Hi folks, I'm new at this so please excuse my ignorance. I have in my possession a fly rod blank labeled Marryat Diamondback. It's a 9 ft, 3 wt. and the blank's color is green with the diamondback pattern. Beautiful blank. Could anyone tell me anything about the action, value, anything? I haven't yet built my first rod and am not convinced I need a 9 ft 3 wt at all. Info could help me decide whether it makes more sense to build it or list it on @#$%&. Thanks for any help!

Diane Maluso
Ithaca, NY

There are so many great blanks around now at very little money that I don't know if you could get much for that one. But there are some diehard Diamond Back people around. I'd guess it's worth $100 street value if I had to guess.

You can tell yourself all about the action. Just flex it a little and see where most of the initial flex takes place. If it's mostly up in the tip, then it's a fast action blank. If it flexes quickly down into the middle area then it's a medium action. If it goes on down to the handle area then it's a slow action. I tend to recall most Diamond Backs as being a medium to medium fast action.

I watch @#$%& fairly regularly and I'd be surprised to see it sell for more that $55. There's just not a big market for blanks there, and unless you happen to run into two Diamondback aficionados who bid it up sky high, you'd do better selling to a friend or keeping it. I watched a bunch of first-class Dan Craft blanks go by with very few views or bids...and these were only selling for $30 Buy It Now!

You might actually have better luck posting it on the buy/sell page here, where people know the value of the blank (a nice one, by the way). Maybe even state that you'd like to get something in trade. I had fairly good luck with that recently.

If I were in your spot, I'd build it up myself. If you like it, then fish it with reckless abandon (since it's your first rod, it probably won't be a cosmetic masterpiece). If you don't like how it turns out, throw it in the closet and leave it for a few years as your rodbuilding skills get better. You then can go back, strip it down, and rewrap it, and sell it as a finished rod.

Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2005 12:00AM by Scott Kinney.

Sounds like that blank will make a nice trout, crappy rod. If you go for trout and have room to cast no trees and bushes near for casting space, heck build it Check to see if there are CCS numbers on the CCS data site First one on left, to see if it is a true 3 wt

I guess I am one of the "diamondback nuts" that you might run into. I have no idea what a Marryat blank is and have not seen a green diamondback blank, but I think that soon before they quit selling them they were offering their rods in custom colors. I have heard of plum and blue.

I am mostly familar with the "classic trout" and the "western" series of blanks. does your blank have spigot ferrules or tip over butt?

If you decide to sell it, post it on this board or give me a heads up if it goes on @#$%&. I really don't need another rod, but a 3 wt diamondback is tempting if the blank is anything like the classic trout blanks.

My guess is that it originally was a $225 plus blank that you can get maybe 50 to 75 for if you decide to sell it. That is about where I would be comfortable buying. One reason is that Diamondback dumped a bunch of blanks at one time and there were a lot of seconds and discounted blanks around for a long while. Another reason is that there are a wealth of fairly inexpensive, good blanks on the market now to choose from so why take a chance?

Most likely the blank will make into a slow action, very smooth, slight heavy 3 wt. Some of the diamondback blanks can be fairly fragile, some seem tough as nails. You might try rating it on the CC system. Most diamondback blanks don't have the line weight on the blank. I built a 6/7 without checking it and it turned out to be a 5.