One Piece Rods

[Vaughanwilson3022]

Other than transportability - any other drawbacks to a 1 piece rod? Any recommendations on a 1 piece rod?

Thanks, Dave

[Hellmtflies]

I have had a couple over the years and loved them. I regret ever selling them. Yes, transportation is an issue but well worth the effort. There is something extremely interesting of not having that flat spot of a ferrule in the arc of the rod that will speak to you. The two that I most regret selling are a 7' 1/1 4wt. impregnated T & T and a 8' 1/1 4wt. Talbot. The Talbot was absolutely the finest casting one piece 8' 4wt. I had ever had in my hands. Top shelf.

[Booman2]

I agree, nothing like them. I've owned a couple Talbots and 4 or so Gary Howells. I built one from a blank and the hardest part was designing the aluminum tube. Ed Hartzell finally developed 2 versions, both of which allowed the rod to be stored without the tip being able to hit the end of the tube.

[wefishcane]

I've also owned two over the years and loved them both. One was a T & T 7' 4 wt. San Pareil. Fished it at every opportunity. The other was a Brandin 8' 3 wt. which was light as a feather. I just didn't find many situations to fish a 3 wt.

Jim

[Caneghost]

I have two Tom Smithwick one piece rods and love them both. 5' 5" for a four line and a 6' 6" for a 4/5. It likes a half size heavy four so, a 4.5 line.

The feel is incredible in casting and in fish fighting. I have caught wild trout to about 18" on both of them and they simply come alive!

[Vaughanwilson3022]

Thanks all. All these rods are scarce - Brandins, Talbots, Smithwicks, etc as you rarely see them for sale.

[bugslinger]

I fish them more than any other rods. Lighter, no guides to line up, checking ferrule fit and the cast/fishing is just a blast! My wife makes the rod bags and pvc tubing works for transporting.

[teter]

I have a one-piece 6-foot Orvis Superfine and a Ron Kusse 5-footer. Both cast nicely and are not that hard to transport, being fairly short rods.
As for drawbacks other than transportation, I guess you'd have to say that if you break the tip, you're out of luck -- no extra tip to bail you out.

[Kenneth]

...As for drawbacks other than transportation, I guess you'd have to say that if you break the tip, you're out of luck -- no extra tip to bail you out.

This very same thought occurred to me the day I was fishing my only one-tip rod, an impregnated Gorman Green River Mettowee 4-1/2' that is the bee's knees to me, and I was trying to retrieve a fly that had been devoured by a hungry blackberry bush.

The rod itself is a true convergence of form and function, beautiful and accurate; point and shoot conveys the idea real well.



Keep safe,
Kenneth

[cdmoore]

Dave,

All the above is spot on in my experience. I picked up my first 1pc in the early 2000s. Smitten. Immediately followed by a 1pc phase. I think I wound up with 10 at one point ranging from Don Cremeans to Bob Gorman to a couple of Craig's Howells / Hartzells (thank you, Craig!) and some in between. One 3pc, one 2pc and the rest 1pc! I still have a small handful of 1pc rods. It would have been fun to keep them all, but you know how these things go. Other phases to fall in to. Refocus of interests (EC Powell, anyone?). Change in the wind.

One Howells / Hartzell I have, my longest 1pc, is 8' and about 8'3" in the tube. I had no problem putting it in our Honda Element, Subaru Outback, or Toyota Sienna that we have had over the years. Obviously, though they are a little more trouble than a 3pc rod, they really are not a pain at all in my opinion. Test your car with a long piece of PVC sometime and you'll know what you can accommodate.

Breaking a 1pc rod will put it out of commission until repaired to be sure, like any 1 tip rod. That's really the main difference with a 2 tip rod, as long as you break the tip and not the butt, which takes both kinds off the water. But it can be repaired, scarfed just like any other rod or just reset the tip top, and all that goes along with such a repair in terms of value, etc. But as mentioned above, this may be offset by having no problems with ferrules during use or over the life of the rod. Choose your poison, right?

When it comes to selling, 1pc rods are less liquid as it were, but I always got them sold when required.

I don't think anyone should hesitate to buy a 1pc rod, but if you can't bring yourself to pull the trigger and still suffer from FOMO, one solution is to source a spliced joint rod. I have found, as have many others, that a spliced joint rod has a feel that is very similar or equal to a 1pc, but is a little easier to transport and offers the possibility of 2 tips. Of course, they are more work, you have to protect not just the tips but also the splice ends, and you have to accept the appearance of the assembled joint, usually with tape.

The one I fish the most often by far is my short Green River Mettowee. It is a brilliant caster and so much fun to use on the small streams that surround me in the hills. A couple of years ago, on the way back from the Catskills, I stopped by the old, flood ravaged shop that still sits on the bank of the Green River. It brought back a lot of memories. A little ways down the road, I strung her up and caught a few brook trout to send him a picture.

[ghstrydr164]

I like my one piece 3'11" 4 wt. McDowell with a swelled butt. I fish it with no leader, just 3' of 5X tippet. It will cast 40' with not much effort and really shines on small tight streams for 5' to 25' casts. It's a blast to play small Trout on. It is also easy to transport.

[16pmd]

Small world. I've also had a chance to try some of the 7 1/2-8' Howells and Talbot one-piece rods, both hex and quad. They come from the same "family", as Al Talbot built Gray Howells' milling machine and Gary taught Al how to make rods. All are wonderful casters that benefit from not having the weight and stiffening effect of a metal ferrule to account for in their actions. I think they're a touch faster in action than comparable rods with a ferrule, though I've never compared the dimensions of a one-piece vs. two-piece rod of the same length and line size. I think one of Gary Howells' favorite personal rods was a one-piecer.

Spliced joint rods have some of the same advantages, but the extra time of taping the joints can be frustrating when the fish are rising or are about to, as I'm imagining every time I'm getting ready to go. If you break a tip, a one-piece rod can be turned into a spliced joint rod by having it cut at an angle at the midpoint and a new tip section made to match. Actually not that different from breaking a tip on a two-piecer and having a replacement made.

[Booman2]

Gary Howells built 2 identical 1 piece rods for himself that I am aware of. Both were 8 footers. He broke the tip on one of them and scarfed a repair. Last I knew, Roberta (his wife, deceased) owned it. I owned the other for quite a few years. Jerry Stein once owned another of his personal rods, I think 7'6".
One very interesting rod that Howells/Talbot made was a 8'6" #7-8 quad that had a cedar core. It was a rocket launcher, but very smooth. I am not aware of any that were shorter than 7'6" and most were 8 footers. They worked together on them in part because they were great friends and only 1 of their ovens was long enough for an 8 footer.
These rods were just fantastic. I was fortunate to have owned quite a few of them, but I was victim of 8 foot rods in a 6 foot bed truck.

[mcflyfish]

I have one of the Howells 1 piecers finished by Ed Hartzell. When selected I said I wanted a legit 5wt and there was one that was 7'11" that fit the description perfectly. I agree with the transportation issue but fortunately I live where I can fish (my backyard) so I get it out occasionally and put it to work. It really is a great casting rod.

[GMflyf1sh]

I too had the one piece bug almost 20 years ago. I owned 11 AL Talbot one pice rods - i bought his estate. I had 3 eight foot quads one piece and 8 6 sided rods. The tapers were spectacular. I had a 7’6” 3 weight which was a delight to cast. I still have one 8 foot six sided rod. I sold a few of my rods to Nelson a board member and to HellMtFlies. I also bought a rod from a young rod builder Scott Martinka in Bozeman. He brought a 6’3” Midde taper one piece to the Bozeman event. i loved it and had him build me one. I still have it. Will take it back to montana this summer . I built a tube for my camper shell which was fittted to the canoe rack. I buit individual rod tubes using PVD pipe in different dimensions and used the transistion pieces to stop the handles. I spent 4 hours on the phone years ago with ROn Kusse discussing one piece rods. His method transportation was a convertable. TXTrout liked the taper of the talbot 7’9” he copied it and built a couple of three piece rods to mimic it.

[Vaughanwilson3022]

Thanks all for the opinions on single piece rods. I have one being made - will update when rod is done. No issues with transporting in my fishing car (station wagon). I do have a splice joint quad - taping is not a big deal, definitely s a different feel and flex to the rod without the ferrule.

[Salvelinus fontinalis]

I have recently downsized some of my 1 piece rods and the four that remain are all T&T Sans Pareils in 5, 7, and 8 (2) foot lengths respectively. Completely agree that there is little than can compare to the "unhinged" feel of the rod. Just wonderful! Despite lack of portability on the longer lengths, a real plus is no jointing tight ferrules with arthritic hands. Hope you enjoy the new rod Dave!
Dan

[JohnMD1022]

I had Farlow Ultimate 5’ 10 1/4 speced for 5wt, but was really a 4, for me. Great rod, but it was not seeing enough use, and I gave it to good friend Mike Watriss at Great Feathers fly shop.

[bugslinger]

I prefer one piece rods. I make mine by eliminating ferrules and scarf joint the sections together. Flex better, lighter, no lining up sections.....just a little more of a pain to transport but well worth it!

[joep]

For those that also have spliced rods, how do you feel they compare.