Yesterday's RodMaker blog concerned a subject that pertains to the history of the craft. I can only remember so far back. If anyone has any information on suppliers from the 1960s and even the 1950's, please leave a comment on the blog. We're at the point where a lot of companies and people are apt to be forgotten very soon.

[www.rodmakermagazine.com]

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2010 09:05AM by Tom Kirkman.

I remember a company called Herters from Minnesota that I didn't see mentioned in the blog.

Thanks, I completely forgot about them and someone made an entry for them there.

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I am not very old, but built my first rod about 20 years ago and within the past few months have gotten the itch again. I found a partially complete rod in the closet a couple of months ago. I started the rod probably 15 years ago, the guides were still taped on the blank. It is astounding at the amount of suppliers of components compared to 20 years ago. I bought my first components from a company called Tackle Chandlers that had an ad in the back of Saltwater Sportsman. I bought components at Gulf Breeze Bait and Tackle and ended up getting components at Heads or Tails in Metarie. I have an old Clemens Rod Lathe that a friend purchased 20 years ago. I can only imagine ordering by mail from Herters in the 50s. Mailing a letter and money and waiting a month or more for the stuff to get to you. Lots of old guys around here ordered stuff for duck hunting from them and I have heard the catalog used to have great recipes.

How far back do you want to go? Bamboo (ie "ancient history")

As far back as anyone was selling rod building supplies. Several other companies I had either forgotten about or didn't know about have already beed added to the blog comments.

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tom, i know i used midland out of sloatsbueg ny when i first started

Can't remember if Lott Bros sold blanks. I know they sold rods. So many of the smaller places are out of business. In the 50's my dad worked at beach bait & tackle in fort lauderdale. T&R tackle and Kingsbury & Sons tackle have been around for awhile.

I wonder what would happen if you asked someone like Shakespeare who were their big retailers. Once upon a time they were king of the hill in my area.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

I was buying from Harold at Merrick Tackle as far back as 1970. I don't know how long he had been around at that time.

Reed's Tackle Company , North Caldwell NJ , sold fly tying equipment and also fly and spinning rod blanks in the 60's and 70's


Rich Kline CR

Being the king of politically INCORRECT, even I see the irony in me posting this........ Shouldn't the title of this post be "Calling Rod Builders That Have Been Around For A Long Time"????

Hi Tom,

B&M Tackle in Glendora California has been around for a long time. I am 50 now and can remember going there at an early age. Leon Todds (Calstar) brother Jim Todd worked there for years. They carried Sabre, Bowning Silaflex and Fenwick blanks until Leon left Sabre and started Calstar. Buck and June Melon sold everything you needed to make state of the art rods even back then.

Tight lines,

John H.

Thanks for the info. I had never heard of them. I suspect there were a lot of local and regional shops that sold components. But not nearly as many large mail order houses that published their own catalogs.

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T.G. Tochterman's Eastern Ave, Baltimore Maryland - in business for 94 years. Last place I know of (locally) that still has original agate guides and nickle silver ferrules. Visited by Lefty Kreh, Bob Clouser & other local (and not so local) fly fishermen

Thanks. It appears there were plenty of local shops that carried some rod building items, but not nearly as many national mail order houses.

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in the mid 70's i used netcraft(ed ludgate), cabela's, and jackie dickersonson's fish'n shack(now Laker Tackle Company) in camdenton missouri(got my first fuji guides from jadico, i think). and of course dale clemens in allentown, pa. i used midland tackle as well until about 1999 when they closed up shop.

Number probably runs into the hundreds (or higher) It wasn't really that long ago that smaller catalogs began to be used for mass advertising = and now they are about to die off to be replaced by internet web sites. It's the trend in advertising. Mudhole, American Tackle, Batson Enterprises and many others depend on "downloadable" or searchable on-line catalogs. Sears Roebuck & Montgomery Wards sold bamboo rods from a variety of manufacturers (Montague, Horrock's Ibbotson, Herter's and others). To my knowledge those companies didn't print catalogs they printed fliers or at best advertising was newspapers and magazines or done by the local distributors. Personally I miss being able to walk into a local sporting goods store and chat with the owner, shake the rod, inspect the thread... Now many have been replaced by the larger chains Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops. When I go there I just don't get the feeling that the employees REALLY know their stuff.

Companies that have discontinued their catalogs are making a big mistake - the internet does not create sales. If it did, the really smart companies such as Cabelas, Bass Pro, LLBean, etc., wouldn't still be printing millions of catalogs each year. As Jim Cabela told me a few years ago - it's the catalogs that creates sales and drives customers to the website to place orders. He said the week after a catalog mailing the phones ring off the hook and the website sizzles. It's the catalogs that do it. Direct mail is still king and will remain so for the foreseeable future. I've experienced the same thing with regard to the Expo.

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Many companies ARE changing. On-line catalogs can be updated and distributed/re-distributed as soon as a new product is available. Printing is done at the destination saving lots of printing costs and mailing fees. Notifications of catalog availability is done through web sites, blogs and mass-mailers in e-mail. Not long ago here on this site American Tackle announced their 2011 catalog, with supplemental updated "fliers" for product. I think many other AmTac customers/distributors were also on that mass mailing. I know I printed out the fliers and I think lots of other folks did also. Add to that the rising use of BLOGs and on-line newsletters that announce products and my assessment is that the younger generation (and next generation) will see far fewer hard-copy catalogs in snail-mail boxes. I don't necessarily like that I don't have catalogs to thumb through and muse over in bed or be able to cross reference but I think it's coming. I remember when I was in high school (circa 1964) a classmate of mine said "hard money, currency will largely disappear transactions will be done through plastic bank cards". I was actually offended to think that I wouldn't have "dead presidents" in my hip pocket. Now that debit card is getting a larger and larger share of use - and more more of my bill paying is done though EFTs (electronic funds transfers). My father would roll over in his grave! For him there seemingly was nothing more comforting than walking into a store, opening his wallet and dropping greenbacks on the counter top. I went car shopping with him once not long before he passed away. The salesman asked "How will you finance this?" . His answer "Finance? I'm paying cash" It was a near stalemate - the salesman stopped cold and my dad just looked at him like he was from Mars. "The times they are a-changing" - not this year, probably not in the next 5 years but...

Sorry for getting so far off topic.