A recent posting for a sale has caused some of you to contact me for more information so I offer this brief regarding information pertinent to this subject:
In 1950 three WWII veterans formed a small rod company in the Saginaw/Bay City are of Michigan called The Renew Rod Shop, These man were Robert Nixon, William Mang and Art Neumann. In 1953 Mr. Nixon departed and Mang and Neumann formed a company: The Wanigas Rod Company. In late 1957 Neumann and Mang agreed to part company and did so legally by mid-1958. At that point in time Neumann carried forward a broader retail business orient national reaching establishment. At around this time the well known fit and finish of Wanigas Rods was established.
Neumann acquired rod blanks from a number of sources and either finished them himself in the Wanigas Trade Dress format open spiral guide wraps or had piece workers do the work. The highest end model of Wanigas bamboo rods was; The "Wanigas Supreme". These rod blanks were hand selected by Neumann from the stock of the Paul H.Young Company in Detroit, Michigan. As Bob Summers was working there at the time building out the Paul Young rods he met Mr. Neumann and was very familiar with him coming into the shop on occasion to select blanks. Neumann was very particular in the blanks he selected, Although Wanigas listed about 7 models of Supreme rods from around 1958 to the 1970's there were very few of these rods actually made. Summers estimated there were less than 100 total sold to Wanigas. Summers also worked evenings while at Young's doing odd jobs. For a time he wrapped rods for Wanigas. Bob has indicated Neumann was very particular about the finish work on his rods and the wraps had to be done just so.
A finished Wanigas Supreme rod will have the following features:
1) In Art Neumann's very precise and beautiful flowing script the word "Wanigas Supreme" will be written on the rod just above the grip. Sometimes on another flat he would write the owner's name.
2) The rod wraps are very precise and exactly done in number and spacing in black thread.
3) The ferrules were original Super Z embossed ferrules.
4) The rod sections were placed in a black cotton rod bag.
5) The rod and bag were placed in a quality aluminum rod tube.
6) The rod tube had a paper Wanigas shop label affixed with specific information typed on before the label was placed.
Wanigas received bamboo rod blanks from other makers some blonde and others flamed that were either sold as blanks or built out under the "Wanigas Deluxe", "Wanigas Select" & "Wanigas Superb" designation, although I have seen an Uslan five sided Wanigas Supreme rod.
I hope this information proves informative and helpful.
Carl @ Wanigas Rod Company
Wanigas Rod Company and Rod Information
Moderator: TheMontyMan
Re: Wanigas Rod Company and Rod Information
#2That's great information, Carl. I knew next to nothing about Wanigas and its rods.
Art Neumann, of course, was a towering figure in fly fishing, having been one of the founders of Trout Unlimited among other things.
Art Neumann, of course, was a towering figure in fly fishing, having been one of the founders of Trout Unlimited among other things.