The Sixes - 2023 Style

As you can probably tell from my previous posts, a majority of my fishing is done with 4- and 5-weight rods. I haven't fished for muskies in about 15 years. I keep thinking I will head over to fish for lake run trout and salmon some Fall, but I haven't done that in about 15 years, either. I fish for carp about once a year, and smallmouth bass less than 5 times a year. 99% of my fishing is for trout and panfish, so therefore a vast majority of my rods are built for those fish. But I do occasionally have reason to fish a larger rod, so here is my small batch of sweet 6-weights.

When I first fell in love with fiberglass rods, the best way to do it was find some fairly inexpensive vintage rods, so that's what I did. And when you find vintage glass, it's almost always a 6-weight or higher. Back in the day, they didn't have time for light line weights. Or maybe they didn't have the technology to make light line rods. Whatever the case, almost all rods were 6- or 7-weights. Or bigger. 5-weights were rare, and 4-weights were almost unheard of. So, I acquired a bunch of 6-weights from various vintage manufacturers.

I have owned 6-weights from Wright & McGill, Phillipson, Fenwick, Garcia, Berkley, Cortland, Heddon, Shakespeare, and on and on. A lot of them were good, serviceable rods, and I have caught a lot of fish with them. But I moved most of them on, since I would rather fish with a 4- or 5-weight. But I still have a few, which get fished every once in a while. Here they are, from shortest to longest:

7'6" Vince Cummings River Rat. Vince Cummings rods are fairly rare, and seem to have a mystical aura about them. Not sure about all that, but the ones I have acquired are all wonderful casting tools. I owned two of these at one point, and sold the other one for probably way too little. Oh well. This one can throw a 6-weight line a mile. I love it.

7'6" Berkley Shadow S-Glass. One of the few glass rods that I have not owned or even waggled is a Berkley Stream Specialist, which is supposed to be one of the best glass rods ever manufactured. I am still looking for a Stream Specialist, but in my searches I came across this vintage S-Glass Berkley rod. Since the vaunted Stream Specialists were purportedly built out of S-Glass, this rod got me to wondering if maybe it was built on the same blank, only with less expensive accoutrements, like Berkley was known to do back in the day... Not sure, but this rod is sweet! Nice and crisp action, almost fast. I can boom casts all day long.

7'6" Scott PowR-Ply. This is a new acquisition for me. I have only had it out in the yard so far. Like all Scott glass rods, it's a bit tip-heavy in the hand, but it is so smooth when casting. It will be a perfect streamer, nymph, and all-around rod. 

7'9" Sage 679SFL. All Sage glass rods are on the fast side, and this is no exception. And it is nice and light in the hand. This is a perfect smallmouth rod. I can cast Clousers and Buggers all day with this thing. I think I should do that more often this summer...

8' Berkley Para-Metric. This is the glass rod I have had the longest. I got it as part of a lot of four or five glass rods on ebay when I was first getting interested in glass. It's the only one from that lot I still own. Most Para-Metrics have the famous Berkley sleeve/spigot ferrule. This one is just a normal spigot ferrule. It feels extremely light in the hand, and it casts beautifully. I still am not sure what Para-Metric really means, but this rod is great. It seems that most 8' Para-Metrics are designated as 7-weights, but this one has "Recommended Line No. 6" written on the blank. It's a beaut! And look at the original medallion, still intact!

8' Fenwick FF806-4. I love this rod! I have had a bunch of vintage pack rods over the years, and this is the only one I have kept. It is a wonderful rod; it can handle any size fly I might want to use during a day of trout or bass fishing; it has a nice crisp action that casts beautifully; and I have caught a ton of fish with it! It will never leave my side. I love it.

OK, that's all my 6-weight rods. My collection is kind of slim compared to my 4- and 5-weights, huh? Well, if you thought the rods were slim, you should see the reels! There are just three of them, and two of those are the same reel! I have two Martin MG-7s, and both are filled with some sort of SA WF lines. These reels are perfect for vintage glass. They hold lots of line, they are ventilated so they are pretty light as far as vintage reels go, but they are heavy enough to balance nicely on most rods. They are a perfect 6-weight reel, in my opinion. Along with those two Martins, I also have a Redington CD 5/6 reel, spooled with some sort of AirFlo 6-weight WF line. The Redington weighs a little more than the Martins, so it balances well on a couple of the heavier rods, namely the Scott PowR-Ply.

OK, that's it for 6-weights. Check back in a week or two to read my even-shorter write-up of my 3-weights.

The Fives - 2023 Style

In my last post I wrote about my 4-weight rods and reels. This time let's talk about my 5-weight rods and reels, shall we? I don't have quite as many of these as I do 4's, but I would still say I have a good assortment, and they fill every niche that might pop up around here in the Great White North of Minnesota...

I have 5-weight rods that go from 6'6" at the shortest to 8'6" at the longest. Unlike my 4-weights, not all of my 5-weights are fiberglass. See if you can figure out which one isn't...

6'6" Cortland FR-2000. This is my shortest 5-weight rod. I got it several years ago, thinking I would use it to fish for carp or smallmouth bass or whatever happened to be swimming in the smallish warmwater creek that flows near my house. I did fish there once with this rod, but the lack of fish caught or seen that day made me not go back and try again. But I may at some point in time... Even if I don't, this is a fun rod to fish with, anywhere.

(I couldn't find a good pic of the short Cortland FR-2000, so here is a pic of a small bass that makes me happy)

7' Wright & McGill WaterSeal. This is an interesting rod. It is probably the most rare W&M rod you will ever find. And possibly the best casting. I have owned several W&M Featherlight rods over the years, including a tiny 5'6" yellow one that got me interested in glass rods in the first place. This WaterSeal was made from "3M Patented Fibers", and is nice and slow, but it has quite a bit of oomph built into it, too. I have owned it for a couple of years if not more, and I am still trying to figure out what I think about it. It's an interesting one, that's for sure!

7' Phillipson Registered Epoxite. At one point in time I owned three Registered Epoxites in various lengths, but this is the only one that incorporated a spigot ferrule into its design, making it the rarest of the bunch, as far as I can tell. Admittedly I have not had this out on the water very often. It's got a different feel than the other Phillipsons I have owned, I am sure because of the ferrule. I like it very much!

7'6" Cortland FR-2000. I like old Cortland rods. Especially FR-2000s and the old poop-colored Pro Crests. Every one that I have owned has been smooth and powerful. This is pretty much a perfect trout/bass/panfish rod.

7'10" Chris Barclay Progressive Series. This was from Mr. Barclay's original series of rods. I have heard a lot of people make the claim that this model was very slow, even using the term "sticky" on occasion. Maybe I got the oddball of the litter, but I have never found this rod to be slow at all. I think it has a lovely crisp action. But what do I know...

8' GlasTech. GlasTech rods are about as rare as a fiberglass fly rod could be. They were made by Dennis Franke in Mt. Horeb, WI, on blanks that were custom rolled by Mark Steffen. As far as I can recall, this is the only one I have ever seen listed for sale anywhere, although I have seen pics of others that weren't for sale, on Forums and such. This one is a little tip heavy in the hand, much like my beloved Scott glass rods. It can bomb a line, that's for sure! And it can present a fly nice and delicately at short distances. It is sweet!

8' Sage 580SFL. I have been lucky to have owned most of the fiberglass rods that Sage built, at one time or another, and this 580SFL is in the worst shape of all of them. Not that it is in terrible condition or anything, it just has a few cosmetic scuffs here and there. That enables me to not feel bad about fishing it! Like all the Sage glass that I have cast, it's a cannon. 

8' Scott PowR-Ply. This is another great rod, which I have written about several times. It rocks!

8'3" Larry Kenney 835. This mocha-colored rod is another great one. One of Larry's most popular tapers, it handles all casts with aplomb...

8'6" Sage 586LL. Hey, it's the only graphite rod I own nowadays! And it's the one I will never part with, as it has oodles of sentimental value. Plus, I have caught over a billion fish with it (estimated), so I don't want to get rid of its good juju.

Those are the rods. As far as my 5-weight reels go, they are very utilitarian, much like all my other reels. I have an assortment of different brands running from light in weight, to balance on my shorter rods, to a little heavier in weight, to balance on my longer rods, and a few others in between. Balance is the most important thing to me. Whether that makes sense or not, it is what works for me. Here are my reels:

From left to right, starting on the top row, and in order of weight from lightest to heaviest: Martin LM56, Ross Evolution #2, Lamson Velocity #2, Ross Gunnison Platinum #2, and the ol' trusty Lamson LP2. 

Come back in a couple of weeks to check out my lineup of 6-weight rods! I have a few nice ones!