Originally Posted by
M R Dux
Boy do I have some memories of the Browning Silaflex rods.
During my bass tournament days of the late 70s and early 80s they were tops. I was making $5 an hour at a chemical plant and they were mostly out of my reach. I did end up with a couple I bought used and loved them.
Funny story about Browning. A buddy who made even less $$ than I did saved up and sold whatever he could to buy a new Browning boron rod. It was in the $100 price range and his prize possession.
We were fishing late fall on Lake Jackson near our Conyers, Ga homes. We were throwing cranks on a point when Andy hung his bait.
He maneuvered the boat directly over the snag and ran the rod down to poke it loose. Not only was the bait hung but now his $100 boron rod was too! His first words were along the line that his wife would kill him if he damaged that rod!!
He had me hold the rod and use the trolling motor to keep us directly over the snag while he stripped down to his underwear. He slipped over the side and dove down. He then popped up with his rod, his bait, and a bed spring from a full sized bed. We cut the bait and rod loose and the springs were returned to the bottom. I then pulled him back over the side.
Even though the water temp was probably in the mid 50s, we finished out the trip with no other disasters.
Those boron rods ended up being recalled by Browning because they were not only super sensitive but also super brittle and when broken, would essentially come apart like needles. I guess some folks were stabbed by the shards so Browning pulled that model off the market.
Andy got his refund on the boron in Silaflex rods.
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I remember those boron rods, though never owned one. For me a Lew’s graphite speed stick was the deal. Most had short handles, when I got a 7 foot extra heavy with the two-fisted long handle, diamond-patterned - I was on top of the world. I was into bass fishing and crossing their eyes then
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