THE HODGE & SONS STORY
The family at Hodge & Sons have been hand-crafting a wide variety of mechanical products since the late 50's. Our founder, R.B. Hodge now in his 90s, is still active in the family design/manufacturing business and Hodge & Sons. He spends most of his time involved in design activities and leaves the day-to-day business to his sons, Robert S. and William S. (Bill) Hodge. The next generation of Hodge boys are Bill's sons, Liam and Ronan. They received their first Zebco rods at 5 and 7 and fished with their uncle Robert at the family bass pond growing up.
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Fishing is in our blood. In the 1950's R.B. and his wife Beverly spent many vacations road-tripping along the coastlines of mainland Mexico and Baja California, always keeping an eye out for the best spots to fish. They mainly fished the surf with the Centor spinning reels (the first spinning reels brought into the U.S.). They loved fishing and the adventure it provided, even making some exciting trips into the surf in dugout canoes hand-carved from entire tree. Their love of fishing set the family up for a love of fishing and the engineering designs of the family’s other company had them evaluating the equipment they used and considering improvements. In 1973, Tom Morgan R.B.'s cousin purchased the R.L Winston Rod Company. It wasn't long after Tom approached R.B. to produce a series of Trout reels for his fly rod company. At the time, the Hodges were completely consumed with other design projects and really had no interest in designing a fly reel for sale; not much fly fishing was being done by the immediate family at that point.
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In the early 80's, Robert S. got serious about fly fishing for Steelhead in the Rogue and Applegate rivers near his home. This was the beginning of an ongoing passion for fly fishing. Having grown up in the family’s machine shop-based business, building a fly reel seemed like a natural idea. At about the same time as R.B. and Robert S. started playing with the design and building of a fly reel, Tom called again to discuss the possibility of building some reels to complement his rods. Tom had seen other design/manufacturing work the company was doing and was impressed with the high quality. Finally, the timing was right, and Hodge & Sons designed and built the R.L. Winston "Vintage" reels. These reels were a great success, and though Hodge & Sons no longer build reels for R.L.Winston they did go on to build the Bamboo Hand Mill Planes and rod tube caps and collars for many years.
Today Hodge & Sons has a superior reputation for the quality and design of our reels, which are hand-built for each customer. We invite you to immerse yourself in the beauty of personalized designs as you explore the exquisite craftsmanship of our custom reels. With attention to detail and a focus on individuality, each piece is tailored for a timeless and sophisticated appeal.
