The first of a three-volume series on the history of the American fish hook traces the origins of the hook industry from its humble beginnings in Brooklyn to its position as a major competitor both in foreign and domestic markets by 1900. The product of more than ten years of research, this work covers - much of it for the first time ever in print - the detailed history of the manufacturers and wholesalers who provided Americans with billions of hooks during this era. Fully illustrated with over 200 images and documented with hundreds of footnotes, including many of rare and collectable fish hooks, the first volume is 352 pages and should appeal to fishermen, collectors, and history buffs alike.Chapter 1: A Short History of the Fish Hook in America, Part I; Chapter 2: How Fish Hooks Were Made: Nineteenth Century Hook Factories; Chapter 3: The "Regrettable Jumble": Henry Cholmondeley-Pennell, Samuel Allcock, and the Great Hook Scale Debate; Chapter 4: To Beard or Not to Beard: The Origins of the Barbless Hook; Chapter 5: The Tarpon Hook and the Origins of Saltwater Fishing in America; Chapter 6: The Hook of Job: Job Johnson, Pioneer of the American Fish Hook; Chapter 7: John Warrin: America's Multinational Corporate Hook Maker; Chapter 8: John W. Court: Brooklyn's Forgotten Hook Man; Chapter 9: America's Hookmaking Dynasty, or How the Bate Family Gave Birth to Dry Fly Fishing in America; Chapter 10: Dr. Crosby and the Hook Machine: The Origins of the American Needle & Fish Hook Co.; Chapter 11: Untying the Pflueger Fish Hook: The Convoluted History of the Enterprise Manufacturing Company Hook Trade; Chapter 12: In Search of George Griswold: On the Trail of America's First Fishing Tackle Inventor of the Patent Era; Chapter 13: Job Johnson, Pioneer of the Spring Snap Hook; Chapter 14: The Sockdolager Saga-the Origins and Development of the American Spring Hook; Chapter 15: The Science of Fish Hooks-Scientific American and the American Fish Hook Inventor.

The History of the Fish Hook in America: An Illustrated Overview of the Origins, Development, and Manufacture of the American Fish Hook

Todd E.A. Larson

The Whitefish Press (Cincinnati, OH)

BOOK DETAILS8.5" x 11" Softcover • 254 Total Pages • Black and White ImagesDESCRIPTIONSila-Flex was the product of five men who originated the first hollow fiberglass fishing rods while working for National Research & Manufacturing Company (NARMCO) in Corona Del Mar, California in 1946. Having gained experience impregnating fiberglass for airplane parts during World War II, the NARMCO team, led by Herb Jenks, developed the first fiberglass fishing rods made by using a removable metal mandrel, leaving the glass rods hollow.In 1948 five men who founded the Conolon rod division at NARMCO left to found their own company, which they called Pacific Laminates Company in Orange, California, soon moving to a state-of-the-art factory in Costa Mesa. Here, the firm utilized the methods they had pioneered at NARMCO and added new developments, aided by Herb Jenks' numerous patents, to launch the legendary Sila-Flex line of fishing rods. Considered by many to be the finest rods of their era, Sila-Flex launched in 1949 and in the ensuing thirteen years crafted blanks and finished rods for all types and kinds of fishing, from delicate fly rods to deep sea trolling rods.Here, for the first time ever, is the history of this great firm as told by the documents, catalogs, and articles that it produced. It also contains a detailed history of the firm by Dr. Todd E.A. Larson and a foreword written by Warren Jenks, brother of Pacific Laminate's co-founder Herb Jenks and himself a manufacturer's rep for Sila-Flex up until the time it was sold to Browning in 1963.This book contains all Sila-Flex catalogs for the entire era that it produced rods, as well as the introductory Browning-Silaflex catalog from 1963, as well as a plethora of appendices, ads, etc..

A Documentary History of Sila-Flex Fishing Rods, 1948-1963

BOOK DETAILS 6" x 9" Softcover * Color Images * 188 Pages ABOUT THE BOOK The tradition of the split bamboo fly rod goes back over 150 years. During this time, a number of rod makers have achieved legendary status for crafting outstanding fly rods. Many of these makers - including E.W. Edwards, Fred Divine, and Wes Jordan - were iconoclasts who bucked the trends of the day to break new and exciting ground. This tradition of pushing the limits of split bamboo is alive and well, and this book seeks to celebrate these contemporary makers and their craft. The profiles of the radical rods and the men who make them were based on a series of interviews conducted over a period of nearly four years, and the end product is a refreshing look at the exciting world of extreme bamboo fly rods. Just some of the makers interviewed for this book include Marc Aroner, Tim Abbott, Wayne Maca, Jeff Hatton, Tom Smithwick, Glenn Brackett, A.J. Thramer, Rob Smith, Kurt Zumbrunn, Joe Arguello, and Bob Clay (whose beautiful two handed bamboo spey rod with splice joints is pictured above). If you want a look at where the bamboo fly rod is today, and where it is going tomorrow, this book is for you. If you want to understand the reasoning behind why men and women split cane for a reason, then you won't want to miss it. And if you want to be inspired by people unafraid to try new things, Radical Rodmaking is the book for you.

Radical Rodmaking: Innovative Bamboo Fly Rods & Their Makers

Sports & Outdoors

Water Sports

Cincinnati, OH: The Whitefish Press

Fortune's Kentucky Reels: The Howard Fortune Kentucky Reel Collection

The Whitefish Press

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Books by Todd E.A. Larson