Your opinion about the Scientific Anglers L2L Reconnect system.

[vmartynych72]

Hi. I been using L2L for years. I'm happy. I can use different leader for different fish. The only problem - discontinued. But 3 weeks ago I found L2L in Spain, accidentally. 0.96€ !!! I'm really happy !
"Distrito Pesca" name of the site.
Good luck.

[Brooks]

I worked for SA for 19 years. Without a doubt, the entire L2L debacle was the most embarrassing thing they ever did.

[vmartynych72]

I worked for SA for 19 years. Without a doubt, the entire L2L debacle was the most embarrassing thing they ever did.

Why it's happened

[billems]

I dislike loops of any kind at the connection of line and leader. And the loops in the fly line get cut off the minute I reel it onto the spindle. I use the nail knot or the Uni, both hold like grim death.

[Bill Moschler]

I have never had a leader fly line connection that did not pick up water and sink after a while. Sometimes I put fly flotant on the connection. I use the loops until they go bad and then a nail knot. I change leaders a lot (I am clumsy with them) so I sorta have come to like the factory loops. I used to cut them off and use the nail knot.

[Brooks]

I thought I should expound upon my rather curt put-down of the L2L ‘debacle’, so as to explain and maybe provide some reflective humor about the development of these types of gizmos.

As I mentioned, I worked for SA for quite a few years. Back when the L2L gizmo was briefly launched SA was owned by 3M. There were some great people at SA then, Bruce Richards, line designer, being at the top of the list—a very short list of keen anglers at 3M back then, in my opinion. There were also a bunch of managers that literally didn’t know how to rig a rod.

Around 2004 or 2005:
The L2L’s came about, the result of a push of upper management 3M execs who desperately wanted the very small fly-fishing division to get some sort of Post-it-Note product success that would take the world by storm. They were throwing a lot of baloney at the walls at HQ to see what would stick. . . or would at least stick for a minute, before it slid down the wall leaving a snail trail.

Remember, Post-it-Note sales, globally, were and still are more dollars than the entire global fly-fishing industry’s sales, and by quite a lot. And Post-it-Notes were the result of a mistake—a glue that didn’t work, so the 3M designer stuck it on paper tabs, and voila! Millions of dollars in sales in the world of office supplies.

The majority of 3M execs at SA were assigned to the Sports and Leisure Division (SA) as a sort of Foreign Legion deployment because they had run out of rungs on the upward sales goals of the 3M corporate ladder.

Around this time I had a National Sales Manager that literally did not know how to string a rod. He informed me one spring that he was coming to travel with me, to meet our customers, and to fish. My territory was the Northern Rockies.

Oh crap, I thought, how am I to minimize the damage he’s going to do when my dealers see that the SA National Sales Manager doesn’t know squat about fly-fishing? Looking at the territory, I decided he should fly into Great Falls. And I should try to keep him away from the guide shops in Craig. I informed him that it could snow in early May in the Rockies, and he should bring a good rain and snow coat. He scoffed.

It was blowing snow sideways when he landed in Great Falls without a jacket. I was able to lend him one of my coats. The weather made for very brief dealer calls. He managed not to embarrass the brand. We waited a couple days for the weather to clear, then we floated the Missouri in my driftboat. He couldn’t cast, so I rigged up a bobber and a double-nymph rig, and basically ran a shrimp boat down the middle of the river. He managed to catch a whitefish. He handed me his camera and I took his picture holding a whitefish. Imagine my horror when the SA catalog came out for the following year and it featured a picture of the SA National Sales Manager holding a whitefish: A big successful grin on his face. He thought it was some sort of trout.

It was either that year, or a year earlier, that I was told that an upper 3M manager, WAY UPPER, a VP, had requested to travel with me through the territory and talk to key accounts to glean what 3M could do to innovate and create demand for new products. Let’s call this 3M Vice President “John”.

John wanted me to pick him up in Bozeman, visit key accounts, drive to Boise, then to Island Park, then to Jackson, Wyoming. John was a ‘suit’. Literally. The entire trip he wore a suit, chain-smoked, and looked and talked just like Jack Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross.

When we drove to Island Park, I set up a meeting with Rene’ Harrop, who was an SA Pro at the time, and his partners, Rich Paini & Jon Stiehl, and a couple guides. This was when Trouthunter was across the street in a little A-Frame building, just down from Lawson’s shop.

We sat in a circle of chairs upstairs in the A-frame building, Rene’ gracious as always, willing to hear what John-the-suit had to say, and Rene’ encouraged his crew to listen politely. In the circle, John lit a cigarette, took a deep draw, looked up, exhaled smoke, and sized up the gang.
“OK”, he opened, “this fly-fishing stuff is awfully complicated.” I looked around the room, all eyes were on John. He said, “We need to make it simple for everyone.” Another puff on the cigarette. A dramatic pause. “I think we should sell leaders with flies already tied to the ends of them”. Puff, exhale. “Think how it would increase sales. We could have grasshopper leaders, mayfly leaders. . .that’s what they’re called, right, mayflies?” “And we could do them in different sizes. No one would have to know how to tie on anything.” And he stopped and looked around the room.
To the entire Rene’Harrop crew’s credit, every single one of them put their elbows on their knees and looked hard at their feet, as if thinking about the proposal. No one uttered a word. No one laughed out loud. Quite a few awkward seconds went by. I think Rene’ said something like, “Hey John, why don’t we go across the street to the A-bar and have a burger". Or something like that.

The final stop was Jackson, Wyoming. After a couple awkward dealer calls with Jack Dennis, and High Country Flies, it was time to take John to the Jackson Airport for his return to St. Paul. I pulled up to the departure doors; John smoking of course, sat there in my truck, thinking. “So Brooks, how about this: We get real bugs, like grasshoppers, dip them in some sort of 3M soft plastic, and tie them on the ends of the leaders. Whaddya think?”.

I took a deep breath and said, “Well John, that would be bait fishing, wouldn’t it?”
He looked at me. Stared out the windshield, got out of my truck, grabbed his bag, and that was the last I ever saw of him.
________
At the time that the L2L connector was developed, SA was unable to weld loops on the lines. They hadn’t perfected that technology yet. Eventually Bruce Richards and his technicians in Midland Michagan figured it out, and simple loop-to-loop connections pretty well ended the L2L misguided experiment. I call it their “Zog Moment”

It’s important for me to finish by saying that the current SA crew, owned by Orvis, lead by Brad Befus, are all top-notch anglers, very innovative, and great people.

[vmartynych72]

So, you trying to say that L2L connector was a bad product !?

[Brooks]

Yes.

[vmartynych72]

Don't know. Using connector for more then 7 years. No complaints. Working well.

[Brooks]

If you like them, that’s all that matters. Keep those leaders in a dark place when you’re not using them. They are 15 years old.

[vmartynych72]

Ok, thanks.

[dale]

We sat in a circle of chairs upstairs in the A-frame building, Rene’ gracious as always, willing to hear what John-the-suit had to say, and Rene’ encouraged his crew to listen politely. In the circle, John lit a cigarette, took a deep draw, looked up, exhaled smoke, and sized up the gang.
“OK”, he opened, “this fly-fishing stuff is awfully complicated.” I looked around the room, all eyes were on John. He said, “We need to make it simple for everyone.” Another puff on the cigarette. A dramatic pause. “I think we should sell leaders with flies already tied to the ends of them”. Puff, exhale. “Think how it would increase sales. We could have grasshopper leaders, mayfly leaders. . .that’s what they’re called, right, mayflies?” “And we could do them in different sizes. No one would have to know how to tie on anything.” And he stopped and looked around the room.
To the entire Rene’Harrop crew’s credit, every single one of them put their elbows on their knees and looked hard at their feet, as if thinking about the proposal. No one uttered a word. No one laughed out loud. Quite a few awkward seconds went by. I think Rene’ said something like, “Hey John, why don’t we go across the street to the A-bar and have a burger". Or something like that.

I find it very hard to believe that no one laughed out loud!

Dale

[Brooks]

I’d like to think they didn’t laugh because they could see the pain in my face and in the knowing that I had a few more days of escorting John around the territory. They did not laugh out loud. Amazing restraint.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

This is hilarious.
Well done.
If we only knew...

[snorider]

I love the bugs dipped in plastic idea. Was there a plan for catching the mayflies?:rollin

[Brooks]

I love the bugs dipped in plastic idea. Was there a plan for catching the mayflies?:rollin

I think John would have worked towards a bigger budget, with a place built up on the 3M campus in St. Paul to raise the bugs.
You know, like a fish hatchery, only for bugs. “Lab coat” expansion with all the dollars that come with it.

[billems]

A nail knot, needle knot, even a uni-knot splice all work well. If you're worried about the knot catching in the guide, coat it with Pliobond or that new Loon knot glue. Those braids and loops do hurt your casting. You want a direct connection to your leader. And those loops that come on the line? I cut those babies right off.