bamboo fly rod Id.

Question
I have a three piece 8 ft bamboo fly rod with no markings. It has alternate red and gold wrappings. The gold ones are wider and used to hold the line guides. The reel seat is some kind of metal unpainted and downward locking. The end cap is one piece with the reel lock and plain metal as well. At the bottom of the end cap and on the metal at the top of the cork handle are two perfectly carved circles around the entire piece. They are appx. 1/16" apart. The cork handle is 5 1/2" and wider at the reel seat end. Based on this information can you identify who made this rod?

Answer
Hi George,

Short answer...No, not really.  The rod could have been made by any number of different rod makers and sold by any number of different outlets.

I can tell you that it sounds like an early 1900s rod and probably from a mass production house like Chubb/Montague or Horrocks-Ibbotson and probably made as a private label rod to be sold by some sporting goods store or department store.  Probably not much collector value, but in Very Good to Excellent condition might be valued at $100-$150.

I would guess this to be fairly accurate because:

...the reel seat fits that time period (length and material)
...the handle fits the period as well in shape and size
...there is no makers mark on the rod

The reel seat you describe was pretty common in the 1880-1920 era and many different rod makers used a seat like this.  It was probably made by Chubb/Montague (Montague bought Chubb in 1902) as they stamped out metal reel seats and sold them to other rod builders.  The short cork handle with the wider base and narrower top was a common style around the turn of the century and widely used by rod builders.  Most rod builders stamped their name into the metal reel seat or signed their rods in ink.  Not all, but most.  Some used decals to identify their rods.  Red, black and gold silk thread were probably among the most common colors used by rod builders on bamboo rods.

Rods made for private labels (so called trade rods) were not always marked and if they were, they were usually marked with the name of the company they were made for.  Trade rods were made by pretty much every rod builder and sold by department stores, sporting goods stores and mail order stores.

It might be possible for someone to spend time inspecting and researching this particular rod and discover a hint or two about the actual maker.  It might also be another of those rods that get lumped into the "production rod/trade rod" category and the actual maker is never identified.

The rod sounds as if it were built using the modern components of the time and should be a reasonably good rod for fishing.  Try it with a 6wt, weight forward line and see how it performs.  If there is no damage obvious on the rod, there is no reason why you should not fish with it.

Thanks,  Joe