I first saw the green Winston Stalker in 1999 at Bud Lilly's shop in West Yellowstone. I didn't cast it but remember spenting some time flexing it. I thought, "Man, this thing is SLOW!" Still, I was strangely attracted to it. I had mostly been used to fishing graphite back then and was surprised by the action. I'm sure others graphite folks had the same reaction and was perhaps one of the reason for its early demise. Over the years, despite reading many disparaging comments about the rod, here and other places, the rod nagged at me. One finally arrived at the house several days ago.

Well, I really like it although at first I thought maybe I had made a big mistake. Yes it's slow and yes it's a "different" green but with the right line I find it an incredibly sweet rod. I had to spend some time with it to fall into its rhythm, but when I did, the rod made me realize why the taper was designed that way. It's by no means a versatile rod and certainly it won't fish well in wind, but there are other rods for that situation. Some say that you cannot tell what a rod is like until you have it on the water. That could be true but I'm not sure. I know how I like a rod to feel and this one feels great. I make the disclaimer that I truly love slow rods so appreciate the fact that the rod is not for everybody. I am obviously in an eccentric minority because most of the rods I've liked have been discontinued, among others the Winston Retro, The Winston DL4 and the Hardy Perfection.

As to the color, Winston had to choose a shade of green different from the dark green of their graphite rods. Having gotten over "green shock" by owning Tomo's Ymogi and the T&T Heirloom, I actually like the Stalker green. It works nicely with the dark green wraps and darkened guides, stripper, hook keeper and winding check. The down-locking nickle silver and cocobola reel seat is beautiful although a cap and band over cork would probably have been a more appropriate choice. One thing I noticed is that the Stalker reel seat is better proportioned to the grip than those on the later Retro. The Retro had an unusually long reel seat which always looked odd to my eye.

Fortunately the green Stalker was made at a time when Winston still held to their ideals on build quality - spigot ferrules, carefully chosen cork rings pounded on and a variety of reel seat choices. Now Winston uses pre-formed grips, tip over butt ferrules and only up-locking reel seats - basically everything they said they would not do.

The green Stalker was first cataloged in 1999 in honor of Winston's 70th anniversary and I believe discontinued a year later. I would think very few were built although it might be diffcult to know since the Stalker, unlike the later Retros, did not have their own set of serial numbers. I'm not sure, but I think the late Sam Drukman, Winston's production manager at the time, must have been the designer as he was a glass guy. I met Sam at Sweetgrass where he was designing a line of glass rods for them. I would think he left Winston to join Sweetgrass sometime after the "Boo Boys" parted ways due to a disagreement with management over the direction of Winston.

No need to sugar coat it rsagebrush. Yeah, I knew it probably wasn't a good idea to say complimentary things about apparently the most hated glass fly rod in history. For what it's worth, I liked it with a Supra WF4, a DT4 Cortland 444 Classic Whisper and a Wulff TT4.

Go Duff. I think every once in a while a man ought to do something against his better judgment just to make sure his judgment is good, not to mention the judgment of others. I have to say I don't do that with fly rods much, but I do it all the time fishing, often trying a fly and method that is "opposite" of what I would expect to work. Thanks for a great account.

Well Duff I wanted to keep it light and airy.

Congrats Tom! I have wanted to cast one of those for a while now. Looks like I will get the chance in the future

Bob

I am one of those who does not think the Green "Stalkers" are very good. I don't think that the rods don't work, I think that they are too use specific and not anything like their predecessor. Maybe if they had named it differently I could be more positive about them. However, due to their very slow action I found it very difficult to find a time I could use them, forget them in a light breeze or on anything other than small protected waters. Needless to say they did not fit my fishing needs, I could find a place for Tom's especially the 7.5' rods. Then there's the color, but let's not even go there. I'm with "Crusty" on this.
Respectfully rvreclus

Tom,
You cast Leiderman's vintage 8' 4wt Stalker and Morgan 8' 4wt, Along with the 8' 4wt Fisher I use to have. We felt they were the same taper. They are a very slow rods, how does this compare?

Bob

Duff,I won't comment on your choice of rods that axsio still has me wondering who would want to buy such a rod,butt I have to admit I did fall in love with a 6'6" hardy perfection and a 8' 3 wt DL4. so maybe there is still hope for me in the future.I think you should do reviews for fishing magazine's you did a great job and am happy you found such a rare rod for your great collection.......aurelio

I know a couple who owned a fly shop and were Winston dealers.

When I commented about my dislike of the color, the wife commented that she detested the color so much she wouldn't go fishing with her husband if he used that rod.

Duff, I had a green Winston Stalker and enjoyed fishing it on the Swift and Farmington rivers in New England where I was casting small flies to large educated trout. It was a lot of fun to fish out to about 40ft. Setting the hook on longer drifts was sometimes a challenge for me (may not have been the rod but my mind wandering as it sometimes does when I am enjoying myself on the stream:). I ended up selling it to a board member to help finance a Tom Morgan 6ft 9in light 3wt. beautifully built up by Chris Barclay. I do miss it. I like slow rods. It does have a strong butt and can handle large trout. Definitely a softer tip than BobHa's 8ft Fisher ;at and the TMR 8ft 4. I hope you enjoy it on the water.
BobHa, I think I had the green Stalker with me at the Battenkill clave a few years back. It might've been too slow for your taste then but I think you would enjoy it more now.

I own one of these...



Years ago I sent the cap back and had it re-labeled.

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread but I just picked up a green 8’ #4 Stalker. To my casting and what I will use it for here in Australia it is one of the most perfect rods I have had. I do like slower rods though. To me it feels like a lighter version of a Leonard 40 bamboo in action, balance and casting and is also very similar to a McFarland Spruce Creek I was generously given by a board member that I fish a lot. A few of my friends have cast it and some find it way to slow but one of my friends really likes it as well.

Anyway, I was just wondering - was it only offered in an 8’ #4 or were there other models in the year it was made?

Cheers
Mike

Duff,
You mentioned the discontinuation of the Winston DL4 rods. My wife has an 8' 4/1 4wt. that I gave to her in 2003. It's the only rod she fishes, has fished and will fish since I gave to her regardless of where we fish. That rod rocks. She has taken it around the country for all species of trout and all sizes. Sad that Winston retired this line as we both think of them as top shelf. In fact, she has fished it so often and for so long that we had to have the spigots replaced two years ago by Winston. At that time, they told us that they see very few of these rods come in for repairs etc. The folks in the repair department felt, as we do, that Winston should not have let this series of rods be discontinued.