Ted 'The Splendid Splinter', retired to his place on a great Salmon river up North, and his preferred rods were built for him by Fenwick. At the time he started, Fenwick was state-of-the-art, first in glass and then in the new carbon fibres. Even though I have and happily ffish Generation 2, 3, 4,....Nth sticks and have cast innumerable casting machines, quite a few of the Fenwick models are my favorites.
tl
les
BTW, if you examine the innards of Pflueger Medalists, you will see a very sophisticated drag system.