If you're a lover of premium reels and the Grateful Dead, then Abel is offering the reel for you, albeit in very limited quantity. Beginning immediately, Abel is offering the iconic Grateful Dead "Steal Your Face" logo on both its Classic Series and Super Series reels. Abel is only offering the hand painted Grateful Dead design on 250 reels, and snagging one will run you a $300 premium over the price of the same reel in plain black.

“This has been a dream of ours for over 10 years to partner with the Grateful Dead, and offer our shared loyal fans a hand painted reel that symbolizes their passion for fly fishing and the music of the Grateful Dead. We can think of no better way to mark our 25 offering a custom designed reel that celebrates the rich American heritage of both Abel Reels and the Grateful Dead,” said Jeff Patterson, Abel Director of Sales.

The skills for catching big fish [are] different and certainly more refined than the skills for catching small fish. Big fish require a more stealthy approach, fewer casts, better positioning and equipment to prevent drag, superior fish fighting skills, and really better "everything" in the presentation than do small fish. In short, they require the very best predatory skills from the angler. So the question becomes: How does one learn big fish skills when at least 95 percent of the fish are small ones?

The answer is almost too easy: pretend. No, don't spin a fisherman's yarn and tell everyone that the six, 8-inch fish you caught were twelve, 18-inchers. Rather, use the small fish as practice for the big ones. I've seen it many times: the angler spots a small fish rising, and knowing it's not a brute, makes a half-hearted (what I call a "small fish") cast. So what if the line hits the water too hard and spooks the fish, so what if the fly drags, so what if the angler was too slow to set the hook, or too fast? It's only a small one, and not of that much interest. And fighting the fish? Well it's just a matter of stripping it in and shaking it off the line.