More than a tool of the trade, some fly rods carry intrinsic personal value beyond their sometimes-lofty monetary significance. One flyfisherman’s ode to novices, “oh shit” moments and the heartbreak of a broken rod.

My first fish over 30 inches in a lake was a 45-inch tiger muskie I caught on a 4-weight rod. I was fortunate the rod survived the test. On a different occasion, a steelhead slammed a big attractor dry fly while I was fishing for rainbows and the rod, an old fiberglass Fenwick 6-weight, snapped like a No. 2 Ticonderoga pencil…

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above Bob Stewart, middle-school teacher and die-hard angler, hurls a line back at the bank during an evening float on the Colorado River.

Photo: Copi Vojta