Date: Sat Jul 6 14:55:52 1996
From: Fallcreek9@aol.com
Subject: Rod Tapers

Howdy All:
At the Grayling meet, Dennis Higham had three rods that were measured on the
spot.  

1.  An FE Thomas 7-1/2',  # 4, 3-Pc that was a real pleasure to cast.
2.  An 8', # 5, 2-Pc msytery rod.  It is one of those rods one remembers as
being great. It has the hardware of a Leonard, but had been refinished and
thus no info on the     blank.  The butt cap had the Leonard name, and
someone at the meet who knows Leonards told Dennis that he thought it was a
Leonard DF 50 Tournament. The rod cast with strength and punch.
3. The third rod cast well with a # 4 DT line.  It is an 8',  3-Pc rod and
has a very distictive feel that someone there described as "a buttery-smooth
transition of power from hand to presentation of the fly on the water,
without any interruptions".  The only rod I personally have cast that had
that feel was a 7-0', # 4 Payne # 97 or # 98.

Dennis offers the tapers to the list:

The following is the description of the # 3 rod, above.

Station           tip #1                      Tip #  2
1-1/4          060-060-061             056-054-055
4                074-073-073            068-070-068
6                080-079-078            074-076-075
9-3/4           092-090-090            090-088-090
15              106-107-106             103-101-101
20              122-120-120             115-115-115
25               134-134-132            132-130-131
30              144-142-141             138-137-138
31-1/8         145-146-146             140-140-141

                      mid                                 butt
35               158-157-154            67-1/4    229-228-238
39-1/2          175-172-174           70          243-243-243
45               192-190-193            74         256-251-257
50               202-201-202           76          259-259-261
55               212-213-214            80         278-275-275
60               222-224-220           83          293-286-286
62-1/2         221-219-228            84         295-288-287
                                               85          304-305-306
                                               86          334-329-328
                                               86-3/4    354-348-344  Still
swelling

No attempt was made to start at a particular flat and circle the same way
each time.  Sorry guys, guess we missed a good chance to learn somthing.

Guide spacing:  5-1/8,  10-3/8,  15-3/4,  21-3/16,  26-3/4  tips
                                     34-1/4,  40-3/8,  47-3/4,  56-7/8 mid
                                                           66-7/16,  74-5/8
butt

Varnish estimate:  2 to 3 /1000 each flat,  4 to 6/100 total

These are all of the numbersas taken for this rod.  Will post the other two
rods as time permitts.

Thanks Dennis.

Regards,
RTyree

Ps - For Reed Curry:  Pls contact me about the long, light rod with red/blk
windings that you were casting.  Wondering what are the chances of getting
those dimensions.

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