Butt Spears

Question
Sir: I have inherited two fly (ogden and hardy)rods from my uncle.  I am not a fly fisherman.  The question I have is what is a butt spear and what is it used for?  I have never seen anything like this before.  I have fished for quite a long time and this is new to me.  Thank you for your help.

Answer
Patrick, I hadn't the slightest idea what a butt spear was.  I do not often answer questions of this type because it is way out of my expertise. However, I became curious myself and did some research.  After several failures I finally found it.  It is described in one sentence in Isaac Walton's famous book "The Complete Angler" written in the 16th century I believe.  "There should be a movable spike to screw into the ferrel at the base of the butt-end, to fasten in the ground when occasion requires."  (Walton, 323).  You can find this by making a Google search for what is a "butt Spike" for a fly fishing rod?  This is found in the last sentence in the next to last paragraph on page 323.

So we both learned something from your question.  Thank you for calling on me to answer your question even though it was not truly in my line of expertise.

Jack L. Gaither             (JackfromSeminole)
Lake Seminole, Georgia