Pre-1989 5wt Graphite Fly Rod Shoot-out!

[appalachian angler]

Ok, lets have some fun with this one...there are NO wrong answers!

Prior to the graphite "arms-race", when fly rods were just a bit "slower" and most fly rod manufacturers were using first and second generation graphite materials for rolling blanks, what would you (based on personal experience) rate as the Overall best performing 5wt of that era? Remember, we are talking 5wt rods and naturally they would have to have TROUT fishing attributes.

Examples would be, but not limited to:

Orvis graphite such as the Far and Fine model
Winston "Trophy Cup" G Loomis rolled blanks
Fenwick HMG
Fisher GT40
Sage RP/LL
St Croix Legend
Diamondback Carbonite Supreme
Scott PwrPly ("G")

Look foward to your responses!

aa

[Silver Creek]

Gosh it depends on what you like in a rod action.

I have fished the original Fenwick HMG, an Original Fisher GT 40 and an Original Sage RP. I still have all 3 rods and I bought them new. The GT40 was noted to be 2 line weights like a 5/6 which is the one I have and the Sage RP is a a 4 wt, and the Fenwick HMG is a 6 wt. Of the 3 fly rods, I favor the GT40 as the best all around fly rod.

The greatness of all these rods is the fact that I still own all of them. I would sell the Sage RP and the HMG before the GT40. I did own a new Sage LL 389 also that I did sell. I liked the GT40 more than the Sage LL although I would be in a minority on that.

[moucheur]

The first graphite rod I owned was a 4-piece Diamondback Carbonite Tape Wrap 8056 (8 foot, 5/6 weight) that I bought from Bill Alley at the Fly Rod Shop in Stowe, Vermont, back when he still owned the fly shop, Diamondback, REC, and the remains of Jim Payne's bamboo rod operation. I still have it and it still casts as sweetly now as it did then.

I subsequently acquired an Orvis 7' 9" 5 wt Far and Fine, which is well enough known that I needn't comment, and an Orvis 8' 4 wt Western Midge. (I know, it's a 4, not a 5, but at the time Orvis considered the Western Midge their ideal rod for Pennsylvania limestoners, and it is delightful. I would like to compare it side-by-side someday with the more prestigious Winston Tom Morgan Favorite, also a 2-piece 8' 4 wt.)

Speaking of Winstons, more recently I also picked up a 2-piece Winston WT 8' 6" 5 weight, the larger-gripped version of the original Joan Wulff Favorite. (The WT series is a recent name change to the old IM6 series from the era in question, but the model itself is unchanged.) Tom Chandler of troutunderground.com calls it one of the "dozen best fly rods of all time" and says it "might be the 'troutiest' rod in existence". Author Tom McGuane calls it "the five weight trout rod against which all others are measured".

Of my three early 5 weights, I think I have to give the prize to the Winston. It's hard to argue against the unanimous judgment of Wulff, Chandler and McGuane, although I do still have a soft spot in my heart for that Carbonite.

[Lotech]

I used to fish with a Fenwick Streamer 5 weight. I'd have to go with that.

[maodiver]

I love my HMG, BUT it sure takes a different casting stroke compared to the other rods I own..but it's a 4 weight so it doesn't count for this

[NJTroutbum]

The Orvis Far-and-Fine

I sold an Orvis Henry's Fork to my brother...which was a faster rod. If I was strictly fishing larger water with nymphs, I would probably lean towards the Henry's Fork. But I prefer the F&F for all around dry fly fishing.

In a 5wt that is.