Winston Catalog - 1998

This month's featured Winston catalog comes from the year 1998. I don't know what their P&L sheet looked like in this year, but their series of rods looked impressive. However, the iconic IM6 rod was starting to get a little "long in the tooth" and an update should have been in development. It would be another 3 years until the IM6 series would see a change and become the WT...my opinion, it was mostly from a view of marketing.

I was living in New Orleans in 1998 and fly fishing wasn't a single thought in my mind. Because of long work hours, I only had time for one sport and that was golf in those days. Why I didn't take advantage of the gulf and salt fishing is beyond me??? If I knew then what I know now, I would have traded golf for fly fishing the salt in a heart beat.

Even though I missed out on fly fishing during the five years I lived in New Orleans, I must say the Big Easy was fabulous and I loved living there...the music and cuisine was amazing. I made a lot of friends in that city and most days were nothing but joy. The culture felt comfortable, and no one ever asked me about my southern accent while I lived there:)

Back to the catalog. Below are some select pages from the 1998 catalog. Yeah, I slipped in a shot of NOLA too. Of note, you can click on any photo for a larger view.