I would like to thank jrb78 and jiskra for talking and setting on that little rod until my dialup was back. I received that little rod and with a little washing of the cork grip and waxing of the rod, it turned out to be a twin of the above listed one, right down to the tube and sock. I put it together with a near minty Martin MG-3, one spool lined with a new Cortland 333 wf6f another with a near new Hardy wf6s from a recent reel purchase. Put braided loop line connectors on each line and attached some new braided furled leaders by "CF","Dan","
beauglass", these are new ones, 6ft Floro Trout Taper Sinking with Kelvar thread (he was afraid they would be to heavy, IMHO they are just right!) and 6ft Nylon mono Trout taper floating (here I think a strand of of Floro would have cut the streach factor, but they worked perfectly). Both were using a floro 6# tippet. While I only got about an hour and a half with each leader and line combo on Wensday the 24th between storms, I was really impressed by this rod , reel and line combination. I managed to bring to net a nice 6# Alpers Trout with the sinking combo and a nice 6 1/2 # Alpers Trout with the floating combo. Both right in the center of a nearby town (Kernville) at our "Riverside Park" not bad for the middle of the week. This is only my Thrid venture out to fish sense the 2nd of December, weather being that bad here except for the last week. Anyway this little rod performs like a jewel with the 6wt WF lines. I will be fishing it next week and hope to get some pictures. Thanks again guys for keeping me in mind when this little rod became available, winter here knocks out my dialup about 75% of the time, this rod fishes 100% different than my7 1/2 ft Royal of the same period rated a 6wt. No dought this one could be fished with a 5wt and perhaps even a 4wt, but it is so responsive and shoots the line like a cannon with either 6wts, Im hoping to connect with one of our semi rare Kokanee Salmon. They were planted up here several years ago as a test and they seem to be multiplying, great fun!
Thanks again guys! I intend to fish this little rod alot this spring before Washout.
I must say Dan's leaders are outstanding, Ive been fishing Joni's for a couple of years and after talking to Dan about the inclusion of the Kelvar thread into the sinking leaders, they are Right on. Im not much into a streachy leader or tippet so my preference is for a strand of Floro into his floating leaders, but even with the all mono leaders I had no problem with the Big Alpers trout. Thats one of the nice things about using a 6wt rod, they do tend to bring to net a bigger fish easier than an UL. And I love to fish ULs, but we have some pretty big trout up here right now.
Richard
As a postscript I would like to add, that in the two years sense this string was started Ive managed to collect and fish perhaps two dozen or more post Johnson Profile 3M Uniglass Royals and Delux rods along with the similiar Master Models. While my preference has always been for the Eponite rods of the same specifications, honestly Ive not encountered one quite like this little Royal, not even in my short Master Series rods. This one I think was either wrapped differently than the Masters on the same mandril. Its lighter, and can handle a lighter line than the same rod in a Master. Its softer and when loaded with a 6wt far more powerful than the same length period Master. Sort of like my long 8ft Eponite 6wt Aristo Dry Fly Special taper rods from the same pre 1960 period, they are much softer than the same period Royal, Delux and Master rods, although their are very few rods to compair from the pre Johnson Profile period in 6ft and dry fly special tapers. I have just one 6ft cork grip Eponite and its definately not the same as this little rod, no more so than any of the 6ft 3M scotchply post Johnson Profile 6ft rods I have. Another oddball for sure. Sort of like the little short 5wt Fenwick 535, just not like other 5wt fenwicks, more a LL snuck into the pack. When weather improves I will try some of my lighter lines with nymphs and such, but this rod is purely a eye opener with the proscribed 6wt lines, you can single haul with ease to 55ft into the actual fly line, and with an easy double haul you can see into the backing, on my lines lets call it a cast of some 75-80ft of fly line, not including the 9ft of leader and tippet. Like having a really good 7 1/2 -8ft rod but its only 6ft. I think I will dig out my late 3m Epoxite 6ft UL 4wt with spigot ferrule and cork ring seat and cast it alongside this rod with the same reel and lines, just to see if both can be subject to the same conditions. While they are built of different processes perhaps the finished rods will react similiarly. Part of the fun of collecting and fishing Phillipsons is running into some of these hidden treasures. FF4GT