Winston IM6 History - 1989 - 2001

The rod from R.L. Winston that initially caught my eye was the TMF model. It's an 8' 4wt rod that became popular from the very beginning when it was introduced in 1989, and dubbed the Tom Morgan Favorite. A fly fisher can still purchase a new TMF model to this day. Truly, a remarkable product run for a fly rod. With exception of Winston's TMF in a WT model, the days for IM6 and WT rods are over. The only way to get an IM6 model today is on the secondary market.

The IM6 fly rods built from 1989 through 1994/95 are what I call Morgan-Era rods. During these years, the Winston Company outsourced their IM6 rod blanks from the G-Loomis company. Various sources say the serial number range of around #15,000 to #25000 were IM6 G-Loomis designed blanks, while serial numbers from #25000 to #43500 were G-Loomis blanks made with Tom Morgan's taper design. I perceive Tom Morgan's design tapers are ever so slightly firmer when casting, but have the same feel when casting.

Tom sold his company in 1991 to David Ondaatje with a contract provision for Tom to continue managing the operations after the sale, and help with the company's transition. While it was agreed he would stay for two years to help manage the transition of ownership, his influence continued longer, and you can see him in company employee photos through 1995. 

Sometime in late 1994, Winston began manufacturing their own IM6 rod blanks in Twin Bridges. And based on my personal rods, I believe this was when Winston's consistency and reliability of quality rod builds improved significantly. Yes, Winston now had full control of its manufacturing process. They continued to use the IM6 brand name after this change to manufacturing their own blanks up to the year 2001. That's the year (2001) when the WT rod series replaced the iconic IM6 series brand name using the same IM6 tapers that Tom created with the original launch of these fabulous light trout fly rods.

My personal Winston collection includes three IM6 Light Trout models, as Tom Morgan called them. They are specifically: IM6 6'6" 2wt; IM6 7'6" 3wt; and IM6 8' 4wt. All in two-piece configuration with G-Loomis blanks. For me, these models are the key rods for my home streams. I really enjoy fishing them to this day! However, they will be rigged up less and less going forward. They've just become too rare for me to risk breaking one of them, which means I'll be fishing with WT rods more often this year.

NOTE: The above serial-number guidelines for manufacturing changes through the IM6 years are not absolute. For example, there were many rods built with old stock G-Loomis blanks after Winston began manufacturing their own IM6 blanks.