H.L. Leonard

Before he became pioneer of the modern bamboo fly rod, Hiram Leonard was a hunter, guide, gunsmith and self-taught engineer.

His fearless exploits, innovative approach and wiry strength earned him a reputation as "the Great Hunter" in his own time.

[3] Henry David Thoreau wrote that Leonard was a "handsome man of good height, but not apparently robust, of gentlemanly address and faultless toilet".

Thoreau also recounted an incident where Leonard single handedly saved the lives of two passengers who were trapped in their stagecoach which had sunk in the frozen Piscataquis River.

[4] Ernest Schweibert, in his double volume, Trout, called Hiram Leonard "the father of the modern fly rod”, not only in terms of technical knowledge but also because of the many great rodmakers who were trained in his shop.

On the advice of a friend, he sent his first rod to Bradford Anthony of Boston, Massachusetts, who "kept a sporting goods house".

When Leonard commenced, he found weak spots in the raw material and decided to make the rods with six thinner strips instead.

Demand for the "first ever made" hexagonal fishing rods was so great that Leonard could never fully supply enough.

In 1899 his factory was moved to the site where it remains today, though the original Leonard Rod Company was closed in 1984.