WHILE THE YEAR 1929 is a rather infamous date in financial circles, it is cherished by anglers worldwide. For that is the year, following the stock market crash, that Robert Winther and Lew Stoner acquired the Western Fishing Rod Company of San Francisco. Almost immediately, the bamboo rods these two men built earned a reputation for performance and exceptional quality. These rods were called "Winstons", a contraction of the two men's last names.
1930s
In 1933, Robert Winther sold his interest to employee Red Loskot, an accomplished fisherman and member of the Golden Gate Angling Club. The next year, Stoner developed a patented hollow-fluted rod design for use in tournament casting competition. In the next few years, rods using this design would shatter a number of world distance casting records.
1940s - 1950s
In 1945, Doug Merrick took a job at Winston. In 1953, he purchased Red Loskot's interest. When Lew Stoner died in 1957, Merrick became sole owner. The 50s are also when Winston began using a new material to build rods: fiberglass.
1960s
The tradition of rodbuilding excellence continued in the 60s, when renowned angler and hotelier Charles Ritz, president of the International Fario Club in Paris, presented Merrick with a medal for "Outstanding work and knowledge pertaining to split bamboo rods."
1970s
The 1970s were years of change at Winston. Tom Morgan purchased the company from Merrick, and a year later Glenn Brackett became a partner. In 1975, Winston began building rods from graphite and in '76, the decision was made to move the company from San Francisco to Twin Bridges, Montana in order to be near the world-class trout fishing of the Beaverhead, Big Hole, and Jefferson rivers.
1990s
David Ondaatje bought Winston from Morgan and Brackett in 1991. Under his leadership, the company began rolling its own blanks, moved to a larger rodbuilding facility in Twin Bridges, and introduced such groundbreaking rod designs as LT 5-piece trout rods, the Joan Wulff Favorite, and BL5 and XTR rods, both of which utilized advanced boron/graphite composite.
2000 - Present
The new Boron IIIx, Boron II-MX and Boron IIt are the latest rod series to feature the unique Boron technology. Though fast and powerful, our Boron III and II technology allows these rods to be amazingly lightweight and responsive. Utilizing higher modulus third generation boron/graphite composite, Boron IIIx rods offer unprecedented performance.
