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Hello
Thanks for the compliments fellas.
Allot of planning went into the series.
With the current market trend being exotic wood inserted reel seats and everything nickle and agate the " Retro "
design is not for everyone.
I decided since the blanks are so very scarce keeping the period style was a fitting tribute to earlier times
when rods were judged by their performance alone.
From the emails and comments I have received I guess less is more in some circles.

Reed Tackle was the tackle tinkers candy store,They offered the materials and tools for the do it yourself folks and custom rod builders.
They sold very high quality lure making.fly tying and rod building materials and components at reasonable prices.
The reason I believe we have never seen Reed Rods featured here is because they sold the materials not the finished rods.
I am not 100% sure they never sold finished rods but I can't find any finished rods in any of the old catalogs I have only what you need to do it yourself.
I suspect many of the rods we come across as unknown custom era rods were made from Reed stock.

If I could describe the rods action in one word it would be "Powerful " now I know that leaves allot of room for speculation
so I will do my best to give a more rounded description .
The rod loads quickly and is a joy to cast in close but it is very apparent the the rod wants more.
If you have ever driven a muscle car you would know what I am talking about you find yourself feathering the throttle to keep the rear wheels from breaking loose.
This is best achieved by what some would call underlining the rod with a double taper 4 weight for trout depending on your stroke the will rod cast and deliver sweet presentations.
The blanks are labeled 5 weight.
With the recommended 5 weight the rod is in the power band for sure and if you are not mindful you will find yourself over shooting your target.
With the 5 weight the rod is sweet but not what I would call a small stream rod great on a river like the Farmington.
Now with the 6 weight the rod just wants to shoot the line as Snook mentioned" the rod is a cannon".
I really dislike the cannon label because most rods that are cannons are not good for anything but putting lots of line in the air and on the water.
I am not a great distance caster it has never been my goal to be able to put a rod into the backing most of the fish I catch are hooked under 60' feet away.
This rod is easy to get into the backing with a 6 weight.
The rod mends line very well,the rod roll casts like a dream.

I was fishing mine on the Housatonic River a couple of weeks ago the guy next to me was pitching with a 9' 5 weight carbon rod.
The guy was double hauling to beat the band trying to reach the fish.
The guy was grunting on every other cast I thought the guy was going to pop a blood vessel or a roid.
I have a bad hip and the river has lots of boulders so I took a seat and simply started roll casting.
I was reaching the fish and started hooking up the guy asks what kind of rod is that ?
So I give him the it's just glass response.
Next thing you know we get more company more carbon casters and of course they moved in on me like a pack of coyotes moving ever closer.
So the conversation is how all the steady risers are out of reach I keep roll casting.
Now the sun is almost gone and I decided to get up, man the pain after sitting on that rock in the cold water for hours I was as stiff as a board.
You guessed it I systematically picked off 3 fish that were all in the out of bounds territory.
Afterwords I invited all the young fellas back to camp and did my best to help them understand how I could reach those fish with a 7'6" fiberglass rod.
So I would say the rod has what I call punch.
I hope I have answered your question Ken B and George H are working on a review of the rod when they are finished I will be sure to post it.
Tight Lines and Systematic Loops
Andy M

The picture above was taken in the same spot the day before by my friend Ben B.
In the picture I am fishing my REED RETRO, I am playing a large Housy Brown caught on a size 10 alder fly.