Truth in Rod Building
It would be easy to tell you there's a magic material that makes our fly rods great. It's a simple story loved by sales and marketing teams. But it's not accurate. Great fly rods are forged from commitment, experience, and passion. It takes commitment to source the right materials and components even if they are a lot more expensive, and it takes commitment to craftsmanship and top quality even if they take much more time.
Mandrel design, combining the right fibers with the right resins in the right proportions, component choices, and design nuances all contribute. Our rods are handcrafted by people who love to fish as much as you do, and they’re put together with the know how that comes from almost forty years of design and rod building experience.
It’s all in the details, and how those details are brought together, and it has a whole lot to do with the people who make your rods. Sure, materials are important. In fact, they're extremely important, but that's just the first step in making a great fly rod.
And that’s the truth.
The scott difference
Can a fly rod have a soul? That might be pushing it, but a fly rod can have a difference, and that difference can change the way we feel about our fishing and even the way we fish.
At Scott, we’ve spent almost 40 years working to perfect the design, craftsmanship, and performance of fly rods. Along this journey, we’ve developed a way of doing things that we call The Scott Difference.
It’s focused on handcrafting every rod we sell. It’s driven by our love of the sport, the places it takes us, and the people we meet along the way. It’s about striving to make the ultimate fishing tools. Tools perfectly suited to their fishing applications.We live it every day in the shop, cutting precise patterns from custom made graphite materials, carefully creating cork grips, and lovingly wrapping each guide by hand.
Most of all, the Scott Difference is about the people. The people who handcraft exceptional fly rods, the people who fish them, and the people who believe there’s a better way to do things.Some anglers tell us they started with another brand, or maybe even fished with four or five other brands before fishing a Scott. These stories have similar endings. People tell us they can’t believe it took so long to finally ‘get it’. They tell us they finally found a rod with soul.
We say, soul? ... perhaps. You’ve certainly discovered the Scott Difference.
Welcome to the family.
history
Scott Fly Rod Company started in a basement on Cook Street in San Francisco back in 1973 when Harry Wilson followed his dream of building a better fly rod. Being an accomplished engineer and angler, Harry left his job as an executive to pursue his passion for building the world's finest fly rods.
Incorporated in 1974, and named after Harry's son, Scott, the company quickly became known for fine fiberglass fly rods. Innovations like the first five piece rods for backpacking and traveling anglers caught the attention of serious fishermen.
In the early 70's, graphite came on the scene. Scott was there to lead the charge, and was the company that realized this material allowed rod designers to build the first performance long light line rods. Scott introduced a new concept in fly rods in 1975, a 9 foot rod for a 4 line that opened the eyes of anglers around the world.
In 1975, Harry Wilson hired his first employee, and he and his team developed and grew the company from Wilson's basement to a rod company known across the globe in just a few short years.
With business booming, Scott moved to a new location across the Bay to meet the needs of increased demand. In 1993, Scott moved operations from Berkeley, California to Telluride, Colorado.
The Telluride facility soon began to stretch at the seams, and a new facility was built in Montrose, Colorado where we operate today, continuing our traditions of innovation and handcrafting every Scott rod.