Rods with provenance

[finecane]

A Goodwin Granger Favorite that was the personal rod of author & historian Michael Sinclair. This rod appears in Goodwin Granger The Rod Man from Denver on 6 different pages.

Pics and the full story can be found here: https://www.finecane.com/product/goodwi ... te-gf8642/

I've owned and cast many 8642's and this one is on the lighter side at 4.5oz actual weight. It just sings for me with a DT4 silk line. Maybe it's the mojo. Thanks Michael.

[bhuz]

Three exceptional steelhead rods:

Winston 9’ 2/1 built in 1955 by Lew Stoner & Doug Merrick for Bill Schaadt, legendary northern California fisherman. This rod has some serious mojo and is my go-to summer steelhead rod.

EC Powell “C”, 9’6” 3/2 built in the late ‘40’s for Gov. Morley Griswold (NV), who in 1946 set the record for the largest steelhead caught on a fly (28#, Deschutes River). This is a “point and shoot” rod, there are no bad casts. Coincidentally, the Governor’s widow lived in my childhood neighborhood and generously gifted me lots of his sporting equipment (sadly no rods).

Dickerson 9016, 9’ 2/2 built in 1952 for Tim Bedford (thanks Banjo).

Tom

[kermit]

7 1/2' Walton Powell made rod, made for Mel Krieger

CLICK TO ENLARGE

[Booman2]

I've been very fortunate over the years:
Brackett built rod for Ernie Schwiebert, 7'9" #5. Sadly not delivered due to Ernie's passing.
Roderick Haig-Brown's 13 foot spey rod.
3 of Gary Howells personal rods including a 1 piece 8 footer.
Bass rod that Lyle Dickerson made for his brother.

[Flyman615]

I hope this fits in here. I got this rod from a good friend here on the forum.
As marked built for Bill Balan by Paul Hightower and Betty Malara. It is a lovely little 3 piece 7 1/2'er.
Richard
For more photos of this rod see this link.
https://antiquerodandreels.com/rodmanufacturers/253

Other than the grip, it looks like a Granger Favorite.

Perhaps somewhat, but it also lacks a swelled butt and the Favorite's signature wrap.

Paul and Betty made these rods at Bob's Tackle Shop in Denver from Phillipson/Granger blanks.

Scott

[cutthroattroutnm]

I hope this fits in here. I got this rod from a good friend here on the forum.
As marked built for Bill Balan by Paul Hightower and Betty Malara. It is a lovely little 3 piece 7 1/2'er.
Richard
For more photos of this rod see this link.
https://antiquerodandreels.com/rodmanufacturers/253

Other than the grip, it looks like a Granger Favorite.

Perhaps somewhat, but it also lacks a swelled butt and the Favorite's signature wrap.

Paul and Betty made these rods at Bob's Tackle Shop in Denver from Phillipson/Granger blanks.

Scott

Makes perfect sense!

[solo8232000]

Last year bought a beautiful 8 1/2' 5/6wt R. L. Winston bamboo from the San Francisco era built November 18, 1973 by Doug Merrick for Bob McCready(sic?) of SF at that time. Glenn Brackett provided the history of the rod which I bought from Mr. McCready. Bob told me he had only fished the rod a total of <10 hrs...There is a miracle story about this rod which I managed to leave at last year's Bamboo Bash in Townsend..and a great lady recovered, saved and contacted me..Now I just have to go get it and bring it home.....
Nathan
solo8232000

[NEKexpat]

My first bamboo rod -- actually my first fly rod of any kind -- was a Sharpes 7' bearing the inscription "Designed by Larry Solomon. New York," purchased through fleabay from the son of original owner, who lived in Texas and knew next to nothing about the rod's history.

Thanks to the miracle of Google, I not only learned about Larry Solomon's place in fly fishing history but discovered his address.

As shown in the letter below, Mr. Solomon kindly replied to my inquiry and noted that he'd built two identical rods from Sharpes blanks and either sold this one or donated it to a Theodore Gordon Flyfishers Club auction.






Unfortunately, my daughter went on a cleaning spree while I had the rod strung up in a corner and sucked the line into the carpet brush, shattering the tip in multiple places. When I tried replacing it with another 7' Sharpes tip I realized it was designed on the staggered ferrule principle so the butt is 4" shorter and needs a tip 4" longer. Does any one have any suggestions for acquiring a replacement tip that's the correct size and impregnated like the original?

[fishbates]

Here is my Elsie Darbee rod tube has her name printed on outside

[deerbars]

I just bought at auction a Payne 102H that was from the estate of Milton C Weiner 1910-1974 Mr Weiner was a renowned wildlife artist,sportsman and conservationist.The rod is mint with original rod sock, hang tag and aluminum tube.

[firehole]

I own " The first out the door Sweetgrass rod " it's a 7'9" 3/2 4/5wt. Quad with provenance from Glenn. Glenn built it in time for my trip to New Zealand's South Island. The rod performed great on a small creek where I caught 5 browns including this 7lbs + beauty pictured.

Dennis

[16pmd]

Two of Jon Tarantino's behemoth 17' two-hand tournament rods that he used during his reign of 7+ years as world champion are on display in the clubhouse of the Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club. One is a Winston and the other an E.C. Powell. Both were specially made for Tarantino during the heyday of tournament fly casting and the dominance of Winston and Powell rods, and Jon is is pictured practicing with one of them in Martin Keane's book at p. 204. With casts of well over 200', he used those rods to dominate the distance fly competitions.

[wefishcane]

Thomas McGuane's Payne 101



Has been my 'go to' rod in small to medium sized streams in Wyoming/Montana/Idaho.

Jim

[LeoCreek]

Not bamboo, but I have a fiberglass fly rod (Fenwick FF535) that was purchased new in ~1975 by author W.D. Wetherell. He owned the rod until I recently purchased it from him. The rod was probably used by Walter in a few of the stories in his books (Vermont River, One River More, Upland Stream), so is pretty special to me.

[udiablo]

I acquired a rod from a member some time back that was built for Ron Lasko. He authored the book, "A Tale of Two Rivers" about the sea run brook trout in the Quashnet and Mashpee rivers on Cape Cod.

It's a very nice Orvis Seven Four, and was pictured in a couple of places in the book. This rod is rather new to be mentioned among the great vintage rods already listed, but the provenance does include correspondence with Ron and the subsequent owner, and a signed copy of the book.

My problem is that the rod is in very good condition, is pleasant to use, so it is extremely tempting to fish it (guess that is not a bad problem to have).

[Flykuni3]

I think I have just one rod previously owned by someone with a name. It's a 7' F.E. Thomas Special Browntone, fine fishing with a DT3 or DT4 depending on water and casting. It balances perfectly with the baby St. George, it is medium-fast and highly accurate. It has a very warm cane and brown wraps, likely refinished and possibly redone by the T&T folks. It has the original bag and tube, and is in full length 2/2 configuration. It belonged to actor William Conrad.

Years ago Phil Snyder and Jim Gentz handed the gear of the actor, and this rod was the shortest on the list, one of the priciest also. Mr. Conrad had a long career and was memorable for his great radio voice (Gunsmoke, Rocky and Bullwinkle!), and lots of television. Must confess, when I looked up his profile I was surprised to find he had been a WW ll fighter jock. In my memory he was always so, ah, wide.

The Conrad rod has caught many trout for me. It's been along on wonderful hikes into canyons in California in search of wild trout. And she has been successful over and over because the rod is very accurate, placing flies into nooks and crannies, firing under branches and back into slots between trees and bushes. Maybe it's cool karma the rod has landed in my hands: I've done television myself and bought the rod after a particularly lucrative two-parter on the Mad About You series. Damn thing feels right in my hand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William Conrad



Two weeks ago, still a favorite rod. Nearly perfect for the small stream.

[Pentalux]

Robert Crompton's 9ft 3/2 five-strip "Conqueror" #31 is probably my personal favorite - it was Crompton's first 5 strip once owned by Pete Schwab (Outdoor writer of 30's and 40's) - he received it as a gift for helping Crompton splice various lines into torpedo heads in the 30's (he apparently had his choice of 6 Crompton rods and chose this one before Robert informed him that it was his very first five strip). Fred Peet used it in National Competition in 1915... Noted to have been handled by Wes Jordan... Schwab used it for steelhead in pacific NW... If this rod could only speak!

[DWWoodJr]

I acquired an 11' Hardy two handed bamboo rod and Marquis Salmon #2 reel with #10 line from Bob Summers collection. Bob says it once belonged to Luis Marden, and indeed, there is still a piece of tape on the aluminum tube with his name on it. In addition to the usual "Palakona Regd. Trade Mark" It is labeled "The Double Built Connaisseur Rod". It is 3/2 with well fitted pin lock ferrules. The rod looks like it just left the factory as does the reel. I checked the Hardy records and it seems the rod was built in 1938. I discussed this rod with Rick Robbins who gave as his opinion that perhaps Tom Maxwell refinished it, which would explain why this ancient rod looks nearly new.

For those who are unaware, Luis Marden was the premier photographer for National Geographic for over 50 years, a pioneer in 35mm photography, a developer of underwater photography with Jacques Cousteau, discoverer of the remains of the HMS Bounty on Pitcairn Island, a passionate lover of bamboo fly rods to the extent he went to Guandong province in China to see the place where "Tonkin Cane" is grown and wrote a book about it. He also commissioned, built and lived in a Frank Lloyd Wright home overlooking the rapids of the Potomac in McLean, Virginia. His page on Wikipedia is most interesting.

I noticed a sticker on the rod which says: "La Portena Caza y Pesca Fundada en 1857 611 Rivadavia 611 Bs As". Google research reveals that for over 100 years La Portena was the premier outdoor store in Argentina. It was run by Don Alfredo Gottling from 1912 to 1946 and eventually closed in 1971. Don Alfredo catered to the highest rungs of Argentine society. Since Luis Marden was the “South America Man” for the National Geographic, I guess he had plenty of opportunity to shop in the best outdoor store in Buenas Aires. I imagine it to have been the Argentine equivalent of the old original version of Abercrombie and Fitch back when they were the best outdoor store in the world in the 1930s and 40s.

Obviously, Luis Marden went “top drawer” when shopping for a salmon rod. I sent a PM to one of the members of this forum who is knowledgeable about Hardy salmon rods and found it was a rather rare steel core rod made especially for the American market. I have cast this rod and it performs beautifully even though the guides are quite small as it was made for silk lines. I used it for Atlantic Salmon on the Restigouche in 2018 casting it overhead as a switch rod and had no trouble laying out 80' of 10 weight line for 8 hours a day. One of the fellow salmon anglers in the lodge called it a "Canadian Canoe Rod".

Tight lines to all

Dave Wood

[DWWoodJr]

These photos are a follow up to the Hardy/Luis Marden post immediately above.

Dave Wood

[DWWoodJr]

I recently acquired another rod with significant provenance. It is a 1973 vintage Leonard 39H 7 1/2 foot for 6 weight. It once belonged to Tom Rosenbauer who sold it to his close friend, Terry Finger. Terry posted to this forum a number of times before his untimely death about ten years ago. In 2002 Terry sent it to Ted Simroe for "repair/refinish" and it looks like it was never used afterward. I have a copy of the receipt for the work from T. W. Simroe to Terry Finger. I wrote to Orvis customer service to let Tom know I had his old rod, and he confirmed it was his originally.

Tight lines to all

Dave Wood