The Powell Buzz Hackle fly

[RoosterHunter]

Bill,
Do you remember Mickey Powell

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I do now.

He ran or worked at Buz's. He was a fine guy.

[RoosterHunter]

Mickey Powell was related to Buz. Not sure if he was his brother in law or nephew

[Rich Morrison]

Cool story Jay.



Maybe 40 years ago Walton Powell and his lovely wife came to my fly shop to see if I was qualified to be a Powell fly rod dealer.

I guess I passed the test because I got to be a Powell dealer.

The Powell rods were made on the same blanks as G. Loomis back then. The "IM6/Graphite III" fly rods were highly prized.


Chuck Campana bought a new G.Loomis 9'6" #7 line in 2 piece and could cast a Cortland 444 SL WF7F all of its 105'.

Chuck showed me that the G.Loomis rods had a larger tip top and the first 4 snake guides were larger so they cast further than Powell's.

This is a common misconception. Powell rods were never built on Loomis blanks. I have a legal document that confirms this. Powell and Loomis shared a blank rolling facility…initially in Oregon and then Washington. But the mandrels were proprietary and the tapers were specific to each company. They alternated production for the two companys. Gary could not have made his big new facility in WA work without the equipment that Walt brought to the table.