Great pics. Thanks for sharing.
I love that green and yellow vintage Winston sticker. Very cool!

Matt,
That is a nice Winston collection you have. It's three more than I have. Thanks for sharing.

Those are awesome. Very jealous

+1. You see a lot of cool rod pics on this site but this takes the cake.

Those are indeed very special rods, Fred.
Thanks for posting the pics.

What is even cooler is all the 'mojo' left on the cork handles! Obviously these rods have been joyfully used rather than merely pristine collectors. Love that level of loyalty to brand and respect for the builders. Rods should be fished rather than just marveled at!

I have been looking for one of these for a while. Twice now I had to let them go for not knowing enough about them.

How can one be so sure of a true Winston Stalker?

Search and study photos here, particularly noting the reel seats used, the wrap style, the color of the 'glass and the spigot and so on. Also, check the catalog posted in "rod papers," (in the collecting section) noting that not all Winston fiberglass are "Stalkers." These, made from Fisher-supplied blanks like the rest of Winston 'glass, were a light line series of rods. Although the term does get applied to any Winston 'glass, they were only part of the line-up. The ones shown are from the "trout" series. Two of the tubes use the same artwork that was included in the late 1970s award winning catalog. The top rod (or its tube, at least), is earlier, but still on a fine Fisher-supplied blank. Hookjaw (Matt ?) can tell us how true to color the photos appear, but even that varies by computer monitor and settings. The Winston blanks were reddish brown; Fisher blanks in general were brown with less red-tone, and I think some of the earlier Winstons were in the stock Fisher color.

I, too, love seeing them as well cared for rods that have been fished. That trio is so sweet no one would mind a bit if another pic or two were posted to the "Rule of Threes" thread, which is always fun when a new post makes it reappear. Thanks for showing.

Sure. Someone could build a Winston kit rod to be virtually identical to the factory rod in almost every detail. It would be a fine rod, too, but shouldn't command the price of the shop rod, and of course the quality of craft might not be as good. Still, a Winston kit rod could be a good buy. It would fish like a Winston but not have the collector value.

In this photo of a photo, the rod on the right is a shop Winston (they did offer options as to grip and reel seat, so not all will look like that). Folks will recognize the center rod as Fisher green Winston graphite, and of course the left rod as bamboo.

Great discussion happening while I was finishing up some last minute shopping.

The rods I own are all Fisher rolled blanks... other than the retro blanks, I don't think Winston ever rolled glass in-house. The 7'6" (black cork check) is the oldest and the blank is the darkest brown w/ the most prominent glass weave pattern to the blank. Whrlpool is spot on w/ the tube being an earlier version. The other rods are def. later.

When buying these, do your research and learn the details. Spotting a factory rod from custom is clear as day when you get into the details. The handwriting (usually done by Tom Morgan) and labels. Use the references above for good, close-ups of the check, wraps, labels, etc... also, original bags should be red and tubes will have either the yellow/green label above (early), a trophy cup label (SF), or the oval MT label pictured in my shots.

A true "stalker" was cataloged as such and must fit into a certain time-frame/weight designation. 3 and 4wt. rods under 8'

My 6'6" 3wt. was the recipient of some fabulous discussion on this site as well:

Duff's 6'6" "Stalker" https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15321

I emailed Mr. Morgan about the 7'6" prior to purchase... here was his response. Note the part about the "light 5" which I agree with... it can do a 4 nicely as well.

Hello Matt,

I'm sure that it is a San Francisco Winston fiberglass made shortly after I bought Winston in 1973. Probably 1974-75. In it is a bag I had made at Gary Howells's suggestion with the top seam on the bag outside so the rod would be easier to get out. It also has my writing on it for length and line size. In the beginning we used whatever decals were around for the tubes. Typically that decal should have only been used on the bamboo rods. Soon after I designed a special decal for the tubes for the fiberglass. There were what we called light 5-weight blanks that were only good for rods 7 1/2' or under.

The blanks were made by the J. K. Fisher Company for Winston.

Hope this helps,
Tom

I don't have much info on the 8' 5wt. but do know it is not a "Stalker" (though some incorrectly use this phrase w/ this size rod)... it's also light in hand and one of the best 5wts i've ever touched. It's also the "newest" of my trio b/c is has the length/mass in metric which Winston started in the early 80s(?) i believe.

Here's a compilation of many resources out there to find info on the Stalkers and Winstons in general.

Key Taccata's Winston Stalker w/ catalog reference http://blog.livedoor.jp/keytaccata/archives/50551858.html

Key Taccata's Winston SF Stalker http://blog.livedoor.jp/keytaccata/archives/50372104.html

Key Taccata's Winston SF/MT Comparison http://blog.livedoor.jp/keytaccata/archives/50387745.html

Morgan Fiberglass History https://www.troutrods.com/fiberglass-rod-history.html

Lastly, 1.5min of Winston glass bliss... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgQQ4LywnYQ

My 7'6" and a local participant in the fun this sport affords us:


Any more information (clarification or corrections) or photos of rods are welcomed to be added... would love to see this thread grow into a discussion and display of all Winston glass, not just these 3 rods!

Hookjaw, Great rods and information. Shown below is a photo of a very early Winston glass rod I was able to cast a couple of summers ago. The blank was more of a copper brown than the rods in your fine collection.

I have two Winston Glass Rods
One is a 7'6" 4 wt three piece Retro with a extremely low serial number 013
The next one is a 7' 3 wt Retro three piece rod.
I do have some good pics of the 4 wt. I'll post them now and post pics of the three weight later
Rod