I see people who think you need a G Loomis stick at least to catch bass.
Look down on the shore fisherman. Same think at some of the companies I
worked for ( I worked for a few startups). When layoffs came, a lot of the
engineers were full of self pity. We are all making $60-100k and job
prospects at another company were common (this is in the 80's & 90's). They
never seemed to feel for the assembly line workers that are making $20k /
year and living paycheck to paycheck. Absolutely worse move I have ever
seen a manager do was at a potluck Thanksgiving lunch in about 1988. The
Thanksgiving lunch at this company had always been paid for by the company
as we gave thanks we were still in business another year. But they got
cheap and only supplied the turkey. The biggest Turkey was the VP of
engineering. We had made a big sale to AT&T and the director of software
engineering had answered a bunch of AT&T's questions by having one of the
S/W engr's on the line. The VP went on and on how the director had helped
in the sale and here was a plague and a check. If he had stopped there, all
would have been fine. But he informs the assembled company that this is a
check for $5,000. In front of assembly people who make 16-19k/ year and the
company can not afford to pay for the lunch. The director drove a 928
Porsche and probably made $120k / year. My director could not see any thing
wrong. Worse moral booster I have ever witnessed.
Glad you are not that way. But for a lot of people an Ugly stick is a big
purchase.
Bill

"Craig" wrote in message
m...
Ok Bill, let's get some things straight. First, I'm not rich, in fact,
I'm
not even well off, far from it. I work extremely hard for everything I
own,
and have learned that QUALITY is far better than QUANTITY. So, for ME, I
would rather scrimp and save to own one top end G.Loomis/Shimano combo
than
have four or more combos of lesser quality. Now that doesn't mean I look
down on anyone that uses a rod of lesser quality.

Second, I would love to own a row-boat right now. I gave my boat away
when
I became a sponsored angler (because I thought I would be sponsored
forever). So when I loss my sponsorship, I loss my boat & truck. Now I
am
grateful when a friend loans me their boat or takes me out for a day of
fishing.

Third, I may joke with people that fish for other species than bass, but
it
is only me joking around. I try and spend some time every Sunday with a
group of old farts that fish for carp like I fish for bass. I go salmon
fishing at least once a year with one of them old farts (most are in their
late 60's, and old Elmer is 84).

When I teach kids about fishing, and I don't get a chance to do that as
much
anymore, I always started them fishing for Crappie, Perch and Bluegill.
It
is just easier for them to catch fish that way. I did the same thing for
all the homeless folks that live along the shore and under the bridges.
In
fact, I use to buy them those K-Mart IM7 rods and cheap shimano reels and
a
panfish starter kit. Give a man a fish, they eat for a day, teach a man
to
fish and they can feed themselves forever. Sadly, I can't afford to do
that
too often anymore either and I miss doing it. Some of the tales those
folks
can tell you are just pretty freak'n amazing. I could sit and listen to
them for hours. Same reason I spend time with the old farts. I love to
hear their old tales and learn about the lake back in the old days. Sorry
for going off on a sidebar.

I don't think anyone here truly looks down on people using lower end
equipment or that fish for other species. I think we jab, joke, and play
with people, and since you cannot see the expression on the person's
face,
you can't tell they are kidding around. I know I'm guilty of that
myself -
thinking someone is being rude, when in fact they were joking.

--
Craig