The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I think Sealey got it right when they called the rod 'Supreme', take a look at my link and the curve of that rod with a fish on. Reedling.

Just measured mine and its exactly 11ft. One node on the butt and four on the middle.

Spanish reed tends to have swellings and an uneven taper as well as a lot of 'dirty' marks in it. It's actually from India originally, not Spain
It seems it has spread around the World due to Spanish colonialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundo_donax

MDs rod does look like reed, but Reedlings does not....so I'm not sure now

It may be that when MD's rod was restored the restorer removed the enamel from the cane and this left it looking like reed, but the middle section does seem to have some swellings about it...... ???

Just for interest here's the Match Rod with its warning sticker and you can see a swollen node under that whipping:

Strange this. I've got the 12 footer which is stripped down waiting restoration. Mine is definitely whole cane butt with a whole cane middle with about 10 inches of split cane spliced in and a "twin taper" split cane tip. MD's rod does look like a spanish reed butt and middle, so I do wonder if it is a Match Rod which has been wringly labelled.

Here is a photo of the node on the butt section of mine

SeanM wrote:Strange this. I've got the 12 footer which is stripped down waiting restoration. Mine is definitely whole cane butt with a whole cane middle with about 10 inches of split cane spliced in and a "twin taper" split cane tip. MD's rod does look like a spanish reed butt and middle, so I do wonder if it is a Match Rod which has been wringly labelled.

How strange that your Supremes middle section has a spliced in split cane section whilst mine is whole. I have Just measured that section of mine and it is also apprx 10 inches excluding ferrule so they are both made to the same configuration by the looks of things.

Interesting that there was obviously some development to the rod over the years. I wonder which version is the earlier?

It's all a puzzle to me. We need a some sales brochures.

Just collected a Supreme which I got for £15 on Ebay(collection only).It came with an original bag and the original alloy ferrule stoppers.All the rings(except the butt and tip) need replacing as they are rusty.The tip is not short and the format of the rod is a cane butt section,cane middle section with a tapered insert and a split cane tip section.Can anyone suggest a suitable source for the blue thread used in the whippings?As someone said,perhaps to match the blue reel bands.Apart from the high bells everything else is in good order.

All I can tell you is that the 'Supreme' was listed in a leaflet i have for the 1958 season ... in 11ft/12ft/13ft versions ... described as "Price the same but improved finish making this rod the best quality match rod on the market."

No pictures, sadly.

It had vanished from the catalogue by 1964.