Old school…

[Pez Vela]

A while back I picked up an old greenheart fly rod made in Edinburgh, Scotland. The brass reel seat says “Anderson & Sons” and “The Dunkeld”.. probably made in the late 1880’s. The 11’ rod was in poor shape, so I refinished it, replaced a few missing hanging guides, added an old brass reel with silk line, and twisted up some horsehair leaders.

A couple days ago I finally took it out to a lake and caught an18” rainbow with it! Great fun, and I won’t be right for weeks…

 

[Pez Vela]

Had a couple questions on horsehair leaders..” Traditional anglers like Charles Cotton famously used single-hair horsehair tippets for delicate presentations with small dry flies. Joe Brooks later tested two-strand horsehair and found it had an average breaking strength of around 5 pounds. Horsehair remained in regional use (such as parts of Yorkshire) well into the 20th century.”
I broke one strand (of 4) right below the silk leader on the fish. The best horsehair is from a stallion (cleaner) and I sometimes dye the leader hair green or brown. (I think the fish are less spooked than with white) I like a soft hackle fly on a eyeless hook…they’ve been around for about 500 years.
Great fun to play around with the old stuff…