A winston resurrected.

[Dave Westburg]

A friend of mine just got a Winston 8' 3 1/8 oz 4 weight back from major repairs at the Winston bamboo shop. We put the rod through its paces in the meadow today. He paired the rod with a used Hardy reel purchased at Joe Roope's Castaway Fly Fishing Shop in Coeur d'Alene. On my last visit there I bought the Wright and McGill 9' Waterseal rod I use for salt water cutthroat.

Lots of creeping and crawling up to the edge of calm pools with wild cutthroat looking for terrestrials. Can you spot the fish in this picture?

A cautious approach and decent cast with a beetle or letort hopper would result in this...

We could see every take. The Winston was a delight on this breezy day. We both preferred it to the Tenkara rod we also fished. My opinion is that Tenkara is great for short lining nymphs and for travel fishing when you have to pack small but otherwise give me bamboo.

 

[@Dryflyphotography]

Beautiful Winston! I'm curious about the era the rod was made and how Winston is doing now post-fire? Is it a Glenn Bracket built quad from the days before Glenn left to start Sweetgrass or a rod built more recently? I got a chance to talk with Glenn a few years ago and he really likes to build and fish his quads.