This is a Paul H. Young Dry Fly Special, 7-1/2', 3/2, cap and ring, Detroit stamp on cap, very finely mortised wood seat (cherry? cedar?), cigar grip,
metal winding check, ring hookkeeper, swelled butt, orange and black wraps below hookkeeper, black wraps at guides with dark staining of cane at these wraps,
plus other black stains (not flame marks) elsewhere, red agate stripping guide, inked handwriting "Paul H. Young / Dry Fly Special" on two flats, two
tips are each a bit short. The gunk on the butt cap cleaned off; at first I thought it was corrosion, but it was just dirt. The wooden spacer looks almost too
good to be true. Node spacing is random. Ferrules (which are a question mark as to origins) fit together well, and the rod sections are quite straight and
nicely aligned when the rod is put together. Has been in one owner's hands for thirty years; he never fished it. The aluminum tube has a tight-fitting
slip-top cap; it pulls straight on and off the tube. The bag is green, dirty, and worn at both ends;shows much more wear than you would expect at first from
looking at the rod.
A couple of people to whom I sent photos responded with cautious suggestions that this is mostly a much-refinished, late 1920's - early 1930's Heddon-built or Heddon kit rod. If this rod is 1920's, it is a VERY early Young. And yet, the butt cap has the classic Detroit stamp on it. It looks identical in every way to the stamps on my Young rods built decades later. So if this rod is authentic, it could mean that Young designed that butt cap stamp very early, and stuck with the design forever (even after the company moved to Traverse City after Young's death, they STILL used the Detroit stamp!).
This thought led me to look at my earliest PHY Co. catalogs. I have one from 1933, some materials from 1937, and an undated catalog that is at least early 1930's and possibly earlier, as Young lists his occupation as taxidermist first, before adding "fishing tackle." Going back to these early catalogs, I see that a lot of stuff that was available in later years was already available in 1933, such as the Trik-Kutter, and the PHY line and leader gauge. So maybe the Detroit stamp for rod identification was already designed and in use by that time too... or perhaps not! Another person to whom I sent photos thinks this rod started as a 1930's rod that Paul Young rebuilt sometime later, adding the butt cap at that later time.
This kind of guessing is necessary because rod descriptions are vague or non-existent in the 1930's Young catalog materials. It was the Depression, and Young had to build rods, or subcontract their assembly, using whatever materials might be scrounged at any given time to try to make a buck. So probably rods varied a lot within a given model like the "Dry Fly Special." The 1933 catalog does say that Dry Fly Specials are 8'0" or 8'6". A 7'6" model is not mentioned there.
I have seen one other Dry Fly Special with wraps and handwriting like this rod. "Mainiac" and I saw it at Bob Selb's booth at a Lang's 2006 show. It has a similarly-shaped (but dark) winding check, a similar pattern of wraps securing the hookkeeper followed by decorative wraps, and in the SAME handwriting is inked "Paul H. Young / Dry Fly Special" in two lines. I think that the handwriting may be Young's, but no one is required to agree with me. The grip and seat on that rod at Lang's were entirely cork.
Would appreciate all your thoughts and observations about the rod's possible origins. Many thanks ... Bob
A couple of people to whom I sent photos responded with cautious suggestions that this is mostly a much-refinished, late 1920's - early 1930's Heddon-built or Heddon kit rod. If this rod is 1920's, it is a VERY early Young. And yet, the butt cap has the classic Detroit stamp on it. It looks identical in every way to the stamps on my Young rods built decades later. So if this rod is authentic, it could mean that Young designed that butt cap stamp very early, and stuck with the design forever (even after the company moved to Traverse City after Young's death, they STILL used the Detroit stamp!).
This thought led me to look at my earliest PHY Co. catalogs. I have one from 1933, some materials from 1937, and an undated catalog that is at least early 1930's and possibly earlier, as Young lists his occupation as taxidermist first, before adding "fishing tackle." Going back to these early catalogs, I see that a lot of stuff that was available in later years was already available in 1933, such as the Trik-Kutter, and the PHY line and leader gauge. So maybe the Detroit stamp for rod identification was already designed and in use by that time too... or perhaps not! Another person to whom I sent photos thinks this rod started as a 1930's rod that Paul Young rebuilt sometime later, adding the butt cap at that later time.
This kind of guessing is necessary because rod descriptions are vague or non-existent in the 1930's Young catalog materials. It was the Depression, and Young had to build rods, or subcontract their assembly, using whatever materials might be scrounged at any given time to try to make a buck. So probably rods varied a lot within a given model like the "Dry Fly Special." The 1933 catalog does say that Dry Fly Specials are 8'0" or 8'6". A 7'6" model is not mentioned there.
I have seen one other Dry Fly Special with wraps and handwriting like this rod. "Mainiac" and I saw it at Bob Selb's booth at a Lang's 2006 show. It has a similarly-shaped (but dark) winding check, a similar pattern of wraps securing the hookkeeper followed by decorative wraps, and in the SAME handwriting is inked "Paul H. Young / Dry Fly Special" in two lines. I think that the handwriting may be Young's, but no one is required to agree with me. The grip and seat on that rod at Lang's were entirely cork.
Would appreciate all your thoughts and observations about the rod's possible origins. Many thanks ... Bob
