The history of fly rods

1
The History of Fly Rods

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  of-fly-rods

2
The Evolution of the Modern Fly Fishing Rod

• From Macedonia to Montana, how did we wind up
  with today's technology?
• Of all the thoughts that drift by when you're on
  the water, the history of the rod in your hand
  might not top the list. But with every cast, you
  are celebrating two millennia of angling history
  and fly rod innovation. And though the earliest
  recorded fly rods bore little resemblance to
  their contemporary kin, they satisfied the same
  fundamental desire outwitting Mother Nature amid
  her most serene landscapes.The earliest
  references to fly fishing rods date back to the
  book Aelians Natural History. Published in 200
  AD by Roman angler Aelian, the two thousand year
  old text illustrates the Macedonian fishing
  technique in which red wool and homemade hooks
  were tied to wooden branches. The wood rods of
  this period were extremely stiff and heavy,
  little more than glorified tree bows that could
  weigh  upwards of 20 pounds. These cumbersome
  casters remained the standard even during the
  time of Izaak Walton, author of one of fly
  fishing's defining works, The Compleat Angler.

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3
The 17th and 18th Century Picture

• In the 17th century, long and hefty branches
  began to evolve into more modern forms, with
  craftsmen hollowing fly rods to reduce their
  weight. Then came one of the most substantial
  developments in the history of the fly rods as
  builders experimented with various types of wood
  and joined the pieces to create custom rods, the
  first ferrule systems came to be and made way for
  countless variations in fly rod tapers.
• Materials varied geographically, but the
  Greenheart wood variety was a favorite as
  recently as the Hardy fly rods of the 1960s.
  Nothing, however, compared to the bamboo fly rods
  which gained great popularity in the 18th century
  for their lightweight composition and pliability.
  In 1845, an American violin maker named Samuel
  Phillipe created what is believed to be the first
  split cane fly fishing rod, encouraging many
  American anglers to develop new tapers and modify
  ferrule systems with this technique. The early
  split cane rods were 3 and 4 strip designs and
  after a few years, 6-strip rods were also
  introduced. According to some sources, Hiram
  Leonard, the founder of H.L. Leonard Rod Company,
  created the first 6-strip rods, but others argue
  that it was Samuel Phillipes friend, Charles
  Murphy, who introduced the concept.

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4
19th Century Developments

• Fly fishing gained huge popularity in the 19th
  century. This was also the time during which rod
  builders made immense progress in splitting cane
  and creating tapers using beveling machines,
  leading to the birth of companies such as South
  Bend, Hardy Brothers, and Montague. Split cane
  remained the most popular and widely used
  material for making fly fishing rods until the
  early part of the 20th century when fiberglass
  and new resins caught the attention of anglers
  and the industry. In 1946, a military researcher
  by the name of Dr. Howald broke his split cane
  rod and used a fiberglass tube to fix it. As a
  result, the Shakespeare Company launched the
  first commercial fiberglass rods and dubbed the
  rod making process the Howald Process. These
  rods featured a fiberglass fabric wrapped in a
  spiral around a steel mandrel. Strands of
  additional fiber, aligned with the axis of the
  mandrel, were placed over the fiberglass material.

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5
The Transition from Fiberglass to Graphite in the
Modern-day

• Advancements in the construction of fiberglass
  fishing rods continued and greatly lowered
  manufacturing costs and the availability of the
  equipment to enthusiasts. Split cane started
  losing its practical popularity, but they
  continued to be manufactured by companies
  catering to more traditional anglers. The
  breakthrough that brought them to modern front
  was graphite fly fishing rods hit the market for
  the first time in 1973 (Fenwick and Hardy both
  claim to be the manufacturers of the first
  graphite rods). Within the next few years, a
  number of companies started taking part in the
  development and refinement of graphite fly rods.
  Graphite brought revolution to the fly fishing
  industry and deeply impacted the fishing styles
  that many fishermen now use today. Improvements
  in rod design and discovery of processes to
  create stronger, lightweight fly rods have all
  contributed to a successful and positive
  evolution of the present-day graphite fly fishing
  rods. Boron was also considered as a viable
  material to create rod blanks, but for now,
  graphite remains as the material of choice and is
  most likely to be in this status for some time.

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of-fly-rods
6
Today's Fly Rods

• We celebrate timeless fly rods with the Leland
  Sonoma Rod Series, above. But there are some
  other cutting-edge options that we love as well.
  To view the latest advancements in graphite fly
  rod technology make sure to check out Loop's new
  Cross S1 fly rods and the G. Loomis NRX. Both
  rods now use the 3M nano titanium resin system.
  This new resign not only makes fly rods lighter,
  but also greatly increases their break
  resistance.

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of-fly-rods