Tom Maxwell Personal Fly Rod

This rod was the personal fishing rod of Tom Maxwell, co-founder of Thomas & Thomas who later ran the Leonard Rod Company for a number of years before it closed. In addition to being one of the pre-eminent rodmakers of his generation, Maxwell was also responsible for passing on the craft to many contemporary makers, including myself, Bob Taylor, Rick Robbins, and numerous others who benefitted greatly from his patience, expertise, and generosity. This rod came to me from a mutual friend of both Tom Maxwell and mine who originally bought it from Maxwell in the early 1990's. When it recently arrived at the shop I instantly remembered having seen Tom fishing with it in and around Music Mountain, CT, where he lived after leaving Leonard and where we fished together many times. What made the rod memorable was the ingenious number of combinations that could be made out of the two-butt, two-tip system that Tom had designed, and which allowed him to fish a variety of conditions quite easily. With two butt sections of different lengths and two tips also of different lengths, this setup can be configured as a 5'4", 5'10", 6'3" or 6'10". The shorter lengths fish a #5 line and the longer configurations work best as #4. All sections have been used but are in good condition. Seeing as this was his personal rod it has no writing on the butt section, though one butt does have a "HL Leonard Co" cap, pictured left. I will provide a letter of provenance as well as the letter written to me from the current owner of this rod verifying it's authenticity. A great rod from a master craftsman who is still missed by many.