As a group the best looking production fly rods ever were the Shakespeare White Wonderods followed closely by their Honey Greens. The textured white surface trimed in green and white and hi-lited with ginger cork gives them a classic look. They are similar to the Royal Coachman pattern which is in turn the best looking fly pattern. Just thinking about them makes me want to click on eBay to see what is listed.
Of course I do my serious fishing with ugly black and grey graphite rods. Note: the pink and rasberry models that Elkhorn has are nice but do not have the universal appeal of the Wonderods.
You need all that beauty in a Tom Morgan Rodsmiths rod to soften the over $1000 price tag and year wait for one.
:shock:
Since H.L Leonard and Orvis used beveling machines and were big operations compared to Payne, Gillium, Young, Garrison and the other smaller shops; guys used to refer to the Leonard & Orvis rods as “production” rods.
With that in mind my vote goes there first. The Leonard Hunt rods or Tom Maxwell’s creations in the 1980’s were gorgeous!
After that in the graphite realm, I would add a vote for Winston since I have quite a few, also Thomas & Thomas and some of the new Orvis offerings like the T3, Zero Gravity & Trout Bum series.
But hey you know the old adage, beauty is in the eye of the fisherman. With that in mind just like I used to have a crush on Marcia Brady, I used to have quite the crush on some old Fenwick, Eagle Claw, Garcia and other rods back when.
Nice cases could be the topic of another thread. the Winston and the Yellowstone are beauties. I might want to get one for my Shakespeare along with a monogramed cloth case. It should be easy to get these made in the white, green. red, and ginger variant that are the standard for the Wonderod.
From what I see The Winston has a nice grip and the Yellowstone has a nice reel on it. Shiny hardware on both. Oddly none of the pictures presented attempt to show the rods from butt to tip guide. Both are shown in standard “Ford” colors-basic black and forrest green.
I think that is why I am still convinced about the looks of the Wonderods. I did say “best looking”, didn’t I? It is the pattern overall. The standard Wonderod is the Royal Coachman-the full regalia. The Honey Green is the Coachman-subdued dignified country dress. I do not see anyone getting that out of the other nominees though it is easy to see in the Wonderods. Where are your Light Cahills, Blue Dunns, Mickey Finns, Supervisors, Grey Ghosts…???
Hmmmmm…? I always thought “The Best Looking Production Flyrods of All Time” were the ones in any fisherman’s hand who was enjoying his/her time fishing.
Siince I’m relatively new to this hobby, are all those rods you guys were naming also high cost rods? Just wondering.
I can only speak for the Wonderods which are a bargain less than 1/2, no, at least less than 1/4 of the $$$$$$ you would pay for the other ones. You can get one for $25-50 about what they cost when they first came out.
I hope I was clear that performance and looks are not to be confused. I love my wife who has both. But the poll here is just about looks.
The Winston looks good though the case looks better than the rod in the picture you supplied. I would call it a Brown Hackle Peacock-a simple but effective pattern.
The Winston looks good though the case looks better than the rod in the picture you supplied. I would call it a Brown Hackle Peacock-a simple but effective pattern.[/size][/quote]
Sorry for the bad pic…here’s a better one showing the green color.
Best Looking Production Graphite in my opinion is the Zero Gravity. Beautiful dark red and the cork,aluminum reel seat…cool. And yes I own Winston, they look the same now as it did 6 years ago when I bought it.
