Period Fishing Poles

[MC One Shot]

Looking at making a fishing pole from the 1770 - 1800. I understand that they were in one piece 12' to 15' in length and made of cane. What was the cane? Bamboo? If so where was it found in the colonies or was it imported? If they were not made from bamboo cane at the time what cane was used to make the rods. The line was reportedly braided line the length of the rod with a gut leader to reduce visibility. Hooks were baited or artificial flies were used.

 

[tenngun]

:idunno: But, Jas townsend and son and no doubt others have a book on angeling written in the late 18th century. Townsend sells a multi piece rod, I have no idea when such a thing was first made. Looking up thier book and getting the tital and authur may direct you to find it or some simular on line or maybe Kindle

 

[tenngun]

The book is the compleat angler from middle 17th century, I seem to recall 1658(?)

 

[salkehatchie]

MC One Shot:

In my other life I fish and collect antique and modern split bamboo fly rods. Some of the most expensive were made by Browning's nephew. [Yeah "the" Browning. Family were awesome inventors. Good DNA I guess. ] Paul Young of Traverse City, MI. Thousands of dollars apiece. The original Paul Young has long gone to the big trout stream in the sky.

With that said...Tonkin was not real popular till about the Spanish American War or WW1.

Some other "cane" was the go to choice prior to. Can not recall what it was. There are very, very few of those really old ones around. Most of the older ones are long, flip ring, spliced ferrules. Norwegians and Icelanders still use the split/lashed ferrules for salmon rods believe it or not! The new old.

Anyway...Len Codella http://www.codella.com/ is a broker. He has "handyman" specials. He was an original partner in T & T - the holdovers of the old and venerable H. L. Leonard Rod Co.

R. W. Summers. He worked for the Browning/Youngs. http://rwsummers.com/

Bill Critchfield does excellent work and is very reasonably priced in a field that is not! Len Codella uses him to restore sometimes. Bill C., could make you one. But still would be more $s than an knock off older one that is redone. I have used Bill to restore rods for me and have been very pleased with the quality, timeliness and price!

Summers is really tough to get ahold of. Len is OK as long as he is not out and about. Both have pics and prices. One could get a real old one, and redo. Len Codella just might take the time to either find you one if you are serious or clue you into what one looked like.

Reels? Non existent. Horrendously expensive if you find the real deal. They can set you back the price of a Chuck Edwards long rifle. Just make do. I ain't talking a cheap brass real here. The oldies were/could be nickle silver and are gorgeous!

Fly lines? Silk. They still exist, the new old again. England. $150 apiece. Make do.

Ed Wilde knows a guy who does fly fishing or fishing the old way. Might contact him and find out about that guy.

Anyway...there you go.

 

[Rifleman1776]

There are few subjects with more enthusiasts than fishermen. Especially, fly fisherman. The same applies to writing on the subject. The art of rod making goes (probably) all the way back in time. Some Googling will bring up more subject matter than you can read in a lifetime.

 

[salkehatchie]

Rifleman:

Good point. MC could craft his own, with a bit of research, time and money.

 

[BrownBear]

I gotta speak up for willow, which I'm most familiar with, but I'm sure there are lots of other "locals" along waterways around the country.

Can't tell you how much fun I've had over the years setting off with nothing more in my pocket than an array of hooks and some string. You could get all fancy adding a leader of gut (still available) or mono, but especially with dark string you don't really need it.

Find the place you want to fish, then scout around for a pole. There's just something about picking the right pole, limbing it and tying on the string. I've found willows that pushed 10', but often I'm down more in the 6' range.

Now nose around for some bait. Might come from the creek bed or pond bottom, but might also come from the bank, field or brush in the area.

Gotcher bait? Time to go hunting. That's right, hunting. In clear waters it really pays to be sneaky and stay out of sight.

Done fishing and packing a nice supper on a forked stick? Untie and coil the string, then slip it back in your pocket.

Next up is figuring out how to cook the fish without a pan in sight. Lots of options and they'll all taste great.

Kind of a farm boy approach to fishing rather than a gentleman, but I got more years under my belt as a farm boy than a gentleman. I suspect the same was true for a whole lot of our forefathers who wandered west.

 

[Stophel]

 

[Stophel]

Cane grows (or grew) wild here in America, so finding it was generally not a problem. The average Joe, no doubt, simply cut whatever cane or willow shoot, or strong sapling that was available at the time.

As I understand it, reels had been invented by the end of the 18th century, and the story I saw said that they were popular with "poachers" who could then cast their bait into areas where they weren't supposed to be. How true that is, I don't know, sounds kinda fishy to me.

 

[MC One Shot]

Will still have to do some more research on what exactly cane of the day was. Will have to research cane as to what it referred to back then. From what i have read they were of one piece. They did not appear to have been split, shaped and glued or laminated (later years). Salmon seasons will coming soon and I would like to try to fish with period gear and see if i can catch one. Catching may not be the issue but landing one definitely will be.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Hey One Shot,

In the 1700's in the colonies, rods were most commonly made out of river cane or solid wood and they were actually poles as opposed to rods. The old saying goes, "Rods are made, Poles are grown". Both catch fish.

Cane poles were grown, cut, and some sort of ferrule used to join them together so they could be taken apart and transported easily. You could, with little effort, cut a piece, attach your line and go fish. With a little more effort you could make one that came down into 3 pieces or so for convenience of carrying. You would be hard pressed to spend more than maybe 10 hours to make a transportable one.

Split bamboo rods, on the other hand would take about 120-hours of hands-on work to finish one rod. Split bamboo didn't even start to show up until the 1840's and Hiram Leonard made them popular in the 1870's. By the 1880's Charles Orvis was reputed to make the "best bamboo rod". Split bamboo rods were made out of Calcutta Cane from India until the early 1900's when Tonkin Cane was first imported from China (known as Chinese Cane at the time). So none of those were available until almost 100-years later than you are looking.

The book you've heard about, and it is quite good, is called the Colonial Anglers Manual of Flyfishing and Flytying. You can get a copy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Colonial-Anglers-Manual-Flyfishing-Flytying/dp/0811734307

The kit that Townsend sells is actually a good representation of those used in the 1700's. Lines at the time were braided horsehair, but Linen thread was also sometimes used. The junction of where the pieces go together are called ferrules and although many of those were cane fit inside each other and wrapped with thread or solid wood rods with scarf joints you would wrap each time you put them together, there were also some metal ferrules used.

The fishing outfits back then were very similar to the Tenkara fly-fishing outfits of today although obviously made of much different materials. There was no reel. The lines hooked onto the top of the rod and were only as long as the rod. If you really want to be historically accurate, the hooks of the time were blind-shank hooks that had a loop fashioned on the end of the hook out of silkworm gut or various threads. At the end of the line was sometimes a section of silkworm gut as a leader. There is primary documentation of silkworm gut being used as leader material in England and Europe in 1724 and earlier.

If you really want to get carried away, the first printed book on fly-fishing was an addendum to "the Boke Of St. Albans" known as "The Treatise of Fyshing with an Angle" by Dame Juliana Berners. It was published in 1496 and includes instructions on how to make a collapsible solid wood rod that can also be used as a walking stick; how to braid horse hair to make lines and what colors of horse hair are best; and gives recipes on how to make 11 different flies you should use to "fyshe" with, dependent upon what month it is.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Dan

 

[George]

There are ads in the 18th century for surprisingly sophisticated fishing tackle.

The Pennsylvania Gazette
The Pennsylvania Packet
April 15, 1776

FISHING TACKLE of all sorts, for use of either SEA or RIVER, MADE AND SOLD BY EDWARD POLE, In Market street, near the Court house, Philadelphia, viz.
RED cedar, hazel, dogwood, &c. fishing rods. for fly, trolling and bottom fishing; 6, 8, 10 and 12 stave pocket reels, furnished with lines, &c. trolling wheels for rock, trout or pearch, with or without mutlipliers; bottom or layout, and sea lines, cable laid, from large dolphin down to whiting, with hooks suitable from bonettar to the smallest size; best green or white hair, silk, hardest hempen, flaxen and cotton lines, for angling, trolling, deepseas and other fishing; trimmers, and man of war trimmers, and snap hooks, with or without springs, for pike fishing; a variety of cork floats of all sizes; artificial flies, moths and hackles, with suitable lines of any length; silk worms gut, in knots and quarter knots; best Indian grass; salmon, rock, jack, trout and pearch, box and plain swivels; deepseas, with or without swivels for river fishing; leads made of various patterns, for the use of Black Point, and all other fishing; all sorts and sizes of best kerby and common fish hooks, ready hung on silk, hair, silk worms gut, grass, or Indian weed; all sorts and sizes of hooks, without snooding; the best kind of fish hooks, of various sizes, made at Philadelphia; small portable boxes, completely furnished with a variety of fishing tackle; casting, minnow, landing and scoop nets. All kinds of tackle mended at a short notice; shad, herring and pearch seines ready made."

"The Pennsylvania Gazette
August 30, 1764
Just imported in the Philadelphia Packet, Captain Budden, from London... 3 and 4 joint hazel, dogwood and bambus fishing rods, best Kirby hooks untied, best round and common hooks , 3 and 4 joint solid rods, 6, 8 and 10 stave reels of fishing lines, flies on gut, best and common hair lines, ditto with Kirby hooks , best silk ditto, common and best Kirby hooks tied,"

THE SOUTH CAROLINA GAZETTE; AND COUNTRY JOURNAL
April 18, 1769
JAMES M'CALL,Has imported in the Friendship,
CHARLES-TOWN
...bag and other fishing rods, some with 11 joints, artificial flies, tackle books, Kirby's hooks , hemp, cotton, and silk lines, floats and reels, paper of all sorts,

"The Pennsylvania Packet
May 20, 1778
FISHING TACKLE, Of all sorts, for use of either sea or river, made and sold, wholesale and retail, by EDWARD POLE , At Burlington, in the State of New Jersey, viz.
HOLLOW and solid fishing rods, of every kind; best kerby and common fish hooks, of all sizes; 6, 8, 10 and 12 stave pocket reels; hair, silk and hemp, fly, angling and trolling lines, of every kind; together with every other article in the Fishing way, making a compleat assortment."

Spence

 

[BrownBear]

That spells it out pretty clearly, Spence. Thanks!

Back when we were overburdened with horses I played with tail hairs for braided leaders and such. Ummmm.... Sure added to my admiration for the skills and creativity of our ancestors! :hatsoff:

 

[salkehatchie]

Brown Bear:

Absolutely! Once the shine wore off of the Zebco, the willow wand was the next step up!

 

[salkehatchie]

Twisted:

PS: MC: and Spence10:

Thank you. Excellent posts! Orvis and Calcutta Cane,Cedar etc.

MC: Twisted has the goods I was just going from memory and he nailed the particulars!

And I have used, horse hair, silk and cat gut fly lines and leaders. Outside of the expense and hassle they are under the right conditions fantastic and can not be replicated a'tall!

Good job guys. Another reason I have this site bookmarked. The info here is...priceless IMHO.

 

[BillinOregon]

You want Ken Reinard's book on Colonial angling. http://www.amazon.com/Colonial-Anglers-Manual-Flyfishing-Flytying/dp/0811734307

 

[BrownBear]

Done.

Thanks!

 

[Twisted_1in66]

You want Ken Reinard's book on Colonial angling. http://www.amazon.com/Colonial-Anglers-Manual-Flyfishing-Flytying/dp/0811734307[/quote]

Hey Bill, if you look about 5 posts prior to yours, you will see that I posted that same link in my comments yesterday along with the title of the book.

I have a copy of it that I bought when it was first published. Great Book!

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Dan

 

[hoochiepapa]

Brown bear, your description reminds me of the fishing "hikes" we used to do. We'd 4-wheel as far as we could, then the hike would start. Four miles as I recall, to Coney and Upper Coney lakes, far above timber line. The bet was .50cents for the first fish and the largest.
My long-winded point is that we ate the fish for lunch, wrapped with bacon and stuck on a forked stick of willow over a fire. Nobody wanted to carry a frying pan.
Ah, the memories!!

 

[longcruise]

Mike, you and Brown Bear are both bringing back memories!

When I was a kid growing up in the UP we called a willow cut for fishing a "government pole". So named because the navigable waters regulation designated the four feet above the high water mark of any body of water as part of that navigable water and therefore unrestricted in access. Even tiny streams that you could jump across fell under the "navigable waters" rules.

Long story short (I know, too late for that!) a willow pole cut along the bank was therefore called a "government pole".

I have to confess to my ancestors as having a somewhat flagrant disregard for wildlife regulations in general. They had a longtime tradition of viewing fish and game as theirs for the taking. A government pole was easily thrown in the river or brush if a warden approached.

Likewise, deer were considered to be recovered from winter and fattened by July 1st.

My generation was the first in my family to embrace the concept of sportsmanship and the value of wildlife conservation. Most of that I got from reading Field and Stream magazine.