Needham Special
Moderator: TheMontyMan
Re: Needham Special
#22Omar Needham left Orvis to manage Quimby Pond Camps in Rangely Maine. Quimby Pond was one of the first waters in Maine in the late 1800s to be given the status of "fly fishing only" as a conservation measure to protect the brook trout fishing in the pond. Picture one Quimby Pond , Picture two shows two of the cabins that make up Quimby Pond Camps. The camps are now under private ownership.
Re: Needham Special
#23Quimby's always been a unique fishery:157 acres, mean depth 6', max depth 12', and a single springhole where all the fish gather in the summer. Years ago there was no protection for the poor fish in the summer. For example, way back when, CE Wheeler fished there one day and boated 105 trout. The paper didn't say, but he may have been anchored in one spot the whole time. The state wised up since then and they set boundaries with markers so you can't do that anymore.
From the porch at the main lodge, we were told you could sit there in one of their comfy porch chairs in November and watch the spawners as you sip your morning joe. Cathie and I were overnight guests there about 15 years ago, when it was still in the hands of Don and Stephanie Palmer (Don spearheaded the museum in Oquossoc). The lodge has a great room with a fireplace and an arched ceiling, paneled to replicate the bottom of a canoe. Ceiling and walls are covered with all manner of taxidermy, including a number of now-protected species of hawk, owl, and loon. And old tackle and artifacts, like a 7' Baby Catskill and others...Cathie and I were like a couple of bumpkins on their first trip to Manhattan, heads tilted back , wide-eyed and slack-jawed by the spectacle.
From the porch at the main lodge, we were told you could sit there in one of their comfy porch chairs in November and watch the spawners as you sip your morning joe. Cathie and I were overnight guests there about 15 years ago, when it was still in the hands of Don and Stephanie Palmer (Don spearheaded the museum in Oquossoc). The lodge has a great room with a fireplace and an arched ceiling, paneled to replicate the bottom of a canoe. Ceiling and walls are covered with all manner of taxidermy, including a number of now-protected species of hawk, owl, and loon. And old tackle and artifacts, like a 7' Baby Catskill and others...Cathie and I were like a couple of bumpkins on their first trip to Manhattan, heads tilted back , wide-eyed and slack-jawed by the spectacle.
Re: Needham Special
#24Example of some of Omar Needham's Fly Rods
Left to right-- 9'2" 2/2 "Salmon Special" Rangeley
8'3" 2/2 "Delux" Rangeley
7'6" 2/2 "Special" Rangeley
8' 3/2 "Manchester Special" (with Manchester Vt. decal)
Left to right-- 9'2" 2/2 "Salmon Special" Rangeley
8'3" 2/2 "Delux" Rangeley
7'6" 2/2 "Special" Rangeley
8' 3/2 "Manchester Special" (with Manchester Vt. decal)
Last edited by hatch on 12/25/21 17:52, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Needham Special
#25I had a cabin on Quimby Pond for 25 years, 1981-2006. Quimby Pond Camps, was known as a former residence of Omar Needham and was in the early 1980’s in very sad shape. It failed to collapse and was later sold to Don Palmer and renovated. It was not functioning as any sort of tourist designation when I bought my cabin and even after being rebuilt it seemed a very quiet private place.
Re: Needham Special
#26Ive been doing some digging today, and I feel like this reelseat might be a PW Arend. It differs from the one on Hatch's "Special" which I think is a Montague.
Any thoughts? This would be interesting if so, right?
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Any thoughts? This would be interesting if so, right?
Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
Re: Needham Special
#27Jcrouse, "The Home of the Antique Rod and Reel Library" has a pretty good selection of reel seats pictured and I think you have the correct choices (Arend and Montague) for for the 2 old marked Needham rods. The library has a set of ferrules by Montague that's not an exact match to the ferrules on the two old rods but is pretty close. Winding checks on both rods look Horrocks Ibbotson to me.
Re: Needham Special
#30for what its worth, I had a Needham 8' 3/2 that was for all intents and purposes, an Orvis. IIRC built around his time with the company. If I can find the pictures, I will post.
Re: Needham Special
#31I'd appreciate seeing them!!jz2 wrote:for what its worth, I had a Needham 8' 3/2 that was for all intents and purposes, an Orvis. IIRC built around his time with the company. If I can find the pictures, I will post.
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Re: Needham Special
#32Another picture of Needhams camps on Quimby Pond
Jeffkn1 mentioned the spring hole on Quimby pond off limits to fishing (Wilbur spring) State fishing rulebook reads" Closed to all fishing is that area located near the state boat landing from shore to the floating markers". In the upper left of the picture you can see people standing on the boat landing.
Jeffkn1 mentioned the spring hole on Quimby pond off limits to fishing (Wilbur spring) State fishing rulebook reads" Closed to all fishing is that area located near the state boat landing from shore to the floating markers". In the upper left of the picture you can see people standing on the boat landing.
Re: Needham Special
#33Hatch, Thanks for the pictures. I wish I had taken some when I had my cabin on Quimby. I was always surprised that no one cheated on the restricted area on the pond. There were other springs, very small, on Quimby. You could find them in the summer by looking for four rowboats, less than 100 feet apart, with fishermen casting into the same ten foot square of water.
Re: Needham Special
#34oquassa The fact that no one "cheated" may be for a few reasons. Quimby is not a remote pond. Game wardens going anywhere in the area would pass Quimby pond. Easy target for them to check and would only take them 10 minutes. I hope the reason that kept people from fishing Wilbur spring on Quimby was the realization that the restriction was put there to protect the fishery on the pond. This restriction made the pond a better place for people to fish throughout the year.
Concerning the 'Fly Fishing Only" designation on ponds in Maine, It amazes me the fly fishermen/women, who consider themselves serious fishermen/women, who "skirt" this rule on FFO waters. The rule is there as a conservation measure to protect the fishery and make it a productive and enjoyable place to fly fish for years to come. Many of the FFO ponds in Maine are between 20 and 100 acres. These ponds could easily be fished out without limits being put on them years ago by state fishing rules. I think Quimby Pond was the first pond in the state to be given the FFO status in the late 1800s. In the mid to late 1800s the Rangeley area was being widely promoted by sporting newspapers and books throughout the country and the area was getting hammered by sportsmen. The state, while being influenced by sporting camp owners in the Rangeley area looking to protect the fishery and their lively hoods, started designating waters in the area "fly fishing only".
There is no mention of "fishing with artificial flies only" in the Maine 1893 rulebook. I do not have 1894 but in 1895 Quimby pond is the first and only water mentioned in Maine as being restricted to artificial flies.
I wonder if Quimby Pond might not have been the first body of water in the country to hold the fly fishing only designation? Upper New York State was getting hammered by fishermen at the same time so perhaps a body of water there got the designation of FFO first?
Wow, penalty of $10. fine and $1.00 for each fish was pretty steep for 1895. Several days wages?