Post by Chee Yung on Feb 28, 2008 14:09:12 GMT 8
Rod Story # 11: Another One from Glenn Brackett
Winston 7’6” 2/2 4wt
Hi BOBs
Tan Yik got onto this bandwagon ahead of me but I am glad I took some time before finding a Winston cane rod. Firstly, I had just watched ‘Trout Grass’ previously and knew little about Glenn Brackett. Secondly, I didn’t know how Winstons match up with other rods in terms of feel and the Great Tradition. Reading ‘Casting a Spell’ over the New Year changed all that…
I had only intuited that canerods are like art where artists starve for perfection. This gut feel was never proven until George Black tracked down the bitter-sweet stories stretching 150 years from Leonard to Carlson, and including non-Catskill makers from Garrison to Brackett. Indeed, all great makers had one thing in common, learning from masters linked in some way to the Great Tradition of flyrod design, and such obsession with perfection that money just cannot replace effort. ‘Perfection’ here is not only about aesthetics but is more about ‘feel’ and ultimately ‘soul’.
I seem to be going over the edge here with metaphysics but I’m merely describing the feelings Uncle and I go through when using cane. We actually started to perceive ‘action’ and ‘smoothness’ by swishing planed cane strips at his workshop. I didn’t believe that it was possible to develop this new ability at first ( we looked like crazy people swishing strips and saying ‘ hmm .. this is faster and stiffer..etc’) but Glenn Brackett settled my doubts by describing his mentor Doug Merrick’s crafting method as … swishing cane blanks and strips…. Hitting the strips with sandpaper here and there and finally … swishing again and ‘There! That’s it!’ Glenn Brackett does this Zen approach when designing tapers and rods.. the quest for a rod that flexes exactly like the material it is made of: Bamboo. No more no less. No sudden stress points anywhere along the length of the rod.
With that, I turn to my newly acquired Glen Brackett Winston Light Trout 7’6” 2/2 4wt SN#3155 built in the heyday of the Brackett Era. Weighing a mere 2 7/8 oz, it is so sensitive that it quivers to the touch. Yet, paired with a Saracione Reel and lined with a #4wt DT, it comes alive with the flow of the cast. My hand has to be like the wind, stroking the power fibers or buffeting like a gale for more distance. Loops stretch out like a string from the web of life: tenuous yet unyielding…
The rod saw water last weekend. Paired with a Lamson Litespeed with #4wt WF sinking line, the rod became faster and livelier. As I cast, I began to think of the rod’s previous owner, Ed Haerter, a retired military pilot from Wisconsin USA, who is now snowed in waiting for spring. I quietly wish him warmth and a good season soon. The rod glowed gold in the dawn, transparent honey wraps with black trim, the wraps transform into gold over the very elegant Duronze ferrules, bright golden hued hardware, ending with a cigar grip cork, birdseye maple spacer and ring & cap complete with Winston logo.
Boils of marauding Peacock Bass and Sebaraus caused some of my buddies to cast frantically but I was literally spellbound…casting as if in a trance with the rod telling me to slow down, it’s fine, fish will bite and all worries will pass. Fish did bite and burdens forgotten. The rod bowed deeply to every fish I landed as if honoured by the sport provided.
We also had my Jennings along to compare ‘feel’ and both Uncle and I noted that the Winston was smoother and lighter. So Alberto and Billy, who loved the Jennings last time, just wait till you are bewitched by the Winston ‘feel’!!
Later, I brought the rod to the bamboo gang’s breakfast table as usual to be admired but it was not pride I felt, I was just honored and deeply humbled by the tradition linked to this instrument. Guess I will feel like this about all canerods from now onwards.
Till the next rod story, tight lines!
