Finally, a well-written product back story that’s actually interesting
The Waterworks Ultra Large Arbor (ULA)
If you’re like me you find the typical “story” behind fishing products sounds marketing language written by some wannabe Hemingway or Gierach who comes off more focused on sales than sharing interesting information. The fact is that a well informed reader who is intrigued by a product usually has a greater chance of buying. First impressions and all that….
The run-of-the-mill story is less than interesting, and ineffective. This doesn’t seem to be case the case with The Waterworks-Lamson Story. I usually last no more than a paragraph with the usual stuff but Lamson’s story was actually interesting and well thought out, to the point of my taking the time to read it end-to-end, then contact them for its inclusion in FFFM.
Enough of this, here’s the story. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Ed Maurer, Publisher
C1 Design Group enters fly fishing as the Waterworks: 1995 to 1998
The Ketchum Release
We began to develop product ideas and explore the fly fishing market in 1995. After a long weekend with dead fish in the bathtub, designer Mark Farris emerged with a tool capable of reducing fish mortality by eliminating netting and handling. We called this the Ketchum Release, a play on the name of our home town of Ketchum, Idaho. It was an immediate success.
Following the Ketchum Release and several other accessory ideas, we quickly turned our attention to fly reels. We could see that fly reels were poorly designed. Reels were too complicated; they were using too many parts; drag systems and other running parts were exposed to the elements; reels were too heavy. We began with a blank sheet of paper, and undertook a total re-think of the fly reel.
Center Axis Concept
To “quiet” the negative influence that the weight of a reel has on the rod, the ultimate solution would be to align the center of mass of the reel with the center axis of the rod. By aligning these two centers of mass along the same axis, the twisting or pronating force would be eliminated and the pendulum effect reduced. The rod would be in better balance, feel more responsive, and perform according to the rod designer’s vision.
And so we developed, designed and patented this concept.
One small problem: we weren’t a rod company. Sage Manufacturing helped on this one. They saw the merit in this design innovation and licensed our design which they brought to market as the Sage Center Axis. In order for Sage to also offer a truly lightweight and high-end reel for Center Axis and standard seat rods, Sage engaged the Waterworks to design a large arbor reel. Our design for Sage became known as the Sage 3000 series.
Read More — You Owe it to Yourself
Filed under: GEAR & TACKLE
