Montague ANP Special

[miketeachkc]

I have an old fly rod I would like to know more about. The only markings on the rod are a decal on the butt section: Montague ANP Special. There is no mention of the rods weight or line size. The rod is a 3/1 (missing the extra tip?) with a grip that is like a spin/fly grip, though it is a 9' rod. There are white windings about every 3/4 inch and the main windings are a bright red, though the varnish is aged and darkened over them. Grip is tapered on both ends, like a DT cigar. Plain metal stripper guide and tip. Non-ferrous metal ferrules and reel seat. It looks to shiny to be plain aluminum. Attached ring hook keeper. Bamboo looks to be in excellent condition except the tip has a slight downward bend of about 1/4 inch.

[wrong66]

That's a new one on me. Very interesting. This is one Rex should see. It could possibly be a trade rod, but I've never seen a trade name incorporated into the Montague logo.

[miketeachkc]

A thought on my rod: is it possible that the grip is actually for a fighting butt, such as the Montague Gaspe Special salmon dry fly rod? I’m pretty sure it’s older than that model, though, based on the intermediate wraps. Just a thought.

[jeffkn1]

search.php?keywords=anp+special

[sawtelle8]

One attribute points to a 30's rod - the screw-down reel seat with a metal casing. Earlier rods would have had a cap and ring/Chubb style reel seat.

Is this a combination model that is missing the casting portion of the rod? The ferrule connection at the winding check gives it the appearance of a combination set like the Splitswitch.

[miketeachkc]

I bought this rod on eBay about 20 years ago with the (uneducated, uninformed,unrealistic) idea of restoring it so I could fish an antique bamboo rod. All I know is it is like it is. From some late night researching, I found the closest thing to it is the Splitswitch and found a handful of references to its existence as a model. I could be wrong, but some of these rods were combo spin/fly, and a rarer option was an ability to be used as either a 9’ fly rod or a 6’ fly rod. For S&G’s, I tried using the two smaller sections with the handle (minus the stripping guide section) and they DO fit, making a 6 footish fly rod or spinning rod minus decent spinning guides. In other words, the smaller male ferrule of the middle section fit into the grips female section snuggly, giving a satisfactory “pop” when disassembled.

Bottom line is, I know it’s a known model of Montague, it’s not worth much and would be prohibitively expensive to restore, given I have no sentimental attachment to it (unlike my Dad’s South Bend 290 I inherited). Realistically, it is at best a wall hanger, at worst a fair fire starter. As to how correct I am, see the first set of parentheses above.

[jeffkn1]

Unless it is delaminated, broken, or in need of ferrules, the cost of restoration would be modest, as long as long as you're willing to put in the time. Anything you need to know about doing a restoration will be found in this forum.

[miketeachkc]

I might do that. I’m not sure the tip section is good. There appears to be one area that is rough, maybe squished a bit. The ferrules are great, though. I figure there are about 60-65 intermediate windings which all need replaced. Question from the uneducated....could I use the bamboo to make a “new” rod? Strip it to bare blank and build a rod on that? Hypothetically speaking. Again, I’m not sure it would be worth it, as I don’t know the taper/weight.