Rods With Soul

I'm an angler who likes to fish classic fly gear. However, the vintage gear (really old) doesn't interest me actually. Fly gear that that really fits my style of fly fishing dates from the late 80's to present for the trout streams I enjoy fishing. It's rare I come across new, contemporary fly gear that I like as much as my classic rods and reels. Well, the Montana Brothers make one of the few contemporary rods I covet as much as my classic Winstons. It's fun to fish, performs great, and is a classic beauty which is quite uncommon in today's hi-tech production rods.

After time, some select gear (like that MBR) has become more special than others for me, for a variety of reasons. At this moment, I would say my most special fly rod would be a graphite Winston model that was a regular production rod back in 1996. Not many guys back then liked short graphite rods, particularly one at only 6'6" in length. And, there were not too many fans of light line rods either, such as a fly rod built for fishing 2wt fly lines. Because of that, my Winston IM6 6'6" 2wt is pretty special to me.

Another IM6 rod that I hold dear to my heart is a Winston IM6 7'6" 3wt rod built in 1993....yeah, Tom Morgan and his team built this rod and is why it's particularly special to me. These rods being my favorite shouldn't surprise anyone since I'm a small stream fisher the majority of time, each year.

The last Winston I'll mention here is my TMF 8' 4wt model. It's a contemporary factory build with a twist. Winston refused to build me a TMF with a down locking reel seat, so I did the next best thing. I took a new TMF and asked Ben, of Flat Creek Rods, to convert the factory up locking reel seat into a down locker...using all Winston factory components. Yep, she's a beauty and may be one of kind in today's world, for a moment anyway.

When it comes to Sage fly rods, the LL series of rods are known for their sensitive tip and action that anglers are still talking about today. This LL 9' 4wt rod is a blast to fish and manage a trout to the net. The old LL series has cult status and Sage celebrated this rod by bringing out a contemporary Trout LL series that is in their current lineup. Thanks to my neighbor, I'm thrilled to have this old LL 490 to fish with today.

A Russ Peak graphite fly rod is another rod that is special. It was built in the 1980's and I can't imagine Russ built too many of these 8'6" 3/4wt Zenith fly rods. I have no way of knowing how many were built, but this is a rod that only goes out for "Sunday Drives" every once in a great while.

Finally, this post can't be written without a bamboo fly rod included in the list. And for me, that would be my Orvis Seven/Four bamboo rod. It makes mountain trout streams as much fun as anyone could ask for. Dang, this rod has so much goodness in its fibers...it is nothing but soulfulness.