Help me ID / value a salmon fly rod?

[philocalist]

A first post in the 'Fly' section, so be gentle with me, OK?

 

I've what appears to be a very nice salmon fly rod, with no indication at all about it's provenance ... it's totally unmarked by any manufacturers mark.

I'm hoping a decent description might ring a bell with someone out there, or at least get me heading in the right direction, so:

 

Supplied in it's own tube, 57" long, 2.5" diameter. Black 'satin' interior, exterior is typical ripstop nylon type material, a mid bottle-green with black webbing and carry strap / handle.

 

The rods itself is a four piece, supplied with two identical tops, i.e. 5 pieces in total. Assembled length is 175.5" / 14ft 7.5inches / 4.45metres.

Butt section, unringed, with hook-keeper is 45.75inches / 116cms. Next sections are all 46" / 117cms, 3 rings, then 4, with 7 on the tip section.

First two rings are triple-legged, silver and lined silver, all other rings are single legged and unlined (silver).

Rod construction is a dark coloured (charcoal?) carbon blank, rod finish is a very deep lustrous dark olive green, with whippings that are probably a very similar colour but appear so dark under the finish that they could almost be black.

Overall construction of the rod appears to be absolutely first-class, certainly on a par with some hand-built rods I've got from quality 'name' builders, and definitely as good or better than anything I've commonly seen offered commercially.

Handle / butt is typical double-handed affair of cork. Total length is 21", split 12.5" above, and 5" below, the reel seat, which is of a dark bronze alloy construction (again, unbranded), and measures 3.5". Handle is still plastic - wrapped: cork which 'trumpets' / flares slightly either side of the reel seat and again at the butt and leading edge of the handle, where there is also what appears to be a metal ring / collar at the joint of handle and blank. Cork is 'proper' cork rather than laminate or composite, and there is a darker quarter-inch band around the handle at either end and either side of the reel seat (that DOES appear to be some sort of cork composite, a speckled, 'peppery' effect).

If I thought that photos would give any more info, I would post them, but it's unlikely ... so over to you ... HELP!

[philocalist]

HMMM ... 3 weeks later, 170 viewers and a total blank

Is there really no-one who could take an eductaed guess at this one?

[Dick Dastardly]

Hard without a photo mate but that cosmetic scheme sounds like/similar to one that Ryobi/Masterline used to use but most of their rods have a very poor/lumpy finnish.

[philocalist]

Hard without a photo mate but that cosmetic scheme sounds like/similar to one that Ryobi/Masterline used to use but most of their rods have a very poor/lumpy finnish.

 

 

Thats part of the problem here: a photograph would literally show nothing that cannot be better described verbally (in this case) ... the blank to the eye is a very deep green, for example, yet would (does!) show as black in a photo.

 

I'm really struggling to ID the rod: the nearest I can see is one of the offerings from SONIK, and Hardy comes close too, but in both cases there is enough of a difference to make me belive that the rod is neither.

 

I thought perhaps that the extra top section, supplied as standard, might have narrowed it down a bit ... or is that commonplace?