Dickerson Rods I have known Part V

Originally written by me and some friends 2002-04 for the Virtual Fly Shop, Flyfisherman Magazine Online. The Cracker Barrel has been published in book form with the limited first edition hard cover sold out and a paperback version will be available early 2011.

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fishnbanjo
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Dickerson Rods I have known Part V

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Welcome to another installment of the Cracker Barrel. Last
time out we discussed the Jim Schaaf restored 9016 I owned and ultimately sold
and the formidable 8014 Guide. As I said I didn’t have a lot of wiggle room
when it came to picking up rods so I had to rely on the resources I had on hand
and the hope that the item I had to trade was something the other person in the
trade had an interest in. This segment is about a very interesting trade, the
coffee pot is ready and the stove is purring so let’s begin.

After bonding with the 8014 Guide it changed a lot of my
thinking about trying bigger waters at least here in New England where we don’t
experience the winds I’ve heard folks talk about out west. I had picked up a
rather scarce model fly rod by a very hard to find maker who was deceased, the
trade was rather substantial as it included a scarce rod by Paul Young and a
L.C. Smith 20 gauge Specialty Grade from CA 1913 in 98% NRA condition. I had
heard so much about this maker and the nirvana one was to feel I expected the
waters to part and fish to beg for me to stop casting. Well to say I was
underwhelmed by the rod would be being nice, it did nothing for me. I cast fine
and it gave hints of exceptional handling but the hype was lost to me. As I
have stated in early segments I did not start on this road to be a rod
collector so when a possible trade came up consisting of an 8015 Guide Special
with removable extension butt and Tim Bedford’s personal 9016 with removable
extension butt I not only said yes I drove to where they were to do the trade
in person.

For those that don’t know Tim Bedford was the gentleman who
purchased the Dickerson Rod Shop and its contents from Lyle Dickerson who drove
a good deal of the shop to CA where Bedford had retired to, set up the
equipment and tutored Bedford in the general workings of. Bedford owned a few
Dickerson rods and this one was for big salmon, and steelhead, fishing more
than I needed but thoughts of Miramichi Salmon were in my head while casting it
with an 8 wt line.

 Since it was a long 2
state return home we shook hands, traded rods and I headed back with two more
Dickerson rods for the quiver and left behind a rod I could not bond with, the
guy I traded with adores it and still has it that I’m aware of, go figure!

Work always had the funniest way of creeping up on me when I
needed to get some rod testing done but so is the way of the world. It would be
a couple of months before I had the free time needed to be able to truly put
the rods through their paces and see what they could do. Work had me traveling
back and forth and I managed to catch a neat little Dickerson Bait Casting Rod
on eBay made in 1939 and some script I couldn’t make out well due to the photos
but the overall look of the rod was such that I felt confident it being by
Dickerson so I placed a bid and promptly continued on working.

I was home for the weekend with another early Sunday morning
travel day for work and was catching up on my home email and noticed I had a congratulatory
email from eBay. Not recalling I had placed any bids I opened it rather
suspiciously and was shocked to find I had been the high bidder on the
Dickerson Bait Caster. I emailed the seller to let them know I would be paying
via US Postal Money Order and needed their snail mail info and that I would be
on the road for the week but would get it out to them Monday or Tuesday with a
tracking number. I was happy to see the seller replied so that I could print
their information out on my printer and take it with me. On Sunday I packed up
with a few rods, reels and books to keep myself sane while away and headed for
my work destination for the week which was one of the four naval clinics I was
responsible for and it was inside Acadia National Park, a beautiful place in
the beautiful state of Maine.

I arrived mid afternoon and arranged my gear in the cabin I
would be staying at with all the work gear next to the door so I could pack the
vehicle when I left in the morning to head to the work site. It was a lovely
day so I decided to brew a pot of coffee, pack a pipe and string up a rod to
cast on the property the cabin was on, a great way to unwind after a 5 hour
drive.

I cast the 8015 Guide Special with a 6 WT line since that
was the line my 8014 Guide liked and it ended up the 8015 GS did not so I went
back in the cabin and grabbed the reel with the 7 WF and while it was better it
still was not as nice as the 8014 G. Not wishing to believe I was so fatigued I
went in and grabbed the reel with the 8 WT line I had along to play with on the
9016 and it was a lot better but not as much fun as the 8014 G so I unstrung it
and strung up the 9016 to see if fatigue was the culprit and it simply was a
joy with the 8 WT. Not wishing to over think this I grabbed a fresh cup of
coffee and the Dickerson Book and sat down to read a bit as I would have other
casting sessions and my bag of reels at my beck and call at home to find a
happy line for the 8015 GS.

What I was most interested in at the moment was finding out
more about the bait caster I would be getting and sadly the Dickerson Book had
very little in about these rods save a photo of Dickerson’s personal rod. I
finished my coffee and headed out to get a bite of supper so I could get an
early night as I had a good 1 ½ hour drive in the morning to the other little
clinic further up and would have to keep my eyes at the ready to see where that
post office was half way to the clinic so I could stop when I returned in the
afternoon.

I arose early in the morning after a wonderful night’s sleep
in the Maine woods, decided to grab some coffee enroute and stop for breakfast
at Helen’s since I was early and had the van packed and ready to go. The trip
was uneventful and before I knew it I was at the parking lot at Helen’s and went
in for a hearty breakfast and more coffee. After a great breakfast of farm
fresh eggs, bacon, homefries, toast and coffee I was once again on the road.

Expecting I would wrap up my job in 4-6 hours which would
get me back to the little post office around 2-2:30 timeframe I was a bit
annoyed that things had not gone as easily as I had hoped and I got to the post
office at 4:15 only fond it had closed for the day 15 minutes earlier so I made
it back to the cabin and went in to grab a shower and head out for supper. Got
to bed early again but knew I had it easier in the morning since I was less
than ½ mile from where I would be working for the day and might get to the post
office by skipping lunch.

The following day was no better as I not only skipped lunch
I worked through it and found myself back at the cabin exhausted and ready for
another shower. I went to the pub on base for a quick sandwich with chips and
back to the cabin for 15 minutes of book time since I would have to return to
the small clinic again in the morning as one of the pieces of gear I installed
appeared to have failed and I needed to see if it could be fixed.

I arose early the next morning and once again stopped at
Helen’s for breakfast this time opting for pancakes and sausages with fresh
maple syrup and coffee. I found the culprit was a glitch in the system which
failed when it had booted and figured it was due to the fact the memory battery
was not up to speed when they had a power glitch and seeing it was up to speed
battery wise I reprogrammed the data and found it to be very content. Not
having another fire to put out I headed back to the other clinic and knew I
would be able to stop at the post office to get the payment out got the
Dickerson Bait Caster.

Living in a small town, it’s in the 15,000 range for
population which is small and even the state capital is easy to drive in and
out of and find a parking spot, I’m used to laid back but this post office
needed a fence between the clerk and the customers and not a desk, it took almost
45 minutes to get a postal money order and postage for it.

Once done at the post office I headed back to the bigger
clinic to finish off my work day preparing the equipment for the next day which
would make tomorrow go quicker. I finished up late but as I said it would be
worth it, I returned to the cabin and showered then called in an order for takeout
which would be ready when I got there and came back to the cabin to read a bit
about the 8014 Guides and 8015 Guides and Guide Specials that were in the
Dickerson book.

Once back at the cabin I settled in and I found the
reference I thought I remembered by Dr. Stein where he said the 8015 Guide
Special qualified as a “thunderstick”. I didn’t agree with that assessment
since I felt that my own 8014 Guide was a better casting rod. I then continued
reading and figured it was not meant that the 8015 Guide Special was a
thunderstick in the way it cast but in the way it subdued the fish, having
taken a few hard fighting 19” brownies out of log jams while fishing Suzie Q
River in VA with my Kushner Formula B it finally registered as that is how the
Kushner worked it literally overpowered the fish and got them under control.

Having wrapped my mind around the intricacy of the 8015 GS I
knew I had a dilemma on my hand since I had several rods which for my kind of
fishing were excellent for their line designation and the fish I would be targeting
making the 8015 GS one of that group and not wishing to have too many repeat
performers the jury was out on it staying around since the king of that line
designation was the Gillum 8’6” 2 pc Light Salmon known as “BOOM” and it was
vastly superior. Well the coffee pot is empty, be with us next time as I wrap
up the story about this trio of Dickerson rods and bring us into several more.

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