Weber of Stevens Point

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teter
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Weber of Stevens Point

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Post by teter »

Having owned a few Weber rods (all Heddons) and reels, I looked for and acquired a Weber catalog. The one I found, from 1940, had a number of interesting entries.

Weber was aggressively adamant about rod and reel balance, but not in the way many of us think of it today -- Mr. Weber (or his catalog copywriter) argued, as some have on this forum, that the point at which a rod and reel balanced on your finger meant nothing unless you took into account the amount of line stripped out for casting, among other things. To this end, Weber offered a variety of "balanced" outfits, tested with the proper lines and flies. Some of these featured the fairly mediocre Bakelite reels like the Henshall, which of course had a certain following back then. I don't think Weber ever made its own rods, and I suspect it didn't make its own reels, either. The reels were advertised as basically unbreakable. I have a few of these and wouldn't care to test them to see if that claim is true.

I always thought that synthetic leaders came along after WWII as a result of wartime advances in plastics, but the 1940 catalog offers synthetic leaders that it touts as an improvement over foreign synthethic leaders, indicating of course that those had been on the market some time before 1940.

Weber in 1940 was also pushing catch-and-release fishing, at least for undersize fish, so that stocks of fish would remain healthy. Given that the Depression was still lingering when this catalog was produced and many people were fishing for subsistence, I found it interesting that the company was urging its customers to release fish.

The catalog also showcased the "modern" Weber factory and talked about the advantages to employees of not having to work at home. Interestingly, the pictures are nearly all of women who tied its famous "lifelike flies" -- if Weber didn't produce its own rods and reels, and its main product was flies, I'm guessing the factory was largely a warehouse for rods, reels and lines that were made by other companies.

Nothing profound here, just some observations.
Last edited by teter on 01/11/16 16:15, edited 1 time in total.

Bosstownbob
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Re: Weber of Stevens Point

#2

Post by Bosstownbob »

The Museum of American Flyfishing had a great article about Weber and other fly tying companies around Stevens Point Wisconsin. They were selling around 12 million flies a year. The better women tiers were woo'd away from their company with better conditions and money. Some did quite well. The advent of self tying equipment led to the demise. There were also hotels nearby on the prairie river with trains from chicago bringing anglers to Stevens Point. I've fished the prairie around the old foundations of these hotels along its banks. Heavy hatches in June make fishing on a par anywhere. I have a Weber Professor 1602 7 1//2 ft with a Weber Henshall reel that is just plain fun to fish with a 4 sylk DT.

dadof6
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Re: Weber of Stevens Point

#3

Post by dadof6 »

I went to college in Stevens Point in the early 1980's, and knew the wife of Weber's last CEO. Also had a Point Special or two with ex employees from their golden years. I was fortunate enough to attend Weber's auction after they closed. It was fascinating to walk through the old three story building that once housed that historic company. Unfortunately couldn't buy too much due to limited funds as a college student, but did buy one of the many large wooden cabinets that they stored flies in. It's a beautiful apothecary type cabinet about 5 feet long.

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KatoomRXC
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Re: Weber of Stevens Point

#4

Post by KatoomRXC »

Thanks for sharing, guys. Weber fan here - mainly just as a fun piece of history of a fascinating era. I have a couple Heddon and ? made Webers, but don't fish them much. Enjoyed your observations and experiences, though.

Dan

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