Heirlooms

Heirlooms, I'm sure we all have some. In this case I'm speaking to those related to fly fishing. There can be a variety of them that can have very impressive monetary values, especially cane rods and some of those beautiful classic reels. There are old fly boxes such as a vintage Wheatley, landing nets, and fly collections left by family members who walked in the streams years ago.

I have a few I plan to leave although they might not carry a heavy price tag they are some of the quality items I have enjoyed and will be in the family long after.

Books. The printed physical type. I have many which will be both a joy to read as well as informative. Just a note. While the publishing of printed physical books has softened over the last few years, the sales of bookcases has increased.

This is the one item that I consider to be an heirloom that's unique. Journals can be passed down to family members showing the wonderful times spent on the rivers and streams. You can give an account of those beautiful fish, and tell of the fly that managed the persuade him to make that mistake. While journals will never carry the monetary of a Leonard bamboo rod, there value to the families of the angler are priceless.

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Journals

When I started fly fishing I never wrote down my experiences on the water, committing most to memory, but as I gained a few more years on this earth, and many more fishing trips, my memory got a bit fuzzy and what particular fly worked on May 6th, in rough water was no longer easy to recall.
Thats when I started writing down certain facts that related to a fishing outing, the only thing most of what I wrote down was on index cards and cheap pocket small note pads. These notes were soon lost and I was back to guessing. Thats when at a fly show I discovered journals just for fishing.

This made my trips documented and organized. The first journal was a nice hard cover book, the only drawback was it was not easy to take with me.
I used to write down my entries when I returned home, so as not to forget.

I soon found a small journal that would fit in my pack and I could document my thoughts and results right at streamside.

I still carry my journal, although not every outing has a page. I now reserve some of my special trips to document.

On some of my outings a special fish will be taken on a certain fly. I'll put that fly in plastic, staple it to the page entry, and retire that fly.

This is one of the smaller journals I now carry streamside

This is a larger journal I had made a few years ago. Its a photo of a small stream wild brown trout.



I also keep a small journal of the streamer patterns I design, with recipes and results when fished.