Andy

P.S. Gerald would have loved that post....

Andy- I had the pleasure of fishing with Ken this summer when he came down to NC. I took him on his first wading flat and we had shots at tailers, just never did catch one. If he's still down there, tell him to pick me up some of your new epoxy. I'll have to give the CTS rods a try. Best to both of you. David Spence, Beaufort, N.C.

I took my wife to Richmond, Texas yesterday to visit an aunt and cousin from Georgia. While there I kept an eye on some trees and I could tell the wind was brisk. I thought about you and believed it was going to be a washout. Now I am sitting here chomping at the bit to get the white blank that I ordered from you. By the way, you ain't a shabby fly caster yourself. I noticed you threw the whole line on my 7 wt. last Friday after a couple of casts.

Ellis

Hi Andy
which of the CTS models is it ?

Thanks
Peter

We were fishing the Affinity Salt 9' 6wt. Extra Fast



ANdy

who handles these blanks in the us

who handles these blanks in the us

Andy Dear - Lamar reelseats on the left. Great guy and will treat you right!!!!

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!