antique fly gear?

[buckbarrett]

Anyone have knowledge of antique gear? Do you think that modern improvements have surpassed the old stuff?
I want to use what I buy, and am going to replace a 50's South Bend I've abused to its demise. Does anyone know quality antique gear?

 

[jayL]

I don't know much, but I have an old switch rod with a metal auto retrieve reel on it. It has a lever that reels in the line.

I never used it... It seems pretty brittle and the reel doesn't work too well.

 

I have an old South Bend "Hollow Glass", 8.5' rod, that I really enjoying playing with, on small streams. It's in pristine condition, still, and has the label on the blank for "Use with H or H/D Lines", placing this rod, obviously, well before our newer line designations came into play.
As for "Old-Versus-New", I think that's entirely up to each person's likes and dislikes!?! I also have some old Orvis reels, made when Hardy was turning them out for them and several L.L.Bean reels, still with their receipts, when I bought them at sales, dated to the late 40s, and one at the early 50s.
These reels, except for one, old, Orvis I have, aren't made nearly as well, as today's machined reels and I've found them far less reliable......... when I've needed them to be!
I, think, "Old and New", is based strictly on each piece. I've fished with some fiberglass rods, that can run circles around my graphites, and vice-a-versa. Since I'm of the school, that "a good reel "IS" very important" and "they just don't hold line", the older reels, (with very few exceptions), just aren't comparable to today's reels, period. But, again, that depends solely on whether you're talking about a Bogden, or a Fenwick.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Buck,

Go here and ask questions about old fiberglass rods. Despite what people seem to keep saying the old rods work quite well in the right hands. :-D

I have and use a mint condition late 1950's Shakespeare Wonderrod as well as a mid 1960's Fenwick Fenglas fiberglass rod for bass and panfish and they work just as well as my Sage and Loomis rods. My arm hasn't fallen off and I don't need rotator cuff surgery either. :-D

Here is the link for the Fiberglass Rod forum.

http://p099.ezboard.com/bfiberglassflyrodders

Regards,
Tim Murphy

 

[afishinado]

Tim,

You can still get there from here to there in a 60’s model VW bug, but I’d rather take the ride in a new SUV. I’ve never met you before, but after reading all your posts on all the sites you visit, I can picture you back in the day in a 60’s vintage VW bug with those plastic flower decals pasted on the side. Back to fly rods…………

An accomplished fisherman such as yourself can cast any rod with proficiency, but the fact remains the fiberglass rods compared to the new graphites are heavy in weight, and can’t cast for distance or accuracy as easily as the newer graphite rods. I really appreciate my new rods even more, when I pick up and cast the fiberglass rods that I learned to fish with. I can cast those rods, but wouldn’t enjoy using them for fishing. Sure I still can catch fish with them, maybe as many as with my new rods, but casting a light, crisp well balanced rod is part of the pleasure of fly fishing for me. Sometimes, when the fishing is real slow, or really fast and I’ve caught enough fish, I just cast for the pleasure of casting and trying new things with the rod.

Fiberglass rods do work well when to teach someone to fly cast, since they can more easily feel the weight of the rod loading during the cast. Like with many things, nostalgia has some allure, but other than that, the fiberglass rods remain in the basement.

I understand more the nostalgia of bamboo rods since most are really appealing, and some are a work of art. Some bamboo rods cast well enough, but can be high maintenance if you fish them. I’d love to own a boo to put up on the wall, and maybe fish it once in a while, other than that, I wouldn’t trade my two or three pet graphite rods for anything (until the next generation comes on the market).

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear afishinado,

On the weight advantage of graphite vs. fiberglass my Sage 4-796 RPL weighs 3 1/2 ounces, my Fenwick 857 weighs 3 3/8 ounces which sort of dispells the myth of the weight advantage of graphite.

I have and fish graphite rods and I like them too, but a quality fiberglass or bamboo rod is just as easy to cast as any graphite rod and many times it's easier. How many times have you heard people say they had to overline their new graphite rod to get it to cast short distances?

No one says that about fiberglass or bamboo because the rod does the work if you just relax and let it do it instead of wildly whipping the rod back and forth like you were casting an XP. :-D

I couldn't fit in a VW van unless you ran me through a wood chipper first, just so you know! :lol:

Regards,
Tim Murphy

 

[afishinado]

Tim,

All true, a fiberglass rod doesn’t necessarily weigh more than a graphite rod. I have a Sage 890 RPL that I use for smallmouths quite a bit, and it’s no lighter than your Fenwick. The first high-end rod I ever bought was a Sage 590 RP. It is like a broomstick and weighed a ton compared to the rods now. Both the weight and diameter of that 5wt is equal to a newer 7 or 8 wt. rod. When Sage started out the fast rod craze it was accomplished by making a larger diameter, heavier walled blank to get the stiffness to make it a tip flex action. A few generations of improvement in materials and the blank making processes have gradually reduced the weight of rods a little. But still, even with higher modulus graphite, more material is needed in the blank to make a fast action rod to make it flex less, yet be durable since HM graphite is more brittle. That Fenwick fiberglass rod could be as thick as a broomstick and weigh twice as much, and still never would have a fast action, but it’s not supposed to, that’s just the nature of fiberglass.

Newer rods overall, IMO are better today than 10 or 20 years ago since the materials and technology have improved. Now there are ton of mid-priced rods out there that cast and fish well. BTW, if you see someone on the stream “wildly whipping an XP back and forth” that would be me - since it’s is still my favorite rod to cast overall. Different strokes for different folks. Good luck with the smallmouths.