History of Fisher rod company.....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Posted March 7, 2007

The Fisher Rod company was based in Southern California near Santa Monica Airport. During WWII they produced literally millions of fishing packets that were placed in every airplane, lifeboat and floation device. The packet contained what was essentially a handline, some hooks, lures, etc.

After the war, Joe Fisher (the father) began making boat rods for Los Angeles/San Diego saltwater anglers. The fiberglass rods were responsible for a lot of yellowtail, barracuda and other sportsfish. Joe would later recall catching a wheelbarrow full of barracuda off the Santa Monica pier and selling them for a dime apiece. At some point, probably around 1954 or '55, the family began making freshwater rods, boat rods and other traditional fiberglass products including some of the most beloved flyrods ever designed. J. Kennedy Fisher III (the son, my friend and client) was largely responsible.

Eventually Joe and his younger brother Jim took the company into carbon graphite. Joe was the rod designer, Jim the back-shop creative genius who pioneered the product. At some point they met Golden Gate casting champion John Tarantino, who is credited with conceiving the "spigot ferrule" to attain a perfect transfer of power from handle to tip. Fisher later licensed that ferrule design to Scott and others.

Fisher made rods under their own brand names as well as private label graphite for Hardy (the Hardy Smuggler), Orvis and most others.

With a deteriorating neighboorhood, the Fishers (Joe and Joanne; Jim and Mary) moved the factory from the industrial Santa Monica/Inglewood area to Round Mound, Nevada, not far from Carson City. Round Mound was (and is) best known for its legal brothels. The Fishers bought neighboring homes at Lake Tahoe, a 40-minute drive from the shop.

Suffereng from aging equipment, a lack of advertising dollars, a perception of being a West Coast rod, and fierce competition from Sage, Loomis, Scott and other excellent rods, the Fishers were forced to produce golf club shafts and other graphite products.

They sold what was left of the company about 20 years ago. Joe and Joanne moved to Sequim, Wash., to be near their children and grandchildren. Jim and Mary moved to (I think) Carson City. Joe suffered a series of strokes and became bedridden for about a year. He closed his eyes and died about three years ago. To the best of my knowledge, Jim still lives in Carson City.

Great rods! Great family! Wonderful people!

Bennett J Mintz

bjmintz@socal.rr.com


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I did not write this history, but found it on Dan Blanton's message board .

I did sell Fisher fly rods and I can tell you that Joe Fisher was a true gentleman......

Bill Kiene
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[Bob Scheidt]

I once heard Fisher made the glass blanks for Winstons, back in the 70's and maybe made them all, I'm not sure.
See you at the expo!
Bob

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Fisher made blanks and even rods for many companies.

Scott, Winston, Cortland, SA/3M, Hardy.....they made "shop rods" for fly shops too.

We had them....back in the day.

[Jay Murakoshi]

Great story. I was on the J.Kennedy Fisher pro staff for a number of years and visited there plant in Mound House, NV. It was definitely a hard building to locate amongst all those brothels. It was not a fancy place but it got the job done. I actually had a chance to roll a couple blanks. There was this hole in the floor where the blanks were dipped then hung on a line to dry. Yes they did roll a lot of blanks for rod companies back then. They had racks and racks of mandrels for each specific rod company. I would actually talk to some of the reps and people who worked for these companies and asked them if their blanks were rolled by J. Kennedy. Most answered "NO" but when I told them about the mandrels on the racks at the factory, they admitted that they did roll most of the blanks.
My favorite rods were the Presidential series designed for salt water and one rod that I really loved for blue gill fishing was the "bush" rod series. They were short rods in the 5' to 6' range and threw 5 and 6 wt lines. I had a lot of J. Kennedy Fisher rods but sold or gave most of them away. I still have a couple rods that were made with fiberglass for Hal Janssen. Hal designed a series of glass rods capable of casting his 25' leaders. I still have that rod and use it for a lot of my carp fishing.

One last thing... Bill what was that West Coast reps name. I think his first name was Alan but can't remember the last name, he lived in the bay area? He was my first introduction to the Fisher rod company and the Fisher family

Didn't a father/son from the Sacramento area buy the company?

Jay

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Somebody locally did buy it....but never really got it going again.

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Some of you might remember John Christlieb who use to own Western Anglers in Santa Rosa and was a very good custom rod builder. He moved to Idaho and had a custom rod business there.

He was one of the rod builders who did lots of plug or spigot ferrule work.


J.C. Distributors
1112 10th Ave. E.
Twin Falls, ID 83301
jcrods@pmt.org
Contact: John Christlieb
Private label manufacturer of high-quality custom fly rods for retailers.


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Joe Fisher retired to the coast of Washington and later passed away. He was one of the nicest people I have ever met.

J. Kennedy Fisher Rod Company had a long history in the world of rod making in the USA.