Hardy Deluxe 15' #10

[Sloggi]

Anyone used this old rod? Comments please There a few knocking about on ebay - wondered if it would handle a fast-sinking shooting head etc.

[riverwalk]

Fantastic Harling rod!!!!

[riverwalk]

Fair comment springer!!....as the rod is a 3 piece , I would recommend Runner Beans!

[Sloggi]

springer said:

Would you still drive around in a Hillman Imp?

Sorry, that's before my time - I thought they sat on one's shoulder whispering devious deeds

So, if i'm hearing you guys correctly you're not fans of this rod

[zephead]

They're ok-just old technology and heavy in comparison with modern rods.Hardly ever use mine but it strangely haven't sold it albeit was debating in the pub last week whether I should have a "heritage" sale in classifieds.

Used mine last month on the Dee-see thread Line R&D versus Rod R&D-had some enjoyable nostalgic fun with it and good to test your abilities with another rod and spot casting technique deficiencies as you are slowing things down a lot.Would have thought fun to use for floating line fishing on Upper Dee when having a slow chill out type of day where hitting the far bank wan't an issue albeit as per thread they'll chuck some line in the right hands so long as you overgun the rating as with all Hardy's of that vintage.

If you like a slow actioned rod,and I would say really now for floating line fishing only where a long line isn't imperative,then they can be fun as they are more like a cane rod.They used to be good with a DT11,and even a 12wt,Wet II but that sort of perverse masochism in public carries a custodial sentence these days.

The old Tweed boys used to use them for firing a Wet IV shooting head out of the back of a boat with an overhead cast,but that was double taper chop up job thats maybe easier to keep in the air on a softer rod than a short very heavy modern head as catching the boatman's lug/bank could be the problem with a modern line.Cleverer minds than mine could advise.

They certainly would present some repetetive strain injury if you tried to underhand cast with them as there is some waggle in them when pushed.

Borrow mine if you like to try it-zing me a pm and I'll send it up if you pay the postage or see you at Scone with it.

Interestingly they were £440 list price when they stopped making them-and that has to be nearly 20 years ago as the De Luxe Spey is over 10 years out of production,maybe more IMO-doubtless a Hardy-o-phile will tell us albeit I could have asked as I was in the factory today.Thought the Spey version had the edge because of the snake rings and have seen a few standard 15'4 "s that have been back to Hardy's to have snakes fitted-particularly two notable ghilies rods on Macallanside but let's not get revved up over that eh ClaG/WG.

Still not half the rod of a 15 ft Walker though but there's a story/thread for another night...............!

Cheers

ZH

[Sloggi]

Cheers ZH - interesting stuff. Feel free to indulge us with the Walker story...

[zephead]

Sloggi,

In the early 60's and 70's there was a race...................akin to Kruschchev versus the Free World in terms of space age technology,and,frankly,much more important than chucking big feckin' rockets at each other in salmon fuishers minds everywhere.

It was who could come up with a salmon rod lighter than even one of glass fibre and just how much better it would cast and catch fish...................

And then along came the genius of Ken Walker and Robert the Bruce,(ok made that bit up in the spirit of a Salmon(d) controlled world here in North Britain),who manufactured not one but two models of the worlds greatest salmon fishing invention to suit all types of casters,from Frankie Howerd to Lou Ferringo,which history books and many experienced rods of the day recall,pissed off Richard Waddington,as between large gins and shots at grice,sorry grouse,he had thought his eponymous shank had carried the day as THE invention of the 20th Century salmon fishing world.

Anyway up,as they'd say in Yorkshire,Mr Walker and Mr Bruce had clearly invented THE tool for fly fuishin for salmon with powerful rods in two actions,albeit the Walker in different weights could throw a fly like thistle down in high summer on a Macnab orientated Hielan' stream and yet manage to propel a tube into the icy depths with equal aplomb on a grisly Spey March morning.

The old Guard at Alnwick,in a tizzz with themslves in between tennis racket manufacture and dreaming up daft names for reels over tea and scones,invented the De Luxe as a rival some three years later having brought out all manner of dubious wallet-sapping scrap in the meantime to compete with these Johnny-Come-Latelys from Cambridgeshire.

And yet still,given the popular formula of the B&W Walker 15 ft armed with an AFTM 11 or 12 wt double taper,the old 15'4" De Luxe never really had the hard core,all purpose following of our Huntingdonshire friends invention in proper fuish killin' circles.Indeed,over drams and above chatter over the extortionate servicing costs of the new Roller dealers in Chiswick,it was the most talked about rod in Hilton Inter-Continental huts the legnth and breadth of Speyside and many were pressed into fishers hands by wise ghillies to provide a true taste of the salmon rod future.To rub salt into the wounds of our Alnwick-based freinds,the Walker even began to gain a reputation as a great rod for pulling a sinking line out of the canal below Kelso cauld and for keeping a Wet Cel II and following .243 Comet tube out of the boatman's cap on a frosty late November morning when kipper chasing from the boat.

And so it has come to pass,and yet unmarked to this day at the Alnwick museum,that this spelled the demise of Hardy as a force in salmon rod manufacture with the very sad but inevitable consequence that their blanks are now being rolled by a bunch of slopes somewhere up the Yellow River with Bruce and Walker being left as the upstanding pride of British hand-built rod production from their modest home deep in dear old Albion.

Here endeth the tale of the origins of the 15 ft Walker,Gawd Bless you my son,roll tape of Falklands invasion,Land of Hope and Glory soundtrack and Spitfire fly past..........................

Yours,as ever,

ZH

[Sloggi]

Great stuff - makes one proud to be European, sorry, I mean British

Did the Powerlite Speycaster take over from the Walker - or was that much later? It appears Hardy has overtaken B&W these days - hopefully B&W return strongly.

[castlikeaghille]

While the less said about the Bruce the better. Then quietly out of nowhere came the 'best' all rounder of its day (circa 1981); the 15' #9-11 B&W Expert - Sportsmail's standard kit offer salmon rod for much of the 1980s, along with that other icon of AA fishing the Shakey Beaulite 4 1/4".

Cringeworthy name, but could just about handle everything in a way that the deer legal caliber Walker couldn't, and, I think, the last time a British made rod was the best selling D/H rod in the country (Stato Zephead to clarify). Nostalgia ain't what it used to be etc....

[toucan]

Nostalgia's alive and well in some quarters. I'm still using my 15 ft Expert - bought for £99 in Hattons of Hereford on my 18th birthday. It was my first salmon fly rod and has landed some memorable fish - from my first on a fly to my biggest. A true allrounder and an old friend that seems to have survived the intervening quarter of a century significantly better than its owner.

Mark

[castlikeaghille]

toucan said:

Nostalgia's alive and well in some quarters. I'm still using my 15 ft Expert - bought for £99 in Hattons of Hereford on my 18th birthday. It was my first salmon fly rod and has landed some memorable fish - from my first on a fly to my biggest. A true allrounder and an old friend that seems to have survived the intervening quarter of a century significantly better than its owner.

Mark

I still have mine, purchased in April 1983 from F&D Simpson (RIP) Auld Reekie. I haven't used it in the field since November 1995, but might take it out for my next trip to Macallanside in July Anyone else still got theirs at the back of the armory?

[billytheghillie]

yes i still give mine a fling prefer it to those heavy b&w oars. and yes they are oars because being a boatman on the tweed i weighed them.

[zephead]

OOOoooooooooooohhhhhhhhh,the B&W Expert.

The mere mention of it makes me feel all Christmassy inside.

To pick up the tale,without quite so much claret as was coursing thro my venal system as last night courtesy of a joint Zephead/Arm and a Leg raid on a French restaurant,having gotten over the sheer fact that they were the cult leaders in building fuish killin' machines the scholars at B&W got down to work on their next masterpiece,the B&W Expert.

As ClaG correctly suggests the Bruce was generally an emasculated version of the Walker and testimony to this is that one hardly ever sees/saw one.It was branded as a womans rod with a much softer action than the Walker and in true British male fisher fashion it was clearly designed to be so unweildy and soft to cast with that most women who picked one up decided to stick to knitting and rearing children as a weekend pastime.It was also never made in white,eggshell blue and Smeg orange and therefore didn't match most other "for female" appliances where a supple wrist action was required. (all a joke Yorkshire Esk before I get a pm!)

Not to rest on their laurels on,as compared to the famous Brothers from Alnwick who were relying on making things that looked good laid on the back seat of Range Rovers in the tweedier regions of UK inshore waters (no-they did not do a Gillian Taylforth 9/10wt Speycaster model Splash) rather than chucking a line the next throroghbred that came out of the Cambridgeshire stable was the Expert-snappily titled and the rod the erascible H. Falkus Esq was pictured with in most of the Salmon Fishing-A Practical Guide pics.

This was a beast of a rod and had the ability,in 9-11 15 ft format to really chuck a good line-sinker or floating-and it was especially good with a Scientific Anglers DT11F or a Wet I "slime line" after a bit of judicious rolling of the line to get it to the surface.It was also made in a 16'6" legnth as well for biiigggggggg river sunk-line fishing and again was a popular rod at home and in Norway where its prowess at handling quick sink shooting heads,mending abilities and fish stopping power gave it cult status amongst the Vikings.

Clearly knowing a thing about what makes a womans mind tick the B&W cosmetic design department were definitely on top from the afternoon when,presumably over tea and scones with the Test match lapping gently in the backgroound,they decided to keep using the same real seat,handles and whipping colour thread as the original Walker.This was welcomed by many fishermen up and down the country as they were able to easily pass off the new purchase as the same old rod as last year,thus avoiding retaliatory spousal expenditure on new kitchens,bathooms,fondue sets and other trinkets of the day.

One lurks contentedly at the back of my rod cupboard like a favourite semi retired spaniel used only for early season ducks and keeping the youngsters in check,and sees occasional use with a much used original Mastery Spey line 10/11,70 ft head.It is a great fish knacking tool and kills them PTFM (Pound to the Feckin' Minute) and its a great feeling when a fish tears off line,you bend the butt into it and then calm is soon restored as the fish wallows in surrender.

The next chapter in the B&W Bedtime Book for Grown-ups has a blank set of pages under the page header reading "Hexagraph" with only a single colour plate showing a narrow draughted boat with an outboard dipping under the waves under the collective weight of 10 Hexagraph Falkus Sunk Line Specials in that salmon rod Valhalla-a mid-Tay harling boat.

Enough of this tosh-off to the pub.

DTYS!

ZH.

[altmor]

so is it a good or bad rod Zep ? (IYO)

[altmor]

buy the way - still got mine and I love it !!!

[al44]

While we're on the subject let's not forget the Cordon Bleu 13'4" and 14'. I also bought mine (14') at the tender age of 18 and it's still my only summer rod for when the rivers shrink a little. Spot on with an old Hardy St Andrew, 20 year old Hardy DT9 (in reality probably an Aircel but in perfect condition) and a few buckets of nostalgia. In truth it casts as well as the day it was made, will spey cast most of the DT9 and gives me no inclination to spend money on a modern technological overstatement.

Oh and by the way I also regularly give a 15' Walker (original purple whippings model) a regular airing. Nothing but nothing is better than a DT12 when the autumn wind is blowing hard.

[zephead]

Altmor-the Expert is grand old rod IMHO and should be treated with the respect afforded to a veteran of campaigns in the colonies or Partition.

My old back up one,(bought from Los Banditos Grasperos at Simpsons as well) was sequestered by The Duke who has just bought a Powerlite.

I like them very much and last time it flexed in anger it nailed a lurrrvly 17lber from the Ewe in the tail of McCordie's in double-quick time which met its end in the days before Raymondo.

God shout on the old Cordon Bleu-great summer rods as you say Al but again with plenty of beef to command and nail a fish.

Anyone ever use a Cairngorm................................................?

ZH

[castlikeaghille]

zephead said:

Anyone ever use a Cairngorm................................................?

ZH

One has to look no further than the tackle cupboard of Practical Gamefishing's (R.I.P) maestro (isn't that a crap BL car ed?) The MacScrabbleator. In fact, anyone fuishin' the Ashiestiel Beat of the Canal in autumn is likely to spy on the opposite bank, on a Friday, self same legendary wordsmith weilding the original 16' (weight 2lbs) with green whipings Macallangorm ...

Commeth the hour, commeth the telegraph trunk that would even have wielders of Karen Clothes Poles raising the white flag in surrender after 2 mins. If it were a film it would be released straight to video, but as it is, allegedly, a fly rod, it should reside in its rightful bargain bucket (alongside the Hexagraph) marked middle poker flee rod on the harl boot....oooohhhh yyyaaaa indeed

[zephead]

Sloggi this is a top thread-lets get back to Hardy's though as I've had another random thought..............

And whereabouts in the harlin' boat that at midnight silently and spectrally sweeps the glassy currents of salmon rod Valhalla on the Lower Tay would you be placing a glass bottomed Hardy Fibalite 15 footer in its regal shitty brown livery in comparison to the Macallangorm?

A design combo to resemble a chocolate lime boiled sweet.

Oh please ClaG,do share quickly with us your wizardly wisdom before we move onto the murkier waters of Milbro,Abu,Normark,Clan,Shakespeare Carbo (mine is still in its velour bag resplendent in bottle green formica livery) and last but not least,the Sue Burgess Diamondback.................................?

Possibly the recomended tobacco that goes with my new Bob Marley album has taken too much of a hallucogenic hold in this late hour given mentioning these old tools.

Gib' us ebry one 'a ja views maaan.

ZH

[sagecaster]

zephead said:

Anyone ever use a Cairngorm................................................?

ZH

Contrary to ClaG's sentiments, IMO it was the best sunk line rod of its era. Ok, it was a beast, heavy, ...and pole like but by god it could cope with just about any weight of line you could choose. It was a watershed for B&W as they then brought out the dreaded Hexagraph just after the Cairngorm, even heavier and some with a frighteningly undamped action.

RE: Hardy deluxe, yeah its old hat now, and it was a product of its time, so expect it to be heavy(like nearly all the rods of the early 80's) very slow actioned, but also surprisingly powerful. I've fished 13wt Heavy Revy's off mine! The thing I liked the most about this rod was when playing a fish, the suppleness meant that you felt closer to the action, more of a contest if you will. Modern Spey rods kill fish in no time, which has to be good thing in these times of C&R, however I feel more detached from the fight now, at least a 5lb grilse felt like a challenge back in those days. Hence now, I tend to fish with the 'wee rod' as often as I can now.

ZH hear hear, lets not forget the ugly days of the wielding the Milbro Ghillie, rumour has it there was even an 18ftr designed for the legends of the time, which mere mortals could only dream of using(or my local painter Jim(man mountain) who could knock out 45yds with ease).