I recently went on a fishing safari on Martha's Vineyard and it reawakened my love of fishing. I grew up fishing with my Father on the brackish Indian River in St. Lucie Fla. and on various lakes in Georgia. I had never been saltwater fishing and because my previous fishing equipment had been a bamboo pole and later a Zebco rod and reel I bought with top value stamps , I was starting out with zero knowledge. I did major research via google and ended up on myfishgear.com. I found what I wanted but was vacillating on taking the plunge or not when Russell called me to ask if I had trouble on the site. He suggested since I was going to be fishing in Brooklyn and taking subways or buses I should get a two piece Fenwick rod instead of the one piece I was looking at. Great advice. He didn't try to get me to buy anything else (although I did find the tackle box I wanted here ) and was in no way condescending about my lack of knowledge on the subject of saltwater fishing. Instead he encouraged me to follow my instincts and go fishing. I corresponded with Russell several times during my transaction and he always got back to me promptly and with the same friendly manner. As a woman fishing in Brooklyn I need all the encouragement I can get, and I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon Russell's shop in the beginning of my journey back to fishing.