This year, we proudly celebrate our 50th anniversary. It’s been a journey filled with fun, firsts, camaraderie, and a half century of handcrafting high performance fly rods.
In contemplating the most fitting tribute to the anglers who fish Scott rods, the rod smiths that craft them, and the rod designs of Harry Wilson, Larry Kenney, and Jim Bartschi, we picked one rod from each decade that exemplifies Scott innovation and, in some way, changed the way we fish.
Each was chosen from an award-winning series of Scott rods that are even more celebrated by the anglers who fish them. For those anglers, these are ‘never part with’ rods.
Rather than replicating the originals, we decided to build the blanks to spec with a resto-mod approach to finishing them. They will be instantly recognizable to Scott history buffs, but we’re introducing some new surprises by finishing them with today’s best in class components and construction techniques.
In celebration we offer these tribute fly rods with a heartfelt thank you to the whole Scott family.
The ARC series of salmon and steelhead rods were the first rods to deploy ultra-light weight unidirectional graphite laid up off the zero-degree axis. Now found in many premium fly rods, it was a major innovation when introduced.
The material and construction breakthrough allowed us to make some of the lightest and smoothest double handers of their time. Gone were the days of heavy lumbering two handers that tired anglers out after a half day of fishing.
The 1287/3 is still one of our most searched for salmon and steelhead rods.
Assembly and Disassembly
Grasp the opposing rod sections close to the ferrule without touching the guides and firmly push them together with a downward twisting motion until the sections are aligned and tightly seated. Disassemble by pulling and twisting apart with your hands close to each ferrule but not touching the guides. Internal ferrules should have a 1/8-1/2 inch gap between sections to allow for proper flex and wear.
Effects Of Water On Your Rod
Your rod is made to perform on the water and is designed to get wet. It is not made to withstand storage while wet. Always completely dry your rod before storing it. Otherwise, you will have mildew, mold, damage to the finish, and/or corrosion on your rod next time you take it out of its case. Always rinse your rod with freshwater and dry thoroughly if you’ve used it in salt water.
Preventing Rod Breakage
Avoid hitting your rod with hard or sharp objects like tree branches, weighted flies, split shot, or rocks. This can either break the rod or cause damage that will lead to breakage. When fishing sinking lines, casting in windy conditions or using roll casts and spey style casts, periodically check the sections of your rod to make sure they are still assembled tightly and properly aligned. If the sections are not fit tightly, it’s possible to break the rod during a cast or while fighting a fish. When fighting and landing fish, avoid rod angles greater than 45-50 degrees. Never lift a fish so that the butt of the rod is pointing at the fish (high sticking) or use your hand to lift fish from the middle of the rod. To dislodge a snagged fly, point the rod directly at the snag and pull back on the line until the fly dislodges or the tippet breaks. It is much less expensive to lose a fly than to break a high performance hand crafted rod. When stringing your rod, fold the end of the fly line in two and pull it and the leader straight through the guides without bending the rod. The tip of your rod is the most vulnerable section as it is fine in diameter, light weight and usually nine or more feet away from you. Most fly rods are broken in car doors, windows, ceiling fans, vacuum cleaners, pets, or just about anything other than actual fishing. Extra awareness when moving with your rod assembled or setting it down will extend its life. Please take good care of your rod, and it will take good care of you.
