Hello and as always, I want to thank you for taking the time to read our
blog. I originally moved to Colorado in 1986 after completely falling head over
heels in love with skiing. I remember the first year going through a few pairs
of skis but never really noticing any huge differences. During my second year
in the mountains, the Atomic ski company put out a special purchase price for
their coolest and fastest ski. I got all my money together and had just enough
to buy the skis and still have drinking money. The day they arrived and I was
able to put them in my hand was one of the most exciting days I had in the
mountains, the skis were the Atomic SL3’s, they had a deep sidecut, serious
camber, snappy tails and the sexiest
deep metallic blue color I had ever seen. I rushed them into the repair shop
and mounted them with a pair of Salomon 957 equipe bindings. I waxed them and
finished by detuning the tips and tails, and now I was ready to give them a
ride. I nearly ran to the lift and when I got to the top of the mountain, I
headed straight for my favorite “balls out” cruiser and let them run. High
speeds were incredibly stable and then I headed for the bumps, quick turns were
like nothing I had ever felt and last I hit the big airs. That day started the
strangest love affair I have ever had. I skied those skis every day and felt
like I could do anything with them. As I was finishing my second year on them I
began to notice that something just wasn’t the same, sure much of the paint had
chipped off but they just didn’t ski the same. One day I was looking at them
and noticed that the camber was completely gone and the tip on one of the skis
actually had actually bent up. Well I talked to Atomic and they said to send
them back. They contacted me and told me they would be sending me a new pair of
the next year’s (new and improved) model and I was ecstatic. Receiving them was
almost exactly the same as the first pair. The main difference was that instead
of the metallic blue, these were the most awesomest Neon hot pink, lime green
and purple(just like in the movie Hot Tub Time Machine). I got them mounted and
ready to go and headed to the slopes. I headed straight over to The Drunken
Frenchman to test them in style. Something was wrong, they felt like I was
skiing in quick sand, I went to a cruiser and it still just wasn’t right. I
skied it over the next week and never could find anything I really liked about
those skis and so I finally sold them. I moved out of the mountains in 1991 and
had never found anything that quite felt the same as those SL3’s. In 2009 I was
trying to buy skis again and after a few failed purchases I bought a pair of
Line Prophet 100’s in a size 186 and it was true love all over again. I can’t
believe it took twenty years to rekindle that fire.
So why am I talking about skis in a fly fishing blog, well I’m really
not, but I’m talking about the love affair that we sometimes have with our
toys. I know the first few years of fly fishing I went through several rods but
never really having anything I couldn’t live without. I bought a Sage xp and
really liked most everything about it but after the third time it was sent into
repair it started feeling like something was missing. I had always thought it
would be cool owning a Winston but was aware of the “old man” connotation that
went with them. I was playing with the B11-MX in the shop one day and thought
it felt better than I expected. I bought a five weight and was so blown away
that I went ahead and ordered a nine foot four weight as well, I could not
believe what this thing could do. This was the SL3’s all over again, dry flies,
triple nymph rigs, roll casts or cutting straight through our gale force winds
were no problem. This rod was magic; I could spot a fish and without any second
thought roll a cast exactly where I was aiming. The feel, the light weight, the
look, the ability to fight fish was incredible. And then last summer I was told
the bad news that Winston is discontinuing this rod and replacing it with the
new “more better” rod; now where have I heard this before. Needless to say, I
was a little skeptical. Our Winston rep was at the shop last month and I was
able to cast the replacement and was cautiously, but pleasantly optimistic. The
rod had some similarities but also a few differences as well. After thinking
about the new B3 –SX’s for a few months I went ahead and ordered myself a
couple, a four weight and a new “lake” six weight. It’s funny how even though I
am a little nervous that these rods may not be everything I hoped they would
be, I feel like a kid the last week before Christmas in hope that they are.
A couple weeks back Alex and I were talking in the shop and he was
talking about carrying two rods, one for dries and one for nymphs and I
answered “that’s right you don’t own a Winston” He grinned and said well you
know sometimes the wind, and I cut in again “that’s right, you don’t own a
Winston”. Yes, I am head over heels for
my B2-MX and I can only hope it does not take twenty years for me to feel this
way again.
If you have read through this entire blog then I would like to say
thanks. After I get the rods in, I will be doing a review for the four
weight. As always, thanks for reading.
Connell
