Ok, lets have some fun with this one…there are NO wrong answers!
Prior to the graphite “arms-race”, when fly rods were just a bit “slower” and most fly rod manufacturers were using first and second generation graphite materials for rolling blanks, what would you (based on personal experience) rate as the Overall best performing 5wt of that era? Remember, we are talking 5wt rods and naturally they would have to have TROUT fishing attributes.
Examples would be, but not limited to:
Orvis graphite such as the Far and Fine model
Winston “Trophy Cup” G Loomis rolled blanks
Fenwick HMG
Fisher GT40
Sage RP/LL
St Croix Legend
Diamondback Carbonite Supreme
Scott PwrPly (“G”)
I have fished the original Fenwick HMG, an Original Fisher GT 40 and an Original Sage RP. I still have all 3 rods and I bought them new. The GT40 was noted to be 2 line weights like a 5/6 which is the one I have and the Sage RP is a a 4 wt, and the Fenwick HMG is a 6 wt. Of the 3 fly rods, I favor the GT40 as the best all around fly rod.
The greatness of all these rods is the fact that I still own all of them. I would sell the Sage RP and the HMG before the GT40. I did own a new Sage LL 389 also that I did sell. I liked the GT40 more than the Sage LL although I would be in a minority on that.
The first graphite rod I owned was a 4-piece Diamondback Carbonite Tape Wrap 8056 (8 foot, 5/6 weight) that I bought from Bill Alley at the Fly Rod Shop in Stowe, Vermont, back when he still owned the fly shop, Diamondback, REC, and the remains of Jim Payne’s bamboo rod operation. I still have it and it still casts as sweetly now as it did then.
I subsequently acquired an Orvis 7’ 9" 5 wt Far and Fine, which is well enough known that I needn’t comment, and an Orvis 8’ 4 wt Western Midge. (I know, it’s a 4, not a 5, but at the time Orvis considered the Western Midge their ideal rod for Pennsylvania limestoners, and it is delightful. I would like to compare it side-by-side someday with the more prestigious Winston Tom Morgan Favorite, also a 2-piece 8’ 4 wt.)
Speaking of Winstons, more recently I also picked up a 2-piece Winston WT 8’ 6" 5 weight, the larger-gripped version of the original Joan Wulff Favorite. (The WT series is a recent name change to the old IM6 series from the era in question, but the model itself is unchanged.) Tom Chandler of troutunderground.com calls it one of the “dozen best fly rods of all time” and says it “might be the ‘troutiest’ rod in existence”. Author Tom McGuane calls it “the five weight trout rod against which all others are measured”.
Of my three early 5 weights, I think I have to give the prize to the Winston. It’s hard to argue against the unanimous judgment of Wulff, Chandler and McGuane, although I do still have a soft spot in my heart for that Carbonite.
I sold an Orvis Henry’s Fork to my brother…which was a faster rod. If I was strictly fishing larger water with nymphs, I would probably lean towards the Henry’s Fork. But I prefer the F&F for all around dry fly fishing.
In 1985, Scott made up a 10’, 5wt. G series for me that is still one of my favorite rods to use…
I’ve got it in my hands here on the East Walker River in CA this past Spring…while my son, Michael, uses a 10’, 5wt., Loomis Streamdance ( foreground )…
Have a real fondness for the old Sage LL that was the first rod I put together - it’s been re-wrapped, broken and replaced parts, but still nicer than all the others.
The Orvis Far & Fine was the first graphite rod I cast (really) and is still the best…although I have owned way back a SA 5 wt which was a Fisher, also very nice.
Like several others here, I still have and fish the Far & Fine…and no it isn’t for sale S
Several years ago a F&F was on the For Sale board for days. The nice lady immediately above commented about what a steal it was for $200. Well, I bit and it has become my favorite dry fly rod ever (and it has plenty of competition in my quiver). I love it. I don’t have experience with any other pre '89 sticks.
Having fun with this thread folks! I recently have become a HUGE fan of the Far-n-Fine myself. So much so that I have a third (1986 vintage) one on its way to Tennessee! After a good retro trip with quite a few fiberglass rods (and I will always keep my Fenwick FF755) recently, I have whittled down my trout quiver to a pair of working Far & Fine’s, an Orvis “Henry’s Fork”(semi-retired) and the ubiquitous 9’ 6wt, 4pc Sage VPS. I have owned and fished an example of all of the above makes in 5wts including a T&T paradigm with the exception of the Fisher graphite. Every time I think I need a “Fast”, modern graphite trout rod, I can’t help but return to the softer, slower, low modulous sticks that are such a joy to cast and fish. I really think I have found fly rod nirvana with the Orvis F&F. I just suits me to a tee. Casts like a five and fishes like a three! I hope this thread continues! BTW, I probably should have mentioned the early, Chico era Powell rods as an example of {primitive} graphite.
Incidentally, I might have a GT40, but don’t know how to tell. I do know the maker was using Fisher blanks, and I have seen a couple of gt40s in his shop, but the blank wasn’t marked except with my name. It is a sweet casting rod. Were there other models of Fishers?
In light of other comments I’ll change my mind and say something about my Far and Fine after all. When Orvis finally discontinued their last classic graphite models a few years ago I tried to buy a Far and Fine, a Henry’s Fork, and a 7’ 5 weight Small Stream Special. They were already out of stock of the Henry’s Fork and Small Stream Special, but they managed to locate a lonely Far and Fine in one of their UK stores. I had to pay customs duty to get it shipped back to the US. It has the more recent sanded. painted finish and an updated reel seat, but it’‘s one of the last – maybe the very last – of the Far and Fines that they ever sold! I do like it, but I like the Winston 8 1/2’ better. Maybe because the Orvis aesthetics were tweaked but the Winston’s are authentic.
I saw that a 1989 Henry’s Fork sold on eBay (regrettably, not to me) for about $150 recently. I’m not really itching for one of those, but I would love to find a Small Stream Special. Nobody ever seems to want to get rid of theirs – which says something all by itself.
Orvis BUT in those days I built my own rods and used them more than the Orvis. I’ve gifted away those rods, including the Orvis, so there obviously was no love affair.
As it happens, I have the Orvis Far-n-Fine, Henry’s Fork, and a Sage 8’ 5wt RPL. I have several newer rods, but these three see the most use. The Orvis rods, are general use dry and nymph rods, the Far-n-Fine for smaller streams, and the Henry’s Fork for larger rivers. The Sage, I normally overline to a 6wt, and it is used for streamers and nymphing in high water.
