As fishermen, hunters, and outdoorsmen in general, we collect a lot of stuff. Most of the time without ever realizing it too. Fishing in particular is a very fertile ground for stockpiling random shit.
Last night after work I helped Shane move from the Sasquatch Cave (inside joke and long story with that one) to a new place. Most of what he hadn’t already grabbed was the bigger furniture, but there was still a fly tying desk, rod rack, a broken 8-weight, etc. At the new place, he said to just throw it in the gear room. I had been hearing about this place for weeks. An entire room, just for gear.
Let’s just say that it’s a good thing he has a entirely separate room just for gear. A large stack of fly rods stood in a corner behind a wall of plastic totes labeled Fishin Stuff, hunting packs and camo were along one wall, while several pretty good sized cardboard boxes full of tying materials lined the opposite side. The rod rack went along the other wall, along with various other necessities for a life in Montana.
It was a bachelor’s paradise.
Seeing that room made me think two things: 1) Damn, I need one. 2) Damn, we both have a lot of stuff. Coming home to my place a couple hours, a couple beers, and a couple plates of dinner later, I took a look around. My table is completely covered with tying material, I have fly rods in at least three different places, tackle boxes in the kitchen, my raft cooler blocking the pantry door, a sleeping bag and three extra pairs of waders in my closet, along with two or three backpacks and more hiking boots than I know what to do with.
This in turn got me thinking: Do we really need all this stuff? The answer? Yes. First off because you can literally find an excuse or a need for every piece of gear you have ever bought. Take fly rods. You might only go tarpon fishing once in your life, but you need that 12-weight rod and reel. Or you creek fish twice a summer. Better get that slow action 7 foot 3 weight that costs more than your car. And lines? Psh, your wife/girlfriend/friends may not understand why you need four extra spools for that Abel reel, all loaded with something different for a certain situation, but we do.
Without us, the people who have or need a separate room for the outdoors stuff, an entire industry would collapse.
But, for the vast majority of us, reality bites us in the ass. Sure, we would love to get that new Sage rod. Or go to the tropics chasing bonefish in the middle of winter. Or buy new waders, boots, etc every year. But if we did we would be living in a cardboard box on the river. Pros and cons to that idea…
While most of us have a lot of stuff, it is the result of years of careful planning, saving, spending, and meticulous care of our existing gear. It just wouldn’t be the same if you went out and bought your big pile of stuff all at once, there is no pride, no story in that. Then you would just have a bunch of new gear laying around.
Looking around at your own big pile of stuff, take a moment and think back to all the fishing trips you had with that pair of waders. Or all the flies you tied on that vise. And how you scrimped and saved for months before getting that new rod, and it was everything you dreamed it would be. Collecting those memories is what takes us out there. And just like photos in an album, a big pile of stuff keeps those memories alive.
