I doubt I’ll ever find another of these blanks and I’ve been sitting on this one for 6-7 years… this is, without a doubt, one the best mid-length trout rods ever designed. A near clone to my late 70s Winston 7’6″ 5wt. As I always associate these blanks to the infamous falling out between Winston and Fisher, I decide to treat this rod to a pseudo-Winston aesthetic. Being fortunate enough to own a number of the originals, I consulted them in planning out the rod.
This build features a slim rev half wells grip coming in at 6″. The seat is obviously zebra wood… if you’re creating an homage to Winston, how could you not? Hardware is made in house save for the pocketed cap which was modified to accept a black-delrin end cap. The originals have a tiny flat-head screw here but, since it’s unnecessary for our application, I added a simple metal adornment here, standing just proud of the black. Wraps were done w/ NOS Gudebrod red nylon and tipping was NOS white nylon. These match the original Winston wraps of the era very closely. Rod will ship in a shop-made bag and aluminum tube (not pictured but included). Every ounce of me is saying don’t post for sale but, having an original 7’6″ 5wt. and 7’6″ 5wt. JET it’s simply redundant and, sadly, you can’t keep them all.
As a collector of Winston glass and graphite, the eras I am always drawn to are the late 70s to mid-90s when, in my opinion, Winston crafted the finest looking an casting rods of their existence, and possibly ever. I hope this tribute does the job I intended of revisiting those good old days.
Though not shown, rod will include a brass capped tube, brass ID badge, and shop-sewn khaki bag.
$595
Leiderman Rods 