Big News...Coming from Hatch

Country Pleasures Flyfishing is excited to announce two new special edition series of Hatch Reels. Some of you might remember the first bead blast reels done in grey earlier this year. They were so sexy!

As part of the Freshwater Series, they are offering the 3 Plus,  
4 Plus & 5 Plus Finatic in Bead Blasted Sand with black anodized spindle and gloss black paint fill. For the Saltwater Series, they are offering the 7 Plus, 9 Plus & 11 Plus Finatic in Bead Blasted Azul with silver anodized spindle and paint fill.
These reels will be available in Large Arbor configuration only.
No extra spools available. 


These reels will ship from Hatch to the shop on May 15 and are very limited in numbers. Sorry, the 11 Plus is already sold out.

The first series (grey) were sold out before their arrival. These won't last long. Give us a call if you would like one.

After 35 Years We Would Like To Thank.......

Well, it is now official, we are 35 years old. We would like to take a second and thank some who made it possible for the shop to stick around this long. Some have been partners for a long time, some a short time, but you all are important to us.

Of course our oldest partner would be all of you, our customers. Some of you have been coming to the shop since 1982 and others are more recent, but all of you keep the wheels turning. We cannot say a big enough 
THANK YOU!

And also, kind of behind the scenes, are all of our supplier partners. Over the years we have enjoyed some great relationships with some great people, and had the privilege of offering some great products for our customers. People maybe don't realize it, but the products in our store are all used out on the water by shop staff. Every item (rod, reel, line, wader, boot, etc.) in our store is familiar to us. If a product isn't in here it's likely means it's not good enough. So, that speaks volumes in our minds, and should in yours as well, as to how great the products these companies are. Thanks to all of these great companies...you know who you are out there.

 






Before we sign off, a little extra thanks to 
Orvis Fly Fishing, who have put up with us since the very first day we opened, 35 years ago.

Thanks again everyone!

Mike, Maureen, Kevin, Kelly, Josh, Quinn, Joe, and Blair.

Fathers Day Ideas and Specials

Some New Hatch Hats In

Hatch Re-Supply





Unpacked a re-supply of Hatch Reels this weekend.
Good thing, as we had one left.
Also just received the all new Tropical Floating lines from Hatch. They're pretty nice.
Hatch also has new saltwater leaders and tippets, which we will be testing this fall. We'll give you an update on those products in December.



Product Review-Hatch Finatic 9 Plus

Last winter/spring I spent some time fishing the Harch Finatic reels with the anticipation of carrying them in the shop. We were on the lookout for a US made, high quality reel for big game applications. I had guides and lodge owners that I know from around the tropics speak well of the reel. Obviously, things checked out as we have them in our shop.

Having said that, I took a Finatic 9Plus on my recent trip for two weeks to the Babine River to give it a good "stress test".

It hurt a little bit to leave my Vanquish reels (my usual Spey choice) in the room but I really wanted to see if the Hatch would hold up.

Late season Steelheading is as tough as anything I've seen on reels but 2012 turned out to be a real proving ground.

Temperatures ten to fifteen degrees colder than normal offered up as severe of an environment as I have run across.

Freezing temperatures and twenty pound Steehead...perfect!



Hatch Finatic 9Plus "in the drink"



Before I go to far with my review, you should know I was trying very hard to find fault with this reel. The reels I use now have been so good it was hard for me to think another reel could come close.

As for fit and finish, the Hatch is stunning and perfect. The only thing I would say is for those of you who use mono or Slickshooter for running line you can get the line between spool and body of reel. Using .035 running line, I had no issues and Hatch is addressing this problem in a future design.

Drag, well after two weeks of use I can say the drag on these reels is top flight. A reel left out at minus fifteen celsius worked as well first thing in the morning as it did the afternoon before at zero. The best example of the drag continuity throughtout the range of adjustment came on a very big fish hooked last week. The big buck essentially left the county, removing the last of the running line and then disturbing amounts of backing. The fish was leaving so easily I thought my drag was set too light and proceeded to keep increasing the level of drag. At no time was there any grabbing or indication of the drag not being smooth. After the fish concluded kicking my ass, followed by far too much time required to reel in backing and some running line, I tried to pull off some line to check drag....I could hardly pull line off!

Smooth!...plain and simple!

Weight on the reel is very much average. Not terribly heavy, not ridiculously light, actually balances a 13' 6" 8 weight perfectly. As for finish, the Finatics are pretty tough. I left the cover off mine for two weeks (I never do that!) and after multiple rock leanings, boat tray slidings, and general nastiness I couldn't find a mark on the reel.

Last thing you should know is the reel never came inside for two weeks. It was left on the rack outside and frozen as cold as minus fifteen at night. The warmest the reel got in the last 6 days was minus six. While a bunch of other reels in camp were blowing up, seizing from the ice, and having to be taken in at night, this reel just kept working.

All in all, I'm very impressed with this piece of equipment! Thumbs up!