6 1/2 foot Monty???

[desert_angler]

Hi Everyone,

I picked up this Montague rod at our recent ORCA convention. It's a 2 piece with extra tip, and appears to be a 6 1/2 foot, or maybe 6 ft 3 inch rod. The reel seat stamped "Montague" puts this around 1926-1935 based on another CFRF post. The rod casts a 3 weight pretty well, with 30 foot casts pretty easy and laid out straight. I realize this isn't a very valuable rod. That's fine, since I'm going to use it for small creek fishing and scrambling over boulders. What is curious is the short length.

Here are the details. Butt piece is 39 5/8 inches, and the tip with original ferrule is 36 3/8 inches. The spare tip is 36 1/4 inches, and has been re-wrapped. Both tip tops are replacements, suggesting that both tips may have been shortened. The guides on both tips line up perfectly. This puts the rod at 6 foot 3 inches. Butt section has stripper and one snake guide, tips have 5 snakes and tip top. The cork handle is mini - 4 3/8 inches. Total weight is 3.4 ozs.

Here are some photos, including the butt of the rod with but cap removed. Looks pretty solid and not fiddled with too much.

Any idea what this is?? I haven't really seen any 6 1/2 foot or shorter Monty rods.

Thanks,

George

[Flykuni3]

I have 6’6 and 7’ Montys. Fairly rare things.

[Shrimpman]

With the ferrules having been reset and pinned, one male having been replaced with a chromed one, and what looks like (hopefully) repaired delamination/splitting above the other male ferrule, my guess is it was a seven footer that broke at the ferrules. Do the tips look the same dimensions?
In any case, I'm sure it's a fun little rod to fish if in working order.

[OldCane]

Nice rare rod. I hope Montyman adds details to the story of these rare rods.

[desert_angler]

With the ferrules having been reset and pinned, one male having been replaced with a chromed one, and what looks like (hopefully) repaired delamination/splitting above the other male ferrule, my guess is it was a seven footer that broke at the ferrules. Do the tips look the same dimensions?
In any case, I'm sure it's a fun little rod to fish if in working order.

Thanks for the info everyone. Shrimpman, you have good eyes! Here are a few more close up pics. I had to reset the original ferrule. It was pinned when I bought the rod, but bent pretty bad, and had already been reset because it didn't have any silk overwrap on it. There are two small cracks above the ferrule. Neither spreads with a fingernail or rod flex, but you can see the varnish is missing over the crack. Hard to tell, but maybe already repaired? To be on the safe side, should I overwrap it with white silk, varnish, then top with flex coat? I haven't done a repair before, but seems like a straightforward approach for this one. Since I can't spread it, I assume no use to try to work in glue, right?

As to original rod length, the ferrule ends of both tip sections look the same, but the tip dimensions slightly differ for the first few inches, then pretty much look identical.

George

[Shrimpman]

It looks like one of the splits, 180 degrees from the other, is in the middle of a strip and not a separated seam. Hopefully it has been glued and the ferrule will keep things from separating again.
The tips indeed look to have been shortened, with one losing some off the tip and the other presumably from where the damage at the ferrule was.
I don't think that an overwrap will add much for strength there and I wouldn't use Flexcoat, just varnish.
In any case, the rod is worth the effort if it needs further repair and my well be solid as it is. Good luck!

[desert_angler]

Great, thanks for the advice Shrimpman. I'll get some varnish on it to seal it up and I'll keep a close eye on it. I should be taking it fishing in two weeks

George

[sawtelle8]

Hi George,
2-21/2 months ago, I posted a similar thread on a rod I had purchased online. The length of the pieces are 39 5/8" making it a 6 1/2' rod. My main concern was that the rod was a banty rod and fortunately for me, another forum member (thank you Gnome!!) highlighted a 1925 Chubb/Monty 6 1/2' rod illustration in Michael Sinclair's book: " Bamboo Rod Restoration Handbook" pg 131. I walked away confident that my rod was a legit 6 1/2' rod Monty rod circa 1925.

After a quick comparison between your photos and my rod, I see a number of similarities. The winding check & bottled shaped ferrules on pics #'s 4 & 7 (respectively), are similar to the hardware on my rod. The chubb style reel seat is a similar cap & ring and having a short cigar shaped grip (FYI mine is 4.5").
In my humble opinion, your rod is also a 6 1/2' Monty rod. Unfortunately, it has had some restoration performed (e.g. tip tops, chrome snake guides, the two male ferrules not matching), but it's still a fairly rare 6 1/2" Monty.

regards,
Sawtelle

[steeliefool]

Considering the diminutive grip, possibly a childs rod?
Would also agree with the length I would think.

[desert_angler]

Thanks everyone. Very interesting info!

George