sale pending F.E. THOMAS 9’ DIRIGO BAMBOO FLY ROD

F.E. THOMAS 9’ DIRIGO BAMBOO FLY ROD

Here is a recently restored F.E. Thomas Dirigo, 9’ in a three-piece, two-tip format. The rod weighs 5 ounces (on my cheap digital scale) with 18/64” and 11/64” ferrules. Should be fine with a 6wt or 7wt line. The restoration was carefully done with all cane, hardware, wraps, guides, and finish fine. Man of War varnish. The stripper is Perfection, and the snakes are left twist blued steel. Reel seat is the up-locking Hardy-style seat with a hard rubber spacer. The color of the silk is a good match to original silk on Thomas rods of the period. According to the chronology in Bob Stewart and Jerry Girard’s excellent book on F.E. Thomas rods, the butt cap stamp O indicates production in 1954. There is some discoloration on the hard rubber spacer, as shown. The Thomas shield decal on the tube looks like a replacement to me, but who knows? A very nice big water or still water rod.