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Indeed, the Canefather did gift me greatly with a moderately-priced Goodwin 8040. It resides with me still. It has fished only twice, but both places were beauts.

One was the Hot Creek Ranch, a springcreek haven for the tchnical trouting fan. And then the rod journeyed up the grade to fantastic Tulomme Meadows, above mighty Yosemite, for a session on a tumbling freestone. It was a wonderful rod to use, and a wonderful piece of angling history to return to the water.

It is a coke bottle-grip, slide band Goodwin rod, complete with original tube and bag -- exactly the sort Phil Snyder would set into his hands and examine. Old Phil would caress the rod. He'd go silent and contemplative. His eyes would grow soft. These were the rods he couldn't afford in his Depression-era youth in Utah.

That's why, late in life, he collected (and restored when it was needed) every Goodwin Granger rod model ever produced. He once laid them out on his dining room table for me -- many were longer, 9'ers, and many sported shimmering blond shafts under Dwight Lyons' varnish. The Chinese red silks were a fantastical counterpoint to the cane -- it wasn't garish, it was perfect. Phil had them all. And lord, the man loved those old rods.

When he passed many of his collection were sold. The best examples were passed on to his family members.

This particular rod from Sante is not a medium rod at all. I was a little surprised as to its backbone -- yes, it favors the DT5 line, but it truly is medium fast on the flex. Perhaps it wasn't fished a lot, or perhaps the cane happened to have a goodly amount of stiff fibers. Whatever the reason I am proud to own the rod.

And, I think of the kindly Phil Snyder, of Fullerton, California, sitting there in his study with me, talking over rods, reaching over to grab another aluminum tube. And no matter what the rod, the maker, the era, the length or configuration, Phil would say, "Here's another rod I like."

Hey Jer., thanks for remembering. It was at the Ranch, but it was not the Granger rod. Actually, it was a shorter and much lighter stick, and looking back at the incident, I am quite proud of my self. Sniff, sniff, pats on mine own back. I think I'll have that extra piece of apple pie now, if you please. It was a legend in my own mind battle royale.

It was a pre-fire 7' Duracane, DT4, on 6x Dai Riki Velvet (one year old tippet), with a black, deerhair beetle, tied on a light-wire Mustad, 94833. All in all, I should not have been able to stay a'hooked to that monster. And given the rod, line, and hook I should not have been able to have brought it to net.

Well, the net didn't fit the fish. Or vice versa. I had to step into the stream, which doesn't allow wading, when I realized that the huge fish wasn't going to fit into the opening of the net. I lifted the fish out, took a picture, and began to revive it. It measured out to a solid 24". It remains the largest rainbow trout I have caught. And released. The fight was long, I ran along the bank, I looked at the small rod as it bent, and lemme say it was bending to my hand. I kept rotating it, line was shooting through my hands like crazy, I stripped in, I used the reel, I lost line, I regained it -- and my pal had walked away and no one was there to witness it all. The reel, by the way, was also vintage -- a c. 20s Hardy Sunbeam. I remember describing it as "soldering on, an Enfield of a reel." I was younger then.

It took a long time to revive the fish. I was glad when she swam away (I'm nearly certain it was a hen fish). It crossed the current, and disappeared 'neath the aquatic weeds there.

I walked back through the warm summer winds to the cabins there. My pal David, another cane fanatic, was waiting there, talking with two other anglers. Turned out one was the late Andre Puyans. I got congrats all around when I told my story.

Hey, thanks for reviving the memory!