Regal Engineering « currentseams.com

Much of what’s on this list involves personal achievement. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that. But what about actual fishing? Because of the book, I did less fishing this year than in recent memory — especially striper fishing, which was limited to less than a dozen outings(!). However, I did get in a good number of guide trips (thanks again if you were one of the anglers I took out this year) and I madeup for some lost time during the summer months. Which brings us to #5…

#5: Reconnecting and Fishing with Old Friend and Mentor Mark Bieber. This was a late summer bass trip, and one that, looking back, made me wish I’d done it years sooner. We fished the pond at Winding Trails in Farmington from a canoe, Mark with spinning gear and me with the long rod. Largemouth bass were the target, and we both scored multiple fish. So what if they were smaller than an average Farmington River trout? Fishing with a dear friend who had a major positive impact on your life is time well-spent, fish count and size be damned. And if there’s a cigar in the bargain? That’s really a win! We’re already planning on going next spring.

**Bass are truly under-rated and under-fished with the fly rod. This ambitious junior bucketmouth ate a Soft Daddy Crayfish.**

#4: Pecking Away at Steelhead. I managed three steelhead trips this fall. When I was chained to my keyboard, I kept picturing indicators dropping and reveling in the knowledge that I would be fishing soon for these prized piscines. The first trip was to Erie, where low water and a dismal fall run kept the numbers down, and the relishing of each fish landed sky high. Trip two was to Pulaski, where there were plenty of fish, but — as always — an abundance of anglers. My batting average in the first day stunk; it was much better on the second day, but I only had three touches all day. Finally, our December trip was a bust of sorts: a 2-hour window of decent conditions, then it went south fast, culminating in a cancellation of the second day. So, the quest for 300 goes on. If you’re keeping score at home, I’ve now landed 288 steelhead.

**The December trip wasn’t all bad. Here’s Gordo with his first steelhead ever on the fly rod. Proud papa!**

#3: Being Named to the Regal Vise Pro-Staff. This is something I’ve been wanting for a long time. It finally became official at the 2025 IFTS. I’m going to do my best to be a swell brand ambassador, and you can see me and my Regal vise in action at the Fly Fishing Shows in Marlborough, Edison, and Lancaster this winter.

**No photo/bio yet. But trust me, I’m there.**

#2: First Time Fly Fishing Montana & Idaho. The bad news was that we went during one of the worst times to fish. The good news was that I got to fish four days in Montana and Idaho. We did a family drift boat trip on the Kootenai one day, and I drifted solo (with a guide) the second. It was a trip of firsts, not only location-wise, but with five new species: native redband rainbow, cutthroat, cuttbow, whitefish, and pike minnow. I did some lake fishing solo, and then we floated the Madison as a family. Gadzooks! I still haven’t written about the second half of the trip. Let’s get that on the to-do list right quick.

**Cuttbows sure are pretty things. I have no idea how many fish I landed on the second day. I took them on top dry, on nymphs, and swinging wets. Spectacular action, and all of them wild fish.**

I really didn’t want to write this piece, but as you’ll soon see, The Daylight Company, maker of the Naturalight Smart Lamp D20, left me no choice. (Regal Engineering, the seller, also shares some of the responsibility. We’ll get to that in a bit.)

Several years ago I saw other fly tyers using the Smart Lamp D20 at the shows. I liked the way it looked, so in January 2016 I bought one through Regal Engineering. For two years it worked fine. Sometime in 2018 it began a pattern of sketchy behavior; some of the light colors (warm, cool, and daylight) would suddenly switch intensities, even though I had not touched a switch. By early 2019 the functionality was down to a single color and intensity, and in December 2019 it stopped working entirely. As in dead. No light. Nothing.

Call me old-fashioned, but I expected a heck of a lot more for a $100 lamp. What a lemon!

Lemon

So early this year I went to the Regal site, the place where I’d bought the lamp, and filled out their customer service form, explaining the problem. I was thanked by the robot and was told that someone would get back to me soon.

Or not. No response. Nothing. So I contacted the manufacturer. I spoke with a very polite customer service agent who told me that since there was a two-year warranty, there was nothing she could do. She offered me the chance to speak to her supervisor. Yes, please, I said.

What ensued was a highly frustrating exercise in futility. I explained the situation, and stated my position: if you make a good product, you should stand by that product. $100 is a lot of money for a lamp, and it should work properly for more than two years, don’t you think?

(Lacking a recording, I will paraphrase the responses.) Well, if you had come to us earlier, we might have been able to do something, but now it’s four years later and the warranty is only for two years…

Wait a minute…it didn’t start to malfunction until after the warranty expired…so what does it matter that I’m coming to you now?

If you had come to us earlier, we might have been able to do something, but the two year warranty has expired…

Whoa. I just said that it didn’t start to crap out until the third year. You’re telling me two things that are contradictory.

You bought the lamp from Regal so you should have gone to them when the problem started…

So basically it’s my fault? You’ve made a substandard product and now you won’t stand behind it. You don’t know me, and that’s OK, I don’t expect you to, but you should know I have a website and Instagram and well over 1,000 readers. So I’m going to write a story about this, and you can choose one of two narratives: One, you made a crappy lamp, but you value your customers and want to do right by them, because customer satisfaction is your ultimate goal, so you fixed the problem. Or two, you made a crappy lamp, and the warranty has expired, and that’s tough noogies for the chump who bought it. I mean, I can’t believe you’re not even offering to replace it or look at it or give me another at a reduced rate…

The D20 is no longer made, so we can’t replace it…

There was more, but suffice to say you’ve got the gist. And so, with Option B being chosen, here we are.

I did a little research, and according to Amazon reviews, I’m not the only one with a bad D20 experience. If you take my review out the equation, half of the reviews are negative. I’d end it here, but Regal needs to take a little hit. Frustrated with the lack of action from the Daylight Company, I reached out again to Regal. Again, no response. Very disappointing.

So: don’t buy this lamp. Don’t buy anything from Naturalight or Daylight Company. Save your money for products made and sold by people who stand behind their work and value their customers’ satisfaction.

And now, I need a good, strong, portable, DURABLE fly tying lamp. Suggestions?