Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

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ArcticRiverside
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Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#1

Post by ArcticRiverside »

Hi, I am currently thinking of buying a Hardy "The Wye" 11ft 7wt (made 1966) for late summer salmon and seatrout fishing, I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this rod, and if it is worth the money. The rod seem to be in excellent condition, but I do not have the option to try it before I buy it. I primarily have experience with only one handed bamboo rods, and therefore want some experts advises.

My concerns are mainly how it casts, does it handle spey casting well, or should I settle for a traditional overhand cast? I want to be able to cast at least 60-65 feet if I have to, but as I do fish a rather small river, the average casting length will probably be more around 35-40 feet.

Any recommendations in regards of line for this rod?

Also, how is the action in this particular rod in regards of fighting fish? The river I fish we rarely get salmons over 20lbs, but the majority is between 3 and 6 lbs grilse.

Thanks in advance,
It's too late to nurse a cow back to health when the wolfs have run off with the remains.

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ArcticRiverside
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#2

Post by ArcticRiverside »

Does seriously no one here have any knowledge about this rod, or could give me some pointers on what to expect?
It's too late to nurse a cow back to health when the wolfs have run off with the remains.

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roycestearns
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#3

Post by roycestearns »

Knut, the European rods get little attention. I'm sending this to a two handed rod aficionado who looks for these less expensive two handed rods.

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Mahseer
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#4

Post by Mahseer »

The late and much missed Hank Pennington, aka Brown Bear here on CFRF, regularly used the same rod for Coho at home in Kodiak. He had problems finding a line that worked with the relatively small guides but it handled feisty fish that average around 12lbs. Suggest you search his posts for his comments on the rod.

I may still have some correspondence with him about lines for this rod. If I find it, I’ll send you a PM. We had a plan to fish his Hardy Wye alongside my 11’ #7 Sharpe but it was not to be.

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ArcticRiverside
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#5

Post by ArcticRiverside »

Thank you, Mahseer. Much appreciated! So sorry to hear about your friend. I will try to search him up here to see what he have to say about this rod.

Thanks,
It's too late to nurse a cow back to health when the wolfs have run off with the remains.

Dr. Heller
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#6

Post by Dr. Heller »

If your Wye is from 1966 it has not the small eyes the older one has. I fish mine for over 45 years now and found out that the modern WF-lines with a 12 meter head in Aftm 8 suits best in general casting. for Dry Fly, a lot of mending and for long casts without shooting much line a 7 is okay. Shooting-heads and continually Speycasting are not suited for this rod. When Hardy discribes the action as "will Speycast" they mean occasionally.

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ArcticRiverside
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#7

Post by ArcticRiverside »

Ok, thank you Dr. Heller! I plan on fishing mine with wetflies and small salmon flies, so I guess a aftm 8 would be the best option for me. Do you have any pointers on which line, I should go for in regards of brands/models?
It's too late to nurse a cow back to health when the wolfs have run off with the remains.

Dr. Heller
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#8

Post by Dr. Heller »

Cannot remember the brands of the lines. Generally I like PVClines with a little stretch are more suitable with Slow-actioned rods. When in my first reply I mentiond Aftm 7 I mean DT7! When fishing narrow but deep streams in Denmark I use even a DT9, for short casts and fast sinking. Another guy asked me in this forum some time ago about double-hand casting the 11 Wye. All I knew and know fishing this rod cast it single-handed. You get very quickly acustomed to do it. Reels: St.John, otto Zwarg 200, 3 7/8 Perfect.

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Paul B
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#9

Post by Paul B »

Long cane rods have little following here in the UK .
For sure there are a few enthusiasts but they are indeed few and far between.

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ArcticRiverside
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#10

Post by ArcticRiverside »

So, final update. I've bought the rod. A friend of me has a 450 grain Royal Wulff Ambush to sell me when I get it, think it will be a good line if it fits through the rings properly. He also has a Hardu Uniqua 4'' Ported pre-war era he might be willing to sell me as well. Gonna wait until I get the rod to try it out, should arrive by the mid June.

Thanks for the help guys!
It's too late to nurse a cow back to health when the wolfs have run off with the remains.

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Mahseer
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#11

Post by Mahseer »

450 grains sounds very heavy to me - that's like a 13 weight for a single hander. James Reid recommended me to work around a range of 300 to 350 grain Scandi line for my Sharpe 11' #7 (but I haven't run the experiment yet).

If you haven’t already done so, it’s worth searching BrownBear’s posts here on CFRF for what he wrote about his Wye. Use ‘Hardy’ as the search term.

Meanwhile, I managed to find our correspondence from 2015 to 2018. Here’s the essence of what Hank wrote about his rod, compiled from several messages. I’ve added some text in italics for clarification.

“My Hardy 11.5' "Salmon Dry Fly" rod is a 7-weight and by no means too light (meaning the rod handles coho/ silver salmon, averaging 15 lb - there’s more on this in his posts). I miss the extra 2.5 feet of length when spey casting rather than overhead, but the weight is no problem for silvers. I'd go heavier for kings in fast rivers, but otherwise no impulse to replace it.

The most glaring issue I've found with long bamboos is reel weight. They'll beat you up in a hurry with a reel too light. I have a Hardy Marquis Salmon #3 on my 11.5' 7-weight, and it's barely heavy enough for my tastes. I mounted a Marquis Salmon #1 on my 9.5' Hardy single-hand 7WT, and it borders on too light as well. They're both on the replacement list, but it certainly would have been better to select heavier reels in the first place.

The most serious issue with any of bamboo speys in my experience is modern plastic lines. They're simply too bulky for passing freely through the small guides on older rods. It sincerely cuts your ability to shoot line, so I've been making do overhead casting with shorter switch-type lines and keeping the slender running line in the guides. Up next is to go ahead and buy a conventional silk spey line for the rod.

A bud has a graphite 7WT and let me toss a handful of lines he has for it. As I said before, the tiny guides are problematic, so the best turned out to be the Rio Switch Chucker due to the short head, allowing me to cast with the thin running line in the guides. It loaded well and was fine for overhead casting, but of course no semblance of spey casting. He didn't like the line, so ended up giving it to me and that's what I'm using.

The Hardy is definitely up in the realm of that 10WT conventional level line for rod loading. As I said, conventional line weights just don't equate to the spey weight inscribed on the rod. I'd be all set if the modern spey lines weren't so blooming fat!”

I know Hank planned to get a getting a silk spey line from Stuart Tod at Cadno Silk Lines in Wales, but I don’t know if he ever did.

Not the same rod but I compiled line information and advice for my Sharpe 11’ #7, which you are welcome to. Let me know and I’ll send it by PM. Hope you're getting fish on the Wye soon.

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oddsnrods
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#12

Post by oddsnrods »

The Hardy Wyes were noted by many to be the workhorses of salmon rods. I was given 2 very tired 11' rods from an east coast salmon lodge, used during the 1960's.

I was impressed with their relative lightness, but mostly their responsive feel in the hand. Unable to find the original taper I stripped one down, measured it and made a hollowed version, complete with the same cork handle shape and original fittings, although I switched the ferrules to very light n/silver ones and modern snake guides. I love to use the resulting rod, although I should add that I prefer shorter more comfortable casts on both wider or narrower rivers.

I have tried various lines with the rod and find that the Rio Scandi body 23' #7 350 grains suits it well (with a Rio Gripshooter running line) with a variety of casts and is less clunky than shorter Skagit style heads. Not being an enthusiast of overhead casting with D/H rods, I like to keep the line, and hook, a safe distance from me..

Don't think that the Wye should only be spey cast 'in moderation', try them all to see how it feels. I have carbon D/H rods but find that I come back to using the bamboo rods as they are so satisfying to use. The trick is to go slow and let the rod do the work, as any force will kill the cast. As has been mentioned, the weight of the reel is important, with mine I use a Hardy Ocean Prince 2 which weighs 11 1/4oz empty. I remember that I may have moved the Universal Fitting up or down slightly to find the sweet spot for the reel balance.

All in all I think that you will enjoy your Wye rod.

Malcolm

Sash
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#13

Post by Sash »

These are two incredibly detailed and informative posts: thank you both!
I am now enthused to go out and look for an old Wye: sounds a terrific range of rods.

Sash
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Re: Want advise on Hardy The Wye 11ft 7wt

#14

Post by Sash »

Just to add/reiterate, the 7-weight line rating was a “classic”/“old-AFTMA” rating, i.e. for what we would now call single-handed rods. So it reflected the weight of 30ft of Hardy’s DT-7F line. These were all 30-yard lines except for the salmon line in (IIRC) 9 and 10 weights.
Even 300 grains sounds really heavy for me, let alone 450 grains.
And the ring diameters may well preclude the use of skagit heads. They certainly do on my 12ft 6” Fibalite DH rod.

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