Cole, myself and two buddies had been scheduled for a year to do a 2 day drift trip on the Trinity and Lower Sac this past weekend. The Lower Sac went chocolate about 10 days ago, reportedly from the McCloud arm fire mush being washed into Shasta and then down. So it turned into Trinity and either Yuba/ Feather, a big haul. To make a long story short, we get snowed out of the Trinity and called off the Feather with the report of big rain on Saturday.
I don't know what it is, but I had a vacation day set up and I just wanted to fish, sometimes that's just the way it is. At the last minute, I wake up on Friday decide to drive to the Yuba. It's raining most of the way up and pouring in Marysville. Somehow, the cloudline ends a tthe Yuba, and it's calm and not raining on the river!!!
I had been up there the week before, and left a new Ross Evolution reel on top of my car on the way out. I had come back and tried looking for it, but no luck. I decided to fish the same spot. and when driving in, I stopped at the top of the drop and walked down to look for the reel one last time. Somehow I found it in the grass off the side of the road! I picked it up and my sudden excitement dampened. See the picture below and you can see why . . . looks like about 4 trucks drove over it. I was able to at least salvage the line onto a new reel.
Fishing was actually pretty good despite flows of over 3,000 cfs and bucket pouring rain beginning at about 10:00 am. Got into a couple of really nice fish and a few more smaller ones. It's just amazing how dry and warm the gear out nowadays will keep you. Needless to say, I had the entire river to myself. That poor reel, I don't know how that thing didn't snap into a million pieces. Good thing Santa came in a couple of days. One last box into the sleigh.
Bob
-- Edited by ONEWEIGHT on Wednesday 26th of December 2012 08:35:48 PM
That's pretty funny Bob! Most people don't find their fly fishing stuff left on top of their cars/suvs. That reel may be salvageable if you heat it up in the oven for a little while.... You should also send an email story and photo to Ross to see if they will give you a discount or warranty it!! I once left my rod on the side of my truck up at the Truckee and ran over it (Near new about 11 years ago). I was about halfway down to Sac when the light went on in my head. You know what that crunching sound was when you left... I drove back to the Truckee found my rod broken into six pieces with the reel missing. Sent it back to Sage and to this day still am using that great SP.
Actually, it was a good excuse to stop into the Happy Viking and drown my sorrows with some hot chicken wings and a couple of hefe's at the end of the day. I didn't even have to go that far, to Ross that is, Leo took care of me at Fish First!
Way to get after it Bob. I looked at the date and went "wait a second here" Glad you jumped on it, sometimes it's better to get out than ring your hands at home all day wondering what's going on out there. To piggyback both your warranty stories, Ross and Sage have 2 of the best in the biz. Chris I did the same thing with my old DS2 a couple years ago at Lake Manzanita. Trucks and 5 weights don't mix. 50$ to cover the warranty and Sage rebuilt the tip section and butt section including a much needed brand spanking new cork and even upgraded my reel seat from black aluminum to nickel silver. Luckily the Ross rythmn was untouched and still in use today.
