Wallis Wizard Rod

[elliottwaters]

Appreciate a bit of advice from any vintage tackle experts on the site.

Went to a boot fair over the bank holiday and on a stall loaded with the usual tat saw a number of old cane rods. One was a Wallis Wizard which according to the traditional tackle buffs are pretty good rods. The guy wanted £30, but after a bit of haggling, II got down to £25. The cane its self is straight and the ferrules are nice and tight. However, the rings are rusty, the whippings are frayed and it will need re-varnishing.

I have two questions, first, is it possible to do this yourself, and if so, where do I source the rings and the whipping thread, or am I better off going to a professional restorer?

Second, if I was minded to use it, are these rods all they are cracked up to be? It’s quite heavy and the balance is not helped by the short handle.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

It is indeed quite simple to re-ring the rod, I think Sean Meaghan did one a couple of years ago. He showed it to me at a fish-in and it was a superb job too.

To have it done professionally, that is a strip down, re-ring, re-whip, cork refurbishment and revarnishing will be in the region of £350 which is what mine cost a few years ago inflated to today's costs.

A fully refurbished Wallis Wizard (mine is the Super wizard) should fetch around £650 in proper auction, not flea-bay

As for using them, well, I find mine a pleasure to use and the short handle makes it easy to pass from side to side if and when necessary when playing a fish.

 

[Titus]

I've got two, where do you get this £650 from? The only ones I've heard of for that sort of money are the rare black label ones or the B James or Hardy versions
An average Allcocks gold oval label will get around £180/200 for a Wizard and around £50 more for a super and a later green oblong will make around £130/150.
I agree with the op, they are a bit unwieldy compared to modern rods and the short handle does make them tip heavy; a fact that has been recognised by several manufactures of replica wizards who make the handles longer. In fact Allcocks themselves put longer handles on later models.

 

[elliottwaters]

Thanks for the heads up gents, I wasn’t thinking of selling it, but if restored ones do go for £650 I might be tempted. As the cane is straight and the ferrules seem sound, I think I’ll have go and replacing the rings and re-whipping myself. Teamed with a centre pin or my old Mitchell 300, it will fun to do a bit of retro fishing, although I won’t be wearing a floppy hat and a tweed jacket.

 

[Titus]

Even in ropey condition you will get £80 to £100 on ebay, I would just list it and take the profit for something you are likely to use.
A poorly restored example is sometimes worse than an unrestored one, at least the unrestored one is honest whereas the poorly restored one will have to be stripped back again and redone.

 

[nicepix]

If you live anywhere near to Sheffield give Dawson's a ring. They are based on Holmes Lane and have been for many years. They will be able to restore your rod to a high standard at a reasonable price.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

I'll give you £50 for it!

As Peter says, I restored a Wizard a few years ago. I eventually sold it (for over £200) as I really didn't use it enough to do it justice. Wizards are great rod if you are fishing with them in rests, but they aren't good for trotting as they are a bit top heavy due to the short handle.

If you want to do a bit of tench fishing or general still water fishing they are good. They make quite a good rod for commercials as they can handle decent fish and they do have a lovely playing action.

Providing the rod is straight (they will all have a slight droop) and the ferrules are tight and don't knock then putting a set of new rings on it isn't too difficult. There are some things that you should remember if you don't want to ruin the rod:

Don't mess with the transfer. Even if it's damaged leave it alone. A light rub down with some fine wire wool and a coat of varnish are all it needs.

Use as close a match to the original thread colour as you can. Fish Hawk Garnet is a good match.

Use high bells rings in the smaller sizes. Keep to the original spacing and number unless you really know what you're doing.

The original butt and tip rings will usually be reusable unless the agate has cracked. The gold label Wizards usually have nickel silver ones and they will clean up.

Hopkins and Holloway (Guides n Blanks) or Chapmans of Ware are good sources of supplies. Chapmans are brilliant for advice too.

If you do decide to go ahead with a refurb then drop me a PM.

 

[elliottwaters]

Many thanks for the advice gentlemen. I’ll certainly give the refurbishment my best shot and I’ve already acquired some red silk rod whipping thread from a local tackle dealer (“I’d forgotten we had this, - no one’s asked for it for years!”). The rod has a gold oval label so I presume its one of the older ones and the rungs come up quite nicely with a bit of Duraglit so I’m wondering if I could strip them, clean them up and re-use? I’ve checked the agate on the butt and tip rungs and can see no sig of cracks or chipping. As to the varnish, I assume three or four coats of matt exterior varnish will do the trick?

 

[Sean Meeghan]

If they are the original "Bells Life" rings then by all means re-use them. It will add value to the rod, but will make fishing with it a little frustrating in the rain. The best compromise in my opinion is to buy a set of high Bells Life rings (modern hard chrome stand offs) as they still look traditional and work a bit better.

Traditonalists will look for yacht varnish (nice and shiny) and will turn their noses up at modern polyeurethanes. Having said that I've used Ronseal outdoor varnish and it worked well (don't tell anybody I did this!). Wilkinsons do a yacht varnish that I've used a fair bit and it works better than some I've tried. At about a fiver for more than enough to do a rod it is good value.

By the way, going above three coats on a rod won't add anything except weight. You may need more than three coats to make the whippings look good, but not on the rest of the rod.

 

[elliottwaters]

Well, I finished restoring the rod last week and (from a distance anyway) I think it looks pretty good. I was going to hang on until the 16th to give it a try on the rivers but couldn’t wait to use it, so I fished a local commercial on Saturday. To complete the retro experience I dug out my late dad’s Trudex centre pin and managed to find a couple of porcupine quill floats. Not sure what lines these rods are rated for (if they were ever rated at all) but a four pound main line and three pound hook link seemed about right. Bait was corn and bread flake.

I had plenty of pastie F1’s and one bigger carp of around eight pounds. I was worried that the rod wouldn’t be up to it, but the soft Avon type action coped well enough. Obviously heavier that my carbon rods and not sure I’d like to trot for more than a few hours with it, but for overall, very impressed with a bit of kit that must be a few years older than I am.

Another nice thing was the interest from other anglers. A couple saying their dads/granddads used rods like that and one young guy asking if a decent fish wouldn’t break a rod made out of “wood”.

Now, where can I get a tweed jacket and a trilby hat?

 

[Windy]

Now, where can I get a tweed jacket and a trilby hat?

There's this Doctor chappie who's retiring soon, he does a nice line in tweed which will no doubt be going second hand...

Congrats on your own version of time travel.

Refurbing something with some age to standards that will last another lifetime is good. Using it even better, far better than sticking it on sterile display on the wall. Well done you.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

Nice one Perchy! You can use 6lb line on a Wizard no problem, in fact I'd say that 6lb main line with a 4lb hook length is probably spot on. One thing to remember with cane rods is to keep the tip lower when playing a good fish. Play good fish on the middle and butt sections and you can apply a surprising amount of pressure. Remember that Chris Yates landed his record carp on a Mk IV Avon rod. A last minute lunge at the net can cost you a broken tip if you use it like carbon.