# harrington



## fabian31268 (Jul 31, 2005)

HARRINGTON Texas surf Master anyone know about these rods and what the model number is


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## LongRodMaster (Mar 5, 2005)

Harrington Blanks in my opinion are hands down the best surf rod blanks. I have never heard of a Texas surf master bust be what the person who built it called it. The typical surf rod blanks were 555, 553, 552, 550, 542, 540, and there was a 700 series that some used but was to light for my likeing all these blanks ranged from 10' to 8' in length and a 20 to 12 size tip. The most popular blank I believe was the 552 10' length.


Hope this helps some.


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

THey went out of business about a year. I don't know if you can still get one. If you can, I bet they are jacked up on the price.

IMHO, Harringtons are the best for pier and jetty fishing. I have owned 2 for 20 years and still fish them. However, for casting in the surf, I'll take a Breakaway rod over a Harrington any day.


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## Doc Labanowski (Jan 9, 2006)

Hi Andrew. Do you know is Jean is still alive? I lost contact several years ago and this is the first I heard they were out of business. I just found one of their catalogs from 1959. A real treasure.


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

Doc Labanowski said:


> Hi Andrew. Do you know is Jean is still alive? I lost contact several years ago and this is the first I heard they were out of business. I just found one of their catalogs from 1959. A real treasure.


If Jean is the lady that owned it, I think she is atill alive. I heard what the story was about them closing shop, but I forgot. I believe it was a death in the family. There are others on this board who probably know better than I.

BTW, you got a great weaving video if this is you!


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## ellisredfish (Jul 5, 2005)

Yes, Doc is the weaving guru. I invited him to join our group. For those of you that don't know Doc, he is in my humble opinion, of the top three in the world, Hiro Tanaka from Japan, Jim Upton and Doc from California. There others I'm sure but these three guys are the ones that don't mind sharing what they know. It is like having Lefty Kreh as a member on your fly tying board. 

By the way, Mr. Moderator, why don't we have a section on fly tying on this board? There are some great fly tiers in our area and I would really like to see some of their work on this site.


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## Arlon (Feb 8, 2005)

Love them or hate them I guess. I believe Harrington got their start building whip antennas for the military and they never changed the taper. My first few surf rods where made on harrington 552's and I fished them for a few years. I thought they where great until I tried something else and realized the harringtons where about a step above a calcutta cane rod. They are like casting with a broom stick. Everyone told me the 552 with 80lb class boat rod guides was the ONLY surf rod in the universe as far as they where concerned and I believed them for quite awhile. When I tried some other blanks and taller guides, a lot of my fishing buddies harringtons went to garage sales. I like a more progressive taper and stronger butt section personally. A little faster rod makes for a lot better casting and more forgiving when a big fish decides it's time to run to Cuba. Best blank I've ever found was an 11ft 2pc. carbon fiber bottom with glass tip Contender (sadly out of productin like every other good blank that came along). Some of the old Fenwicks (1pc) where pretty good too. I built a few rods on LCI graphite blanks that where pretty good but I never had confidence in them. I was always waiting for the graphite to break (though it never did) when I was trying to drag a big ray off the bottom. The harringtons basically have no action. I'm sure they have their place, it just isn't for me. I guess if you fish with a pound of bait or need 1lb sinkers and 40+ pound line, the Harrington might be necessary. 

I also make my own sinkers that have adjustable and resetable, replaceable stainless grapple hooks on them. A couple of them are probably 20 years old now and have had the wires changed once or twice. One of them in 6oz will hold better than a run of the mill 12oz sinkler with copper wires so I don't need to cast as much weight. Sometimes an 8oz may be necessary to get through the wind but that's as heavy as I ever have had to cast. Once they are broken loose from the bottom, the stay broken loose and there is no "dragging" them back to the beach either... Arlon


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

Arlon said:


> Love them or hate them I guess. I believe Harrington got their start building whip antennas for the military and they never changed the taper. My first few surf rods where made on harrington 552's and I fished them for a few years. I thought they where great until I tried something else and realized the harringtons where about a step above a calcutta cane rod. They are like casting with a broom stick. Everyone told me the 552 with 80lb class boat rod guides was the ONLY surf rod in the universe as far as they where concerned and I believed them for quite awhile. When I tried some other blanks and taller guides, a lot of my fishing buddies harringtons went to garage sales. I like a more progressive taper and stronger butt section personally. A little faster rod makes for a lot better casting and more forgiving when a big fish decides it's time to run to Cuba. Best blank I've ever found was an 11ft 2pc. carbon fiber bottom with glass tip Contender (sadly out of productin like every other good blank that came along). Some of the old Fenwicks (1pc) where pretty good too. I built a few rods on LCI graphite blanks that where pretty good but I never had confidence in them. I was always waiting for the graphite to break (though it never did) when I was trying to drag a big ray off the bottom. The harringtons basically have no action. I'm sure they have their place, it just isn't for me. I guess if you fish with a pound of bait or need 1lb sinkers and 40+ pound line, the Harrington might be necessary.


I agree with a lot of what you are saying Arlon! I do believe Harringtons and rods like them are still good for pier fishing where they can take a better beating than the High modulus long casting blanks can.

However for surf fishing, I started fishing with Breakaway Surf rods a few a years ago on the beach. Now, I don't even want to cast my Harringtons.


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## cubanfisherman (Nov 9, 2005)

*harrintong*

hey arlon I came from cuba I did not see any fish going back


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## Arlon (Feb 8, 2005)

cubanfisherman said:


> hey arlon I came from cuba I did not see any fish going back


Are you sure? there is one trailing about a 10 yds of 125lb mono leader. Was a few years ago but I'm sure that's where he was going. He came within a few yards of spooling a 6/0 penn full of 60lb, never slowed down...

Those lighter tipped rods actually let you see light bites and those pesky little hardheads that somehow manage to get hooked on a big chunk of bait will let you know they are there. I like to carry the lighter "long rods" (8-10ft) offshore for jig casting duty. Nothing casts a jig or kastmaster spoon offshore like a 10ft light surf rod. Lot more fun when you hook up too. Guys fishing the jetties are mising some fun by just carrying "boat" rods on their boats..

Note the double handed rod I'm using here.. When you can cast 80yds down the jetties (CT caged 6500) from your boat it does open up some more areas to fish without loosing your anchor..


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## ellisredfish (Jul 5, 2005)

It is a miracle, Arlon! Look at the image on your right knee. It looks like a fish. How old is the cooler in your boat? I haven't seen a red Igloo in ages.


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## RAMON (May 23, 2004)

I got the same storie about harrington rods being made from old military antaneas Artie hebert told it to me and then showed me one of the very first rods that harrington put out that was made out of rawhide. it was pretty neat to see something like that 

Ramon


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## Arlon (Feb 8, 2005)

ellisredfish said:


> It is a miracle, Arlon! Look at the image on your right knee. It looks like a fish. How old is the cooler in your boat? I haven't seen a red Igloo in ages.


That cooler has been around for a LONG time. It was my first big cooler I got when I started surf fishing about 25yrs ago. I got it second hand in a garage sale. The inside has epoxy patches, the handles have been replaced 2-3 times. The hinges are now hardware store door hinges and it still keeps things cooler than the new ones... And yes I still use it even though it clashes with the color of the boat (most any boat). Cooler is now on it's second boat. That picture is about 8 years old in my old surf dory I built. Arlon


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## Angler 1 (Apr 27, 2005)

Friend of mine has a few Harringtons 4 sale. i think they are 542 custom wraped. They are very nice rods. i belive he wants $150.00 EACH. YOU CAN P.M. him he goes by
spotsndots1


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