- R.L. Winston
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- R.L. Winston early Stoner era 8ft 3in 3pc/2 tips, 5 oz
R.L. Winston early Stoner era 8ft 3in 3pc/2 tips, 5 oz
R.L. Winston early Stoner era 8ft 3in 3pc/2 tips, 5 oz. This is one of the very early solid rods produced by Lew Stoner as he was introducing his new hollow fluted rods and these rods very seldom come to market. Workmanship is impeccable and rod remains in essentially mint condition with no real sign of use. It has the proper high quality agate stripping guide for the time period and the distinctive double wraps at all guides, built by Lew Stoner and perhaps with the help of his partner at the time, Red Loskot in 1934. A personal aside for me is that I own and use a Meek #2 free-spool bait casting reel in tournament plug casting that at one time belonged to Red Loskot. The reel-seat is the same design as Winston continued to use until Tom Morgan bought the company in the 1970's. Ferrules are nickel silver before the use by Winston of duronz ferrules. Price for these solid rods in the 1930's was $50, so on a par with Payne rods at the same time, while Stoner priced his new hollow fluted 2pc rods at $65, a full $15 more than the 3pc solid rods! I have always preferred the tip taper of Lew Stoner to Winstons of later eras; he tapered his tips like I do on my own rods, with a fast taper in the end of the tip and fine dimension at the tip top. This can be seen at the Winston museum in Twin Bridges, MT if you compare the tip tapers on Stoner rods compared to Doug Merrick and later rods. This is a wonderful casting rod that with a WF7 line will make a great grilse or strong trout rod for the angler, or keep it mint as a rare piece for the discriminating Winston collector. One odd detail is that the rod is marked as 8ft 4in on the rod shaft above the grip, but is marked 8ft 3in on the rod bag label and its actual length is 8ft 3in. In original tube with partial decal and proper bayonet mount cap, and original red bag with label. From my personal collection.