Five Notable Winston Rods

During the last couple of days while working in the home office, my eyes kept glancing over at the rack of Winston fly rods. For a while, I was looking at them without really knowing why. It then occurred to me I was pondering which were the top five rods in my collection. Yeah, I know...I create a top five list each year. However, this time I was assessing them primarily based on historical significance, in addition to their performance capabilities.

Selecting the five most historical rods in the rack was easy:

Winston Light Trout 7'6" 5wt hollow-fluted Bamboo Rod - This rod was crafted by Stoner/Loskot in 1940 at their San Francisco shop. The technique Lew Stoner invented (and patented) to hollow out bamboo rod sections justifies R.L. Winston's Light Trout rod series as a significant milestone in the history of rod making.

Winston Tom Morgan Favorite WT 8' 4wt fly rod - what do you get when you marry a three-weight tip with a four-weight butt section? Well, you get one of the most iconic fly rods in history...a Winston TMF 8' 4wt rod that is still being offered in fly shops today. This rod was designed by Tom Morgan, and has been in production for 38 consecutive years. It just fishes so darn good. Yup, it is special!

Winston Joan Wulff Favorite WT 8'6" 5wt fly rod - The 8'6" 5wt fly rod is another of Winston's standout rod models in history. Why? Because Joan Wulff said so, and used the blank to design the famous Joan Wulff Favorite fly rod, in collaboration with RL Winston. All you have to do is hold that unique handle she designed, and you will feel the historical significance! Then cast it, and you know why everyone wants this rod...especially today, now that Winston no longer makes them.

Winston "Staff Of Moses" BIIt 8'6" 4wt fly rod - A rod with a reputation alleging supernatural capabilities. It was dubbed "Staff Of Moses" by a guy who shared the story with me of how he nicknamed the rod. And the most ardent Winston fans ever assembled on the old Winston Forum agreed with him. It's light in hand, and has a sensitive top half flexing against a powerful bottom half of the blank, with enough strength to bring big, healthy trout to the net. Yup, this is a boron rod designed by Sam Drukman, and the rod model will always be mentioned in Winston's history books.

Winston IM6/WT 7'6" 3wt fly rod - This creek rod sets the standard of performance for short 3wt fly rods. I haven't found a 376 rod in any era that fishes my mountain Rio's better this one. It has the stability and recovery you expect in today's fly rods, yet this rod was designed and built over thirty years ago. What's historical about it? Yeah, there aren't any fishing pros or media celebrities proclaiming the rod's virtues. However. There are small stream anglers who, for decades, have rigged up this rod to fish the blue lines across America, and they say it is so!

There is one rod in Winston's history that should definitely be in the above list, but I don't own one...a fiberglass Winston Stalker creek rod designed by Tom Morgan himself. But that's okay, these five notables in the fly rod rack are all I need for New Mexico’s Rio’s.