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Thanks guys, I truely feel blessed to have found them as well. Needless to say they have now found a home for at least the next two generations.
Hay Turtledoc would you have a dry weight on that reel? Ive seen several different versions by various makers on Ebay with the Wulff tags, some were pretty heavy. These little 7ft rods don't take a heavy reel well. Both rods are on a lighter 6wt blank, think its the one they used for the 2402. Anyway Ive lawn cast both now with a group of Abu 156 reels, they are almost a perfect balance for the rod but it also gave me a good idea that the rods are true 6wts. While I collect, I fish what I collect and intend sense neither is unfished as received to fish em both in safe waters. Another reel that balances well is a Young Pridex 3 1/4in so am definately looking to find one of the three known models of Wulff reels that will balance these light rods. The fly spin, the top rod is amost perfect with a Mitchell 408 and 4# test, that was the same combo that Lee Wulff tested it with, for his writeup the catalogue for 1970. Looks from the prototype that the top rod was way close to introduction, just never made it for some reason. That long sliding ring grip is way easy to balance just about any weight reel on. The stripping guides are ones that Garcia had made up right in the shop for the protoypes, per Lee Wulffs instructions, he liked the perfection type guides that were used early on for the early Siliflex rods.
Richard

Thanks Andy, I feel indeed blessed to have found those two rods. I have two more in the works, both Lee Wulffs personal rods as well. Whats a little different of course, easy to see is the wrap colors on the ealier fly rod prototype, however even the never produced spin fly in proper wraps was made on a lighter blank than the production pack rod. Its my belief that both are based on the 2402 blank, thus we have even with all those stiffening SS male ferrules, two rods that are true 6wts. Also interesting is the fact that the prototype fly rod doesnt have yet the quardrangle grip its a true cigar, unique to Conolon fly keeper is a smaller size on the earlier fly rod, the one on the not produced but production ready later prototype is the same as seen on the production rods.
Its extremely interesting to follow the progress of these rods at least this model anyway from concept to production with a few of the prototypes. Clearly Lee Wulff was making actual recommendations as to a final production product, not just licensing his name to a product.
I still have a few of the 2402 blanks around so will build up the fly rod version but with glass spigots just to see what it would have felt like without those clunky SS spigots. The production pack rod I have kinda feels clunky at 7ft 7wt vs the production 7ft 2 piece rod based on the same blank with only one SS spigot. While it might not ever match the feel of a one piece rod it will be interesting to see what a shorty pack rod feels like with glass spigot ferrules. I know Jesters favorite the 1975 glass spigot ferruled pack rod follows these same paterns but comes alive unlike these earlier SS spigots.
Still its fun to actually have some rods by some of our Icons, I know when I drag out my Rush Peak Silaflex based rod and fish it, I get kind of a thrill knowing it was made for one of his fishing buddies and he actually fished that rod himself in the late 50s or early 60s. I picked up Dave Witlocks Marryat at a Langs auction a while back, made a little repair to it and its now married to my Fanwing Restore. Playing in hand with rods and reels by some of the people we really respect gives a little extra to the thrill of a "fish on", guess thats why I dont lock my stuff up in a safe, I fish em. Even the collectables. Carefully. I saw your posting about disposables, Ive broken exactly one fly rod over the years, a stumbling thing in mossy rocks in a river, I tried like hell to save the rod, tearing the tendons etc in my ankle and putting me in a walker and on crutchs and cains for nearly two years. And I repaired that rod too afterwards and still fish it. To me a rod is like an old friend, very much not disposable. Also I learned to fish the actual fish either sight casting to them when possible or fishing them when I know where they are. I dont need to cast across the river, just get into a position so that a comfortable cast will put me in the fish. I rarely cast more than 50 feet, so I don't need to overload a graphite rod until it explodes. Presentation is I think alot more important than using a whaling gun to shoot line 100 feet to a spot you have no idea that fish are in. Plus as we get older, our bodies need to be thought about, fishing often 300 days a year I wear a wrist brase and take care not to over tax my body. One reason I rarely fish Graphite today, using a broom handle, pool cue or such to mussle a line across a river to nothing is not my thing. I like getting right into the hatch barefoot in summer, feel the little guys nibbling my toe hairs while I cast to their hungry brothers and sisters.
Only rod I sent back under warrantee is an Orvis TU 25th aniversary rod that need a couple of guide wraps replaced, the rod has a propritary TU guide wrap color (didnt have those exact thread colors), and they rewrapped the whole rod with the same threads because of the age involved, I'd had that rod for over 20 years and fished it by the time it went back. Plus honestly having the repair order helps keep the investment quality of that rod up, Im sure had I rewrapped it, that would not have been the same in time.
Richard

Hi Mark, well for a fact the upper reel in my avitar the Youngs 3 1/4 inch std width lightweight balances it well, Ive been using that reel on my Johnson Profile 800 7 1/2 ft 6wt for years, it was actually packed by Young for Garcia in the 60s and was sold by them with a Garcia paper decal on the box and catalogued that way as well. I also have a Farlow that looks like the one that was in the Wulff Video I will have to dig it out and see if it balances the rod too. It should its simply a 3 1/4in Beaudex lightweight but I hadn't given it a thought till you mentioned it.
Richard