I recently restored an old Montague "Flash" bamboo rod. It's a 9' 3 piece rod. There is no indication on the rod as to what weight line it uses. There is no writing on the rod at all, only the Flash decal.

Prior to wrapping and finishing the guides, I test cast the rod with the guides taped on and a 6 wt line. It cast ok, but I'm wondering if anyone knows; (1) If the Montague Flash 9 ft. rods all used the same weight fly line and (2) If so, what weight line were they designed to use? Any other information regarding these rods, i.e. date of manufacture, etc. would also be appreciated.

Thanks

Back when these rod where made modern fly lines where not available, and the lines that where around were not standardized like they are now. The easiest way to determine the fly line needed for that particular rod is to do a Common Cents analysis to determine its ERN. It is very easy to do and will certainly put you in the ball park. The Common Cents Info is given in the left hand column. I did this for several bamboo rods I restored or built, and it worked very well.
Norm