That is just amazing, and from H-I, to boot. I thought 3 wts in glass were all modern.

Thanks guys its a real fun rod too, no toy, you can do a nice 40-50ft roll cast without any real effort as long as the winds are calm. For sight casting to the local trout at under 25ft its a real jewel. Plus the reel balances the rod perfectly. Im really having fun with it. I had no idea there were glass ultra lights out there, especially from the early 1950s. What else is out there we have no awareness of? This rod is every bit as good as my best Phillipson Epoxite 4wt, but with a 3wt line. It was the best they had to offer in 1953-54 right behind their custom made presentation rods, and was for some unknown reason dropped in 1955. Decades before its time for sure.
Richard

Hi Les,
Well actually this rod dates to 1954 at that point in time they had ceased using Conolon blanks and were producing their own. According to Johnsons book on fiberglass fly rods, this was a very short two or three year period when nylon was introduced to help plastize the resin. As such I would suspect a very small percentage used, however as you can see by the advertising on the rod sock, according to them 25% nylon is present. Perhaps thats ment to mean a percentage within the actual resin? Ive really no idea what their sock claimer means, however the rod is unique for the period. The earliest glass rod thats a true line weight I have is the EF60 Phillipson 4wt, yet this rod easily casts a DT3wt with complete control. I know Ive never dreamed there were such glass factory ultra lights out there, let alone one from the early 1950s.
This rod would predate the US Fiberglass production by some decade plus. Even St Croix was not making a 3wt. I have a couple of their earliest ultra light weave glass rods, i.e. the 6 1/2ft, 6ft 9in and 7ft, they are all like the later Imperial series, yet all are true 4 or 5wts, nothing light like this. Frankly its a far better rod than my very late 1979 conolon 6ft 4wt, that rod is noodly, this one is not, its pure fly rod. Feels like a 4 or 5wt in your hands and casts like one, until you realize your casting a true 3wt fly line.
I know Im gonna be comparing my S-glass Steffen and E-glass McFarland blank builds this winter to this rods feel. Its as crisp and solid as my best graphite Orvis and Winston ultra lights, just a tiny bit slower in action.
Definately a rod to watch for!
Richard

Wow Richard, I had no clue that there were any 3wts made back then. That is really cool. I thought that the ultralights of yesteryear were all 4/5wt rods.
This one is old school ultralight, It's a Fenwick Ferrulite 535. It's 5'3" long, and is rated for a 5wt line. I did CCS numbers on it and it rates as a 2wt by those standards. It certainly feels like one. I've fished it with a 3wt line, and it worked very well.

Richard,
I got the same rod recently, the '53 version, and I agree with everything you've had to say about the rod. Horrocks-Ibbotson was known primarily for some rather mediocre cane rods, but they really got this one right. I think this may become one of my favorite small stream rods.
Larry