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Post 21 Nov 2020, 19:54 • #51 
Sport
Joined: 01/11/12
Posts: 27
Location: US- Northeast Ohio
A Bob Dennison 3wt.. my origins in ultralight.


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Post 21 Nov 2020, 20:29 • #52 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/16/05
Posts: 2537
Location: Georgia
I knew I’d answered this question before. Although it was a while ago.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=469&p=23141&hilit=First+martin#p23141

I still have that Martin kit rod, and think I fished it a little bit about ten years ago, just for grins, and caught a couple of bream. Didn’t use the original level line though.


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Post 22 Nov 2020, 16:44 • #53 
New Member
Joined: 11/12/20
Posts: 5
Location: Mat-Su Borough, Alaska
A Western Auto bamboo, for $9.95, was my first fly rod. That thing must have been setting on rack forever. It cast well. Two forgettable glass rods followed. A Fenwick FF 75 came along. The Fenwick cast well. I was hooked.

Thom


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Post 24 Nov 2020, 15:41 • #54 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/09/05
Posts: 2524
Location: US-CO
aurelio corso wrote:
My first was a fenwick ff79...........Aurelio


Clearly a man of the finest taste!


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Post 24 Nov 2020, 23:34 • #55 
Guide
Joined: 10/14/19
Posts: 128
Location: Tauranga, New Zealand
My first fly rod, which I am holding in my hand as I compose this, was a New Zealand made Conolon. A big two piece 9'1" #10 Kilwell-Abu Premier of around 1967. It is painted gold, and the bindings are maroon with a dark green trim. It features an Allan down locking reel seat, agate stripping guide and tip top, and ring double foot guides. What makes it extra special is the yellow Conolon live fibre fish logo still on the shaft. I bought it with a similar vintage Pflueger Medalist 1495 1/2 which I also still own. This weight rod was the standard for the mighty Tongariro River in those days and my first "decent" trout was a 5.0 pound rainbow hen from this river. Not long after the Fenwick Feralite 116 became the standard Tongariro fly rod. Cheers


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Post 25 Nov 2020, 09:12 • #56 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 08/25/08
Posts: 1526
Location: Delton, MI
A 7 1/2 foot Actionrod with the bamboo paint job, green reel seat green ferrules, and green threadwork. It was at a bait shop and had been on the rack for a long time so it was on sale for a few dollars.. It wasn’t the really fancy one with the hexagonal cross section but still looked cool. It didn’t last but a few years. The guides rusted easily and broke off. I fished it mostly with a spinning reel and worms until I could afford a fly line to put on the simple reel I used for ice fishing.


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Post 25 Nov 2020, 14:11 • #57 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
Trev wrote:
First fly rod was after the Navy, 1975 I think, a pawn shop St. Croix 8'6" 9wt. paired first with the 1494 that the bait shop guy suggested and a week or two later with the 1498 that was actually big enough to hold an Air Cel Supreme 9wt line. I wish I knew the model number so I could find one like it. Best roll casting rod I've ever used. (in memory anyway)

Trev-i was just gifted a 9' 9wt St Croix.Model number 9000.It is so light in the hand ,hard to believe it is 9' .Olive green with dark red wraps.


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Post 25 Nov 2020, 15:25 • #58 
Sport
Joined: 03/08/16
Posts: 71
Location: Carp Country, Kansas
Royal Javelin, no name reel, level line, around 1962.


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Post 01 Dec 2020, 22:28 • #59 
Sport
Joined: 08/26/19
Posts: 97
Location: US-MI
Wonderod, a white one, 8 1/2’. Bought it used at the local bait store for $5 in 1965. Still have it and the 1494 Medalist but don’t recall the reel purchase. At 12 years old I saw myself as quite the bluegill slayer.


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Post 03 Dec 2020, 13:54 • #60 
Guide
Joined: 10/06/14
Posts: 309
Location: US-MN
My first was some kind of terrible broomstick-like 7wt that my parents got me for a birthday or Christmas present from the local Fleet Farm. I think I was 9. It was paired with some generic Medalist knock-off which would lose the spool whenever I reeled in too fast. For some reason these fishing "tools" did not cause me to lose my excitement for fly fishing, and within a couple of years I had saved up my allowance money and bought myself a Cortland GRF-1000 8' 5/6wt graphite rod and a Scientific Angler System 1 456 reel from Bob Mitchell's Fly Shop here in the Twin Cities. I paired it with the cheapest S.A. weight forward line they had, and I couldn't believe how much better it cast than the "broomstick" I had been casting with...


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Post 03 Dec 2020, 14:22 • #61 
Sport
Joined: 01/05/18
Posts: 29
Location: US-WI
My dad was always a spin fisherman and we would fish Great Lakes rainbows (steelheads). I always would see guys using fly rods so I used my umpiring money and bought a combo kit from the local bait shop. I think it was a Cortland and it was a 5 wt if I remember right. I had no idea what I was doing or how to cast, but I had a lot of perseverance. I was "casting" an egg pattern without any split shot or indicator and a fish ate it off the surface. I ended up catching the fish which was about 10 pounds. I was probably 11 or 12 at the time.


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Post 03 Dec 2020, 18:57 • #62 
Guide
Joined: 07/14/15
Posts: 113
Location: CA-QC
My first fly rod my father bought me in about 1965. It was an inexpensive rod with an automatic reel. It is long gone, but I caught blue gill and some bass with it on our farm pond in Missouri. Fast forward, 1998 after a long hiatus from fishing. Lived in Calgary and bought a St Croix Legend Ultra 8.5 ft 4 weight and caught many trout with it on the Bow and other foothills streams.


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Post 03 Dec 2020, 20:51 • #63 
Sport
Joined: 11/16/20
Posts: 73
A 3 piece 9' no name bamboo rod that a friend gave me. It was one of his dad's and he hadn't used it in years. It was SOOOOOOO slow but it caught lots of rainbows in the Olympic National Park. In the mid 80's I replaced it with a Cortland 8.5'graphite rod that I still have and still is in perfect condition.


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Post 03 Dec 2020, 21:57 • #64 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/12
Posts: 1007
Location: Beantown
Fenwick FF 806 - my dad bought it in the '70s for a hiking trip to the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho in 1977 or '78. I've used it forever, and still love it...


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Post 13 Dec 2020, 01:00 • #65 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/11/20
Posts: 378
Location: Dallas, TX
St. Croix Legend Ultra 9’ 5 Weight paired with an Orvis Battenkill 5/6 Made In England Bought both in Dallas circa 1999 for a trip to fish the San Juan and Durango CO / Four Corners area with my dad. Practiced casting in my front yard until I got blisters getting ready for that trip. Still have and still fish that rig. Along with the Orvis vest, wool fly patch, and Dr. Slick hemostats I bought at the same time!


Last edited by DaveS on 19 Dec 2020, 20:21, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 17 Dec 2020, 16:20 • #66 
New Member
Joined: 10/25/19
Posts: 19
Location: US-CA
Coming up in a Hunting/Fishing Family ..... Dad insisted that I have my own flyrod . A Daiwa , 8-foot 7 wt. , which I never had any use for it as a kid . It vanished in the early 80's .

Years later , I played Music w/ a guy who became a good Friend . After a gig he organized at his Church , he gave me a Winston 8 1/2 , 5 wt . that he had built around 1970 (a 1495DA Medalist came along with it) . This would have been around 1987 ? I thanked him , and stuck it in the closet ....

Cleaning house several years later , I found it . The longer I looked at it , the more guilt washed over me . I sourced a 333 DT-5 , and wandered off to a local Creek . Tyed on a #8 Muddler , and flailed about . Managed to hit the water , and stopped to look at the Lovely Creek for a moment , thrilled that I didn't snag on the many obstructions that were around . Glanced over at where the fly was supposed to be , and only saw rings . Stripped hard , and brought a Green Sunfish to hand .

Never looked back .Still have the Winston .


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Post 17 Dec 2020, 18:16 • #67 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/19/14
Posts: 3925
Location: USA - Illinois
A serendipitous gift, unknown at the time, but now years later.............. a wonderful gift of Friendship.


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Post 17 Dec 2020, 19:54 • #68 
New Member
Joined: 10/25/19
Posts: 19
Location: US-CA
Very much so . I saw him several years ago , he seemed quite amused at my evolution . The Winston needs a rewrap and is lighter than what I normally fish .... but I do take it out every now and again and think about things .

D.~


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Post 17 Dec 2020, 20:49 • #69 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/26/13
Posts: 483
Location: US-PA
DaveS,

About 3 years ago I bought a 9' 5 weight Legend Ultra in excellent condition for $50. I bought it as a back-up rod and I fish it in winter. It is a nice rod.


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Post 17 Dec 2020, 21:49 • #70 
Master Guide
Joined: 07/12/17
Posts: 390
Location: SW B.C.
Reading that people started with Heddon Pal Pros and Fenwicks makes me envious! I bought a 9', foam-handled Berkeley when I was perhaps 13, with $13 of my own paper route money, plus the cheapest DT6F the Woodwards sporting goods section had. It was a large diameter blank, but not too heavy, so probably graphite. A friend still has it and swears it's a nice- casting rod!


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Post 18 Dec 2020, 07:28 • #71 
Sport
Joined: 01/12/20
Posts: 66
Location: US-TN
I guess my first fly rod was a long, slender "cane pole", (read redneck cane...not bamboo). No reel...just a length of cane. Tenkara before tenkara was cool?? Who knows. Cane poles were what all we kids were given to fish, and they were awesome with bluegill and small bass. I remember running out of my heavy duty bait one day (white bread rolled up into bread balls) and catching bluegill on folded pieces of grass jammed onto my hook...proto-fly. My first actual fly rod was much later in life. I picked up an Orvis clearwater combo. I am very thankful to that rod for getting me into fly fishing, but it never felt like I wanted a fly rod to feel. I think I had an ancient hand memory of those willowy cane poles.

Great thread!


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Post 19 Dec 2020, 20:17 • #72 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/11/20
Posts: 378
Location: Dallas, TX
The Outsider, I still enjoy fishing that St. Croix Legend Ultra. But it sure feels like a broomstick compared to the glass rods I fish more now. I realized after posting this that I actually do not have a 9' fiberglass 5wt. My glass rods are all shorter, with 8'6" being the longest. I wonder why that is?


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Post 19 Dec 2020, 20:29 • #73 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=66766&hilit=limits+of+long+light+fiberglass#p354949


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Post 19 Dec 2020, 20:40 • #74 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/26/13
Posts: 483
Location: US-PA
DaveS,

Traditionally 9' glass rods were heavy. Perhaps that is the reason you do not have glass rods longer than 8'-6". I fish the Legend Ultra as a "winter rod" here in Pennsylvania. Meaning that I will be fishing nymphs and small streamers. And if I slip in the snow or frozen ground and break it, I won't have a coronary.


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Post 19 Dec 2020, 22:54 • #75 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/11/20
Posts: 378
Location: Dallas, TX
Makes sense to me!


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