Berkley Parametric another vintage rod found

[Gavin]

I think Lamiglass made most of those. Dunno, dropped by the fly shop today and there was a $1,000 St Croix 9wt on deck. Tom’s taking it to punish some Dorado next week.

[tjm]

The 1972 Orvis rods were Phillipson and if the joint is a 'glass sleeve with a nickle silver ring they are his  Epoxite models, the older Fullflex and Powerflex would have had nickle silver ferrules like all my Phillipsons. the Orvis golden Eagles were all Epoxites. I looked it up and the in house  Fullflex "A" (amber) models  would have started ~'75 when 3M killed the Phillipson line. The Phillipson name and all old stock now  belong to Rick's Rods in Denver who has a lot of vintage parts and components. 1975 would have likely been Orvis' first year building their own graphite rods too. 

I really like my FF80 and FF75 Fenwicks, but rarely use them, the other Fenwicks are just okay and I like all the two digit Feralites better than the later and more popular three digit models. My favorite 'glass 5wt though is probably a Heddon. Might be my only vintage rod actually marked 5wt, not sure I have any others.

The Spartan SP40 is thought to be a Parametric is disguise, I'd try a DT6 on it. Berkley like most rod companies back then used the same base blank with different grades of components and different number of guides to make numerous "models" at differing price points. I think about a dozen different Berkley names are thought to be the same blank.

I really like Wright & McGill rods and haven't much use for the Eagle Claw rods that I've seen, and yes they are the same company, but the rods I've seen with Eagle Claw scripted on them were the yellow glass to glass butt over tip joint that is the worst idea in the history of rod building  and I'm not sure if all those were Asian made but the Sweet Heart I have was and has the poor QC too. On the other hand the W&M scripted rods with metal ferrules made in Denver seem to all be nice casting rods even with too few guides, I have 7'6" 7wt "Denco" that makes me smile every time I use it. I think there were yellow Denver made rods too, and that they would have metal ferrules.

 

[laker67]

First day with the 10'er.  Caught mostly trees.  But it wasn't a total bust.  Question--Can someone tell me why there is such a wide range of colors on the browns?  I mean I know food has something to do with it.  How many strains do we have in Taney now?  My big brown was really dark and the spots were obscured.  The one I caught today had a bright orange belly. Sorry, but the photos wouldn't upload for some reason.

[tjm]

Browns will be spawning in the fall and that have some color impact, but light conditions and water temperature as well as diet can have an effect on their color, with cold, dark muting the colors and warm or lighter condition brightening them, if I remember right. Eating scuds tend to make flesh and skin orange, I think,  and that  pond is probably full of scuds.  https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=taneycomo+scuds&docid=603545967163690000&mid=9172173B9FC9153342719172173B9FC915334271&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

[fishinwrench]

Interesting thread here, wish I had something worthwhile to add.   I was so excited to see decent graphite rods enter the market that I'll never be able to appreciate fiberglass sticks again, regardless of how special or unique they might be.  

I gotta say though, somewhat within the boundaries of this discussion, that the 70-100.00 rods of today are every bit as sweet as the 300-600.00 rods of yesterday.   I'm blown away at what rod/reel/line combos I can put together for around 250.00 these days.   

[laker67]

@fishinwrench I'm with you on budget rods/reels that do the trick. I don't begrudge people who want bragging rights.  But please don't try to convince me they catch more/bigger fish   I worked for a sporting goods jobber. No wonder why we were always broke   The composite rods cost me 19.95, and the early graphites cost me 39.95.  They closed out Heddon 310 reels and I bought all they had for $5 each--gave most of them to friends.  It was a great little reel that served us well back in the day.  Rick's Sage was the only expensive piece of equipment he ever owned in 50 years of fishing. 

[tjm]

 Graphite really shines in long rods and ultra light rods. Not so much in the shorter stuff. I've not found many 6'-7.5' graphite #6 or #7 rods. Don't think I've used a graphite rod that really was at home in tight places or casting unweighted flies at close distances. On the other hand there aren't  any 'glass rods that I'd recommend for indicator fishing, or big river-far away-dry fly casting that requires  large mends.  Generally I prefer shorter rods, #5-#8 and <8' to be glass and >8.5' to be graphite. Currently the only graphite I'm using at all is the Orvis All Rounder from I think '79, designed to feel like their bamboo rods.  But if I had to fish the salt again  it'd be all modern import graphite.