Mid 1990's I had recently taken up flyfishing and was at a local Pasadena, CA swap meet/antique faire/flea market but BIG and I came across a couple of
bamboo rods in sad condition and bought them for all of $25 total. Both had short tips and were about 6.5' long 2 piece rods. I had built my own graphite
fly rods from scratch and decided this should not be too much harder. It didn't have very many line guides so I decided to give it modern guide spacing,
but I did use silk and varnish as I looked up refinishing online. Reset the ferrules, replaced all the guides and tip top and varnished the rod. It casted
beautifully!
Years later, I see my identical rod, but beautifully and correct restored (not refinished as I did) and the rod was a Chubb/Monty and sold for around $550! So I vowed to never refinish a rod again, only restorations unless sure about the value or lack thereof. I immediately put the other one (that was in far worse condition) up for auction and it sold for $75! Of course mine even if properly restored, could never be collectible with only a single short tip and most of the nickel plating worn away from use. However, it is a great short rod that I have no money invested in it and if I lose/destroy it... I won't lose a winks sleep. But I'll never sell that rod as it was my first... Perhaps, that rod is what had steered me into favoring Montagues as my collection of choice.
I have nearly every Heddon model from the #1000 down excepting the elusive #60 (which I had won in an auction but the seller refused to honor the deal so I never got it) and yet, I seem to be far more fascinated with the Montagues, more specifically early premium Montagues... Pre-WWII, Flipline grades and higher, Montague Variants such as Varneys, T&E, Kosmics (Varney supplied some of their hardware and reel seats).
Maybe because Michael Sinclair did such a great job in his Heddon book that there is very little mystery in collecting Heddons and Heddons are usually well marked and their windings and hardware is easily identified and mostly standardized. For this reason Heddons are wildly popular to collect. With that Heddon book, I've found MANY Heddon Trade rods that I was able to buy for a small fraction of the price of a branded Heddon. I do get a lot of secret pleasure when I find a Heddon that's not in the book, or if Michael has told me it doesn't exist... LOL Okay... I do sell Heddon books, check classifieds... But Heddons are excellent fishing rods and my usual go to fishing rod when I'm around other BFR aficianados is my Izaak Walton (trade rod) Heddon 7.5' 2/2 rod... Don't ask what I paid for it... I stole it as the Heddon name doesn't appear on it. I leave my 1st BFR at home as they'd shred me to ribbons if they saw my refinish job. But hell with them... I love that 1st rod...
Now Montague... that's a whole different ball game... I see constant discussions about if this rod or that rod is a Thomas & Edwards or Thomas & Edwards & Payne or if it is a Montague... Yep, that's because George Varney made the hardware for many of the top rod makers around the turn of the century. I agree with AJ Campbell and others that also feel Montague (early Montagues) is greatly overlooked and I'm probably gonna be costing myself more money writing this but if you've ever seen an early Manitou, you would not believe the beauty and fine craftsmanship... I have two with a John Landman black ivoroid S-curved reel seats, the full intermediates, the ferrules... stunning. Equal quality, design, craftsmanship to any Leonard, Payne, Edwards of the same era.
I'm still on the hunt for short Manitous, both of mine are 9.5' rods one day maybe I'll find a couple shorties and hopefully one that is so messed up that it is not collectible but is sound enough to be repaired to be fishable once again.
Oh, last point I'd like to mention is that I love to buy great fishing bamboo fly rods that are less than collectible grade such as with a short tip... I have several rods so historic/valuable/fragile that I don't dare even cast them. However, in their day, I'm sure they gave many years, perhaps decades of good times on the banks of many gorgeous streams, creeks and rivers. I love to find rods such as a 7' Granger with a short or even a missing tip. The price is reasonable and I'm not worried about flogging it in a brushy stream. But a mint, plastic on the grip rod? I call them closet decoration. They will never be fished for it's entire lifetime as it is too valuable as a virgin rod. It's really a pity seeing all those Grangers that look so beautiful with the plastic on the grip... I've owned a lot of them, but then I have my internal debate and decide to sell them as I know it will never be used for the intended purpose... to be used to catch fish.
Sorry, I got all wound up... I've told you about my 1st rod... and more... now... tell me about yours!
Years later, I see my identical rod, but beautifully and correct restored (not refinished as I did) and the rod was a Chubb/Monty and sold for around $550! So I vowed to never refinish a rod again, only restorations unless sure about the value or lack thereof. I immediately put the other one (that was in far worse condition) up for auction and it sold for $75! Of course mine even if properly restored, could never be collectible with only a single short tip and most of the nickel plating worn away from use. However, it is a great short rod that I have no money invested in it and if I lose/destroy it... I won't lose a winks sleep. But I'll never sell that rod as it was my first... Perhaps, that rod is what had steered me into favoring Montagues as my collection of choice.
I have nearly every Heddon model from the #1000 down excepting the elusive #60 (which I had won in an auction but the seller refused to honor the deal so I never got it) and yet, I seem to be far more fascinated with the Montagues, more specifically early premium Montagues... Pre-WWII, Flipline grades and higher, Montague Variants such as Varneys, T&E, Kosmics (Varney supplied some of their hardware and reel seats).
Maybe because Michael Sinclair did such a great job in his Heddon book that there is very little mystery in collecting Heddons and Heddons are usually well marked and their windings and hardware is easily identified and mostly standardized. For this reason Heddons are wildly popular to collect. With that Heddon book, I've found MANY Heddon Trade rods that I was able to buy for a small fraction of the price of a branded Heddon. I do get a lot of secret pleasure when I find a Heddon that's not in the book, or if Michael has told me it doesn't exist... LOL Okay... I do sell Heddon books, check classifieds... But Heddons are excellent fishing rods and my usual go to fishing rod when I'm around other BFR aficianados is my Izaak Walton (trade rod) Heddon 7.5' 2/2 rod... Don't ask what I paid for it... I stole it as the Heddon name doesn't appear on it. I leave my 1st BFR at home as they'd shred me to ribbons if they saw my refinish job. But hell with them... I love that 1st rod...
Now Montague... that's a whole different ball game... I see constant discussions about if this rod or that rod is a Thomas & Edwards or Thomas & Edwards & Payne or if it is a Montague... Yep, that's because George Varney made the hardware for many of the top rod makers around the turn of the century. I agree with AJ Campbell and others that also feel Montague (early Montagues) is greatly overlooked and I'm probably gonna be costing myself more money writing this but if you've ever seen an early Manitou, you would not believe the beauty and fine craftsmanship... I have two with a John Landman black ivoroid S-curved reel seats, the full intermediates, the ferrules... stunning. Equal quality, design, craftsmanship to any Leonard, Payne, Edwards of the same era.
I'm still on the hunt for short Manitous, both of mine are 9.5' rods one day maybe I'll find a couple shorties and hopefully one that is so messed up that it is not collectible but is sound enough to be repaired to be fishable once again.
Oh, last point I'd like to mention is that I love to buy great fishing bamboo fly rods that are less than collectible grade such as with a short tip... I have several rods so historic/valuable/fragile that I don't dare even cast them. However, in their day, I'm sure they gave many years, perhaps decades of good times on the banks of many gorgeous streams, creeks and rivers. I love to find rods such as a 7' Granger with a short or even a missing tip. The price is reasonable and I'm not worried about flogging it in a brushy stream. But a mint, plastic on the grip rod? I call them closet decoration. They will never be fished for it's entire lifetime as it is too valuable as a virgin rod. It's really a pity seeing all those Grangers that look so beautiful with the plastic on the grip... I've owned a lot of them, but then I have my internal debate and decide to sell them as I know it will never be used for the intended purpose... to be used to catch fish.
Sorry, I got all wound up... I've told you about my 1st rod... and more... now... tell me about yours!
But the first bamboo that I fished with was one of my dad's 9' Montague Sunbeams years before the GI rod. Memories of climbing through the
Ontario bogs full of no-see-um's and mosquitos while trying to not break that long beast still haunt me. Guess that's why I still like Monty's.
, but she was real nice and showed me her fly rods, reels, and all the
seductive stuff of fly fishing. She even taught me how to tie flies. When I told her I also had a "rod like that" she was dubious but wanted to see
it. It ended up with her giving me an old braided nylon line and she taught me how to cast! Every evening I would lawn cast untill I was so tired I was getting
sloppy, and every few days I would go back to Mrs. Gentile and she would try to correct all the bad habits. I got pretty good at it too. Unfortunetly the only
fishing water was the Farm River, which had no room to cast, was too narrow to cast in and was fished out two weeks after opening day.
