Fishing buddy gave me this rod: he's moving north. My buddy wanted to use it for shark fishing, but never did. It's been hanging in his garage for 20 years. It's very heavy, has all Aftco components, some type of pleather fore grip, 7'4" length, and a size 28 Aftco roller tip. Looks like a Fenwick design to me due to the colors and components, but most Fenwicks in my research are brown or white. If this was white, it has really yellowed. My questions: 1) Is it a Fenwick? 2) Any idea of line class? 3) Are these vintage rods still used today? 4) If used, What's the target fish species, and what size reel? TIA for any help identifying it, and its use.
Looks like it says 26 tip not 28.
Either way there's a good chance it's 130lb but that's a guess based on what components I can see.
Not sure if Aftco butts and reel seats are visibly marked as to their size. A size 6 Aftco would typically be used on a 130lb+ rod
Good eyes Chris! The tip is a 26. The guides are as follows: 52, 42, 42, 32, and 32. No numbers on the butt. Diameter of butt is almost 1 1/2" at the widest point, and ID of butt is 1 1/8". Is this pretty much a tuna or billfish trolling rod?
Rick it could be both a tuna and large billfish trolling rod.
Since the butt is Daiwa, it may have started out as a Daiwa. They had white blanks too. Could have been a later Fenwick that someone threw a Daiwa branded butt on. Who knows
The grip material leads me to believe the rod was either custom built from a blank or a factory rod that was stripped and refinished
The yellowing is natural for a rod which has seen heavy use or poor storage.
The length and build says chair rod.
EDIT:
Looks extremely similar to the Fenwick in this post:
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=37187.0
Maybe the butts got mixed up at some point?
Thank you Chris and Boon for the info: resembles a Fenwick, could be a Fenwick, but the grip material and Daiwa butt are not Fenwick. Being mounted to the ceiling in a hot Florida garage for 20 years could turn white to yellow. Good to know it's a chair rod, but bad because I have no use for one, nor does anyone I know that fishes the Gulf. I'll need to rehome this rod, as I don't want it to sit in my hot garage for another 20 years.
Someone told me it looks like an older Hurricane with the leather like fore grip, blank color, and thread colors? Anyways, a shark fisherman has it now. Just happy it will get used after hanging for 20 years.
The thread colors and the cross wrap pattern above the fore grip look to be Dawia .
Very similar in colour wrap to the Fenwick but not identical and not a Fenwick as the white 130 has a 28 tip and different grip, as others have said. I don't know US Daiwa.
Certainly a 130 class chair rod and good for all those big fish; some adverturous folks might use it for 80lb class, but that is risky I would think.
I do have a glass rod with a 26 tip that is a 'light' 130 (but light is relative).
It might be old but still good to go and will continue for many years to come.
The blank, butt and rollers ought to clean up nicely too (a rub with water and scrunched up aluminium foil works on chrome and I use car shampoo and polish on the blanks).