Scott Wood Writes:
I hate to maintain equipment. I’d much rather use it. Perhaps it’s a rebellion against my father, a meticulous engineer with a depression-era mentality. When I was a child he and I spent far more time maintaining equipment than we did using it. I watched many a beautiful Saturday afternoon slip away from under a ’76 Oldsmobile. The outboard that ran great most of the time but occasionally sputtered had to be fixed before it could be put on the river. When the bail spring broke on a spinning reel it had to be taken apart, a spring ordered or fabricated and the reel repaired. No manual bail flipping in my family. The amount of lost fishing time weighed heavily upon my young mind.
A couple decades later, in 2001, freed from working on Oldsmobiles, I was salt water fly fishing every chance I got. I bought a couple of expensive cork drag reels and was surprised to discover that when I took spray over the bow of my boat, splashing the reels, the drag became quite sticky, requiring me to disassemble the reels, rinse them with fresh water and oil them to restore that super slick drag I had paid so much for. About that time Ryan Harrison with Waterworks/Lamson offered me a Velocity to try. He explained that the Lamson team had designed a sealed, conical drag that was zero maintenance. O.K, I thought, we will see about this “zero maintenance.” It quickly became my favorite reel, but I still wanted to put it to a true torture test. So I never put a case on it, and I never so much as rinsed it off. The only time it saw fresh water was when it rained. If it got sand in it, I rinsed it in the ocean. As months turned to years it became covered in salt crust and yet the drag was as smooth as ever. Then one day in 2009 I went to pull line off of it and it was locked up. I thought I had finally managed to abuse this thing to death. I was wrong. I popped the spool off for the first time in 8 years and saw that the drag cartridge had unscrewed slightly from the reel, letting water in. It was badly corroded but eventually I was able to get it apart. I soaked it in gasoline, cleaned it up, oiled it, dried it and put it back together. It’s as good as new today. If only Lamson built cars and outboards. But then guys like my father would go mad with boredom. Oh and the Oldsmobile? It was with mixed emotions that I received the news that Dad had sold it around the time I got that Velocity in 2001. I had driven it just the week before. For some strange reason, I wanted to see how fast it would accelerate from a stop. The 25-year-old engine spun both wheels in 1st and 2nd.
Scott Wood
Great Outdoor Provision Company
Raleigh, NC
David Larson Writes:
After 5,000 casts over several days time, this 36 x 18 inch (20 lb) lake rainbow was caught on a large streamer fly in the middle of the night. When you finally hook that fish of a lifetime, you’d better have a Lamson.
Regards,
David Larson – Owner – Provo River Outfitters
Allan Shephard Writes:
Hi Ryan
Grant thought you might be interested in seeing the attached picture of a 93lb blue shark I caught on fly gear last week. You will notice in the picture the reel used was a Vanquish 12 which performed perfectly throughout the 40 minute fight.
We are fairly sure it is the biggest fish ever caught in the UK on fly gear.
Regards,
Allan Shephard AAPGAI
Mark From New Jersey Writes:
Jen,
I just returned from a fly fishing trip to Belize with my fly fishing mentor of many years, Chris Frangiosa of TCO Fly Shops. When we were getting my stuff ready to go for the trip, Chris brought over a Vanquish reel for me to see. Since I was focused on the task at hand, I really didn’t pay much attention at the time.
On the first day of bone fishing in Belize, Chris pulled out his Vanquish. Now that it had backing and a fly line and was mounted on a rod, I could really appreciate it. Chris generously let me fish with it. Even though he retrieves right handed and I left, it was as though there was no reel at all. I immediately sensed how the light weight and balance tremendously reduced the entire effort. It’s analogous to playing tennis with a modern racquet for the first time after playing with a wood one. Also, it functioned flawlessly when fighting a fish… extremely smooth when the fish is taking out line and just as smooth when retrieving. Even when a bone fish is heading right back at you at full speed, it’s not a problem picking up line to keep up. As if that wasn’t enough, the reel looked killer! A thing of real (no pun intended) beauty.
When I returned from Belize, I went directly to your web site to find out more about the specifics of this wonderful piece of gear I had just experienced first hand. Not only did I gain a lot of knowledge about the Vanquish, but all of your reels as well as the overall philosophy of Waterworks-Lamson. Your company has a clear vision to do it their own way, one that is quite unique. The video, while lengthy, was very informative and it showed how passionate Ryan Harrison is about your products.
Well, I guess the proof is in the pudding. I purchased a V8LT and a V10LT. They’re all rigged and ready to go. I can’t wait to fish them.
Thank you for bringing such innovative products to an industry that is largely a slave to “tradition”.
Mark N., New Jersey
Richard From Dublin Writes:
Dear Sir/Madame
I bought a Velocity reel two years ago and it has proved excellent.I salmon fish in the west of Ireland in a rugged spate river with a rock strewn bed and wild water in a flood. I unfortunately dropped my rod in the river during a storm. The rod was retrieved 800-1000 yards down stream three weeks later having been jammed in rocks. While the rod was broken, the base with reel attached your reel was intact, having been banged and hit by passing mud sand and stones. The reel was in perfect working order, a bit scraped and battered, but perfect. A wonderful reflection on the sturdy workmanship in making these reels, It will I hope catch many more salmon this year.
Congratulations on producing so rugged a product.
With best wishes,
Richard S.
Dublin
Rick Matney Writes:
Hey Guys,
I am a flyfishing guide in Bozeman MT and Wrangell AK. I have been using your reels for about 10 years. My first one was the original Velocity. I got it from a rep at a flyfishing show in 2000 I think.
Anyhow I had a client knock my sage Xi2 and Lamson Litespeed 4 (guide finish) out of my boat in a wave train on the Bighole during high water. Lost forever! or so I thought. 2 years later I get a call from Sage saying some guy contacted them with a rod he found with my name on it. I got in contact with him and he told me where he found it. It was about 3 miles downstream from where it went in in some rocks. Only the butt section of the rod and reel was found. He mailed it back to me. When I got it it looked like I expected. Just out of curiosity I tried to reel it….it broke free and started clicking and reeling smoothly! Shocked, I pulled line out and the drag engaged and worked perfectly. After 2 years of getting washed down the Bighole it was working as good as the day I took it out of the box.
Below are some pictures of what it looks like after spending 2 years in the river after I cleaned it up a bit.
I can’t say enough good things about your reels. My original Velocity still is my day to day working reel on my 6 wt rod. (my most used set up)
Thanks for a product that holds up,
Rick Matney
Montana Troutfitters
Bozeman MT
Thiago Writes:
Hello Friends at Lamson Reels
This is the V 7.8 LT working hard last week with bonefishes from Los Roques, Venezuela.
Fast retrieving and strong drag, all the necessary.
Best,
Thiago – FlyShop Brasil
