Redhook,

I think you posted that you're 33 years old. If so, you should start acting more like an adult than a child, unless you're developmentally retarded.

Guess what, 28" is larger than the state record SRC. And 5 # is skinny for a 28" SRC. I'm guessing you estimate (badly) rather than measure fish length and casting distance. No offense, but you're dad didn't cast all the way across the Sky at 2 bit unless your dad is Steve Rajeff (world champion many times over). Just to give you a clue. BTW, you can post anything you can type, but you're gonna' FAIL badly if you try to BS me about fly fishing and salmonids. These are things I know a bit about.

It makes sense that your dad wouldn't let you touch his gear if you're "bad with gear." Sage and Fenwick and Marquis are good stuff and shouldn't be in the hands of a klutz. So maybe putting it back in the closet for another 10 or 15 years would be the best option.

Uh, who's to say your failing? Don't be such a cry baby. Can you make 50 out of 50 basketball shots from the foul line? I ask because my daughter when she was in grade school complained that she couldn't make a basket. I asked her how many times she tried. She didn't know (it wasn't many). I told her to make 50 shots and keep track of how many she made. Then make 50 shots the next day, etc., etc. Since she was a musician she understood the concept of practice and training. In a few weeks she was making a lot of shots.

If you want to learn to fly cast, first, more important than practice, is training. You FIRST need a basic lesson or two. Then you need to practice what you're instructed in those lessons 15 minutes a day, 4 or 5 times a week, or 7, and then get a couple more lessons. I can have anybody who isn't a natural born klutz casting decently in a month. Like most thing in life, it ain't that hard, but it takes some instruction and practice. So quit sniveling about being disturbed and failing, hell you haven't even tried yet. So if you get the "bigger picture" of my posts, you'll understand that while the loss of your dad was sad, he left you things that apparently meant something to him. You'd honor him by learning to use it competently. That is quite a bit different than trying it on your own once or twice and then being upset that you didn't get it. Almost nobody does. But almost anybody can by doing what I described above.

Sg