Two Chico/Press Powell Legacy Light 2pc 9’ 3-4wt rods for sale

Both rods have been SOLD. Thanks.




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Hey Rich,
Can you tell us a little more about why rods were designated with multiple line weights. Was that driven by the variability in fly line weights from different manufacturers - or was it more of a marketing ploy to indicate the rods had a wide range of fishability? Or something else altogether? I'm just curious.

Jeff - The Powells, particularly Walt, felt very strongly that a good taper would easily cast 3 line wts. Most of his rods which were labeled (not all were) had at least three if not four line wts on them. Really the variance between lines, particularly back then as compared to now, was not significant. Press’ Powell Rod Co labeled most all their rods for two line wts. There were a few labeled for three and a couple of models labeled for one. Press felt that the fact that most companies were labeling their rods for one line wt was a marketing ploy. Folks love it, but one does not need a 9’ 3wt rod and a 9’ 4wt rod. I’ve found any Powell casts the marked lines very similarly. You might adjust your chosen line based on the exact fishing situation but at the end of the day the gnats assing of line wts really doesn’t make that big of a difference. Throwing an 8wt on one of these would not work well, but either a 3 or a 4 is going to be great. You take any modern graphite rod and go up or down a line wt from what it’s marked for and it’ll cast fine. In most cases you can’t even tell the difference. The Powells recognized that and as such that’s how they labeled their rods. I hope that helps.

Thanks for that insightful explanation, Rich. So it was not something unique in Powell design, they just recognized the flexibility in their rods and made that into a marketing plus.

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Originally Posted by DLJeff

Thanks for that insightful explanation, Rich. So it was not something unique in Powell design, they just recognized the flexibility in their rods and made that into a marketing plus.

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Yeah - a little bit of both I guess. They made some great rods.

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Originally Posted by Rich Morrison

Jeff - The Powells, particularly Walt, felt very strongly that a good taper would easily cast 3 line wts. Most of his rods which were labeled (not all were) had at least three if not four line wts on them. Really the variance between lines, particularly back then as compared to now, was not significant. Press’ Powell Rod Co labeled most all their rods for two line wts. There were a few labeled for three and a couple of models labeled for one. Press felt that the fact that most companies were labeling their rods for one line wt was a marketing ploy. Folks love it, but one does not need a 9’ 3wt rod and a 9’ 4wt rod. I’ve found any Powell casts the marked lines very similarly. You might adjust your chosen line based on the exact fishing situation but at the end of the day the gnats assing of line wts really doesn’t make that big of a difference. Throwing an 8wt on one of these would not work well, but either a 3 or a 4 is going to be great. You take any modern graphite rod and go up or down a line wt from what it’s marked for and it’ll cast fine. In most cases you can’t even tell the difference. The Powells recognized that and as such that’s how they labeled their rods. I hope that helps.

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Just a little factoid from way back when...........................

Many moons ago, I asked Press about the "dual line weights" on the rods.
His reply to me was "The heavier line weight is for throwing a weight forward line and the lighter is for throwing a double taper line".
I always, since then, took that as the gospel being that it was told to me by Press. :cool::cool:

And not to hijack this post..................................
Back when Press was making the "Performance Ply" blanks, I purchased a 10' 5-6 wt. 2 piece PP blank at the shop in Chico.
I wrapped it and fished it for several months before deciding to re-wrap the top section due to spine alignment.
Unfortunately, while removing the guides, some of the blue paint came off and I decided to remove all of the blue paint on the entire blank.
I re-wrapped the rod and have used it tons since then.

Anyhow, just wanted to let you know there was a 10' 5-6 wt. two piece Performance Ply blank that I bought in Chico.
Maybe it was a "prototype" that Press was working on ?????

Just a F.Y.I. for you Rich !!! :cool::cool:



Bob

Thanks Bob. Here is an excellent look at DT vs WF data. I don’t fish DT lines at all. I’ve gone with a Wulff long belly 6 for a couple of my bamboo rods. Anyway, read this excellent analysis from Chris Carlin. Shows that for 99.9% of trout fishing there really is no difference.

http://carlinbamboo.com/essays/wfdt.htm

As far as the PP rods...thanks for the info! Those blanks were coming from Performance Composites/Graphite USA - the folks that supplied Walt’s ubiquitous gray graphite blanks as well as Walt’s Dual Helix blanks. I really wish I knew the numbers and types Press had made. But the run was short for sure.

Asking price lowered to $360 each.

Last drop - $325...

What a relief that someone else grabbed that classic brown blank version! I just myself convinced that I needed it and was logging back in to shoot you a PM on that one.

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Originally Posted by Rich Morrison

Last drop - $325...

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