I'm on a visit with collector Jerry Girard, who recently completed a major reorganization of his collection. One of the more interesting displays, to me at least, is the enclosed wall display of levitating Mitchell rods, a maker totally absent from my collection. Mitchell's history as a split bamboo rod maker began a little bit before Wheeler but what little history we have to go by suggests Mitchells were behind Wheeler when it came to applying machinery to the process, other than a lathe. One result is the appearance of a distinctly handcrafted product, easily appreciated in these closeups.
While here I was hoping to find a better way to display a fishing rod and this wall mounted cabinet impressed me. Thanks for the photos go to Jerry.
An excellent history of William Mitchell will be found in Thomas Kerr's
Early American Rods and Rodmakers, a very scarce book that should be purchased should you be lucky enough to find one.
