Fly rod identification

[MarkG]

I have a rod, fly rod 9.5ft with the moniker "The Drayo Dande Luxe 9 1/2" and something like J Resh and Sons Ltd , 40 Grays Inn Road, WE 1, London printed along the base but very fine. Might be Resk not Resh It looks like split cane but not old, maybe specially made for someone. I cannot find anything on Google and the address comes up as a dentists! It's 2 piece and very well made with a ferrule stopper made of wood. Anyone got any ideas--thanks.

[MarkG]

I will get some pictures up later, and thanks, that looks interesting.

[MarkG]

It must be Peek and sons, there appears to be a repair in the top section but a very good one and it is de luxe. I guess rings must be new, any idea as to age or any info about these, cannot find anything online and is it a good rod?. here are some pictures.

[Iasgair]

That's a good looking rod and the only way to find out if it's as you asked, " is it a good rod ?" you will be the judge of that. Find out what weight line feels best on it and fish it. Soon you'll have your answer.

A 9 1/2 foot rod that's two piece is something I have never seen because here in the U.S.A anything over eight feet is three piece. I'm unfamiliar with your rod, but I'd guess it's a pretty nice rod for being moderate priced as your booklet says. Probably in the same realm of our Dickerson rods that were known to be rods for the common man, and there isn't anything wrong with a Dickerson fly rod. All my bamboo rods are made with a Dickerson taper and I love them.

So get some line on it, take it out to a park or water and test cast it. You might be surprised.

[MarkG]

Thanks for that, I might give it a go however, I do not do much fly fishing, a bit of chub in the summer. I have too many fly rods as it is, about 5 I think. I will make my mind up sometime with this rod. I am not actually sure if it is split cane, something does not quite look right to me; still a nice rod though if it isn't. I bought another rod with it, a Millwood Flycraft 3 piece that has an XXX on the rod, is this fly line strength?

[Iasgair]

Thanks for that, I might give it a go however, I do not do much fly fishing, a bit of chub in the summer. I have too many fly rods as it is, about 5 I think. I will make my mind up sometime with this rod. I am not actually sure if it is split cane, something does not quite look right to me; still a nice rod though if it isn't. I bought another rod with it, a Millwood Flycraft 3 piece that has an XXX on the rod, is this fly line strength?

It's not silk fly line weight. But I am trying to find out what the XXX means from a friend of mine who builds bamboo rods.

[Olly]

A look at the Milward catalogues may give you the correct answer. You will find them by Googling the following:- splitcaneinfo.com

Looking at the Peek's rod it does look like the label is 'Gray's Inn de Luxe' - - then again that may be my eyes!

[Iasgair]

I can maybe agree with Rod Fisher about if the markings are on the ferrule, but why use three X's? My bamboo rod maker said it could be used for a prototype of some kind or a specific taper design, but he really doesn't know. Could also be how different fly rod makers who build the same rods mark their build so they know who built it. It's common to see a private fly rod maker here in the states do something of that nature so they know it's their build from a copy. That would make the best sense to me, but I'm unfamiliar with Millwood rods.

I have looked at Millwood Fly craft and all I see are boats with that name. As for the J.Peek & Son fly rod, nothing can be found on the web site either that I can see. Seems to me you may have two rods that are obviously not made any more and there is no information on them anywhere. You hang onto those two rods and don't get rid of them.

You may want to try an auction and see if any historian knows anything about these two rods. I'm sorry I can't help any more with this, but if you do happen to find anything let us ( especially me ) know because I am very curious about these X's.

[MarkG]

Thanks for all the replies, here are some pictures that may help a bit, the last picture is of a greenheart rod I use regularly compared with the grays inn road and they look very similar which is why I am wondering if it is actually greenheart or something else and not split cane, knowing when the rod was made might help.
The second picture is of the Millwood logo and the three XXX on the opposite side of the logo right near the handle. This is a three piece with a spare tip joint. Looks like a nice rod as well, it has Flycraft above the logo.

[MarkG]

the last picture is of a greenheart rod I use regularly compared with the grays inn road and they look very similar which is why I am wondering if it is actually greenheart or something else and not split cane

If the rod is hexagonal in profile, it's split cane (also known as built cane). Both rods appear to be split cane, not greenheart. Greenheart is a dark, tropical wood (Bamboo is a grass) that was used either for the whole rod or just for the tip section. It would be round in profile.

I have had the greenheart rod fully striped down, in fact it was a lockdown project, It was very old rod with a wooden handle which I took off and I stripped it right back and put new handle and rings on it and I am sure it was not split cane but maybe I was wrong but there were no "splits" in it as far as I can remember, fishes lovely though whatever it was.
Here are a couple more shots of the millwood, it appears to be 102 inches long approx.