Two years ago my brother let me have my late fathers fly rod I used to fish and mess around with in the Island Park and Springfield Idaho area 1978 - 1989. I know my father bought this before I was born but I don't know when. All the guides were worn and the finish mostly worn off. Even the old automatic real was sprung. This is not collectors stuff and a very slow (action), some people would even say sloppy, rod. Though it is a mess, even before I started to replace the guides it would roll cast a light dry fly like a dream. IMHO

The reel was fixed using parts from a ball point pen, and now works as good as before.

I never treated this reel kindly.





The fly rod was a mess, it was kept in our shed with the grease, hydrolic fluid and such.

I stripped it of what little finish it had left and then decided not to redo the fiberglass for nostalgic sake. The pictures do not really show the worn almost antiqued look too good, and again, this was not a pricy rich mans rod, but the rod a farmer picked up at the Western Auto Store.

I coated the rod with a layer of u-40, it shows all the pits and imperfections, but I like it that way, those were made by family.

When I wrap the guides, I plan on adding more than it originally had to try and speed up the action a little. It is a 8.5 ft rod that had 1 tiptop 1 strip guide and 5 snake guides, quite a bit less than todays glass rods.





notice the grease on the hook keeper

Fly Fishing is more than about catching fish.