MVL In A Sorry State

Orange County's once premier private bass lake has died.  Golden algae has devastated the fish population.  Mass die offs happened earlier this year, halting trout plants.   As a result Mission Viejo Lake recently began planting tilapia and catfish.  Since neither Chul or I had ever caught a tilapia on a fly, we thought we'd give it a shot.  What a waste.  We have never seen the water in such a sorry state.  It's quite a shame.  All the fish we saw were died ones floating on the surface.  One at the docks which was a tiny sunfish and later a 2 pound catfish.  We were told the tilapia were holding deep.  Without a fish finder and armed with only 5 weights with 150 and 220 grain heads it was pointless.

Cognet Le Capucin

Cognet is a French company dating back 1835 and has been a family business since 1902.  They gained a worldwide reputation for their famous Douk-Douk knife.  Among their lineup is Le Capucin, a classic French shepherd's knife. 

Carried by the Romans, the friction folder design is one of the oldest known knife design still in existence.   With origins from the Pyrenees, this knife is also known as "the knife with two pins."  The name comes from the fact that it has two pins, a pivot pin and a stop pin. 

Le Capucin derives from the fact that the end of the knife's handle resembles the hood worn by the a group of Friars, the Orders of Friars Minor Capuchin.

Somewhat antiquated by today's standard, the friction folder is a simple design made from a single piece of wood without any liners, backspring, or lock thus creating a very lightweight knife at 1.5 ounces.  

The blade is said to resemble a sage leaf.  It is flat ground and forged out of XC75 carbon steel.  Although there is no nail nick there is plenty of steel to grip to open the blade.  Markings on the steel are kept to a minimum with only a discreet Cognet logo on the steel.

The handle accommodates my medium sized hands and there is plenty of room for larger.  Le Capucin comes in several variations of handle materials from horn to wood but I choose the olive wood version. 

A close up view of the two pins.  While I love any knife (or any product) with a story or history, it seems the French knives keep getting my attention.