Good Things
I’ve got a lot of things. Most of them are fishing things—you know, rods, reels, boats. Some are tools, a few are guitars. A couple are kids. While I’m not a hoarder, I do have a tough time throwing things out. Old shirts that are too small and ripped might still have some sentimental value, and rather than get tossed they end up in an old duffel bag or on the back of a closet shelf, to be looked at once every couple of years. I will then reminisce about something that happened while I was wearing it, or the person that gave it to me, and then I put back into stasis. The Steelhead T-shirt is a great example. This shirt has Jon Q Wright artwork of a steelhead on it, I think the artist himself gave it to me. I was wearing it when a friend and I fished in a friendly pike tournament in northern Minnesota. At some point during the day I went shirtless, and not much later I was wrestling around the boat with a 10-pound pike that ate my Reef Hawg. Next thing you know the pike, Reef Hawg, and t-shirt were all rolled into a ball of scales, slime, cotton, and hooks on the bottom of the boat. The shirt got the worst of it. Well actually the pike got the worst of it, I know we won the tournament, and I’m pretty sure we ate the pike. 
A few years later I was on solo muskie mission on the Mississippi. This is one of my favorite things to do—I get first cast into all the spots, I never have to guess if my boat partner is having any fun, and I can switch to fishing for smallmouth or walleyes at any time if I feel like it. The bad thing is that it is tough to get a photo, not that getting another photo of me with a muskie is that crucial at this point in my life, but I still may want one so I rely on the self-timer. On this particular day I was wearing the sacred shirt and I ended up with a very large muskie in the boat. This was before digital cameras, and I only did one self-timer attempt and hoped for the best. I have mostly retired the t-shirt after that day, breaking it out only for very special occasions, like a baptism or wedding.
Check out these pliers. This is the Lineman’s Pliers, bought at a thrift shop for 5 bucks in about 1992, and it is one of the most versatile tools I own. The pliers function comes in handy all the time and while it is a little thick at the tip to be much good for unhooking fish, it has done that detail many times. It is heavy enough to be a hammer, and I know that I gave many an Alaskan salmon the coup de grace with the business end of the old lineman’s. And it even has a side cutter, handy for making wire leaders, cutting hooks, and one time a wire crab trap.
While idling across a shallow flat behind Captiva Island, an abandoned crab trap got all spun up in my guide’s motor, and the Lineman’s was the only thing on board with a cutter [I often bring it in my tackle bag]. It took a few minutes but I was able to cut it free and we continued with our unsuccessful attempt at tarpon. I use it for bending wire on every muskie lure I make. The Lineman’s gets a place in my hall of fame and is always in the top drawer of my tool chest.
Sometime in the mid-90s Gunnar gave me a Gerber Multi Tool. I had never owned any kind of multi tool before, always relying on the versatile Swiss Army knife in my pocket. So now I have this new tool, it comes in a nice sheath, but how to carry it around? I barely owned pants at this point in my life, and definitely didn’t have any pants accessories like belts, so off to Target I went and I became a belt owner. The multi tool I have hanging at my side has changed a few times over the years–I remember one I lost when I reached over the side of the boat to release a big bowfin on Crystal Bay in Minnetonka. With the fish in the water at boatside, I grabbed the hook with the Gerber Tool and gave it a twist. The bowfin said “Guess again” as he spun the other way, and multi tools are many things, but buoyant isn’t one of them. I still have the same twelve-dollar belt. I figure I have worn this belt around 7,000 days, it is starting to show signs of wear. The strap thing at the buckle has been gone for five years but I’m getting by without it. I think I can get another five years out of it.
I can’t imagine someone who is a steelhead angler not having a favorite hook sharpener. The nature of steelhead fishing causes a lot of hooks to become dull, and while I don’t mind flat out replacing a dull hook, my first choice will always be to try to bring the point back. This stone has been in my vest pocket for many years, somehow it has avoided becoming lost, despite my bad habit of not zipping my vest pockets all the time. Another gift from Gunnar, he pointed out all the nice features, especially the leather sheath and the hook groove. He since gave me what he considers a to be a better one, but I don’t like it as much for some reason. How this thing is still with me I don’t know, since much of the hook sharpening goes on in the middle of a racing river with numb fingers. 
Another thing that accompanies me on each steelhead outing is my Simms rain jacket. To most people, Simms is synonymous with quality fly fishing clothing, and this jacket lives up to the reputation. My experiences with their waders has been lukewarm at best—one pair [it was their best at the time] leaked right out of the box. I sent them back to be repaired, they charged me $50 for the “repair”, and they leaked just as bad on the next trip. I patched the seam myself [voiding the warranty – ha!] and got a couple of years out of them. I’ve gone through a lot of waders, I get a couple of years out of whatever pair I buy no matter how much they cost, I’ve settled on Frogg Toggs as the best value-vs-quality wader out there. When Simms made this wading jacket though—they got it right. I’m not sure if I have caught a steelhead in last 15 years when I WASN’T wearing this jacket, and I will gladly buy another one when this one gives out.
What are your favorite things?