Hello Everyone,
I just picked up a new old stock Orvis 7' 6wt "A" fullflex, four piece fly/spin rod.
I've searched a lot on the forum for information on this rod and cannot find much.

Is it the same four piece blank as the standard four piece "A" 7' fly specific rod?

How does it fish (fly and spin)?

I've only lawn casted it, and waggled the rod so far. Compared to my existing 8' 6wt rods (ProCrest, Fenwick) it seems a lot faster, and much stiffer (quick recovery).

Thanks,

Pictures are always fun...

I have no experience with that rod, but typically spin rods are a bit "faster" feeling that fly rods.

I moved this here, hoping will get some attention from spin-fishers.

For starters, it will feel faster and stiffer simply because it is shorter, and the more so if the blank favors spin-fishing. Most likely, but I don't know, it was a blank designed for spin-fishing. Why? Well, even today, few primarily flyfishers get a rod for that primary use and occasional spinning. Back then, more so, and the spin-fly idea was partly a hedge, that at least the buyer wants and gets a spinning rod with a feel and style the buyer is accustomed to and will enjoy. The fly aspect is secondary in grip, fittings, and so on. Such rods might have tempted an angler into fly-fshing--but this still could be with a float/"bubble" that was spincast, with a fly on a short tippet tied above the "bubble."

That's more or less generic for short spin/fly rods of the time, and that's about how the Orvis rods look--easy to view with a search of completed listings on Ebay. Perhaps one of the recent sales is the one you got.

What we need now is someone with Orvis catalogs of the time, and/or a fan of Fulflex fly and spinning rods who has both to compare the blanks side by side. I doubt they are the same, but they could be. Even if they are, the blank design probably favors spinning.

Trev,
That was my interpretation as well when I had read those posts prior to purchasing. But handling the rod myself, I guess I am second guessing what I read. No way I would think this is a 5wt rod, ever. But, I'm going to go and try it out this weekend and see what I think.

And there were a few others about deep flexing and working well as a fly rod, but seemed maybe two people only had experience with the rod.

It was this post and board member that mentioned use with a 5wt. I downloaded the picture to be sure it was the fly/spin rod that he acquired.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10444&p=65906&hilit=Fullflex#p65906

And then this post from wb4tjh : "have the very last 7 foot, 4 piece Orvis glass fullflex spin/fly pack rod sold. I bought it in the late 80s thru a friend of mine in Memphis who owned the local Orvis Shop. He called the factory and they went out in the showroom and got what they told him was the last one they had. It sure is a sweet casting 5/6 weight. I've taken everything from little trout and bluegill to a 10 pound redfish here in Sarasota Bay on it. It really bends way down into the corks. It throws a long line with a spinning reel too. You can heave a weighted jig what seems like a mile with the fully loading rod."


I agree with the other comments that fly/spin tends to be a compromise, other than maybe a Phillipson fox combo that had some great comments. I was just hoping to take this for the kids who try to fly fish but will resort to spin fishing.


Having the catalog and comparing with fly only version would be ideal situation here.
But, for a new old stock, worth a shot.

Okay I tried out the rod for about 2 hours. Local pond with foam indicator (bobber) and 1/64 ounce jigs using a scientific anglers WF6 line.
There is very little room to cast the rod, but roll casting was the main option for the day.

Fishing this pond setup gives a lot of fiberglass rods a run for their money trying to roll cast, and cast for that matter (too much weight), but this was not a problem on the FullFlex A.
It is stiff enough to fling it out there where I needed to get it either casting or roll casting. This made the casting a lot less frustrating from other glass rods I own. Double rigs were even less frustrating as the casts were executed with more precision (fewer tangles).

That stiffness also meant I had to be a little more patient when I had a nibble and not set the hook to quickly.

On the down side, fighting fish was less impressive. Not a deep bend in the rod at all, couldn't really get that feel down into the cork at all, that I love with some of my fiberglass rods.
As way of reference, fought about 15 stocked rainbow trout in the 10" to 15" range, which my initial impressions were made.

Not sure how much use this rod is going to get, always trying to find that perfect balance where casting and fish fighting is optimized.

Next stop, have to try it as a spinning rod.