Barder Rod Co 8½’ #5-weight 2-piece 2-top fly rod made in 2000.

This is a superb rod. It should be -I made it for myself! Perhaps foolishly, I took it to display at the millennium CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace. A visitor to our stand asked to have a cast with it. He liked it and produced his cheque book. How could I refuse?

Twenty one years later it’s come back to me, and now I must say goodbye to it again. It’s getting a bit Burton and Taylor this one, isn’t it?

Casting it again on the stream behind our workshop, I must say that its smooth, assured casting stroke and lightness in the hand came as a lovely surprise. Look, I couldn’t remember exactly what it was like before. It was over two decades ago. I had all my own hair then and a far, far smaller waist measurement.

It’s had very little use and remains in sensationally good original condition. If you’d like a longer Barder rod to fish the best all round river trout line -the #5-weight- this is probably the lightest example we’ve made. It has a subtle, elegant swelled butt, superb Tom Moran snake guides and a reel seat made from oxidised aluminium with a Yew wood spacer.

The blank is made from exceptionally darkly flamed vintage Tonkin bamboo. This rod feels frisky, in a good way. Paired with a vintage Hardy Princess and a Scientific Anglers Mastery Double Taper (or a WF equivalent if you insist), you can comfortably fish with this rod all day, from the spring grannom hatch on the Usk, through the Kennet mayfly, all the way to the cream of the grayling fishing in November.

A rare rod with a unique and very attractive specification, it’s quivering with anticipation. Aren’t you?

Specification.

8½’ long in 2-pieces with a pair of mirrored tips. Rod weight is just 5 oz. Flame tempered hand split vintage Tonkin bamboo blank. Strips were hand straightened and the nodes pressed before tapering to our standard +/- tolerance of one thousandth of an inch. The sections are perfectly true and positively charged with energy and vigour.

The Flor grade cigar shaped cork handle is very comfortable and unblemished. The reel seat has oxidised aluminium fittings and lovely Yew wood spacer.

The nickel silver ferrules are our own make Super-Z pattern. The retain an as-new fit and their olive wood & cork stopper.

Guides are Tom Moran stainless steel with a subtly bronzed finish with matching tip rings and a Mildrum SRMC carbide & nickel sliver butt ring.

Whippings are transparent varnish impregnated Pearsall’s silk with ultra-fine tan tippings.

The rod’s particulars are inscribed on the butt swell’s underside in Indian ink.

The rod  comes in its tailor made bag and hand stitched aluminium lined full grain English bridle leather case.