I would hate to venture how many rod companies are in the market today. It seems every small town across America has at least one. And no, I’m not knocking this surge in rod companies. In fact, it’s actually brought with it a lot of different rod building concepts which, in turn, have had a big impact on the way rods are made today. But from the early 60s through the 80s, there was really only one serious rod company. Fenwick, the gold standard of rods.
Back in those days you had Browning who made the Silaflex, Garcia who made the Conolon line of rods, Heddon (who would actually make custom rods to order), and a couple other players. Factory rods were just that, factory rods and not too impressive by any standards. Many of these companies offered their blanks to the numerous custom shops that dotted the United States, and the serious angler generally went that route instead of purchasing something off the shelf.
But the benchmark for rods was a company out of Washington state called Fenwick. Not only did the company make the best available fiberglass fly rods, but they also made the best bass sticks too. Like the other companies, they offered their blanks to the custom builders and if you were really serious about bass fishing, you had your custom rods built on Fenwick blanks.
In the late 60s, Fenwick moved operations from Washington to southern California and set up shop in Westminster. The building was U-shaped, each leg of the U approximately 100 yards in length. Production was on one side, operations at the bend of the U and R&D, the warehouse, and shipping in the other leg.
In between the legs was parking but most importantly, a 100-yard-long casting pond. The set-up of the facility was simply amazing, and I always enjoyed going there to pick up rods or blanks for the tackle shop I worked at. It never failed me to drive into the parking lot and see one or two employees at the pond casting. Most of the time they were testing a new rod hot off the winder.
Fenwick’s success during this time had everything to do with the way they conducted research and development. They had a prostaff of top-notch anglers a mile long. But the number of pros they had on staff isn’t what made them great. What made them great was the fact they listened to these anglers and their needs in rods.
They had the ability to take suggestions or desires from the angler, design a new blank, make the new blanks and test it within a short period of time. A good example of this would be the development of the Flippin’ Stik.
Talking with Dee Thomas about the development of this rod, Dee told me Dave Myers had sent him around 25 prototypes based on their discussions. Thomas whittled that number down to two and finally chose the prototype that became the Fenwick Lunkerstik Flippin’ Stik. I’m sure this example is the way they developed all the rods in their catalog. With an investment in time, research and their expert prostaff.
Fenwick wasn’t just the leader in fiberglass rod construction, they were the first to produce a rod made out of the new material graphite. What this material did for the fishing industry is truly remarkable. It is akin to the introduction of fiberglass to the rod industry in the 1940s when steel and bamboo were the materials of choice.
Their firsts didn’t stop there either. Fenwick was the first to incorporate the use of a telescoping rod into the bass market with the Flippin’ Stik. Although telescoping rods were being used in Japan at the time, they’d never been utilized on anything under 12 to 16 feet in length. Dave Myers took the concept and added it to the Flippin’ Stik so anglers could store their rods in the short rod lockers of the day. That change sold thousands of rods overnight.
Fenwick also took handle technology to a different level. They were the first to develop a ferrule-less pistol grip where the end of the blank fit into a collet that then slid into the handle. No more metal ferrules to weigh down the rod and suck up sensitivity.
In all, if the name of the company who made your rod wasn’t Fenwick, you were playing catch-up.
Attached to this article are three Fenwick ads from 1977. The first ad, in the familiar Norman Rockwell theme, is an early HMG Graphite ad touting the sensitivity of the high-modulus material along with what would become their most popular rod the GFC-555, a 5-foot 6-inch, 5-power rod.
The second ad features Dave Gliebe hot off his 1977 rampage of the south where he won three events in a row over the course of a month. The events were held by American Bass Fisherman, American Angler and Bassmaster. Gliebe won all the events with Fenwick’s new Flippin’ Stik and really showed the bass fishing world the technique was valid.
The last ad featured Fenwick’s new Lunker Stik 2000. Made of Fenwick’s top-of-the-line high-modulus Fenglass material and the ferrule-less handle, the rods were the highest quality glass rods money could buy. And, with the cost of graphite, these rods sold by the millions.
Today, with so many rod manufacturers, it’s difficult to say who builds the best rods. All the manufacturers make high-quality rods at varying price points. What I’ve found is I need to use rod company X’s rod for this technique or rod company Y’s rod for this bait. That’s a good thing because it spreads the revenue across the board but more importantly, it means us as customers have more to choose from and we can find the perfect rod for everything we do.
That wasn’t the case for the serious angler in the late 60s and 70s, though. If you wanted a rod for a specific technique, you had it custom made. And if you were really serious, you had it made on a Fenwick blank.
I remember, as a teenager, buying a Fenwick rod with what little money I had. That rod was my pride and joy and I took good care of it. Always made me feel like I was on top of my game when I went fishing, just carrying and using that rod.
Dave, I’m with you. I got my first Fenwick blanks at age ten (1974). They were FSP661s that became the first two rods I ever made. Then my dad decided to give one of them to my grandfather. It was replaced that Christmas with an HMG GSP531 blank. I still have all three rods and still use them from time to time if I fish bluegill. Like you they were my pride and joy.
Great piece of history and I had no idea that Fenwick USA was so close to where I live at one point! That is awesome and I only started digging in to this and found your site as I had a fenwick woodstream rod that had a Westminster, CA PO box address. Very interesting and I love these rods, h ave held up very well over the years.
Thanks John! Yeah, they were right there in Westminster. Glad you enjoyed the post!
Living in Huntington Beach and fishing the eastern sierra’s I don’t remember the first Fenwick I purchased but I do remember that I wouldn’t buy anything else because of the fine customer service I received after breaking the rod tip. There was a side door for customer service, tiny little room, and the gentleman would look at the rod and say a, “big one break that off,” and would change it out for a brand new rod.. When Fenwick left Orange County for Iowa I was saddened that they left……..that was 25 years ago. One thing for sure in this world is that things change,some for the better, and some not so much. I miss them.
Steve, thank you for the comment and thank you for checking out the site. If you’re interested, there are more posts here about Fenwick. Just type Fenwick in the search bar in the upper right of the main page.
And you’re absolutely right about their customer service. It was top notch! I miss them too.
Thank you again for the support! Terry
In my opinion, the real unsung hero of Fenwick was Don Green, who made all the blanks for them until Woodstream bought Fenwick in 1978. Green operated Grizzly rod mfg. which merged with Fenwick in the 60s. After the Woodstream buyout, Green went on to form Sage rods. His production genius was largely responsible for the high quality blanks that made Fenwick the standard of excellence in that era.
Ben, there is no disputing Don Green and what he did for Fenwick in the early days. And then what he did at SAGE afterwards (All my fly rods are SAGE). I never dealt with him in Westminster, CA, and I’m not even sure he was in CA at the time. I’m not sure Don made the Flippin’ Stik after talking with Dave and Dee about what was needed in that rod, but I assume that’s the way it went. I will say their quality went down the tubes after about 1985.
You are absolutely right Terry. Don Green remained in Washington state even during Fenwick’s Westminster Era. His role was primarily to supply rod blanks which were turned into finished rods elsewhere by Fenwick. I don’t know if he made the Flippin Stik blanks, but was at least consulted on mandrel specs, etc. There is a book on Fenwick rods written by Vic Johnson Jr. which should be required reading for any Fenwick lover!
My original Dee Thomas designed Fenwick Flippin’Stik is not telescopic, it is made from a S Glass saltwater blank, I can look up the blank number if necessary.
Spencer, you are absolutely right. The first flippin’ Stiks were yellow, made of glass, and and one piece. They were that way until they went to the telescopic rod in 1976 or 1977. I’d have to get my Fenwick catalogs out to verify. A rod number would be cool to have. Thanks for the comment!