See Also
Part One
Part Two
By Doc Knoll

So let's face one sure fact; some of you "informative people" are likely going to ruin a potential angler and sportsman even before they get started. I guess some people can teach and others really should sit on the bench. . . or maybe in the bleachers and become spectators.

FYI when feather "grading" first took shape a neck or a saddle was "graded" by the NUMBER OF USABLE FEATHERS in the neck or the saddle.. Naturally, even before I got into this business, some people began to "miss count" and give a better rating to any given neck and therefore command a higher price. Now I've been recently informed by some of my customers that the established feather grading system is about to go the way of the credit card. . .platinum, gold and plutonium or something. I wonder if this is good? I don't plan on changing.

Well, all I can say is good luck to all of you in this wading pool of advertising. I bet if my college professor was still alive he would tell me , "Doc, if you wrap a two dollar wrapper around some culls I bet you can get $20 more for it... And someone will be crowing that its the best thing since sliced bread." I won't take him up on it.

The last time I checked? (now about twenty minutes ago) a #16 feather from a #2 or #3 neck was just as good as a #16 feather from a #1 neck. I'll continue to fit the customer 's wants to the neck or saddle they really need and choose not play this game of illusion.

In fact, just so all of you might know; most commercial tiers don't want our #1 necks and plead with us to sell them #2? #3's . They don't want the ridiculously small feathers some tiers say they tie in quantity. In actuality, on most Montana and western streams an #18 fly is small enough.

I've had some small feather tiers, who also happen to fit the descriptions of the news room boys, in my shop and when I ask them to show me their flies I've seen some really ugly stuff with hackle proportions out of balance for the fly. So, apparently their well touted #1 neck didn't tie down to a #24. Maybe they should have taken out a gauge. But... this is life.

You know it's also very funny (to me) that people believe that cost is the ultimate factor in quality or product reliability. Nothing here could be further from the truth. Many of these same "News room" experts extol the virtues of custom rods over "generic" brands. And, after listening to this nonsense, I really doubt they have ever caught a "good fish" on some of the brands they report as "exceptional" ?just to use one word which I often read.

I will not give names but some (and more then one) well advertised, glossy printed, four color $400-$600 "custom" rods are known to collapse into several pieces if even a 5?6 pound fish is hooked. Yet, this advertising is persuading anglers that their products are the best. And in light of that; the "average" angler believes he or she is really holding a good instrument in their hands. Sorry. . . just because you were sold a ABC brand rod by a metropolitan salesman (who normally fishes for "10 inch stockers or some stocked pond for trophy fish") doesn't mean it is worth half of what you paid (except for paying for his bad habits) . Sure, the rod is pretty and the case is handsome and durable but if you go fishing with me on the Yellowstone I might tell you to leave that "fancy rod" in your car. . . because there is the chance that we're gonna catch some big fish. And, I'm not letting you lose that lifetime dream fish to a collapsed rod. . .

So next time you step into that chat room or read over some information in a news group remember this. . .some of these guys really haven't a clue.

I remember one little girl (a novice fly fisher) who asked what fly she should use to catch blue gills in her father's pond. The "experts" started naming stuff (flies) that wouldn't be found in hundreds of miles from the pond and then the "pros" started naming makes and models of rods, reels, tippet weights, paraphernalia and other "needed" stuff that would weigh her down so much she wouldn't make it out of the back door. The girl only wanted to read, "use flies which look like ants and other terrestrials (bugs) or a if need be use a big juicy worm or a small ball of squeezed bread. . .)

Most of the chat room guys are there just to see their name on the computer screen and flaunt the fact that they are fortunate enough to buy a few "big ticket"items (some good and some which really suck.) It's just an ego thing which confuses more people then it helps. And, by informing you of this ....that's why we say, "at Knoll's we're bringing a new reality to fly fishing."

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