Chubb/Montague Fly Rod

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gmont12
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Posts: 4
Joined: 01/31/23 13:45

Chubb/Montague Fly Rod

#1

Post by gmont12 »

Good evening! I acquired this Chubb or Chubb/Montague 9ft 3pc rod several years ago, and I'd like to restore it. It does have several things that need attention before I would fish with it again:
1) One of the female ferrules broke and was brazed or soldiers to make is functional, but the repair tarnished the ferrule. I expect it will need to be replace. Where can this style ferrule be purchased?
2) Two of the other male ferrules are loose. It looks like the ferrules were put on using a pin an glue method, but I'm not sure. What is the best way to remove a that is pin and glued and can these ferrules be reused or should they be replaced.
3) It looks like a previous own used it like a bait casting rod, so the bend in the middle and top sections is backwards or twisted. Can this be corrected?
4) The grip and reel seat to be in good condition. What is the best way to clean up the reel seat and the cork grip, or am I better off replacing them?
5) Is there someone I can talk with about learning how to do a good restoration job myself? I'm right where some of you were not long ago.

I know I've thrown a lot out here, but I'd like to turn this into a nice fly rod again.

Thanks for the assist.

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Kave
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Posts: 295
Joined: 10/21/19 15:15

Re: Chubb/Montague Fly Rod

#2

Post by Kave »

gmont12,
I highly recommend getting a copy of Bamboo Rod Restoration Handbook by Michael Sinclair. It will answer many of your questions and it’s an excellent reference source for info about the companies that produced “blue collar” rods in the days of old, including Montague. I consider it a must-have for anyone learning how to refinish or restore bamboo rods.

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bugslinger
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 1157
Joined: 04/04/12 21:37

Re: Chubb/Montague Fly Rod

#3

Post by bugslinger »

Did you receive my pm?

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TheMontyMan
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Location: Pacific NW

Re: Chubb/Montague Fly Rod

#4

Post by TheMontyMan »

The original poster, gmont12, sent me a private message asking for an ID and information about this rod. I thought it might be helpful to others to post my response here.

Here's what I can tell you about this rod:
My best guess is that this rod was built by the Montague City Rod Company sometime between 1905 and 1920. The cane appears to be Tonkin, so that pushes the build date up to around 1905 or later because most mid-grade and lower grade rods (and some high-grade rods) were still made with Calcutta cane until around the 1905-1910 time frame The guides were re-wrapped so it is difficult to tell if it originally had hanging ring guides or snake guides. If it had hanging ring guides, I'd put the build date before about 1910. The rod was a mid-grade rod in their line-up when built based on the quality and styling of the reel seat and ferrules.

It was most likely built by Montague because of the reel seat butt cap style and the ghosting of what looks like a signature winding pattern. Most Montague rods, except for their lowest grade rods, had a specific signature winding pattern above the cork grip that was often unique to that rod model. Higher grade rods typically had more elaborate signature windings. Most Chubb built rods did not have a signature winding pattern, and if they did, they were typically very simple.

The reel seat butt cap is a style that I rarely see. I have a couple rods with that style. The few I've seen appear to be from the 1900-1920 time frame.

This winding check style is fairly common on Montague rods built before about 1920.

It appears all of the snake guides, and probably the tip guides, were re-wrapped. The snake guides might have replaced hanging ring guides. Most of the intermediate wraps appear to be original - the tan/gold and red wraps. Those wraps that match the thread color of the guide wraps appear to be replacements or additions.

The signature wraps were removed, so there's not much chance of ever knowing exactly which model it is.

I hope that helps.

. . . Rex
The Monty Man

gmont12
Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 01/31/23 13:45

Re: Chubb/Montague Fly Rod

#5

Post by gmont12 »

Rex,

Thanks for all of that great information. This makes me wonder if Montague (and other companies) used a signature wrap pattern for the guides and intermediate wraps. For my rod the intermediate wrap pattern is (tip top with a red wrap, then the pattern is tan, red, tan, red, tan, 1st guide, then tan, red, tan, red, 2nd guide). For the 3rd set the pattern changes to (red, tan, red, tan, red, tan, red, 3rd guide). It looks like there is an original black wrap in the butt section, but unfortunately, someone has thrown in three green wraps (two in the butt section and one at the bottom of the mid-section near the male ferrule. If Montague did have a signature intermediate wrap pattern for this era of rod, are there good photos available showing what the pattern looked like?

Thanks again,

Greg

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