Hiram Leonard: The Father of the Fly Rod?

Henry David Thoreau met him in 1857, when he was a hunter, and described him in Canoeing in the Wilderness as a handsome man of good height but not apparently robust, of gentlemanly address and faultless grooming. He was a spiritualist, a vegetarian who abhorred liquor and detested tobacco. He was a good musician, playing […]

Charles F. Murphy: “Split” Bamboo

"Says I, ‘There is a lot of waste material in that rod, and the joints in the cane are no good;’ and so it came about
that I split the cane, only into four parts at first, shaved down the pulpy inside and glued the pieces together, and
had a rod that was springy enough […]

Who Came First?

Dr. Henshall, in his "Book of the Black Bass," pp. 201-203, under the caption of  "Origin of the Split Bamboo Rod," says:
"For though purely an American invention as now constructed, the idea or principle is really of English origin."
The Doctor then gives the date of the first split bamboo rod made in this country, by […]

Why Peter Went A Fishing by W.C. Prime

Never was night more pure, never was sea more winning; never were the hearts of men moved by deeper emotions than on that night and by that sea when Peter and John, and other of the disciples, were waiting for the Master.
Peter said "I go a fishing." John and Thomas, and James and Nathanael, and […]

The Vom Hofe Reel

Edward vom Hofe
In the late 19th century, Edward vom Hofe a New York watchmaker, machinist, fishing tackle builder and noted big game angler who outfitted the famous anglers of his generation, introduced his first two fly reels, starting his own business in 1867. Edward vom Hofe had become famous for his precision salt water big […]