Rod Love LIII: Wonderod

If you hadn't already noticed, I named this Rod Love post in honor of the 53rd Super Bowl that recently took place. Whenever the Super Bowl comes around I have to choose which of the two teams I am going to root for, because my team, the Vikings, are never in it. OK, they have been it, four times actually, but not since I was 3 years old. And I wasn't a football fan when I was 3, so I can with all certainty say that I have never seen the Vikings in a Super Bowl. Since they again were not in it this year, I decided to root for the Rams. I am not a big fan of the Rams, but they are far easier to root for than the hated Patriots, so I chose them. Now that the game and the season is over, I will turn my attention towards next season. Go Vikes!

Enough football talk! This is a fly fishing blog! Let's get on with the rod love, shall we?

Well, I did it again. I went out and acquired yet another Shakespeare Wonderod. I have owned several over the years, but for some reason I always seem to sell them. It's not that I haven't liked them. I just always seem to find something else that I think I will like better. This time I found a mint model #1245, a 6'6" 5wt "Panfish Special", and it is sweet! It was a good deal, so I couldn't pass it up. The cork looks like it's never been touched. The blank is still nice and white, unlike some Wonderods that turn a sort of yellow with age. The wraps are all good. And the ferrule is snug and pops nicely when taking it apart.

I haven't actually taken it out to give it a test cast yet, you know, because it's the middle of winter and I pretty much live in Siberia. But I can already tell that I will love this rod. It will be a perfect panfish and brook trout rod. I can't wait until spring!

Look at how clean that cork is!

The "EAL" on the blank is the date code. This one was made in November of 1960!

This part of the label is the only thing that isn't perfect. But what do you expect with a 59 year old rod?!?!