Great thread and great stories. I have my first fly rod that I bought in 1958 for $16.39 that included a reel. I had raised the money the winter before running a small trapline. It is a 7 1/2 ft bamboo in 5 wt. At this stage in my life, I did not know how to fly fish so I tied on a sinker, hook and worms or minnows and fished the stream that ran through our farm. Later that summer, I saw a fisherman on the stream fly fishing. It looked like pure art. I was fascinated and decided I wanted to try to fish like that guy.
I returned home after college and resumed my interest in learning to fly fish. At this time, a buddy of mine bought one of those new graphite rods; I was smitten and determined to upgrade to a new graphite. I took my bamboo rod to the local shop where I had bought it years before to trade it on a new rod. The shop owner was a good friend of my family. He told me that he would sell me a graphite rod if that’s what I wanted but he did not want me to trade that cane rod. He said, “Son, you take that rod home and think about. You don’t realize what you have there.” Well, I thankfully, didn’t trade or sell the old bamboo. I will always be grateful to that friend who challenged me to think about what I already had.
Today, I am 67 and I still have and use that cane rod. Yes, I have all kinds of rods that I enjoy, but I still take out the cane rod once in a while and enjoy. Two years ago, I took the rod to a rod builder who refurbished it for me. It looks like new. He assured me the old bamboo has a lot of life left in it. So I am planning to enjoy that rod for years to come.
So I’m wondering who all here in FAOL still has their first flyrod and if there
is some kind of story behind it
Yep I still have my first fly rod. It’s and old fiberglass “Silpex” rod 8’ 6wt 3pc with metal ferrules on it that was made back around the last 50’s/early 60’s. It was my grandfathers fly rod and I got it back about 1989 after he passed away and learned how to fly fish on my own with it. Still have it and it’s in the process of being restored if I ever get time to work on it again. Hopefully soon.
I’m still fishin with my “first” fly rod.
They are rods my Dad handed down to me.
Grandpa Jim’s rod, Dad’s rod, and Mom’s fly rod.
I had a fiberglass fly rod when I was in my 20’s-30’s, and it disappeared with the first wife, near as I can recollect.
My first fly? Shucks, wouldn’t have a clue. Probably an Adams. I found a fly box along Rock Creek in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. Dad dug out this long wooden box in the storage area of the old camping trailer. He told me about the rods and let me pick one to try fly fishing with. Then we went up the creek to a wide clearing and he taught me how to use it.
After that I didn’t fish with anything else.
I still love the rush of the swirl and suddenly… it’s FISH ON!
Well George, you had me scratching my head how this came to pass. Then I remembered the story of my first fly rod. I have no idea where the heck it came from, but it was a Pfleuger 8’ 5wt that appeared sometime over the years in the bundle of 30 or so rods & reels down in the basement. Someone must have given it to me because I never flyfished until 1999 when I saw a bunch of guys fishing for steelhead in the river where I walked my dog.
I’ll spare you all the details except to say that I gave it away to someone on the board who was looking for rod for a kid. I figured it should give as much joy to someone else as it gave me, so I did the right thing with it. It’s only a stick with a handle unless someone is fishing with it.
I hope to never forget the first fish caught (brown trout) with a fly that I tied (#16 Copper John) on the first rod that I built (6’-6" 2wt 4-piece). It was -5 F on the Mohican River in Ohio in February '07. That’s a memory that keeps sneaking back every time I hear that someone is building their first rod. Last time I counted, I think I own about 12-15 fly rods…more than I can use.
I’m really enjoying reading about everyone’s first flyrods…origins, stories behind then and anything else that everyone is reminded of.
Hello Joe, good hearing from you in this fashion. Great pic too. Yeah, 12-15 rods is far too many but careful which ones you give away…it might be sitting there unused but eager and waiting for you to catch the (insert name of fish species here) of your lifetime. Of course that’s a relative concept since it keeps happening over and over.
I remember my first flyrod - its the same one I am currently using and only one in my collection (though I am looking into a four piece). My dad got it for me when I was 12 at Cabelas. Its whatever their basic starter rod was called back then (Three Forks now I believe, may have been then as well). It has served me well over the years, with no problems until just this past week (butt end came loose, easy fix thankfully). I am pretty sure I lost the fly I caught my first fish on in a tree within five casts of catching said fish.
My first, a Martin combo from Walmart. 9 foot 6wt. with a foam grip. $39.00 and came with a passable video instruction. My brother in law talked me into getting one. He lost interest in his, but I was bitten. I ended up sending that rod to Iraq to be used by the troops over there to learn to FF.
Gary
Mine was a 9’x6wt fiberglass with a foam handle. It spent many years in storage and then caught a few more trout and then broke and became a shorty rod that broke again and was retired to the great beyond of fly rods.
I never really cared for it. I really love graphite.
I came to fishing rather late, at 35 years old, and fly fishing a little later yet. My first rod was purchased for $8 at an auction of household goods. I hadn?t so much as looked at it, but my wife nudged me and said a fly rod was up, so I figured I?d go as high as $10. It was an old yellow Berkeley Buccaneer 40, 7/8 weight, circa approx 1972, with a cheap reel of undetermined make (but definitely not expensive) and was spooled with what appeared to be 12 or 14# mono. I put some backing and cheap fly line on it, and caught a sunny or two. I decided to test the strength by putting a mulberry on it and dropping it in the water where some big carp were feeding. The rod held up as the carp (the biggest fish I ever landed) took me into the backing twice. After that, I put it away, but with a burning desire to play more fish on fly rods.
A few years later, after I started assembling my own rods (my skill level precludes honestly using the word ?building?), I was waiting for a back ordered reel seat to start my winter project of a 6 wt travel rod, and I was getting antsy. I pulled out that 8wt and thought maybe I should do something with that one while I waited. I removed the guides, cheesy reel seat, and old cork, and took a razor knife to the yellow finish. Underneath was a beautiful reddish brown fiberglass blank, and it took three weeks to carefully remove all the yellow paint and pale green primer. I bought a new grip, a nice aluminum reel seat, and new snake-foot guides (several more than the original had). The end result was a slower action, not unattractive rod with simple green wraps, with a total investment of under $40. It took some time to get used to the speed, but it?s a fair caster if you remember not to muscle it. Where it shines is after the hookup. I find it to be a relaxing rod to cast and one of my favorites for fighting smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna. Occasionally I think about tying up a mulberry pattern?
