Moz,
That's quite a letter from our friend Tamarack.
For those of you who don't have this book "Tamarack" is a guy who with wife and friends in October 1887 marched overland from Corinne, Utah to Missoula, Montana - 600 miles - taking 41 days to do so. Five of those days spent snow bound in a mountain pass with minus 20 degree temps.
Tough going.
But they made it to Missoula and he wanted to fish when he got there. He made a rod Foley would have been proud of - he used an 18' long tamarack (with which he made 50' casts),
He later built a number of fly rods out of native wood and forsook a bamboo rod he ordered from the east because it wouldn't accept his "nail keg" sized reel and was too light. Here's a quote from his talking about the "fly rods" he made for others and his disdain for those who seek light rods and wear "kid gloves."
"Kid glove and 4 1/2 oz. ryestraw anglers I am not writing for, neither do I want them to agree with me. When a man is so effeminate as to use such light rods, and then worry the rod-maker for something lighter, he had better stay at home. The trout stream is unhealthy for him."
His lightest rods were built with hickory or pecan (which didn't warp as bad as hickory). Those rods weighed 12 ounces and were 10 1/2' long.
yeah, lightweight
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