east anglian rod company

[Julian Pardoe]

Wobbly, Hi

Your rodhas to besomewhere in here! EARC made their first carbon fly rods in 1976 & we made them from Lamiglass blanks imported from USA, & called them the HILTON range.The 8 1/2 ft was rated 7/8 & retailed for £54.95. Dark charcoal grey with alloy SWF. I do not think this is yours as the rating is too far out.

By 1977 I believe Hardy had come up with a better & cheaper blank. I do seem to recall the Fibatube reference CGF-85 (Carbon Graphite Fly 8.5 ft) on their price list. However, in 1977 we still rated this rod 7/8, but the price had dropped to £42.95.

In 1978 the 8.5 ft Hilton was catalogued as weight 6 & retailed for £45.95. <u>This is what I</u> <u>think you have got.</u> Dark charcoal colour is the colour in the catalogue. Could you be calling dark charcoal..black?The rods were still listed as 'charcoal' in 1980, during which year they were discontinued.

In 1981 the Hilton range was replaced by our dark green 'Sheraton' range & this is the rod I mentioned above a few days ago, rated 5/6 (at last!) but the wrong colour!

 

[The bad one]

Thanks Julian, you really are the Orical of the takle trade past.

 

[Phil Lambert]

Utterly, utterly fascinating thread. Thank you Julian.

 

[andi linky]

Hi Julian,everyone.

Thanks for the information on the blanks..Much appreciated..

I was thinking along the lines of carp / light pike blanks..

Best Wishes to all.. Andrew.

 

[Wobbly Face (As Per Ed)]

Thanks again Julian.

I'll go with dark charcoal.

 

[David Granger]

HI Julian ,dave granger the intrepid chappie here ,can you send me your email address to mine (dgrangerATbtopenworld.com) ,been trying to get intouch for ages but lost your new one just after you sent me the notice it was changing ,cheers dave

hopefully this is not a thread hijack (were talking old tackle after all) but for the life of me i cant find a PM system on here (or just too thick to find it)

 

[Bellcher]

Hi everyone,

as a Newbie to both the forum and fishing in general I would like to ask a question.

I've managed to pick up a EAR Co 10ft Persuader by Roy Marlow but unfortunately the top section is badly damaged. I've emailed Julian and he has given me some great info on the history of the rod. However I would like to refurbish it if possible although I know it is not worth a great deal even in A1 condition.

My 12 year old is much more into the sport than I am, and he appears to have fallen in love with the rod. So does anyone have or possibly suggest somewhere I can purchase the top section of the rod ? Failing that could anyone suggest the best way of strengthening a break (near the bottom of the top section) so that the rod is at least useable ? Any help would be greatfully appreciated.

Also once again a word of thanks to Julian for spending the time and effort to answer my email to him....top bloke.

Cheers

Ron

 

[mickh]

east anglian fly rods

hi everyone, i have just been given an E.A.R. fly rod ,it,s 9 ft 2 in long,serial no.A .394 ,action - light, could anyone tell me what rating reel and line i should be using with this rod? there are no numbers on the rod at all,apart from the serial no ,so i,m in the dark, any help appreciated,many thanks,mickh.

 

[Tee-Cee]

Julian...may be a silly question but what does '&amp' mean in your posts??Perhaps Iv'e missed something....

Great thread and fills in a lot of blanks in rod making history-nice to see it recorded before it disappears from the radar!!

 

[Wilko]

A very interesting thread.

I often wondered what happened to EAR, I still own a Barry Rickards Piker 10; a light brown coloured blank with light green whippings and it still has the original rings and rubber bung which fits in the top section spigot to stop any **** falling in!

What can you tell us about this rod Julian?

 

[gladtobegrey]

EARC A57 rod?

I've come into possession of an East Anglian Rod and, having found this great thread, wondered if it was possible to identify it. I am a pretty much a complete noob as far as fishing is concerned.

The rod's label says "East Anglian Rod A57 Made in Korea." It's 13ft/4.0m long, and has a black handle of some man-made material, not cork. The reel slip rings are not threaded. The rod blank is also black, and feels plenty light enough to me to be carbon; certainly far lighter than the old glassfibre rods I dabbled with several decades ago as a kid!

What type of rod is this, what's it used for, and is it worth hanging on to or passing on to someone who's likely to use it? It seems to be in good condition AFAICT.

Thanks

 

[the_admiral]

Fascinating thread, and one which I have found as a consequence of wanting to track down more info on a rod which I have just been given by my Father-in-law. It has come from his helping an elderly lady clear her house, and has been stored in it's original bag for many years - with no clear idea of where it came from : possibly a long deceased male relative.

The rod is marked with the EARC logo just above the cork handle (with ally sliding rings) and the model name - hand painted - is "14" Tipster. It's very thin section glass fibre - in green, with black whipping (again - looks hand finished) and gold banding. It's threaded for a quiver or swing tip - and I'm guessing from the descriptions in the preceding posts, as if it's an early 70s or even late 60's model. Lovely bit of classic craftsmanship and I'd love to know more, if anyone can help.

Thanks

A

 

[Kevan Farmer]

Bit late with this but I have only just found the thread Anyway, the East Anglian Rod Co. are sadly no more I don't know when they folded or if, hopefully, they were taken over by a bigger concern.

Ok, the Tipster range. I seem to recall they produced this rod as a float version in 11, 12, 13 and 14 foot lengths. I think they also did a range of Tipster leger rods and swing tip/quiver tip specials. I have a 12 foot version which I purchased from Bennetts of Sheffield about 35 years ago. I sadly broke the tip on mine but only the very last inch. I managed to mend it and used this rod for a good few years. In my hands it saw service for float fishing my local pools and canals and also lobbing a feeder out into the Severn for barbel. They were a mid priced rod and actually pretty good for their day.

 

[kwickkwack]

just found this forum and i too have a 10ft persuader by Roy Marlow it is in perfect condition and i have had it for 20 years and never used it. i would appreciate any info on this rod

 

[metalmicky1944]

Can anyone help
I am rebuilding two 8ft 6inch EA Rod Co fiberglass swing tip rods "Qualcast" Black Swingers
I have all the original rod eyes including the threaded tip rings but unfortunately there is a second swing tip screw fitment whipped onto the butt section of both rods about 1 inch from the butt ring allowing the line to be threaded through the butt ring then the swing tip and on through the remainder of the rod eyes to the tip.
This allows the swing tip to function on windy days close to the angler.
In both cases the fitting has broken I have had a number of suggestions but need two more vintage butt section swing tip female screw fittings can anyone help
Tight Lines
Mike

 

[stasys]

Re: east anglian fly rods

hi everyone, i have just been given an E.A.R. fly rod ,it,s 9 ft 2 in long,serial no.A .394 ,action - light, could anyone tell me what rating reel and line i should be using with this rod? there are no numbers on the rod at all,apart from the serial no ,so i,m in the dark, any help appreciated,many thanks,mickh.

Mick...are you still there? Two years on I have just picked up this thread.
The A394 was a fly rod made in Japan as an economy range for the East Anglian Rod Company.
They imported it from about 1976 to 1984.
It was rated #6/7 and retailed for about £6 in 1976 & £10.95 by 1984.
I was the MD of E.A.R until we sold it in 1989 when we has a turnover of £7.5million, and in a year or two it had become (effectively) what is now Leeda.
Julian Pardoe

---------- Post added at 08:00 ---------- Previous post was at 07:56 ----------

Mick...are you still there? Two years on I have just picked up this thread.
The A394 was a fly rod made in Japan as an economy range for the East Anglian Rod Company.
They imported it from about 1976 to 1984.
It was rated #6/7 and retailed for about £6 in 1976 & £10.95 by 1984.
I was the MD of E.A.R until we sold it in 1989 when we has a turnover of £7.5million, and in a year or two it had become (effectively) what is now Leeda.
Julian Pardoe

---------- Post added at 08:49 ---------- Previous post was at 08:00 ----------

just found this forum and i too have a 10ft persuader by Roy Marlow it is in perfect condition and i have had it for 20 years and never used it. i would appreciate any info on this rod

Hi Kwickkwack. Just found this thread
The rod was made in the E.A.Rod Co's factory at Barford, near Wymondham in Norfolk. It is made from unground fibre glass blanks produced by LERC in France. It was a good selling rod, but it never matched the sales of the 'Ken Smith' for volume. This was the first ever quiver tip rod put onto the market commercially. As you know, in those days, quiver tips were screwed into the threaded end ring as were the swing-tips.
We paid a small royalty to Roy Marlow on each rod sold. The rods were sold between 1972 when they retailed at £10.40 and 1981 by which time the price had increased to £26.50.
In 1979 we realised we could no longer compete with rods coming from Korea. We started to import rods from there & cut back on our UK made rods. The factory was closed, if I remember correctly, in 1982 and was used as a backup store for our warehousing operation.

The East Anglian Rod Co morphed from a small rod maker started in 1966 into the largest independant wholesaler of tackle in the uk and one of the largest, if not the largest, in Europe. It was sold in 1990 when the turnover was approx £7.5 million. Then through a series of take-overs & mergers with Taylor & Johnson, H Steade & Sons & Leeda, it morphed again into what is now LEEDA.
Have a good Christmas
Julian Pardoe. Late MD of E.A.R co.

 

[Bigboy65]

Any body know if J P is on this website
Regards bb 65

 

[The bad one]

I think he looks in from time to time. But how often and when is the 64000 dollar question?