Retro Fly Fishing

Last summer my lovely wife and I spent a couple of days in the central Oregon town of Sisters.You see Sisters is one of those unique places where a dry fly elitest and a rugged cattle rancher can both feel comfortable in and it's very near the upper Deschutes,the Metolius river and those wonderful Century drive lakes. I could easily see myself living there someday.Maybe you'll find my over fed self loitering around the Camp Sherman store some day in the future...who knows?
So anyway back to our two day vacation in the charming little town of Sisters which just happens to have the Payne bamboo fly rod franchise. It's tucked away in a side mall so I had to really look for it but I did find it open the day we were in town.
The Payne Co. franchise in Sisters is owned by Dave Holloman and the shop is typical of any bamboo rod makers shop meaning there are dozens of rods and bunches of Tonkin bamboo is various stages of completion.I went in to chat with Dave and right there here on the counter was a restored Wright & McGill Granger Victory!!!! I had long wanted an old Granger rod after seeing a few around and liking the nostalgic feel of them.
This old W&M Granger actually fit my hand perfectly....imagine that! The best thing is Dave only wanted $325 for it!!! I did a quick calculation in my head about upcoming bills and when that came up short I thought about what I could sell on eBay but I felt my acquiring this bamboo rod was time critical.In other words I convinced myself that I had to strike while the iron was hot. A light went off in my head and I queried my lovely bride of nearly 28 years if she might be of assistance. I pleaded and made grandiose promises to counter her obvious skepticism. You see my wife is a very patient, reluctant and long suffering supporter of my fly fishing habits but she knew I wanted this rod and she came through for me!
So I was now the proud owner of vintage bamboo fly rod which would serve as a perfect complement to my other bamboo rods. This rod is actually at least as old as me and probably in a lot better shape than me too!
I of course needed a vintage reel to compliment this rod so I searched around and found a Hardy LRH which works well with the Granger.
I just guess it's part of growing older when you covet those items that were made when you were a child and then feel all nostalgic when you find them. I'll keep this rod and hopefully someday one of my grandchildren will have it and maybe they will think of their "Papa".

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