I’ve been given a lot of rods and reels from my grandfather over the last few years. Seems every time I go for a visit I come home with some new random tackle and some stories. This one stumps me and also stumped my grandpa a bit. Barely legible on the blank above the cork in thin black handwritten cursive is : “Nyglax Gillie”(spelling could be wrong by a letter or two) to which I haven’t been able to find any information in my googling. It so faint I can’t even photograph it. The blank is a dark brown color with red and black thread accents. It measures 8.5’ and seems to cast a 5-7wt line nicely but could maybe go heavier even. The butt section is actually very powerful I was surprised with how easily I could toss 80’ of fly line in the yard but it still cast nicely with a 5wt WF line in my hands. The ferrules are tight, all the guides are in great shape, other then the patina on the cork it’s really in pretty remarkable shape . My grandpa knows little about it but knows he got it from his dad at some point. It looks like it’s been fished a lot, the wear is in the right places IMO to suggest so, however my great grandfather didn’t do a whole lot of fly fishing until a new coworker of his started trading him trips on the NF Stilly for cutts and summer run in the 1950’s. My grandpa thought maybe this rod was a gift from either that coworker or possibly some one from the Evergreen Fly Club in the early days as he became a member at that time. Anyways if anyone knows anything about when this rod may have been made that would be cool to hear. I will fish it regardless, after I clean up one of these old medalists I’ll get back on the NF stilly again in no time. Thanks.
