Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fly Fishing Cafe => Topic started by: awurban@msn.com on August 22, 2011, 08:36:56 PM
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Hey guys,
I have an older friend that made himself a fenwick fl108-2 blank fly rod back in the 80's he is looking to start using it again after many years of not fly fishing. He cant remember what weight fly line it was to take and its not marked on the rod. Any ideas on what weight the rod would be? I didnt messure it but it appears to be between 8' - 9'
I am trying to help him out so if any of you have any ideas, thanks for the advice
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so incase any of you run into this too. I found out that the fl 108-2 means fl= fly 108=108cm 2= two piece and the rod casts like an 8#
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--If dark coloured blank... probably similar to an 8 wt the steelheader model 9 wt was more of a translucent clearer looking and I think 9 ft whereas the 8 wt will be closer to 8 ft or 8ft 6 inch.
--I think the 108 is inches thus 108 is 9ft and probably the steelheader model. May have an number 4 3/4 which is oz casting note a lot of guys were using double taper lines in those days so they balanced the rod with line so tip pointed slightly upward at the handle balance point... so not really what many use now wt forward or the way we standardized the number systems for measuring what line to use.
--We merely balanced the rod as they are slow action especially comapared to modern rods but they didn't take much to load the rod so slow down the cast stroke and expect a good bend over full length of the rod before the line picks up.
--An issue with earlier rods is each company had their own way of measuring and matching the line... I can't remember the year.. I think mid 80's that companies agreed to using the current system of labeling line weights due to customer complaints. I usually add to this complaint in saying that mono and braid should also have a common measuring system
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thanks for the info on. My friend is excited to start steelheading again
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Fenwick was THE rod to have at one time...great rods...
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guess why...the principal designer was Jim Green. His protege Don Green (no relation) went on to found Sage.There probably never was a talented duo of fly rod designers at one company.
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so incase any of you run into this too. I found out that the fl 108-2 means fl= fly 108=108cm 2= two piece and the rod casts like an 8#
if it's yellow it's a glass rod.
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it was a brown colour