Fishing - Equipment tips

Things, tricks and tips that I have learned:
1. Do not ride in a high powered auto with a maniacally laughing
pirate.
2. Ziplock bags rock for keeping things dry. Especially keys with an
RF door lock.
3. Studded wading boots suck in a fiberglass boat.
4. Large quantities of cheap vodka can assist you in filling your fly
box in the fish camp (just wait till your buddies are passed out).
5. If your fly shop owner calls you up in the middle of the winter to
remind you that your credit card is expiring, its time to move on.
6. If your fly shop owner sees you at a fishing show in the middle of
the winter and gives you the same info whilst repeating your card
number from memory, its time to switch to a new bank.
7. Mormon girl scouts and drunk southern lawyers with a gitfiddle
don't mix.
8. Keep a travel pack of tissues in a ziplock in the back pocket of
your vest. Will help with in-forest emergencies.
9. When flinging streamers all day, put a waterproof bandaid or that
flexible bandage tape on you stripping finger. Will keep the line
from sawing through to the bone.
10. A fly box with a sealing ring will keep your flies from getting
wet an rusting out. However, at the end of the day, open the boxes
and let the flies air out overnight to ensure that any moisture does
not stay in the box.
11. An old sock filled with cedar shaving from a pet store can be
placed in your hackle drawer to ward off moths.
12. When you tie up a bunch of dry flies, dip them in Rain-X and let
them dry. This repels water and helps clean up after fish slime.
13. A curved, serrated-edge folding knife attached to your wader strap
with a nylon shoe lace can be used to cut you out of waders and other
things in an emergency.
14. Turn your cell phone off and remove the battery before going
astream (and put it in a ziplock). If it gets dunked, then it only
needs to be dried out and should be good as new (works for digital
cameras too).
15. On your fly vest, loops on the zipper pull can get caught on a
branch, unzipping the pocket with the loss of the contents. Go for
one that has solid, flat pulls.
16. Keep hydrated on the water with a Camel Back pack or other bladder
system. You can last a whole bunch longer even in cold weather.
Dehydration, even a little bit, causes fatigue.
17. Check your tippet often. Even a little knick in the line can
reduce breaking strength by 75%. Retie!
18. ALWAYS wear a wading belt. There are some broad ones that even
help with back fatique. Wading belts will slow the inflow of water
into your waders, giving you a few extra seconds to get out before
they fill up.
19. Clone Danl's bride. She cooks up enough food for the whole came
and sends it with him.
20. Carry a kitchen garbage bag in your vest. When you reach the end
of your stroll for the day, you can use it to pick up trash on the
trail on the way out.
Frank Reid