For sale here is a Paul H. Young Perfectionist bamboo fly rod. This rod and other items soon to be listed here (including an amazing Art Flick collection) come from the Cardell family of Birmingham, Michigan. The Cardells were close friends with the Youngs and this rod was made as a family Christmas gift in 1954 for Kent Cardell, son of Paul Cardell. Kent and his brother Jim both received Perfectionist rods at the same time from Paul Young. I have included a photo here of Paul Young presenting Jim Cardell his Perfectionist rod in 1954 at the Cardell's home. Jim said Kent didn't fish the rod much at all and that's why it has been preserved in such fine condition. Jim Cardell has also sent me a few very interesting photos of Paul Young with his father, Paul Cardell, as well as three correspondence letters from Martha Young, one written to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Cardell in 1975 and two written to Jim as late as 1993, when Martha was 94 years old!

According to Bob Golder, the Cardell family had a history of modifying rods and doing unique collaborations with Paul Young. See here for more discussion. Since the families were close, the sons visited Paul's rodmaking shop often and in this case, Kent was involved to a very limited extent with Paul in applying the windings to his rod, as is stated on the rod inscription. In reality, Jim says Paul simply let Kent hold the rod to get a feel for how Paul applied the wraps, so Kent didn't really do the wrap work. The rod has 3x3 node spacing on all sections. Rod has an impregnated finish to it, which is another very scarce feature that makes this rod even more interesting. The ferrules are of a featherweight aluminum and the ferrule fit is not super tight, but tight enough in my opinion and still result in a nice "pop" when disassembled. The rod comes with a dry and wet tip. The wet tip has an unfortunate node crack that may need to be addressed with an clear silk wrap (this can be seen in the last photo). Otherwise, the rod is in excellent+ condition. All original and full length. Ventilated grip with very nice cork work. Original bag and tube.