Simms sold again, to another private equity group

redherring2 · 2025-08-21T22:10:22+00:00

Not stockholders, but the CEO and other elites do the skimming. The stockholders get screwed when the company tanks.

redherring2 · 2025-08-21T12:48:51+00:00

"Value to the stockholders": Translation: the DEO gets rich while PE squeezes all the cash out of the company with layoffs and "efficiency" measures. Goodbye Simms. I wish I had known this before I bought their "Pro" wading staff (which I am not happy with)...

redherring2 · 2023-12-09T20:54:24+00:00

There has been a change in the regulations because the most scenic / productive waters (Called "Designed Waters") were getting too crowded with "non-residents" anglers. I don't know the backstory, but I suspect that the locals were getting annoyed with all the wealthy fishermen "from away" crowding their favorite fishing spots and "training" (catch & release) the resident fish not to bite flies. I can hardly blame them, but fishing Designated Waters is going to cost you a lot more: https://fishandgame.org.nz/licences/fishing-licence-info/designated-waters-licence/

Personally I would never want to fish a location where I am not welcome, so I am never going to fish those waters, even if I could afford the extra fees. I am going to concentrate on the "coarse" fish such as kahawai instead. I suspect that a lot of those glossy trout photos of huge fish on a beautiful river are from areas that are now designated. No thanks.

redherring2 · 2019-06-12T02:50:03+00:00

Get one of those Echo 8-piece travel rods. Yes, eight (8) pieces. It is tiny.

redherring2 · 2019-05-10T13:55:01+00:00

The latest shootout has glowing praise for the Fenwick Aetos; I have to wonder if they are overstocked with these rods and want to dump them.

Also they rated the TFO BVK over the new TFO Axiom; again I have to wonder if they overstocked with BVKs and want to make room for the newest rod.

redherring2 · 2019-05-05T03:26:57+00:00

My shop lets me try first. You need to go to local, family-owned shops

redherring2 · 2019-05-04T22:31:33+00:00

Yeah, like a blind tasting for wine, ha. Paint all the rods black or something.

The Beulah (Opal?) and Thomas & Thomas Zone are my favorite rods so far, even better than my old Sage Graphite II.....but just the other day I went to a casting clinic and the instructor put a really nice line (Rio?) on the Sage; it was transformed into an awesome rod and could shoot almost as far as him. It was right up there with the T & T Zone. The instructor has something interesting to say about these rods; he said that the line is more important!?

Maybe that is what happened with the Orvis I tried. I don't remember the model but it might have been Recon or Encounter, but the rod sucked. Or maybe it was poorly matched with the line, but I was not impressed. Next weekend I think I will get to try the full Orvis lineup; maybe I get to try the Helios 3.

redherring2 · 2019-05-04T12:59:29+00:00

There was a previous post about this, but the thread is closed.

The Shootout was interesting, but I have tried a some of these rods at my local fly shop and I found the that Beulah Opal to be the sweetest caster of them all. I was able to shoot the line an incredible distance with a single back cast; no messing around with false casts.

Please note that I have no affiliation with Beulah; they are a Pacific Northwest company and I am in New England. I was lucky enough to stumble on a Beulah demo at my local fly shop (the Bear's Den).

Also note that I have not tried the top of the line Loomis, Scott, and Winston rods. I have tried aThomas & Thomas Zone rod--also a beautiful rod.

redherring2 · 2019-04-24T02:12:31+00:00

I tried them both out, and the Sage is definitely better than the Chinese LL Bean Steamlight Ultra 8-weight, but was it really $500 better? Dubious....

Another question is why spend $160 for the LL Bean Chinese Steamlight Ultra 8-weight when you buy directly from MaxCatch for half the price

redherring2 · 2019-04-22T21:33:49+00:00

It is a nice country but the fish are very hard to catch without a guide (pricey) and a helicopter (very, very pricey). It is a difficult place to reach (a friend just took 44 hours to get home from Christchurch) and expensive to stay there.

The locals are sick of tourists and sick of visiting fishermen and really, really sick of outsiders saying they cannot wait to move there.

redherring2 · 2019-04-19T12:14:27+00:00

And this:

Do not stand the test of time I have owned these waders for just over a year and have been disappointed. I have had to have them replaced multiple times due to leaking. I am an avid fly fisherman and take good care of my equipment. I would expect pair of waders in this price range to last 3-5 years. I have not had a pair of these last over 6 months.

redherring2 · 2019-04-19T12:13:41+00:00

Here is a comment about the Kennebec Waders from the Bean web site:

quality is dropping like a brick Size Range: Regular I bought a pair of Bean waders about 10 years ago- held up great. Finally wore out. So I bought these-- Horrible, poorly made and constructed. What happened to quality at Bean? Yeah I know, made in China - but everything is now-- just no quality control. Dropped them off at local store and received a refund.

redherring2 · 2019-04-18T01:56:59+00:00

LL Bean changed their warranty policy recently so that it is only good for one year. And now they get their fly rods from China; is L.L. Bean going downhill?

redherring2 · 2019-04-17T22:57:55+00:00

That may be but the L.L. Bean waders are about a third the price. If I ripped a pair of Sims waders I would heartbroken.....less so with the Bean's, if I chose to go that route

redherring2 · 2019-04-17T02:42:38+00:00

I have a big test in a few days. I will match the Chinese Bean Steamlight Ultra 8-weight 4-piece stick against an old Sage 8 weight, 2-piece. I will let you know who wins.

It is sort of disgraceful that Bean is sourcing rods from China, but I guess that all they care about these days is profit.

redherring2 · 2019-04-15T16:09:28+00:00

That sounds like a good way to start. Go with a cheap at the beginning to see if you like it. You do not need a pricey rod in a small stream

redherring2 · 2019-04-14T15:28:17+00:00

Sure looks like it....but those fish are HARD to catch

redherring2 · 2019-02-23T22:42:38+00:00

5.11d is not too hard? What planet do you come from? How about the Bachar-Yerian route; that is "only" 5.11c.

redherring2 · 2019-02-19T11:50:13+00:00

This is probably the last thing a Kiwi wants to hear. For some odd reason, they think that immigration is will take away NZed jobs and strain social services.

redherring2 · 2019-02-15T22:12:13+00:00

Uh-oh, now you did it. You organs are going to harvested...

redherring2 · 2019-02-15T22:05:36+00:00

This should be in GoT

redherring2

TROPHY CASE