Revered Contemporary Rod Designers

[sweetandsalt]

Inspired by the General Discussions thread, "Where is that expensive rod made?", and amplifying my belief that a terrific fly rod starts with the taper design harmoniously incorporating advanced material science and fine craftsmanship in the fabrication and finishing process, I'd like to begin the compilation of a list of contemporary gifted designers.

A partial list of established and revered rod designers:

Sage - Jerry Siem
G.Loomis - Steve Rajeff
Rajeff Sports, ECHO - Tim Rajeff
Scott - Jim Bartschi
Orvis - Shawn Combs
Winston - Annette McLean
Hardy - Howard Croston
T&T - Joe Goodspeed has stepped up to fill the shoes of retired Tom Dorsey
Burkheimer - Kerry Burkheimer
Stickman - Akos Szmutni

There is a good chance that your most coveted current rod is designed by one of the above artists and there are more talented designers I'm not aware of or inadvertently omitting. This is a list worth expanding and I hope you all will participate and add to it.

For historical perspective, back in the Golden Era of cane, a gentleman would go forth into Abercrombie and Fitch or William Mills and Sons seeking not a "brand" but the work of a particular rod designer/maker. Jim Payne, Pinky Gillum, Everett Garrison, might make a rod with Mill's brand name on it but the sophisticated angler cared not about that, rather the particular taper of the specific great rod builder. Things have changed with new materials, marketing, pricing and warranty but the core fishing qualities then and now stem for the design and build quality.

 

[flyminded]

Glenn Brackett, Tom Morgan -would seem to be obvious omissions.

A name I think will rise to be included with those is Dusty Smith of Livingston Rod Company - crafting some wonderfully smooth casting rods.

Chris Barclay, the Steffen Bros also worthy of consideration.

 

[rsagebrush]

You've also missed Mike McFarland, he rolls his own too, and they are wonderful rods. Vladen Milenkovic has also brought out a limited amount of some wonderful glass and bamboo/glass rods. I am sure there are others in Japan we are not very familiar with. Currently there are many makers working in cane that are doing some very interesting things also.

 

[jastrout]

Second on Mike Mcfarland, been friends over a decade so have seen the evolution process up close. He rolls rods for Chris Barclay, and many others incredible rod assembly artists. SweetandSalt is pretty great historian on rod design and development, always walk away from his posts a smarter fly fisherman. Thank you sir.

 

[Lewis Chessman]

Whilst almost fully retired now David Norwich (of David Norwich) has a great deal of respect in the UK. He built and sold thousands of hand-crafted rods in his career, focusing on carbon from 1981 onward and selling principally to the British and Japanese market. Hopefully some in the States will have heard of him?
Edit: To the best of my limited knowledge; David Norwich was the only custom builder in the UK who actually designed and rolled his own blanks prior to building the rod to order.

 

[e caster]

AtomSix - Steve Parkes
Epic/Swift - Carl McNeil
Guideline - Leif Stavmo

 

[moucheur2003]

For historical perspective, back in the Golden Era of cane, a gentleman would go forth into Abercrombie and Fitch or William Mills and Sons seeking not a "brand" but the work of a particular rod designer/maker. Jim Payne, Pinky Gillum, Everett Garrison, might make a rod with Mill's brand name on it but the sophisticated angler cared not about that, rather the particular taper of the specific great rod builder.

Is that right? I know Mills owned and was the exclusive agent for Leonard, and Leonard rods made with slightly discolored or otherwise good-but-less-than-perfect cane were sold under the Mills "Standard" name. (I have a Mills Standard that belonged to my father-in-law, and his uncle before him.) But I was not aware that Mills sold any other rods, whether under a "house" name or the competitor's own name. A&F apparently did sell house-branded production rods that were made for them by Phillipson, Heddon, and others, but I haven't heard before that the real artisans allowed retailers, even prestigious ones like A&F, to rebrand their own handiwork.

 

[pnc]

My opinion of rod makers..... people doing their job. Don't see whats so impressive.
That aside, been racking my brain trying to remember name of video. Rod & pole comparison. Bamboo rod & bamboo pole same length untouched except for tip added. Sure any net regular can find it. If you own custom bamboo rod or rods. Don't look for it !

....... pc

 

[sweetandsalt]

"Is that right?" Perhaps not. I am going by my aging and faulty memory and could be wrong. Maybe it was A&F that sold Paynes under their name but, accuracy of this recollection aside, my point remains about designer over brand...even if they were Mills Leonard's.

I just saw Ted Simroe at the Edison Show, Leonard's last designer-builder, later to make the Rodon Boron/Graphites.

 

[bwf]

Jim Murphy ....Redington (NTQi, Baby Blue , use of quartz, and Douglass. Think he also started Albright

 

[scotty macfly]

So far, all are very fine craftsmen in their field, no doubt. But when it comes to the true art of crafting rods with fine tapers, I can think of nothing but the masters of bamboo.

Mike Clarke
Chris Raine
A.J. Thramer
Tom Morgan
Zac Sexton
Bill Oyster
E.F. Payne
Chris Lantzy
Matt Schliske

There are so many more names to be added here, and I feel bad that I can't name them all. I know these gentlemen listed make tapers that are already established by others, but they all have one or two that they have for their own. Zac Sexton is always playing around with taper design.

 

[e caster]

Per Brandin
Masaki Takemoto

 

[Lewis Chessman]

So far, all are very fine craftsmen in their field, no doubt. But when it comes to the true art of crafting rods with fine tapers, I can think of nothing but the masters of bamboo.

Fair enough, Scotty, but what I found interesting about S&S's op was that he referred to ''contemporary rod designers''. What I should very much like to know is who worked with whom regarding these generations, particularly 'apprenticeships', e.g. Russ Peak mentored Kerry Burkheimer at LCI in the '80s. It'd be interesting if a 'family tree' could be drawn up, after all, we all stand on the shoulders of giants.

 

[sweetandsalt]

That is correct Lewis, I specifically was referring to currently working designers and focused on graphite. However, I like and encourage the expansion of this thread into historical, glass and cane artists too. No disrespect intend in my omission of Morgan and Brackett and Per Brandon, mentioned by e caster, is super knowledgeable about tapers and how they work. I don't own one but have fished Per's cane works of art and they are superb.

As far as lineage and mentorship, it is well known that the great Russ Peak mentored Kerry Burkheimer, Jim Bartschi was an apprentice to seminal Scott founder, Harry Wilson to whom all fans of graphite rods owe homage and Jerry Siem was selected by Sage founder, Don Green (RPL, LL, SP, etc.) for mentorship, starting, I think, with Z-Axis. Don and (unrelated) Jim Green where the minds behind Fenwick when they introduced the first commercially available graphite fly rod, HMG, in 1974. Gary Loomis, not a taper designer but a driving force in advancing carbon fiber fabrication methodologies, gave the casting great Steve Rajeff, starting with IMX, the opportunity to develop into the brilliant designer he is today.

Keep the creative forces behind fly rods coming...

 

[Lewis Chessman]

Thanks, s&s, that's exactly the kind of info I've been looking & hoping for.

By coincidence I posted a thread celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first ever graphite rod, the history of its invention and subsequent commercial development, on the UK forum only a couple of days ago. Whilst carbon fibre was first used in rod making in England it was here in the States that the first rods were built commercially at Fenwick.
As you might expect on the UK forum, we're a little more knowledgeable about our own market history so I invite anyone here interested to take a look and to add whatever you can (log ons here work there, too) to help build a more complete understanding of the period.
If anyone has knowledge, say, of Orvis's entry into graphite (when, who, models, etc.), Winstons, or any maker important in the early years ('64 - '90s) please do visit.

Honestly, I don't wish to 'steal' from this thread but think the two will augment each other nicely.
Cheers, Lewis.

 

[dr d]

hallo,


please don `t forget:


brunner(bamboo)

stephen pratt (cts)

james chalmers gaelforce, former carron).


best regards


thomas

 

[scoutm]

Is there a bit of changing of the guard going on at Sage?

With Jerry Siem "slowing down his role..."

Siem’s shadow casts tune Sage’s rod lines | Sports Extras | jhnewsandguide.com

If there a changing of the guard is it to Peter Knox and Paul Schmierer(sp?)? I noticed on the X roll out they put these two out in front of the camera instead of Jerry. If there is a changing to these two younger guys what is the opinion of them?

 

[Lewis Chessman]

Thanks for that link, scoutm, it's cleared something up for me. I've been looking at the origins of Fenwick re: early graphite rods and who was working there.

From Fenwick's own History:

It was 1952 in Kent, Washington that a group of five Seattle businessmen and avid flyfishermen formed a fishing rod company using the new fiberglass blanks that were becoming available at the time.

As the young company searched for a site to build its innovative new rods they found an unused double garage at a friend's home on Lake Fenwick near Kent. As the founders readied for production, it was suggested that their young company adopt the name of the lake where their rods would be built, and with that idea the Fenwick brand was born.

195? Phil Clock forms Sevenstrand, a company producing seven-stranded braided fishing wire.
195? Jim Green, formerly with the Winston Rod Co. and the Sunset Line Company, joined Phil Clock's company Sevenstrand when Clock bought out Green's company (Name of Jim Green's company?).
In 1960 Phil Clock purchased Fenwick and the company became Fenwick/Sevenstrand. Jim Green is Fenwick's Production Manager.
1967 Phil Clock moves Fenwick to Westminster, WA.
In 1968 Fenwick merged with Don Green's rod-making company 'Grizzly Rods'. Don had already been building glass rods for Fenwick for some years.
1973 Fenwick release the world's first commercial graphite rod range - High Modulus Graphite or HMG.
1975 Fenwick bought by Rome Speciality Company Inc., aka ROSCO Terminal Tackle.
1980 Don Green leaves Fenwick and returns to Bainbridge Island, WA, to create The Winslow Rod Company. Soon after, he changed the name to Sage.
1989 Jim Green retired from Fenwick. He then moved to Bainbridge Island to work again with Don Green at Sage.
Lefty Kreh wrote an account of these events here.

Fenwick History says of the 1968 merger, "Don Green joined the company for a second time." Does this imply that he was one of the original five founder members?
There's a few other '?'s in there if anyone can help? Thanks.

 

[sweetandsalt]

I spoke with Peter Knox quite a bit at Edison and have had a few follow up e-mails with him too. His title is R&D Design Engineer. My "understanding" is Siem remains head of Design but does a good portion of his work remotely from Montana and the Keys while staff on sight in Bainbridge Island performs a variety of development tasks.

To be clear, rod designers like Siem, Rajeff and Bartschi really design the taper of a rod but are assisted by others in numerous supporting rolls. All of them receive input from knowledgeable anglers in and outside of their companies whose perspectives may or not influence developmental refinements. This is not design by committee but seeking trusted opinions during the development process helps avoid glitches in the finished product. In some rod companies there is no dedicated designer, I like to call some of these individuals "rod conceptualizers". Here a company knows the kind of rod they are after and how to comparatively describe it and rod shop experienced engineers interpret that into prototypes. These then, again often with a team of influential friends and associates, push the taper this way and that to achieve the desired characteristics. Rods developed in this common manor can be very good but rarely exhibit the kind of individualistic flair achieved in rods emanating from the efforts of a truly gifted individual designer. Understand that companies hope to sell fly rods and specialized, uncompromising designs may be brilliant but appeal to a more constrained audience than a more easily accessible and versatile albeit less creative rod.

Around 2000 I was on my annual month-long Idaho/Montana camping/fishing adventure. A friend at a fly rod company was in the intermediate phase of developing a new rod series with unusual technology. He sent an advanced prototype sample 9'/#5 along with me and I liked it enormously. The more I fished it though the more aware I became of a little dip in the lower leg of my otherwise tight loop. Is it a hitch in my stroke? The line I'm using? Or something worse? Around that time we had a guest in camp who is a terrific caster and appreciator of rod taper design. I talked with him about this and we strung up the rod and took turns casting and observing one another. He concurred that indeed there seemed to be something not quite as it should be. We began to agree that there was a taper anomaly several inches below the tip top. Now, many fly fishers would have fished this rod and thought it was just great but with the help of my friend we critically analyzed this recurring imperfect loop characteristic and, as it turned out, the rod company agreed with us to the extent that they performed an expensive re-engineering which perfected and eliminated this flaw. The finished rod I thought was fabulous but not a huge commercial success. No, I am not a rod designer except in some mid-winter fantasy but this is an example of how sending some developmental samples out into the field can reveal minor issues that might not be initially evident on the casting pond next to the rod shop.

 

[triggw]

...
A partial list of established and revered rod designers:

Sage - Jerry Siem
G.Loomis - Steve Rajeff
Rajeff Sports, ECHO - Tim Rajeff
Scott - Jim Bartschi
Orvis - Shawn Combs
Winston - Annette McLean
Hardy - Howard Croston
T&T - Joe Goodspeed has stepped up to fill the shoes of retired Tom Dorsey
Burkheimer - Kerry Burkheimer
Stickman - Akos Szmutni
...

Have you come to revere Annette McLean? I recall your being a little reserved about her and Winston in years past.