Yesterday, I was at an Oklahoma junk yard and saw a pile of old fiberglass rods. I asked the owner about the price, and she said she would take $10 for the pile. I'm not sure how many rods were there, but they covered the bed of my full size pickup. As one would expect, some rods could only be scavenged for hardware. However, I found almost 20 fiberglass rods worthy of fishing or rebuilding (in my mind at least). The nicest rod was an 8.5' green Heddon fly rod (no readable model number, but it casts a 5-wt line very well, and the Common Cents test gives it an ERN of 4.46 [37 pennies]).
The coolest rod in the pile is the one shown here. The label and all of the wraps are covered in a thick, sagging layer of varnish that I assume was applied by a former owner. As I slowly clean away the varnish, I am finding a beautiful translucent reddish-brown fiberglass rod with a label containing the amazing service plan as shown in the photos.
The rod was branded by Lew Childre & Sanders Inc. The Model is Lew's Fly Rod #FLY-F8 (it is an 8-ft rod). Here is the service plan as stated in the label:
Service Policy: Return with $3.00 to Lew Childre & Sanders, Box 535, Foley, Ala. Your repaired rod will be returned immediately postpaid.
The label says the rod is a "Product of Japan." I'm not sure about the date, but it was made before zip codes were important and when three-letter codes were still used for states. Based on this, I'm guessing was sold sometime in 1950s to mid-1960s.
The 8' rod has 7 guides (6 snakes and a stripping guide). I can see the feet of the guides through the transparent wrappings, so I'm guessing the wraps are silk.
Lew's current website tells how Lew began making bamboo rods. He later went to Japan and developed relationships with Japanese manufacturers. Lew next began producing (or at least branding) fiberglass rods, before finally focusing on graphite. Based on the Lew's website, I wonder of this rod may have been made by Fuji (
https://www.lews.com/en/learn/our-story).
The rod casts a 5-wt line very well, and the Common Cents test gives it an ERN of 4.75 (39 pennies). I plan to take it fishing tomorrow. Depending on how it feels with bluegill on the line, I will decide whether to rebuild it or just do some additional cleaning and set it on a shelf.