Just before the recent troubles I visited a gentleman in his 80's, in his basement were a bunch of custom rods he had built over the years. His sturgeon rod was built on 11 1/2 ft. Lamiglas blank he had shorten to 10 1/2 ft., from the butt and tip to get what he wanted. Instead of 2 + lbs, he had paired down the weight to a bit over a pound and a half by watching his P's and Q's, how things have changed.
He had a decorative wrap I had never seen before, he said it was fairly common back than, it used variegated thread in the chevrons, I liked it a lot. Wished I had taken photos now.

Special glimpses into the past. They are truly special - all I can say.

I used to visit a small shop that was right on the banks of a small river and they owned the property right up to the dam. They had live bait, tackle, hand tied hair jigs that were so common before plastics, and they even sold some rod blanks! You could pay a small fee to fish off their property - it was just a beautiful place - simpler times.

When I do NERBs gatherings I will often pull out all my issues of Rodmaker magazine dating back to Volume 1, just so the guys who are getting into this understand how much things have changed in the last 20+ years.

Marc,

Was that by chance Sonnies in Wilmot Wisconsin on the fox river

My goodness - YES!!!! Sonnies right in Wilmot!

We used to fish there in the spring with Grandpa. Sometimes not much for fish, but sometimes we get a bunch of crappies in the slower water, or hit the white bass or yellow bass. Wonderful great memories. Or early in the spring piles of carp or suckers on the edge of the fast water - it didn't matter, they were all fun.

Had an opportunity for such a visit 2 years ago, circumstances led me to leaving it too late. He's gone and I'll never get that chance back. Regrets

The Kisners are relatives of mine. Andy and Glenna are my Uncle and Aunt!!!! Crazy small world for sure. Andy is the one who first showed me how to build.

I had many great memories at “the damn” it’s truly a shame they removed “the damn” from the river a number of years back. A very special place in my life for sure!! Their grandson still carries on the Sonnies name and is still active in the craft.

Tom

You can find him on Facebook at Sonnies fishing.