I wanted to post this news from R.L. Winston Rod Company, since a lot of us in the fly fishing industry were aware of the fire they had last year. This is good news.
-Paul
The R.L. Winston Rod Company is thrilled to announce that we have reopened our Bamboo Shop in a new facility in Twin Bridges, Montana. The old Winston bamboo shop was housed in the original R.L. Winston Rod Company building in downtown Twin Bridges. On May 7, 2017, a fire started at 3:00 in the morning, destroying the building and all its contents including bamboo rod inventory, machinery and raw materials. Despite this tragic loss, we have been determined to continue our 90-year commitment to the legacy of building the most beautiful, highest performing bamboo fly rods available.
Since the fire, we’ve worked diligently to not only find a new location for the bamboo shop, but also replace all the unique tools, and machinery. After two years of effort, it’s extremely rewarding to get back to work.
Bamboo has been at the heart of the R.L. Winston Rod Company since 1929, when Robert Winther and Lew Stoner first began innovating using split bamboo cane. Lew Stoner’s patented hollow-fluted rod design process allowed us to set numerous bamboo world distance fly casting records, and is still in use today.
We thank our customers for their patience and we are extremely grateful that Winston Bamboo fly rods will continue to set the standard for hand-crafted bamboo fly rod perfection.
