tjm

They and most others sold blanks alone or as kits. But they didn't make the thread, and probably it came from Gudebrod, I've read that Brown, Chestnut and Gudebrod 396 were very close matches. You could also buy the woven thread tape used in the diamond butt wraps. The grip and reel seat on this rod are probably homegrown, or at least I haven't seen one just like that and the rings seem narrow to me. And if they give you trouble or you have any concern about them slipping off just grab a couple of rubber O rings and work them onto the reel foot outboard of the metal rings to keep them in place. At one time all the Fenwick blanks were yellow so that they couldn't be mistaken for factory rods and could come cut for ferrules or one piece, and at one time they supplied factory spigots for the yellow blanks. All before I started fly fishing in the late '70s, so I just know of them from reading and internet posts. Fenwick made a zillion of everything they made though working two and three shifts, I've read. Thousands of rods per week.

The difference between the line load of a #4 to #5 or from #5 to #6 at normal fishing distance is about 4' more line out. The 20 grains over 30' totals about the mass of a business card. So a line down or a line weight up isn't going to have a great effect on the rod load. A dropper fly would probably change it just as much. The other thing is there has never been an objective way to rate rods for lines and there is no standard for rod rating. So, someone at the factory tries a few lines on a given prototype, finds a line he likes on it, guesses how much better caster he is than the "average" user and gives that prototype a line rating that he thinks will match most users ability. I take rod ratings as a suggested starting point and with a helping of salt. Knowing how my Fenwicks cast I might like that one with a #6 better than with a #4, although I commonly underline my rods. Some of our WF4 lines might be #5s on a scale, there are a lot of over weight WF on the market.

Fenwick FL84-5. was sold as a blank 84" long for a #5 line. Equivalent to their factory FF70 or later FF705 it should be about 3oz.

Back when there were dozens or hundreds of "flea markets" in the 4-state area, and we used to make the rounds of them over time; I bet I've sorted through a couple thousand piles and barrels of old tackle and never found but one good fly rod, and in a different time and place a single good Medalist reel. Never found either in any of the pawn shops. For being located right between two lakes there really wasn't nearly as much of any kind of usable tackle as I would guessed. You are lucky to find all those in good shape. I've stopped at countless Bella Vista yard sales over the years too and never found any fly tackle. Did see some heavy (ocean?) spinning gear at few of them that looked almost new. eBay is my "fly shop"

Going by the pictures that must have been a good choice. You may want to invest in a lantern next to light your way down the rabbit hole.

I actually would not expect a Clouser to fish like a jig. But honestly bucktails of any kind have never been good trout bait for me. It's kinda why I asked about your experience with the Clousers. I wonder how the OP is doing with finding the right fly rod.

Were the other's jigs green & white? were the Clousers and jigs made of the same material, bucktail, marabou, rabbit strips, whatever? Clousers and jig of the same weight? So many variables that can put the lure on the 'do not eat list', 6" of depth or a bit too fast or slow on the retrieve.

I'll bite, why?

You have probably fished the coastal rivers more than I have.

If you say so. Turns out the Story didn't know how to tie his own fly, I just didn't make that connection right off.

a quick web search shows jon boats at https://www.bscoutdoors.com/floating/rates/ and Route 66 Canoe Rental 573-336-2730 Devil's Elbow. Missouri

It's been decades since I looked at Pa./Md./Va. streams but in my mind they are big, slow and brown, kinda the way I remember the Osage and South Grand before Truman and I have no idea if either set of memories is accurate, if they are warped by time and distance. The fly would appear a lot different in slow brown water than in clear fast Ozark water. The small mouth are invasive in the east and as such may not react like Ozark fish either. I might try a couple Clouser style using a softer hair like coyote and bead chain. I do know that where on the hook shank the weight/eyes are located makes a difference in how they fish for me and that most that I see have the weight much closer to the hook eye than Bob Clouser shows in his videos.

I don't know much about Clouser or Pallet, met Kreh at a show once and he was a great showman but less than 9' tall. Clouser's Minnow the way he ties them are heavier than I like to fish, but I do tie a few with bead chain, just enough weight to invert the hook. Have you used Clouser Minnow for trout at all? The first time I saw a Crackleback it put me in mind of Tom Nixon's .56%er, a fly that I used to use a lot. When I was reading up on it one source said that Story was copying another wet fly that was popular there at the time, but never named the other fly, and I've wondered since then what the other popular palmer was in 1952? It is certainty that any pattern tied by three different tyers will be three different flies.

But the instructions he gives there are at odds with what he taught you kids?

Thanks for that reply, I've made a note and plan to try that in my next tying session, whenever that is. I just watched the video again and did not see where he striped the hackle other than the part under the tie in. I'm not following how those butt barbs bound down under the body could create a tail of any sort. But I'll mess around on the vise with that. It looks to me like he did tie the herl in by the butts, but three twisted would certainly be an improvement over two laying flat. I never have bought the two color back and belly theory a pertains to insects after experiments I did a long time ago, and I know it's a popular belief in imitative tying, but to me the Crackleback isn't imitative so much as suggestive. But I'm sure he did it on purpose and likely for that reason after thinking about it. I think most of the Cracklebacks that I have seen were dubbed bodies with brown rather than furnace hackle. I like your hackling method better than some of the over crowded examples that I've seen, but I'm not too precise on barb length on my palmers, gape size to tow gape size all seem to catch the odd fish. And I never count wraps on palmers either, just make them have a spacing that I like, using the same number of turns on a #16 as on #12 doesn't seem like it would have the flotation or underwater dynamics. So, since some of y'all knew Mr. Story, was that him in the video? and if it was do you wonder why he made one pattern sheet for the scouts and a different one for the shop?

I think this is the example that I had looked at a few years ago to see what makes them "special" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7lk17SjK9w

Now you've made curious, would you explain? I don't normally tie or use Cracklebacks, although I have tied and used a lot of similar Palmer flies over the past 40+ years, primarily based on the Red Palmer from centuries ago, I tend to call them all 'woolly worms' even though mine don't much resemble the pattern by that name, they do resemble the critter. Actually I'm not sure that I have ever used a Crackleback. As much as I've fished RRSP I'd never ever heard of Cracklebacks until I read of them on the internet. They don't look all that complicated. I am most curious, if you know, why Ed used a the "crackleback" /shell back at all, since it's almost invisible, at least when fished as a dry.

You think the fail rate is that high? I would have guessed 30%, but I'm not around that many to know. I've always done better in moving water than in ponds for most species. Seems to me they are easier to predict in current. I would rather hunt bass than trout on most days.

It should only take one word if you just use "everything". Short list. Move on to the next hateful day NYE and then NY. Do you have a huge "vent" emogi ? perhaps like a 20 story smoke stack? Or Joe DiMaggio's wife in "The Seven Year Itch"? subway vent

He's probably a lot more sensitive than an old construction worker and ex-sailor.

I was just guessing at his motives. That guy looked too thin and hungry to be transporting fish around in a $100K livewell and turning them loose.

Sorry about that, I have poor computer skills. Not sure how I got your tag on it. No, and I said I'd buy that they may feel different than lead, but after thinking about that, I'd bet you $50 that I personally couldn't tell the difference. Insensitivity, it's why I fly fish, 1/4#, 1# a dead weight just feels like a dead weight to me.

supper fish in a tank are just wasted

On the other hand lead melts at just 327.5 degrees Celsius (621.5 degrees Fahrenheit), so in terms of heat Tungsten takes about ten times as much. But that high melt point would also melt the molds, so tungsten powder is compacted and sinterted/welded instead of being melted and cast, I don't know enough about the process to describe it. I've also read about using injection molding of tungsten using a polymer binder. Either method sounds pricey for building jigs, with to me not much gain; and that was why I asked about the advantage of tungsten. I'll buy that the harder more compact head makes a different noise and may have a better "feel" when in contact with the bottom, but I'm not convinced that the smaller head size aids much in number of hookups,