When Did We Start Fishing with Rods?

While “fishing pole” and “fishing rod” are often used interchangeably, the two terms refer to quite different pieces of equipment. While a fishing pole is a simple long pole with a line attached, and a hook on the other end of the line, a rod is more complex. A rod is used for casting and has line guides along the length of the rod and a reel to hold and feed line.

Fishing rods, in the correct usage of the word, go back many centuries. Stone inscriptions indicate that fishing rods, with reels, were used in ancient Egypt, Rome, China and Greece. Before the invention of the modern composites we use now, fishing rods were constructed of bamboo, Calcutta reed, or Ash wood. They needed to be light and strong, but also flexible, and these materials offered all three of those qualities.

Handmade fishing rods often had maple butts, which usually outlasted several rods. The rod's handles and grips were usually made of wood, cane or cork, and the guides were made of simple wire loops. Finer rods had agate insets in the guides to hold their shape and guide the line.

An interesting part of fishing rod history is the travel rod. These rods were made in pieces with metal joints, or ferrules, which were inserted into each other to extend the rod. The rod could then be disassembled and stowed away. Some travel rods were designed as walking canes during their non-fishing lives.

Travel rods have evolved since the 1980s, and now use stiff but flexible and very strong graphite ferrules. Travel rods that will fit in luggage are a large segment of the fishing rod market in the twenty-first century.

Like travel rods, traditional fishing rods have gone through a lot of changes since ancient Rome. Rather than Tonkin bamboo and Cypress reeds, modern rods are made of graphite and boron composites, and are fabricated to the tightest specifications.

The ideal rod today tapers smoothly and gradually, with no “dead spots.” Cork is often used for butts, because it is light, wears well, and conducts vibration easily. Reel seats are now made of graphite-reinforced plastic, although wood and aluminum are also used, and guides can be made of steel or aluminum. Where agate inserts used to sit inside the guides of better rods, those inserts are now made of metal alloys.

The ancients would be shocked to discover that there is no such thing as “a fishing rod” anymore; where they made rods following a general design and used them for all their needs, fishing rods are now made in a variety of “powers,” or weights, and with varying “action,” which refers to responsiveness.

Commercial and sustenance fishing has almost always used nets, and rods have generally been used for sport and recreational fishing. As such, rods have become a very popular product. Sport fishermen always want the best and newest rods, and the industry has developed new technologies to meet demand.