It is currently 29 Mar 2024, 06:44


Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next New Topic Add Reply
Author Message
Post 09 Nov 2020, 03:07 • #26 
Guide
Joined: 09/03/20
Posts: 191
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
ありがとうJJ Flycaster for your comment.

Rods of each guy and stories about them really touch my heart.

By the way, when I got this rod and a reel (hardy marquis clone by Ryobi), I didn't have enough money to buy line at that time.
My dad saw it and gave me a line as a Christmas gift that year.
He was a Buddhist and wasn't the kind of person who would give a Christmas gift to our family so I was very surprised and delighted.
He was a bait fisher and wasn't good at fly fishing, but he looked for the right line weight and chose DT line instead of level line.
This was only Christmas gift from my dad. I still have this line in usable condition.


Top
  
Quote
Post 09 Nov 2020, 05:54 • #27 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19078
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
late to the party - Shakespeare FY-608, 4.2-oz, 9' 8-wt.
I caught a lot of fish on that rod, including fly fishing the salt before anyone ever talked about it.
But I retired it for good four years later when I bought a 7'6" Orvis Fullflex A in a Green Mountain combo with Orvis 1915 reel (Martin 67N)


Top
  
Quote
Post 09 Nov 2020, 08:46 • #28 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2089
Location: US-PA
In actuality, my first fly rod was my Eagle Claw Trailmaster M4TMUL-6-1/2 foot fly/spin rod I used as a spinning rod because I didn’t fly fish. When I started fly-fishing with no mentors except a buddy from school with a FF605, I was bedazzled by a short custom rod offered by the local fly shop made of the newfangled material, graphite.

It was a 5’ one piece 4wt built on a Lamiglass blank, probably a spinning rod blank so I guess both my first and second fly rods were really spinning rods. ;) As a first fly rod, I thought it was dandy for everything and I used it for just about everything until I expanded my quiver to something longer a few years later.

I pared it with a CFO II that I still have, but I “loaned” the rod to a friend to teach his kid fly fishing and never bothered to ask for it back. I regret that decision because I lost touch with that friend and I would like to have the rod for the memories, which include many firsts. However, I still have the receipt from the fly shop for that first rod, reel & fly line which was FREE with the purchase of a rod & reel.


Top
  
Quote
Post 09 Nov 2020, 10:02 • #29 
Sport
Joined: 07/23/16
Posts: 43
Location: US-NJ
Browning Gold Medallion 8' 5/6wt 2pc paired with a Pflueger 1594RC reel. It was a birthday present from my father when I was 15 in '92. Still have the set-up and fish it from time to time for nostalgia. Good times.


Top
  
Quote
Post 09 Nov 2020, 10:16 • #30 
Guide
Joined: 10/19/17
Posts: 127
Location: West of the east and east of the west
South Bend #76 9' bamboo rod, $2.50 at a garage sale. I used a 7wt line on it, but when I took it to my repair guy to get a guide rewrapped he said it worked better with an 8 and maybe even a 9 but he didn't have one to try. That rod wore me out; finally sent it down the road. The second is my Browning/Silaflex 8' 7wt which I still have and love; $20 at a junk store.


Top
  
Quote
Post 09 Nov 2020, 13:36 • #31 
Sport
Joined: 12/01/18
Posts: 40
Location: US- Great Smoky Mts of east Tn
1963 and my first rod of any kind after being exposed to fly fishing at Scout camp- a 9' 2pc Cortland with golden metal ferrule. It came with a reel that looked kind of like a Russell and an 8 weight line. I terrorized fish on my part of Kentucky Lake with that barge pole, did not take too long before I scraped up money for a Wonder rod in 7wt that I still fish. Still have the Cort too, but never fish it.


Top
  
Quote
Post 09 Nov 2020, 16:27 • #32 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
takeru wrote:
By the way, when I got this rod and a reel (hardy marquis clone by Ryobi), I didn't have enough money to buy line at that time.
My dad saw it and gave me a line as a Christmas gift that year.
He was a Buddhist and wasn't the kind of person who would give a Christmas gift to our family so I was very surprised and delighted.
He was a bait fisher and wasn't good at fly fishing, but he looked for the right line weight and chose DT line instead of level line.
This was only Christmas gift from my dad. I still have this line in usable condition.


that's a wonderful story..

first rod I cast a fly on, was an 8'6" fly rod blank I'd built up as an ultralight spinning rod. 4lb line and a splitshot, could cast a fly far enough to catch a trout in the river at Pilgrims Rest..
A 6wt DT fly line also worked on this rod, well enough to cast small bass bugs.

Built my first fly rod on the yellow Fenwick FF806 blank, worked well until the airlines broke it in shipment..

been fishing the rod that replaced it, brown Fenwick FF807, since 1979.. mostly for carp and bass etc these days.





Top
  
Quote
Post 10 Nov 2020, 10:36 • #33 
Sport
Joined: 10/30/18
Posts: 75
Location: Gateway to Death Valley
I remember as a pre-teen having some sort of fly rod. My dad probably got it at the Western Auto in town. Mostly I remember annoying the other people fishing by getting tangled up all the time!

In my early 20s there was a Cortland dealer near by. I hung out there a lot and learned how to tie flies and fish from him. I bought a FR2000 rod at some point but don't remember using it.

30 years later I re-discovered that rod and that led me here. Of course now I've got 5 fiberglass rods...


Top
  
Quote
Post 10 Nov 2020, 12:40 • #34 
Sport
Joined: 11/16/08
Posts: 99
Location: US-NJ
Basic Sears 7.5' brown glass rod with about 5 guides that I received for my 8th birthday in 1960. It was paired with a well used Pflueger Gem and some kind of generic level line.


Top
  
Quote
Post 10 Nov 2020, 12:41 • #35 
Sport
Joined: 12/04/11
Posts: 72
Location: US-MI
Around 1955 a Montigue 3pc bamboo fly rod showed up at my Grandfather's cottage. Despite countless hours on the lawn trying to learn to cast with the C level weight line, 25 feet was about the extent of my success. Sure could have used some direction from a real fly fisherman. Took the fly reel off and put on an early open-face spinning reel and tore up the trout for a month in 1956 a few miles outside of ********* Montana. Bought a 7ft 9in Shakespeare glass rod in 1959 and broke the tip within a week. My first "real" flyrod was a new ORVI 7&1/2 ft Equinox which is still one of the best all-around flyrods I have ever used. It cost $50 in 1964 which was almost two weeks pay for my Summer job during college. By 1960 I had converted the Bamboo tip sections of the Montigue into ice fishing rods. They survived many big fish and are on the wall downstairs ready to go when I take up ice fishing (after a recent 20 year break) in my old age ---LOL


Top
  
Quote
Post 10 Nov 2020, 12:59 • #36 
Guide
Joined: 02/18/18
Posts: 276
Location: US-TX
My first was a Fenwick FF75 with a Heddon Daisy 310...taught myself to cast with it...and on occasion still fish with it today. Both were used when I got them and over time we have caught many fish. It makes me smile.
Carl


Top
  
Quote
Post 10 Nov 2020, 16:41 • #37 
New Member
Joined: 09/26/18
Posts: 21
Location: The West Coast of Sweden
The first flyrod I caught a fish (sea run Brown, ie seatrout) with was my younger brothers Geoffrey Bucknall "Two Lakes" #7 built from a kit by him. It was in the early eighties, in the little river we grew up beside, and still resides by, a gem I still fish. The river, that is.

My first own flyrod was a Sage SFL 686 built by myself circa 1983. It was chosen as a compromise, it should do duty both in the home waters for seatrout and be a companion on trips to northern Sweden for trout and grayling. I used it with a Medalist 1495 CJ (I bow to Takeru here), first with a Hardy Dry Fly Line #6 and later with #7 and #8 WF lines, better with the larger flies for sea runs.

Dedicated to seatrout I would have chosen the SFL 8'9" #7, for trout and grayling the 8' #5 or the 7'6" #4 (which I built for a trip north circa 1993). I remember that I was tempted by the 7'9" 6-7 at the time, but decided I needed the extra length of the 8'6".

I still have, and use, them both, plus 3 home built Sage fiber glass spinning rods.

There is a lot of “Nyu-kon” involved in this.


Top
  
Quote
Post 10 Nov 2020, 18:12 • #38 
Guide
Joined: 04/04/13
Posts: 197
Location: Central Maryland
salvelinus wrote:
I bought a yellow Shakespeare at our town's sporting goods store with my grass-cutting money. It was 8 or 8.5 feet and probably a 7 weight. Paired it with a red South Bend reel and a level line.


Same here (except it was a Christmas present). The reel was an automatic.


Top
  
Quote
Post 10 Nov 2020, 20:57 • #39 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
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)


Top
  
Quote
Post 10 Nov 2020, 21:25 • #40 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/19/14
Posts: 3925
Location: USA - Illinois
My first was, I think, a white Garcia 8' 7 wt. bought at the local hardware store in about 1966 when I was 14. Came as a kit as I remember with a white level 7 wt. line and a Bronson reel. I am almost positive it came with 6 or so "flies". I struggled learning to fish for gills and bass in the local waters. It frustrated me to no end, where spinning and baitcasting gear did not. I went for years without a fly rod, but when I got out of the Navy in 1986, the next year I built a Cabela's kit rod (graphite) for a 5 wt., and started to learn to fly fish. I'm still not a very good caster, and I'm easily frustrated by failure, but pressing on.
Be Safe and Well !


Top
  
Quote
Post 12 Nov 2020, 17:15 • #41 
Sport
Joined: 04/20/20
Posts: 98
Location: Springfield, PA
Mine was a Pflueger Medalist FY 75-45 (7'6" 4-5WT) . . . purchased mid-late 80's I'm guessing. Although I don't fish it at all anymore, I can't seem to let it go and the butt section is my go-to section when re-lining spools.


Top
  
Quote
Post 12 Nov 2020, 18:53 • #42 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/23/19
Posts: 371
Location: North Central Oregon
First flyrod was a 8 1/2' Berkley Parametric that I bought in 1974. Still have the rod.

Bruce


Top
  
Quote
Post 12 Nov 2020, 21:03 • #43 
New Member
Joined: 11/05/18
Posts: 20
Location: Friuli, Italy
A Normark Kunnan 8'6" #6-7 that my mother found while going through my grandfather's stuff. I didn't even know he flyfished. Later on I found his old Hardy Marquis #7 that I still use today. The rod is a real wrist-killer although it flexes quite nicely.


Top
  
Quote
Post 12 Nov 2020, 21:09 • #44 
Master Guide
Joined: 04/12/18
Posts: 457
I still have mine and fish it occasionally... a St.Croix TRANSA-GLAS 8'3" 8-weight. I bought it at St. John's sporting goods store in Fair Haven, VT around 1975-6.





Last edited by desmobob on 14 Nov 2020, 08:35, edited 1 time in total.

Top
  
Quote
Post 12 Nov 2020, 22:33 • #45 
Guide
Joined: 12/16/15
Posts: 135
Location: MSP
I taught myself to cast and flyfish with my uncle's nearly unused, 35 year old TruTemper. 2pc, 8'6" for 6 and 7 lines. It worked well enough (obviously). MY first rod was a St Croix Pro Graphite PF8667, a copy of the specs of the TruTemper. I had it paired with a Medalist 1495 and Cortland 444+ WF7F Rocket Taper.


Top
  
Quote
Post 13 Nov 2020, 00:11 • #46 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 10/09/09
Posts: 2796
Location: US-NM
My first was a fenwick ff79...........Aurelio


Top
  
Quote
Post 13 Nov 2020, 20:31 • #47 
Sport
Joined: 07/12/20
Posts: 37
Location: Helena, MT
Mine was a Shakespeare Wonderod, 7'9" for a 7wt (but I always fished it with a 6wt). It was a hand-me-down from my older brother and it still has his name in sharpie above the handle. The rod is way past it's prime but I still dust it off and take it for a walk every few years. It was my go-to carp rod for a few years when I worked in North Dakota, you can really see how poorly the guides are spaced when its bent over to the handle on a 15lb carp!

Nate


Top
  
Quote
Post 21 Nov 2020, 00:57 • #48 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 2462
Location: Seattle, WA
Ditto for me (SouthernRivers) on it being some unnamed 8ft Eagle Claw Fly Rod when I was 14-ish but I was up in south-central PA. Other than seeing a fly rod occasionally on the some fishing shows on TV in the mid-1970's, that was about all the help I had to go on. I only had crappy flies bought from Kmart ,but somehow I caught a couple small mouth bass ( one the one or two streamers I had) at Scout camp with it and some bluegills in a water hazard pond at a golf course down the street from me. I had no luck catching trout with it however.


Top
  
Quote
Post 21 Nov 2020, 13:49 • #49 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 01/26/07
Posts: 1385
Location: Ada, Oklahoma
Technically, my first fly rod was an old Heddon Golden 50 given to me by my friend Kurt when he first tried to get me interested in flyfishing. The rod still had the OTASCO sticker on it from the store (Oklahoma Tire and Supply Co.). Price of $19.95 still on the grip. This rod has still not been used by me over the past 32 years. A few months later he bought me a new Browning graphite rod ( an 8' 6/7 weight) for my birthday. I finally had him show me how to rig it up and teach me how to cast it. A couple of days later I sneaked off by myself to try it out. I didn't want any witnesses to my upcoming comedy of errors. Much to my surprise I caught several sunfish and some nice bass. A few months later I decided I needed a lighter rod and went to a Fenwick 8' 6 weight graphite rod. Over the years I went through several graphite rods, until January of 2007 when I finally switched over to glass and have rarely looked back. Although I was initially totally disinterested in trying flyfishing, once I started it became a passion. Has cost me a lot of money but have had a lot of fun.

Larry


Top
  
Quote
Post 21 Nov 2020, 15:40 • #50 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 03/30/09
Posts: 1525
Location: Hamilton,Ontario,Canada
My first fly rod was built on a Fenwick yellow glass blank.It was 7 1/2 ft 5 wt.Of course I didnt realize how good the rod was back in 1980.I had to get a graphite rod and sold the Fenwick.It was a very good rod and I wish I still had it.


Top
  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next New Topic Add Reply



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bk3nj, glosterboy and 16 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
Google
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group