So I never met the man, he died before I was born. I did know his wife, my Great Aunt, and spent many years with her growing up.
Unfortunately now she is sick and her health is declining from Alzheimer's and I was helping my parents clean out her home and found a bunch of wine boxes and tool boxes and filled with reels and fly making equipment and reel repair or fabrication materials, I don't really know. There are his old business cards and a few rods as well and I had no idea he made any of this stuff as a businessman.
I was told he was an engineer with the State of New York and I zoned out because I was seven at the time and wanted to play Pokémon. I did a bit of light googling to see if I could find more out about him but I was curious if anyone here ever had any experiences they could share.
Does anyone use his gear or has used his fly rods? Has anyone here met him? Was he actually a big(gish) name in the field of fly rod makers?? I'm kinda just curious as to find out more about him and other members of my family I never got to meet. Love hearing stories and that kind of stuff. Especially now as I get more invested into fly fishing, completely coincidentally of my Great Uncles apparent history.
Posted by AveryPritzi
3 Comments
Whoa, yea, he’s well known. He specialized in fiberglass rods. I think Ed Van Put mentioned in a story that his favorite rod was a 1 piece 8’ 5wt Vince made.
Maybe you already came across this thread: https://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14859
“Vince Cummings fly rods” returns several results. As well as some available on eBay. I may have to look more closely at some of the listings and determine whether I should add one to the collection!
Apparently he crafted a couple rods for president Eisenhower!
OP, this is so cool!