I just received a nice South Bend rod that belonged to the late dad of a friend. The old gentleman was a prince of a fellow, and enjoyed fishing for trout and smallmouth, but I never got to fish with him.
The rod is a Custom model 3170, 8'6", and is marked for a HCH line (I'd say 7-weight). It's the olive green blank, with the mylar tape under the green wraps, and green reel seat. The cork has the factory thumb indentation sanded in it. It is in great overall shape, and the wraps, guides, reel seat and ferrules are fine. The cork was dirty from fishing and handling use, but it cleaned up nicely.
It casts great with a WF6F line. I have not tried it with a 7 weight, but I'm sure that is probably it's happy place. I'm looking forward to trying it out with streamers as soon as the water levels go back down from our latest round of spring deluges. I think it is probably late 60s or early 70s. Do any of you folks have a closer idea on when it was manufactured?
Thanks,
Walt