Hey fella’s, a friend and customer of mine gave me an old Shakespear, 8’, 8 wt., two piece fiberglass rod. It’s green with the visible twists, has a yellow tag near the grip with the info on it, an aluminum, downlocking seat and is in very good to excellent condition. I’m curious what the value of the old rod may be. I’m hoping it will make a good rod for throwing big streamers.
Is the model number and four character production date code still readable? If so, there is an archive to look up when your rod was built.
[url=http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/antiques/rods.pdf:8b22d]http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/antiques/rods.pdf[/url:8b22d]
Identifying the model number is also important because there were different quality grades.
I have a similar rod and except for being a bit heavy for my old fishing arm, it excels at tossing heavy flies. I replaced the original stripper guide with a much larger modern alloy one, which increased performance noticeably.
Jim
[This message has been edited by nowindknots (edited 03 December 2005).]
Jim, I don’t believe the old rod has had much use as everything on the tag or printed on the rod near the grip is very legible. There is no 4 character anything on it that I can find. There is the greenish/gold tag with the patent numbers then forward of that is some white printing which says, “Standard Taper, No. FY-160 8’-0”. Then it recommends fly line and below that are the initials “DJM”.
I’ll check out the site you posted and thank you.
Sharps, my bad. The date code is in three characters. Your “DJM” if I’m correct, indicates December of 1972.
[url=http://www.drexelantiques.com/shakespeare.html:f5d65]http://www.drexelantiques.com/shakespeare.html[/url:f5d65]
Best,
Jim
Yes, nowindknots is correct about the Dec 1972 date. I love Wonderods for warmwater fishing. Most of these rods sell for $25 to $75 depending on condition and desirability. Enjoy!