Wow, what a Trade

Grampas Shop

New member
Have a pheasant hunting buddy that owns a pawn-shop. He was here in January and saw my calls and said if I would make him a call he would send me a fly-rod. Well my boss was going to go fishing with him this last weekend so I sent him one of my laminated sets in the box.

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Before I sent the calls I had called the guy and told him I was sending him something and that I would take a 5wt 8' Sage rod with a Ross reel. He caught on right away and said he had something better than a Sage. Keep in mind the only time I use a fly rod is in CO in small streams and lakes and here he is around BIG water areas.

Come to work yesterday and my boss walks in with a rod tube. This is no ordinary rod tube, heavy aluminum with brass end caps. End cap is stamped T. U. No. 31 . Didn't think much about it, so I open it up and here is a Thomas & Thomas rod with #31, and 8'/5wt on it. The rod had never had a reel put on it as the pad that goes under the reel was still in a bag with the peel off paper still in place.

After several emails back & forth with Thomas & Thomas, I find that this was #31 of only 50 made for Trout Unlimited and in the late 80's sold for $525. It is probably worth a small fortune now, but I have this feeling it is going to get broke in and used.
 
Well, I think you both made out. He got an awesome set of calls and you got the rod...........er.......Flyrod! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Great trade! Awesome set of calls you made. I think I'd research the collector value of that rod, before I put a reel on it, for sure.

Tony
 
I REALLY like your calls, and the boxed set adds a classy touch!!.........but DAAANNNGGG what a trade!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif Congratulations /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
Isn't that cool though when you can do a trade, and you're both just tickled pink. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Now comes the catch. When I told SWMBO'd what I had for a rod after doing a little research on it, she informs me there is no way in Haddies I am going to use it. I said fine you find out how much it is worth today and I will think about not using it. Man did that open a can of worms. Have contacted the manufacturer and all they can say is priceless. Have contacted Trout Unlimited and have no answer back from them yet. Have contacted flyshops in CO that I go to and they are coming up empty also. If & when someone comes forward with some serious money I will maybe think of selling, but it would have to be enough to pay for a Sage or Orvis with a Ross reel and have money in pocket to boot.
 
I think I would leave it up to the guy you traded with. If he wants you to use it then use it. If he wanted you to have it to cherish it as a keep sake then I would do that. You give him something special and he give you something special in return. If it were me there is NO WAY I would fish it. You can pick up a used Sage fairly cheap if you look around and a 5wt shouldn't be hard to find at all. Oh and all my sage's have came in an aluminum tube with brass end caps.
 
This isn't a normal aluminum tube. If you could ding this one, it would be a challenge. The tube is heavy alum (almost like an alum. pipe).

In checking online (for many hours), I finally found a guy that does a little collecting and he stated that since it is a graphite rod, the collector value is just not there. I had planned on using the rod from the start, its just when I showed SWMBO'd, and told her what it was, she got to thinking it may have some collectors value.
 
Been there, done that. I did get a couple websites that someone had and got a hold of one of them. Since it is a graphite rod, they said not much collector value to it.

I had sent an email to Trout Unlimited to try and get info from them about the rod. Said on their site if an answer was warrented, I would get a reply within 48 hours. They must be on a different clock than the rest of us. 2 weeks after my email to them I get a reply back that they didn't have records from that time period to be able to tell me anything.

After finding out this info and printing it off, I told SWMBO'd that I would be fishing it. I will at least put a reel on it and see how it casts, feels like it could be a nice rod.
 
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