Deerfield Rod Company

Question
Back in the mid-1990s, I acquired a Deerfield fly rod made in Hackensack, NJ by David Sylvester. I bought it at an Atlantic Salmon Federation dinner/auction in Montreal.  

The label on the butt section says: "Side-by-Side Stag Pak".
On the opposite side it says "Deerfield 9'3" and has specs for 2 sets of upper mids and tips. The rod originally came with 6 sections,1 butt and 1 lower mid, and a 6/7 wt upper mid and tip and an 8/9 wt upper mid and tip. I think the "Stag" reference is to the staggered lengths of the various sections.

(This was my first Deerfield rod. I had another 6 piece one hander which is on loan to a friend, and I still have a 2 hander that was made for an outdoor writer whose name escapes me and who died an untimely death before the rod was completed ad whose widow did not want it.)

I have used the rod a lot for Atlantic salmon in Canada, Pacific salmon in Alaska, trout in Chile and Argentina and stripers here in Maine. It is a powerful rod. I think it is built on a J. Kennedy Fisher blank.

For a while I didn't use it because I got into Winston salmon/salt water rods and love them, but that is a different story.

The upper mid for the 6/7 weight broke when I was trying to horse a striper (not a very big one) in the Kennebec River in 1998. At the time, I asked around among some rod builders in this area about getting a replacement blank, but without success. I still have the tip.

I am pretty sure that J. Kennedy Fisher has been out of business for a long time. I have lost contact with David Sylvester. I think he stopped building rods long ago.

So here is my question: Is there any prospect of getting someone to make a replacement upper mid for the 6/7 wt component of the rod? Presumably it would have to be on some other make of graphite blank, which might be problematic if the flex ratio is not a good match.

The ferrules are internal bayonet-style graphite, which I assume would present a problem of making sure that both the female ferrule on the lower end of the upper mid and the male ferrule on its upper end are good matches for the male ferrule on the lower mid and the female ferrule on the tip.

Thanks for any advice or help you can give me.

Clinton B. "Bill" Townsend
76 Nelson Hill Road
Canaan, MW 04924
(207) 474-9411 (daytime phone)

Answer
Hi Clinton,

Sounds like a nice rod and very versatile as well.

I am not familiar with the Deerfield name, nor I am I familiar with David Sylvester.  Sounds like I need to learn more about both.  I have heard of J. Kennedy Fisher and you are correct, he's been out of the business for some time.  Given the date of the rod I would guess it is in the IM6 range of graphite rods.

There are a couple of possibilities...

1.  The broken mid can be repaired as long as you have the pieces.  Such a repair would have some affect on rod action, but probably minimal in the mid section location.  Many professional rod builders can perform such a repair satisfactorily at reasonable cost.  The repair is done by placing an internal support and an external sleeve across the break.  I do a lot of these repairs every year and they do a good job of restoring broken graphite rods to use.

2.  If your goal is a replacement section, you have limited choices remaining here in North America.  Most blank manufacturing has moved offshore.  However, Loomis, Lamiglas and St Croix do have facilites within the USA where they manufacture many of their graphite blanks.  Contacting one, or all, of these manufacturers would be your best bet for finding someone able to closely replicate the broken section.  I presume they would need the broken section for measurements, taper and sizing the tip and ferrule.   I also presume they can determine the approximate modulus of elasticity and closely match the composition of the blank.  I have no idea what this might cost but I assume any of these companies could provide the engineering and assistance you would require.

Thanks,  Joe