Milbro

[Wildfisher]

I was raking about in my fishing gear and came across this fly rod I have had since I was a teenager.
A Scottish made Milbro Tru-fly, 9 foot, for a a #6 line. Motherwell I think the factory was.
It is impossible to convey with mere words how horrible these rods were and still are.
Heavy, floppy and unresponsive. They were easy to cast though, soft actioned and very forgiving for self taught fly fishers,  ideal for ingraining sloppy,  poor casting techniques that never leave you. 

Check out the metal ferrules and tiny rod rings. Cutting edge in 1965.   :lol:

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[superscot]

Fred never had the fly rod but mind of a green coloured spinning rod which was indestructible if I mind right. Also now selling for £65 quid on eBay 

[Wildfisher]

I loved these rods Colin. but looking back they were pretty dire.  :lol:

[arawa]

I think I still have one of their spinning rods tucked away somewhere. Used it for worming in the burns with an Intrepid Black Knight reel. Back in the mid 60s I thought the rod and reel were the bees knees. Caught a lot of trout too 

[Highlander]

They were not dire at the time it was what we had. I had the same rod as a youth & never did me any harm in later years. At the time was thought to be "the best" of the hollow glass rods with it's rubber O ring at the male ferrule. Designed by Peter Anderson & certainly did not hinder his casting abilities Superscot the rod you are thinking of is the Milbro Spinwell Green solid glass with red whippings  The Milbro factory was in Carfin near Motherwell now Daiwa & still making rods to this day.
Tight Lines

[Wildfisher]

Alan if you look at he first photo you'll see the o ring has long since departed from the male ferrule on my old rod.

[Hoolet]

First rod I had after the tank Aerial was a milbro ghillie 7 foot spinning rod, it was like night & day.

Hoolet

[fergie]

I had a mibro fly rod not as old as that one. Lent to someone never to be seen again.
I still have a milbro 13ft float rod. A big yellow beastie that was well used when I got into tench fishing.
The milbro ghillie rods are pretty collectable these days.

[fergie]

Most of my holidays as a kid were to Arran which suited me fine as I was already a fishing fanatic. Brodick had a wee river full of trout near our B&B and there were wee fish off the pier and fun when the mackerel came in.
One day as I was catching the mackerel  my old man took a shot and was instantly hooked on fishing.
Later that day he spent some of his hard earned cash on a rod from the wee supermarket in Brodick. A hollow glass Milbro spinning rod. It was a cracker the best rod we had ever seen. I remember for some reason it had a huge bottom ring.
Anyway it was perfect for off the pier fishing.
When we got home my mates were all in the house and my dad thought he'd show us how strong his new rod was he picked it up by the tip end and it promptly snapped.
He ordered a new tip section I think from cafaro.
A while later we were trolling Awe (told you he was hooked) he got a snag beside the wee pier just before the islands and the tip section snapped again.
This time he just said fuck it and bought a new Mitchell carbon spinning rod a lovely rod which I still use.
I whipped a new eye onto the milbro and used it as a boat rod. I think it's still in my parents attic.

[Wildfisher]

It's not like glass rods to break that easily. Most of mine met their end in the spokes of my bike.  :lol: