Museum Piece

There was a time when it seemed possible that the collection might have a bigger purpose and form the basis of a small museum, dedicated to the development of modern fly fishing. With that in mind, I set out to acquire certain"landmark" objects that represent particular periods or developments in our hobby of fly fishing. The two oldest rods I have are good examples of this., not just because of what they themselves are, but because of the other things that were going on at the time they were made.

The first is a fairly typical late nineteenth century Scottish made fly rod. It is in three sections, is about 10 feet long and made not of split cane but of Greenheart. Greenheart (Latin Chlorocardium) is a tropical hardwood, native to northern South America. It has a number of properties that made it an excellent choice for making rods, it is close-grained and relatively impervious to water, can be shaped into the finely tapered forms necessary for rods and is relatively flexible.  It is also somewhat heavy, at least when compared to more modern materials.

Andersons of Edinburgh, greenheart trout fly rod c 1900

The rod is marked "Andersons, Princess  St., Edinburgh, Dunkeld Princess" on the brass butt.  Andersons had premises at 101 Princes Street in the centre of Edinburgh at the beginning of the 20th century, having relocated from Dunkeld on the Perthshire Tay. They were a well known and well respected retailer of all things to do with fishing. The rod itself has American twist snake guides throughout, - no stripping guide. The ferrules are spigotted and hooded, - the male ferrules have a domed brass cap the covers the edge of the female ferrule when the rod is put up. The solid wood handle has an ingenious sliding band reel seat with pinned rails to hold the reel foot in place. Clearly when this rod was new it was a quality item.

Greenheart remained the material of choice for fishing rods of many types well into the twentieth century, but there is evidence to show that cane rods were being imported from America from the end of the nineteenth.

Advertisement from the end matter of Lochs and Loch Fishing by Hamish Stuart , published 1899

This advert is for a Glasgow tackle shop, William Robertson, contemporary with Andersons, and features "American Cane Built Rods, American Tubular Steel Rods, American Cane Built Bicycle Rods" included in "Lochs and Loch Fishing" by Hamish Stuart.  It was common practice to include such adverts in the end matter of popular books and they can be a great source of information.

The advert also makes reference to  Robertson's "St. Mungo" rod.

Robertson's St. Mungo trout fly rod

The St. Mungo is superficially very similar to the Anderson's product.  Hardly surprising. Both rods are made of greenheart, both have similar sliding band reel seats. The St. Mungo does have an improved cork handle, but guides and ferrules are the same as those on the "Dunkeld Princess". Where the St. Mungo gets interesting is at the tip.

Tip of Robertson's St. Mungo trout fly rod

The final 2¾ inches of the rod is composed entirely of the tip eye itself, the wire support extending the entire rod. Stuart makes reference to this device in one of his foot notes

"I never had occasion to use the second top of this rod, which owed some of its power to the fact that I had one of Robertson's (Glasgow) patent steel rod-tips added to it—a most excellent contrivance ; it adds to the casting and holding power of a rod to a marvellous degree."

 He goes into more detail; about the rod in his main text,

"Rods are a lottery and though cheap rods are as a rule to be avoided, yet occasionally one picks up a weapon cheap that proves in use to be as good and faithful a servant as the highest priced rods. I had such a rod in use for many years. It was an American built cane and though I killed with it among other fish upwards of 80 trout between 2½1bs. and l0bs., it was as good a rod when the last fish was landed as it was when it received its baptism of fire on a big day when 85½hs. of seatrout yielded themselves victims of its prowess."

I think it very telling that Stuart refers to the American made cane rod as being "cheap" - perhaps this offers an insight into the perceived quality and therefore price of contemporary greenheart rods.