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.
I use to have a rod just like it. many times fished it at Macks Inn
anyone else remember Macks Inn. I know the location is still called
the same but will never be as unique as it one was…
dog gone fire!
Still fun area for the kids however!
Thanks for bringing up good memories and I vote for the wall hanger also!
I don’t plan on going after the fishies with it, but in my heart I know my father would have appreciated me fixing it up for him considering I abused it the most. In the later years he didn’t fly fish, but we loved to fish together.
Those automatic reels are just so much fun to wind up all the way and then watch the line zoom back in, but it sure is tough on the guides.
There is a place in my heart for this thing and a place on the wall waiting when my wife doesn’t have to have it in the front room.
I just had to fix it up to the point were I can say, “Dad for you, I have it working again.” It is the kind of thing, when he was alive, he would have really been touched by, kind of a parting gift. Something for my kids to talk about and bring up thier grandfather since they never met him.
I also will not fish with the flies he had left, I am sad to admit I lost most of them growing up.
Just a thought.
Has anyone ever heard of GrampuS fly boxes?
Flies that will never touch the water.
My favorite man
Steve thanks,
I love max’s inn, My Father and Step Mother went there on thier Honeymoon when I was five. Of course this was before it burned down.
I still remember fishing Island Park Resivoir with my father and the river as well. One dad, One son, One box of crackers and one block of sharp cheese cut with the same knife used to gut the fish.
My friend it seems to me that you have been given by your brother some tangible memories and keepsakes that deserve a place in your heart and home, and that were part of the bond between father and son, use them to hold on to the memories that time and age can steal, do you think that maybe that is what your brother gave them to you for?
NderdaFilm,
That rod and reel belongs to you now! It comes with wonderful memories with your Father. The only fly I might be able to identify in GrampuS fly box is a Quill Wing Coachman dry fly?? That’s great you got the Auto Reel working!
Doug
I have my own “rods of my youth” and while they may not have the priceless memories yours does; I still like to take them out for a spin once in blue moon just to reminisce.
If I was you; I would take “dad’s rod” out fishing at LEAST once before retiring it. Maybe on a special day like his birthday or another special occasion to appreciate your relationship with him. Maybe even make it into a special event with your kids; if you have any, so the memories will continue after you are gone.
I have the first rod & reel I ever bought and while they are long retired; I still take them fishing on rare occasions to those special spots that I hold dear.
I did the (common cents) penny thing, and right now it flexes much from the tip. Won’t more guides distribute the flex into the blank more, or is it more to avoid the line slapping the blank?
Oh yea, that is what ya said.
Ok, I want to slow it down some. This isn’t a rod I plan on fishing much, it is more of a labor of love. Dad wasn’t a big fly fisherman anyway, but his stuff is what got me into the sport.
I think his favorite thing to fish with was the spin reel he bought me when I was 14. Funny how that worked out
You might want to fish it “as is” a couple of times before you put any time/effort/money in to it.
I’ve rebuilt two of my father’s rods and one of my grandfather’s.
The two cane rods get fished once or twice a year, maybe
My father’s old glass stick on the other hand was a POS when it was new…and after all the effort I put in to it, it’s still a POS. :lol:(no silk purse from a sows ear)
Don’t get me wrong, some of my favorite rods are vintage glass…
Dad’s old rod isn’t one of them
