section ‘springing’ slower or quicker than the others, the rod’s action was totally married, resulting in a very powerful through-action.
Like many great inventions, the ‘Grant Vibration’ rod was born out of necessity. Grant’s home water was his beloved River Ness, which runs from Loch Ness, through the town of Inverness. The Freeday on the Ness was open to residents of the town every eighth day of the season and like all town water, had many anglers of notable casting skills. To cut the mustard on a river like this, you had to be able to throw a long line, not only to cover as much of this immense river as possible, but also to cast farther than fellow anglers. At this Grant excelled.
It was recorded that the rod’s maiden voyage on the Ness, Grant outcast his fellow anglers by at least ten yards. This additional water coverage resulted in several salmon falling to his fly and his reputation as a caster and an angler grew with each cast. After that day, he became renowned for taking salmon at extreme distances and would often be summoned to the river by fellow anglers unable to reach a repeatedly rising fish. On one occasion, Grant summoned to the ‘General’s Well’ on the town water to cover a fish many of the local worthies had unsuccessfully tried to hook. The salmon was still rising from the same lie as he arrived at the river and as word of the challenge spread among the town’s angling fraternity, a healthy crowd of spectators began to gather. As Grant began lengthening his line, words of both encouragement and ridicule echoed from the riverbank. With a long length of line hanging straight on the ‘dangle’, he lifted the rod, switched the angle of the line and belted out a huge cast, with the 4/0 double iron landing just above the rising fish. As the fly began to swing, the line jumped tight as the salmon intercepted the 2” double. The fresh fish was swiftly landed and dispatched and stretched the scale to 8lbs. Afterwards the distance from Grant’s stance to the backwater where he hooked the fish was accurately measured and recorded as 47 yards.