Mission Endure 61: Built, Not Bought!
Meramec Springs Trout Park, St James, Missouri
Over the last 3 years I have become fascinated with fly fishing, and I am not totally sure why. I don’t like to eat fish, so everything I catch I release back to live another day and fight another fight. To most people who don’t fish that seems strange, but when I fish I get more out of the fight than I do at the dinner table. It also gives Trout, Salmon, Blue Gill, or whatever species you fish for an opportunity to live another day and reproduce to fill our waters with more beautiful fish. Maybe someday, if times get tough, I will start eating what I catch, but we are not at that point yet. One thing that attracts me to fly fishing is spending quality time outside, battling one-on-one with nature in a primal sense. I love spending time relaxing wading through a cool stream with cold water running past you in the middle of summer. Learning to catch your own food is also a great skill, and one that everyone should have. But, it is more than that, it also celebrates being able to spend time hunting and gathering just like those generations before us did. In my mind I can look nature in the eye and know that, at least in the short-term, I may have won. I took the above photo at the end of October 2020. Meramec Springs is an incredible place. The water comes from an underground spring and is clear and cold. It feeds the Trout hatchery on the grounds there.
The other thing that attracts me to fly fishing is the equipment. Fly fishing rods and reels are fascinating to me. The art of perfectly casting a fly and presenting it to the fish and the simplicity of a fly fishing rod and reel blend well with the science and technology that goes into building the components of a fly fishing kit. The science and technology of the rod and reel are not reflected in the price that it costs to get started in the sport. You can go to WalMart or Bass Pro Shops and purchase a very good starter fly fishing kit for $159.
$159 seems like a lot of money to pay for a starter kit, but the amount of time and effort it takes to manufacture a fly fishing rod and reel makes this a good price and the kit will last a long time, or at least until you get bit by the fly fishing bug and decide to purchase a nicer kit. Once you get beyond a starter kit the pricing radically goes up. A nice top of the line graphite rod alone can cost upwards of $1000. My ultimate goal in fly fishing is to be able to use a bamboo fly rod, but they are priced unbelievably high. An upscale bamboo fly rod can cost you $3,500. I can’t justify that type of expense without a very good reason.
So, what is my alternative to paying top dollar for fly fishing equipment? The answer lies in one of my favorite company’s motto, “Built, not Bought!” If you can’t afford the high price of the top of the line fly fishing equipment, then buy the components and build it yourself. I took this phrase to heart and about 2 years ago I started building my own fly fishing rods. I don’t have the machinery to build my own fly rod blanks, so the next best thing is to purchase a rod blank and all the other components and build it out from there. For less than half the price of a new rod you can purchase a new rod blank and add all the features you want, and even use your favorite colors to customize it. Here are a couple of photos of one of two of my recent 4 piece graphite fly fishing rod builds. The first one is with a Teal colored rod blank and Royal Blue thread wrappings. I really like this fly rod. The second one I build in UCLA colors to commemorate my alma mater. I have built several more, but people fall in love with them and want top buy them!
9’ 5 Weight 4 Piece Graphite Rod in Teal with Royal Blue thread wraps
Another 9’, 5 Weight, 4 Piece Graphite themed Fly Rod that I built using the UCLA color scheme
My attempts at fly rod building follows my line of thinking from a post I made a few months ago called “The Art of Building Gyrocopters and Getting Back to Basics” where I discussed that America used to be a country full of people who were Do It Yourselfers. I discussed my amazing Uncle Royce who used to build and fly Gyrocopters and how there aren’t many people around today who are unafraid to take on any task. Today it seems like we are more likely to hire someone to do work for us than to try something new. How many of us try to tackle an electrical project at home or paint our houses? I believe there are a lot of reason why we should be taking on tasks that help us learn new skills and help us cope when we have difficult times. In my opinion, the three best reasons to build something yourself are:
- It will save you a lot of money. As you shift the process to someone you hire (or buy a product assembled from the factory) the cost goes up. You can build some of your own “sweat equity”
- You will get a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. Some people function better by keeping their creative juices flowing
- Your health will improve as you stop focusing on the problems you might face in life and concentrate more on completing an important project
I am still amazed how much of our lives we pay to have someone else either build or repair an item for us. The concept applies to building your own fly rod as much as adding on a new storage shed or doing your own landscaping project. You can save money and at the same time enjoy the pride of ownership that comes from creating something. It gives us an opportunity to be creative and the proicess helps me become more productive during the long Illinois winters. Whenever I watch a home remodeling show on TV they always run into unexpected problems in the course of the project. These problems force the people on the show to develop those good critical thinking and problem solving skills that many of us have lost because many times we choose to contract out the difficult work to other people rather than go through the learning process. Most of all, taking on new projects helps learn to cope better with all the difficulties that come along in life that force me to find creative solutions to problems. In short, it helps me become more self-sufficient. You will never learn to do something unless you get started on it. In today’s world it is easy to watch a YouTube video that shows someone doing an interesting task, but you don’t get the fulfillment of completing the task unless you actually attempt it your self. And you won’t develop the skillset you need to survive in a tumultuous world if you don’t start DIY projects now. So, remember the motto, “Built, not Bought!” and get out there and start building.