THIS IS OUR STORY
Not many companies survive as long as we have by making fine fly rods in the USA so our history is a special one.
Mixing a storied bamboo workshop with innovative graphite production fascinates non-conformists. Yes its eccentric, but to the man on the street,
so is fly fishing. Fortunately, kindred spirits seek us out and the Thomas & Thomas legend lives on.
TRUE TO OUR ROOTS - THE T&T 'LOOK'
Thomas & Thomas was founded in 1969 by rod builders, Tom Dorsey and Tom Maxwell.
Their background in bamboo possessed the two Tom’s with a rare and uncompromising obsession for detail. To their minds, the ‘labor of love’ involved in constructing collector-grade bamboo was too precious to be tainted by anything but the finest cork, components and finishes to complete the rod.
The genius of T&T was in upholding the same obsession for detail as they began experimenting with new graphite materials.
Dozens of blanks could be built in the time it took to build one from bamboo. For many, this meant the ‘plastic’ rods were not worthy of the same attention in terms of their handles, reel seats, ferrules, guides and wraps. T&T took the opposite view and raised the bar for graphite excellence.
Today, this ethos is imprinted upon our DNA.
Every T&T employee is empowered to inspect and reject rods at each stage of the build process. A speck of dust in the paint and the rod gets rejected when it arrives to be ferruled. An imperfect ferrule and the rod is rejected when it arrives to be mounted. Nobody at Thomas & Thomas is paid based on the quantity they produce, rather everyone is judged on the quality they put out..
Annually, we make fewer than a hundred bamboo rods, a few hundred glass rods and a few thousand graphite rods.
Our attention to detail is consistent across our entire line. Aesthetically, our rods are rated as ‘second to none’ by fly fishing enthusiasts around the world. It’s the Thomas & Thomas ‘Look’ – the look of the rods you’ll eventually own.
ALWAYS AN EYE TO THE FUTURE – THE T&T 'FEEL'
We take great pride in building rods that are pleasing to the arm as well as the eye.
We build rods that communicate. Rods that prompt you to intuitively adjust your stroke to produce the perfect cast. We believe it’s not always about building rods that are faster or lighter or stronger. It’s about building performance rods that get the job done, time after time.
When it comes to our design philosophy we tell it like it is and try to avoid blinding you with science.
That’s not to say there isn’t any – the quest for fly rod perfection is a never-ending journey. Tom Dorsey was among the first rod builders to start experimenting with graphite back in the 1970’s. Today, he remains obsessed with pushing the boundaries to find new materials and tapers that improve performance. Dorsey calls it ‘tinkering’ but, in fairness, it takes a lot more than that to produce rods that feel like the rods you’ll eventually own.
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