David Churbuck’s Reel-Time FLog

1. Clean the mouse and chipmunk nests out of the drawers of the tackle garage. It will doubtlessly smell like rodent pee.
2. Take all reels off of all rods and take the spinning gear to SportsPort for cleaning, new drag washers, and most importantly, new line.
3. Inventory leader supply.
4. Replace fly line backing
5. Replace rusted hooks on plugs
6. Inventory fly supply and plan on tying ( 2 doz. white, yellow, and chartreuse bonito bunnies, 1 dozen flourescent orange bluefish poppers, 1 dozen big herring patterns, 1 dozen shady lady squid, 1 dozen white and grizzle deceivers, 2 dozen chartreuse clousers ((that’s a ton of flies …))
7. Get a new set of wader suspenders and locate the pesky leak around the left knee
8. Buy new spools of flourocarbon tippet material in 6, 8, 12, and 15 lb. test
9. Buy bite tippets
10. Clean out the stripping basket.

That should do it. Couple weekends for the tackle, many nights for the flies. Better to think about now than in March when the garden starts germinating under the lights in the basement. This is going to be a fishy summer. I can feel it.

The best reel I own is a Tibor Everglades I bought in 1995 from a tackle store in West Palm Beach.

Whatever you’ve heard about this reel in terms of praise, double it.

You can check them out at Tibor’s website.

Mine is gold. It has some dings, but those are my fault. The thing is built like a brick, but a lot lighter. It is one of the most beautiful gadgets I’ve ever owned. A well-machined piece of perfection and precision.