McCloud Bamboo Fly Rod 7'3" 3-wt Medium Fast | Gary Howells Taper

A refined 3-weight that packs down.

The McCloud runs off Mount Shasta through deep canyon and forest. The best of it is not the water you park next to. It is the water you walk into, where wild trout hold in flat runs and watch a fly land before they decide. That fishing rewards a light rod and a soft touch.

At 7'3" in a 3-weight, the McCloud puts a small dry exactly where you want it. The medium-fast action turns over a long leader and still holds up when an afternoon breeze comes down the canyon. It breaks into three pieces, so the rod that fishes technical water is also the rod you can carry in to it.

Three Pieces, About 30 Inches

A two-piece 7'3" rod travels in a tube around 46 inches long. That is a closet and a truck bed. Broken into three, the McCloud rides in a tube just over 30 inches. It straps to a pack, lies flat in a duffel, and goes in an overhead bin without a conversation at the gate.

We will be straight with you about what that does and does not mean. This is not a rod that disappears inside a daypack. That takes four pieces, and on a rod this light the extra ferrule costs you more feel than the packing is worth. Three pieces is the point where a 3-weight still casts like a 3-weight and still goes where you are going.

The Howells Taper

Gary Howells built rods in California and came up through E.C. Powell's shop. Collectors know his work for its precision. He built for anglers who fished western water and wanted a rod that simply worked.

This is a medium-fast 3-weight. The tip recovers fast enough to straighten a twelve-foot leader over a fish that has seen a few flies. The mid-section carries more spine than most 3-weights, and that is what keeps a rod this light honest when the wind picks up.

Howells never numbered his tapers the way Payne and Dickerson did. His rods are known by length and line weight, so this one is what it says it is: a 7'3" 3-weight Howells.

Built the Way a Bamboo Rod Should Be

The McCloud is hand-planed to the standard that has defined Headwaters rods since 2002.

The fittings: A finely knurled double-locking downlocking reel seat with stabilized burled maple insert. Ultra-fine cork grip. Red agate stripping guide. Hard chrome guides wrapped in deep burgundy thread with a narrow black tip.

The tube: Cordura rod tube with rod sock included.

Choose Your Version

The Favorite | $650 - Single-tip version for the angler who wants to get on the water first. Same rod, same fittings, same hand-planed cane. Clear upgrade path to the Deluxe when you're ready.

The Deluxe | $750 - Two tips, two sections of extra security. The complete rod as it was meant to be fished. A second tip on its own is $150, so the Deluxe is the cheaper way to own both.

Add the matching reel at half price. At checkout you can add a Clark Fork 2.5 fly reel, sized to this rod. It sells for $275 on its own, and it's $137.50 with the rod. Line it yourself, or add Line It and we'll spool it ready to fish.

Specifications

• Action: Medium Fast
• Length: 7'3"
• Line weight: 3-weight
• Pieces: 3 (Deluxe includes extra tip)
• Construction: Solid
• Taper: Gary Howells 7'3" 3-weight
• Reel seat: Downlocking, double-locking knurled nut, stabilized burled maple insert
• Grip: Ultra-fine cork
• Stripping guide: Red agate
• Guide wrap: Deep burgundy with black tip
• Tube: Cordura with rod sock

No Risk. Our Promise.

Fish it for 30 days. If it's not the rod you hoped it would be, send it back for a full refund, no questions asked. The lifetime warranty covers the original owner for as long as you fish it.