The latest newsletter from the Gorge Fly Shop has a blog post on a recent Farbank (Sage, Rio, Reddington) Spey Day held in Bend, Oregon on March 22nd, 2015. John Garrett, one of their Product Specialists, noted that it’s much easier talking with customers who’ve actually cast a rod than someone is mired in YouTube videos and online reviews – and having no actual experience with the rod(s) they ask about. He tells of his experience with a customer who had called fly shops all over the country and was frustrated by all the conflicting opinions; said customer had actually never gone into any local fly shops and tested any rods.

I confess – I’ve been guilty of that too (too many times in my life). Given life working in a corporate cube, it’s often easier to surf the web and get absorbed in product reviews and videos than going down to the fly shop after work or on weekends and putting cork in one’s hands.

And it’s not just Spey Casting or fly fishing. I was in a bike shop once (actually testing and buying a bike). The owner said he had these kids continually coming in with the latest issue of some bicycle-related magazine. They’d spend hours discussing and asking him about gear ratios, frame geometry and the like. He said to me, “I always tell them…why don’t you just go out riding.”

You can read the blog post here.