Buck Henry
06-26-07, 06:55 PM
Well, make that one Flea! I finally found me a bamboo Orvis Flea that I could afford and this pretty much completes my bamboo rod quest (yeah right!). I bought the rod from a dude in Belgium and got it for a very good price. This paticular Flea was built by Ron White in 1969 and like all Flea's is a 2 piece 1 tip rod. (I know, better watch out for them bamboo eating dogs on the Hooch! :) )
The owner did not like the small cork handle and reel seat that Orvis put on all the Fleas, so he had had the rod professionaly modified by Mike Clark of Southcreek Rods. Mike Clark is one of John Gierach's favorite rod builders and is also a personal friend of Mr. Gierach. Mike has been building rods for over 30 years and does great work, so I know that the mods were done right. The rod was fitted with a slightly larger cork handle and a nice downlocking reel seat with wood insert. He also had a nice agate stripping guide installed. Anyway, because of these mods, the rod does loose a bit of value in the collectibiity department due to no longer being in original configuration. Due to this fact, the guy came way down on his original asking price and gave me a smoking deal.
I have always wanted a bamboo Orvis Flea as it is considered one of the great short rod bamboo tapers of all time. It has amazing power to punch tight looped casts underneath low hanging branches typically found on small streams. Anyway, here are a few shots of the rod that the previous owner sent me. God willing, the rod should be here by the end of the week. I won't sleep well until I know that she survived the long trip from Belgium intact!
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u207/buck_henry/IMG_1715.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u207/buck_henry/IMG_1712.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u207/buck_henry/IMG_1710.jpg
The owner did not like the small cork handle and reel seat that Orvis put on all the Fleas, so he had had the rod professionaly modified by Mike Clark of Southcreek Rods. Mike Clark is one of John Gierach's favorite rod builders and is also a personal friend of Mr. Gierach. Mike has been building rods for over 30 years and does great work, so I know that the mods were done right. The rod was fitted with a slightly larger cork handle and a nice downlocking reel seat with wood insert. He also had a nice agate stripping guide installed. Anyway, because of these mods, the rod does loose a bit of value in the collectibiity department due to no longer being in original configuration. Due to this fact, the guy came way down on his original asking price and gave me a smoking deal.
I have always wanted a bamboo Orvis Flea as it is considered one of the great short rod bamboo tapers of all time. It has amazing power to punch tight looped casts underneath low hanging branches typically found on small streams. Anyway, here are a few shots of the rod that the previous owner sent me. God willing, the rod should be here by the end of the week. I won't sleep well until I know that she survived the long trip from Belgium intact!
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u207/buck_henry/IMG_1715.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u207/buck_henry/IMG_1712.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u207/buck_henry/IMG_1710.jpg