Winston IM6 History, 1987 - 1989

 This period (1987-1989) in Winston's history was a significant and pivotal time for the company. Starting around 1987, the first generation of G-Loomis fly rods were launched to replace their long-running graphite fly rod series built with Fisher blanks. I read in an interview with Tom Morgan saying he became suspicious of the Fisher Company using his taper designs to build and sell their own line of Fisher fly rods. Yeah, Fisher lost Tom's trust, and he went searching for a new company.

To change the manufacturing source of blanks was a big risk for Winston at that time. Anglers were very enthusiastic about the green rods made with Fisher blanks, and the leadership was worried about losing sales and a loyal customer base if they switched to G-Loomis blanks. After all, anglers were loyal advocates regarding their Trophy Cup rods. So how did Winston manage this transition? For their new G-Loomis rod series launch, they decided to retain the Trophy Cup decal on the blank while adding the new IM6 inscription. Yup, that trophy cup decal held immense importance and played an important role in the transition of customers to the new IM6 technology. The result was a huge success!

The serial number range for this first generation IM6 rod series is around #12,000 to #16,000. Yes, there are outlier rods that don't fit within that range, but the serial numbers, along with both the trophy cup and IM6 inscription provide a helpful guideline for collectors and Winston fans. It wasn't until 1989 that the trophy cup decal was replaced with the oval RL Winston decal on the blank.

I wonder how many of these rods are still out there, and being fished?