First fish with my D Fuller "Old Reliable"

[Richard Flanders]

Got my first chance to fish the rod Dave Fuller made for me this past winter. This is the first fish I landed with it. The first hooked and almost landed was an 18" grayling and the largest I have ever gotten here. I had it in hand and the hook pulled but I could tell it was larger than anything I'd caught here before. The rod is wonderful in every way. Casts a #4 DT line perfectly, even with a large wet fly. First time I've fished a cane rod since about 1966 or so. I also got to try my new(1964 vintage)cane Orvis 3-wt and it was pure magic also. Caught a bunch of nice grayling like this on it last night also. Nice cane rods are definitely the way to go. Life is definitely too short and tenuous to fish with an ugly fishing rod.... Very fun evening in the river.

[david ross]

Hi Richard.
A very nice rod and a good fish what more can a man want.
Maybe a few more parkers ?
All the best Dave.

[Francis Morin]

Does your 1494 medalist have a different reel foot, the older ones had a heavy plated brass curved design (as did the first Gar-Wood "Wedding Cake Saltwater fly reels) or is this a later series with a reel foot more adaptable to SB reel seats? Also noticed your line was spooled from back of the pillars, insteaed of through the line guide, and your prefer to switch the rod to your left hand and crank the reel with your right, am I correct? Nice stick-nice fish- what fly pattern??:bigbye:

[Dean Romig]

Looks like a bead-head leech.

Richard, that is about the prettiest picture I've ever seen of an Arctic Grayling!

Hope you don't mind that I copy it and save it to file.

Obviously two pictures of two different grayling... how big is the one shown with your rod?

[Francis Morin]

-- I recognized the 1494 medalist- about as basic as a field grade M12 12 gauge pumpgun- "back in the day"- But didn't see the fly pattern closely enuf I guess- was sure it wasn't either: a "PMF" pattern, or one of my late friend Bill Hunter's great patterns--he was a master at salmon pattern flies and a real gentleman in the tackle and Bogdan reel market- miss him! Still love fine cane rods, even though I gave up fly fishing 12 years ago- like I admire Steinway pianos, even though I don't play!!

[Dean Romig]

Not to hi-jack Richard's thread, but....

I was in Bill's fly shop in New Boston, NH (oddly, just east of Francestown) only once... never again. He was probably all you say he was but not one thing in his shop had a price tag on it... that's my clue not to shop there. There were enough windows in that store however, to be able to see what make of vehicle a customer arrived in :shock:

[Richard Flanders]

This particular Medalist has an updated Bill Pfoot machined mounting foot that matches todays smaller diameter reel seats. I have resurrected a number of vintage Medalists using his parts. His handles are gorgeous and easy to install and his screw sets are very well done. The old Medalists are as good as any single action reel made today so why pay hundreds when you can get these off Ebay for $25? I have a very nice sculpted pillar 1492 that will likely be on this rod once I touch the paint up. I have all my older rods mounted with Medalists up to mod 1495 for the heaviest Wonderod on the wall. I think a nice Medalist fits Daves rod quite nicely and looks 'proper'... at least to me.

The line on this is strung through the line guide and I do crank with my right hand; started out that way in the 50's and have always done it that way.

[Dean Romig]

The Medalist's drag leaves a bit to be desired but I have seen a couple that have had some of the frame removed in order to expose the inside face of the spool so that the user could apply finger pressure to help slow a larger fish.

[Francis Morin]

The Medalist's drag leaves a bit to be desired but I have seen a couple that have had some of the frame removed in order to expose the inside face of the spool so that the user could apply finger pressure to help slow a larger fish.- Heavier, but you can palm the spool- another trick I learned form Bill Hunter- on steelhead or salmon- don't change the drag (60% of breaking strength of your leader) lower the rod and reel into the water and hydraulic pressure of the current adds drag- Both the Perfacts and the medalists were not make for easy conversion to LH wind, however-

[Dean Romig]

- Heavier, but you can palm the spool-

Except for the fact that the several Medalists I own do not have an exposed rim...

[Dean Romig]

[QUOTE=Francis Morin;45890 lower the rod and reel into the water and hydraulic pressure of the current adds drag-[/QUOTE]

I would much rather be able to feel my fish and know what he's doing and try to anticipate his next move than sink all my equipment in the water and deaden any telegraphic feel I might receive through the line and rod from the fish.

[Richard Flanders]

Lower the reel into the water? Never heard of that one. Doesn't sound like a good method to me. For the fishing I do for grayling and maybe dollys or char up to 30", "drag" is not much of an issue. You can palm a Medalist once you figure out how. You can also swap the spool to the other side by by just switching the line guide and flipping the inside drag plate over...... at least on the DA models. I have one with the circular guide; not sure it's a DA. The "clicker" is definitely ambidextrous. Bill Pfoot makes some very nice metal replacements for the drag plates. He's a real peach of a guy if you need Medalist parts. He has pictures of one of my handle jobs on his website somewhere. I know he's had/having? medical issues but the web site seems active. I would highly recommend his stuff; it's all top drawer quality.

[Francis Morin]

Except for the fact that the several Medalists I own do not have an exposed rim...- What I meant was, the Hardy Perfects have a palming spool drag feature, besides the check pawl that serves to prevent over-spooling. They are set on ball bearings, and are indeed fine reels. The original Akron mfg. Pflew-Gear Medalists did not have exposed rims, the later Yakasaki copies had that feature, if memory serves.

Hey Dean- I always watch the Boston Pops on the tube every year at 4th July- Host/MC was a Boston native son- Mike Chicklets(?) from Andover- isn't that your set-up, and that home of the late great Skeet-Ist Wm. Hardon Foster Jr.- A died-in-the wool grouse and Parker small gauge man to boot??
By the power O'mud there, Eb- if I recall the remark about a fox killed by the "little gun" (A Parker 16) about 1885 or so-I have an original copy of his book, published my year of birth 1941- great writer, as was the late Burton Lowell (close to Boston, yes?) Spiller, and later salt water fishing editor Frank Woolner- great stuff- I even drank a few Sam Adams brews to honor "Beat-Town" Cheers!!!!:bigbye::bigbye:

[Francis Morin]

Not to hi-jack Richard's thread, but....

I was in Bill's fly shop in New Boston, NH (oddly, just east of Francestown) only once... never again. He was probably all you say he was but not one thing in his shop had a price tag on it... that's my clue not to shop there. There were enough windows in that store however, to be able to see what make of vehicle a customer arrived in :shock: The goodies in his store were "eye-candy" 90% of his business was catalog. I met him about 16-17 years ago, in March- I was in the Detroit area visiting an USMC buddy for the week-end and we went to the big Southfield Fly Fishing Expo- Tom and I helped him carry in his display items and watched his table for him- we met in the parking lot- he had a flat tire and his spare was "kaputt" so we got out the spare compressor and got him "road-worthy" He probably had more Bogdan reels worth more than our first house in his trunk-after he got back home he put me on his catalog mailing list (pre- Al Goer-ian Internet days) and sent me a used LH wind 3 & 1/8" dia size Hardy perfect with case and lined with a 4/5 Wulff TT line and backing and 6 hand tied flies as a "thank you"-- I still have the reel and all his back issue catalogues, ditto those from friend Marty Keane- Bill was probably the most knowlegable salmon fisherman of his era, Art Wheaton has one of those flies Bill sent me:bigbye:

[Dean Romig]

Francis, I'll respond in a PM to you.

Dean

[Richard Flanders]

The latest generation Medalists look more like all the currently popular machined aluminum reels and do indeed have an exposed spool that can be palmed. I have at least one somewhere and they are actually quite nice reels that would not embarrass any but the over picky. I just like my old ones. They work just fine... besides, who else makes a reel that is designed so that you can add lead shot to the spool center for the purpose of balancing it!? Talk about engineering!

[Francis Morin]

Lower the reel into the water? Never heard of that one. Doesn't sound like a good method to me. For the fishing I do for grayling and maybe dollys or char up to 30", "drag" is not much of an issue. You can palm a Medalist once you figure out how. You can also swap the spool to the other side by by just switching the line guide and flipping the inside drag plate over...... at least on the DA models. I have one with the circular guide; not sure it's a DA. The "clicker" is definitely ambidextrous. Bill Pfoot makes some very nice metal replacements for the drag plates. He's a real peach of a guy if you need Medalist parts. He has pictures of one of my handle jobs on his website somewhere. I know he's had/having? medical issues but the web site seems active. I would highly recommend his stuff; it's all top drawer quality.-- Bill Franke, machine shop- many years ago offered a "One-Pfoot for medalists and Gar-Wood Fin-Nor WC fly reels- he sent me several to "hawk" for him at TU functions- priced at $14.95 most of the locals would say- Shoot- I just bought a new medalist (yakasaki series) for $22.95 and Dunham's, why should I pay half that price again for a different reel foot-- He modelled his after the Hardy LRH-Princess series reels- good pattern- I had a 1494 and a 1495- both Akron OH mfg. older ones- and installed the One-Pfoots, way better design than the original IMO- I like the "cement mixer" sound, da "ptta-putta" they make when a big brown takes off against the drag and the rod's arc- and tests your leaders and knot-manship abilities. Like the Model 12 and a D-28 Martin guitar- American classics!!

[Richard Flanders]

Bill Franke is his name, eh? Same guy I'm sure. I just never knew his last name, despite going back and forth on email on parts. Maybe I did know it but just always think of him as Bill Pfoot. He's branched out and was/is? making replacement metal latch plates also. All that old plastic stuff can warp and break eventually if not stored properly. His metal drag plates are very nice and give the reel a very nice click vs the tunk you get with a worn plastic plate. His marbled replacement handles are gorgeous.

I just looked at the 1492 DA in my picture. You can rewind the line the other way and use it with the crank on the left side but the line guide will not relocate unless you drill new holes for it, which would be easy enough to do. You don't need a line guide for a reel that small anyway. I like the 1492's best of all; they just seem perfect for lighter rods up to 4-wt. Seems I couldn't get a 5-wt line + backing onto a 1492 so had to go to a 1494. I like the wide ones also; I'd rather go fatter than with a larger diameter. The one with the sculpted pillars and the round guide is a real favorite but still needs some TLC.