History Video: Making a Greenheart Fly Rod in 1939


Before television, people went to movie theaters to watch the news. British Pathé was at the forefront of cinematic journalism, blending information with entertainment to popular effect. Over the course of a century, it documented everything from major armed conflicts and political crises to the curious hobbies and eccentric lives of ordinary people. If it happened, British Pathé filmed it.

Here’s a cool film from 1939, which shows how a fly rod was constructed from Brazilian greenheart wood. (Rods made from greenheart were less expensive than bamboo models.) The episode even ends with an angler taking the new rod to the river to cast for salmon. When he hooks into a fish, the announcer gets a little over-excited, perhaps representing the fisherman’s propensity for exaggeration.

2 thoughts on “History Video: Making a Greenheart Fly Rod in 1939”

    1. I have the largest and most comprehensive flyfishing museum globally in South Africa Soon to be transferred to Netherlands. I’m interested in anything and everything to do with fly-fishing I would like to cover a short history on orvis and hope you may find a couple of documents or items we may display Are you able to lend us any tackle for our accedemy our members are quite diverse and some from humble backgrounds. Thankyou wonderful film clip Reg Dr K Naidoo

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