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Post 25 Feb 2009, 08:28 • #1 
Sport
Joined: 09/04/06
Posts: 25
I have been meaning to take some pics of these Wanigas rods for some time now, so with the recent post regarding a Wanigas catalog and more talk about Art Neumann's rods, I finally took a minute to shoot a few pics. As far as I can tell, the catalog is from 1973.Image "Yellow" rod: Pere Marquette model, 8'0" 2pc 3.6oz with spiggot ferrules.

"Brown/Choc." rod: Au Sable model 8'6" 2pc 3.6oz with spiggot ferrules.
"Brown/Chestnut rod: Wanigas DeLuxe model 7'9" 2pc 3.9oz. nickle silver ferrules.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

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Image

The Wanigas DeLuxe is not listed in the catalog. It is by far the nicest of the 3 rods as far as I am concerned. I think it is also a very early Wanigas rod because of the style. Maybe some of you guys can enlighten me or give your opinion on this idea. Ward


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Post 25 Feb 2009, 12:16 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 09/05/07
Posts: 2153
Location: West Virginia
WCPVJr, thanks for posting those great pictures of a very interesting group of rods. I have to admit that I've never even seen one before. Although they are all classics, I agree that the Deluxe would be my pick of the litter too. I especially like how Mr. Neumann did the inscriptions by hand - very beautifully done. Having those vintage Wanigas catalogs certainly adds a lot to your collection. Congratulations.


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Post 25 Feb 2009, 13:14 • #3 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/03/07
Posts: 1152
Location: Shenandoah Valley of Virginia
Thanks for posting the fantastic Wanigas photos. I feel very fortunate to have found a similar catalog like yours with a letter inside typed by Art. I don't think I've ever seen any of his rods before. Have you had them a long time and do you fish them much? I don't recall any time on this forum like the past few days where we've had such a fantastic group of rods posted; the Claudios, Doc's Winston, WCPV's Wanigas, FullFlex's Vince Cummings rod and your group of Art Neumann rods. WOW! Can we get a Peak glass rod?


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Post 25 Feb 2009, 19:02 • #4 
Master Guide
Joined: 11/10/08
Posts: 465
Location: US-CA
Sweet lookin' rods. Thanx for sharing


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Post 26 Feb 2009, 03:01 • #5 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 10/12/06
Posts: 1184
Location: US-CA
WCPVJr,
Good looking rods. Thanks for the rod and catalog pics. It's the first time I have ever seen these rods. Respectfully rvreclus


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Post 26 Feb 2009, 08:51 • #6 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1778
Location: Western Colorado
I thought there would be a holy grail glow to them, or some ethereal quality, based upon the occasional threads about them (and the question of their existence) that I've read. You mean it's still just a fishin' pole!? You may want to pry the butt cap off and see if there is some important historical document that has been hidden in there all these years. Image

Do you fish them? If so, how do they fish?


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Post 26 Feb 2009, 09:29 • #7 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 09/05/07
Posts: 2153
Location: West Virginia
I can't seem to create a link, but here's an interesting article on Art Neumann. The photo makes it look like he was open for business in October of 2008 when he was 92.

http://www.mlive.com/sports/saginaw/ind. .. ports.html


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Post 26 Feb 2009, 13:45 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/26/06
Posts: 3837
Location: Northeast Of Heaven
Hello
Great Post!
Tight Lines and Old School Loops!
Andy M


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Post 26 Feb 2009, 17:16 • #9 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 09/29/06
Posts: 4413
Location: Willamette Valley, Oregon
wow, three of them! I thought they were rare. wow, good on you man. Thanks for posting.


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Post 26 Feb 2009, 17:55 • #10 
Administrator
Joined: 01/10/06
Posts: 7811
Location: Holly Springs, NC
Ward,

Another nice set of rods. I think your photography is getting better still.

I looks like those three rods came from three different blank makers. Taking a wild guess, mainly based on the blank colors, I think the "Pere Marquette" looks like a Lamiglas blank, the "Au Sable" reminds me of a J. Kennedy Fisher blank, and "Wanigas Deluxe" makes me think of 50s era Conolon (mainly due to the ferrule). Whatever blanks they were made on, I like their style. I agree, I also think the Wanigas Deluxe is my favorite for looks.

Tom


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Post 27 Feb 2009, 16:24 • #11 
Emeritus
Joined: 06/10/05
Posts: 612
Location: US-MI
Thanks very much for posting those photos. The Wanigas fly rods are the holy grail to me. By far I would rather have one than any other maker. Some of my older buddies including my older brother and father actually set foot on Art's shop. In case you didn't know Wanigas is Saginaw spelled backwards. (Art's shop was in Saginaw Michigan)

I am fairly certain that all 3 of those rods are Phillipson blanks. I know that Art was good friends with Bill Phillipson and used mostly his blanks. The reel seats are probably Phillipson also.\
That middle rod that looks like a Fisher is more likely a late 70's Epoxite blank which I believe was the last Phillipson blank produced. The yellow one is probably a Master blank or Johnson Profile. The last rod looks like an early Phillipson blank.

I have never actually handled a Wanigas fiberglass rod myself. I have been searching for one for 10 years. I have seen many rods built on blanks bought at Art's shop though. When he closed up he sold most of the blanks to Steve Southard at the Fly Factory in Grayling Mi. Lots of my older buddies bought lots of these blanks and build rods on them. I did handle a graphite rod built by Art at the Fly Factory though.

I am pretty sure that in the history of Ebay only 1-2 of these have ever come up.

If you ever decide to sell any of these please keep me in mind. These are truly a rare treasures built by one of the founders of Trout Unlimited.
Believe it or not in the entire history of these message board I think there have only been 1-2 pictures of Wanigas rods posted.
Thanks again for posting these beautiful rods


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Post 28 Feb 2009, 08:42 • #12 
Sport
Joined: 09/04/06
Posts: 25
Thank you very much to all of you for the very kind remarks as well as the tremendous wealth of information! The amount of knowledge held by the members of this board is impressive to say the least. The unselfish manor in which this knowledge is so generously shared with others says alot about the character of this boards members.

To answer a few of the questions: I have not fished the rods, so I can't comment much about their merits in that department. All 3 were purchased some years ago on ebay, and I have never seen any others offered for sale anywhere. The fact that Wanigas rods are so scarce on the resale market is very puzzling to me. I would think that his production numbers should be at least as high as say Russ Peak, and Peak rods are 10 to 20 times more available today than the Wanigas rods. Any thoughts out there as to why this is so? As far as the blank maker, I will have to defer to those of you who are much more knowledgable about that than I am.
Thanks again, Ward


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Post 28 Feb 2009, 10:26 • #13 
Emeritus
Joined: 06/10/05
Posts: 612
Location: US-MI
Russ Peak made rods for a long time. I have no actual figures but my guess would be 10x the rods that Art made. Art was never a full time rod maker. More of a dabbler. Between founding TU and running his shop I think rod making was secondary.
I have probably seen over 100 Peaks for sale in the last 6-8 years but only maybe 3 Wanigas rods. Personally I think Russ was a much more refined rod maker but I would rather have a Wanigas because of the Michigan connection.


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Post 28 Feb 2009, 12:14 • #14 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/03/06
Posts: 687
Location: US-VA
utterly special - thanks for posting - so unique. Would make a person schedule at least a week in Michigan country just to walk the banks with one of those beauties ...
NB


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Post 28 Feb 2009, 15:17 • #15 
Emeritus
Joined: 06/10/05
Posts: 612
Location: US-MI
Nothing would please me more than walking through the Mason tract towards the South Branch with one of those beauties.


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Post 28 Feb 2009, 15:21 • #16 
Emeritus
Joined: 06/10/05
Posts: 612
Location: US-MI
I just can't get over this fine collection. I admit, I am a little jealous. I have been searching for just one of these for a very long time with no success. Even living in Michigan and scouring the back rooms of all the fly shops in Au Sable country and talking to the older guys up there I still have never even handled one.
I think my favorite of the three is also the bottom one which I agree is probably the oldest.


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Post 28 Feb 2009, 15:22 • #17 
Emeritus
Joined: 06/10/05
Posts: 612
Location: US-MI
One more thing, believe it or not I think Art is actually still alive and living in Traverse City. I saw an article about him a few months ago.


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Post 28 Feb 2009, 17:36 • #18 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/03/06
Posts: 687
Location: US-VA
Ribs,
Agreed the bottom is a favorite here too ... But if you can borrow that one, I'll borrow another , and we'll meet on the Ausable. I am sure that you know that river well.. Yes, it would be fine to sit with Art and hear some stories, very fine ...

NB


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Post 28 Feb 2009, 18:32 • #19 
Administrator
Joined: 01/10/06
Posts: 7811
Location: Holly Springs, NC
Ribs1,

I would fish any of the three happily, but like you I would love to try the Wanigas Deluxe. I dug out The Book and did some research. According to Johnson, Art Neumann originally sourced his rods from NARMCO, and then from Grizzly, and finally from Phillipson. After Phillipson was closed, Neumann purchased blanks from Lamiglas.

You're right the middle rod is the spitting image of the late model Phillipson Epoxites with spigot ferrules. The Wanigas Deluxe could also be a late 50s Phillipson. The ferrule looks late 50s to me too, although it certainly isn't a Phillipson*. But the top rod has gotta be a Lami. I've never seen a Phillipson that color and Neumann continued to make rods for 15 years after Phillipson shut down.

I can only recall one eBay auction for a Wanigas, a cane rod that looked very much like a Phillipson build. Rare rods indeed!

Tom

* Phillipson rods always had drawn NS ferrules. Why not. Phillipson's ferrules were some of the best ever. The ferrule on the Wanigas Deluxe is a really gorgeous piece of machining. I'm a sucker for metal craft like that.


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Post 09 Aug 2010, 02:59 • #20 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/02/10
Posts: 384
Location: Bay City, Michigan.
Art is still alive and still lives at his residence on Sheridan Road just outside of Saginaw. He spends part of his summer at a cabin on the Big Creek near Luzerne, and winters in Florida. Art paid attention to the important things on rods such as ferrules, and any rod that required ferrules to be installed after the introduction of Super-Z ferrules, that is what he used. Phillipson made blanks that came with nickel silver ferrules and he sold them either as blanks or finished rods, but if blanks came to him un-ferruled, they received Super-Z's. Art sold tons of rods over the years as blanks and finished rods through his catalogs and at his little shop. He worked full time as a machinest and tool maker and had little time to build rods so he "farmed out" most of that work, done to his specs, to other people. Art did build rods, but it was very limited, due to the constraints of his job when he was working. Art told me that he was the first customer of Lou Fierabend (the inventor of the Super-Z ferrule) and that on his reccomendation, and endorsement, Paul Young (who Art bought bamboo blanks from) started using them as well. A link to Paul Young can be seen in Art's rods, in that he used the same spiral wrap format that the Young shop used on their rods. In my estimation, their wasn't another mail order rod catalog that offered more rods than did Art's shop in its heyday (fly, spinning, and casting rods). His catalog was incredibly filled with offerings. His fiberglass rods and blanks included makers such as Conolon, Phillipson, J.K. Fisher, and Lamiglas to be sure, but I'm sure that there were others as well. His bamboo offerings were from Paul Young, Heddon, Bill Phillipson, Nat Uslan, and one or two others whom I can't recall.
Mark McKellip


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Post 06 Nov 2010, 05:16 • #21 
New Member
Joined: 11/05/10
Posts: 2
my Father had 6 of these made, I have 1 of them, he has past now and not sure what he did with the others, I think his wife threw them out Image, but i love the feel and look of the Art Neumann AuSable Wanigas rod mine is the 7'6" in the center


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Post 24 Apr 2014, 06:10 • #22 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/11/12
Posts: 716
Location: New Hampshire
I had the chance this past week to purchase a Wanigas Au Sable fly rod just like the one in the picture above.

Its a 7'6" rod in great condition with original tube and sock.

I do not know anyone who has one and have never even had the chance to see one except for this picture posted here on the forum by WCPVJr. Knowing that and seeing the catalog above and the 1975 Wanigas Rod Company catalog that gearboy posted in another thread both are saying that the Wanigas "Au Sable" custom glass rods have black spiraled wraps. The one I have the chance to purchase clearly does not have black wraps so what now?

That's all I had for information and of course based on that picture above I decide to purchase. I do not think I made a bad decision?

I will be posting pictures as soon as possible and sure to have some more questions also. I have a little bit more to add also to my story about the long week it took to get that rod in my hands.

Did you guys ever figure out if its a Fisher or Phillipson blank? Any forum members here have any Wanigas rod pictures to share? Maybe you know someone who has one?

I look forward to hearing from all you guys and gals,

Russ


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Post 24 Apr 2014, 09:26 • #23 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/02/10
Posts: 384
Location: Bay City, Michigan.
It's a Fisher.


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Post 23 Mar 2016, 14:02 • #24 
New Member
Joined: 03/22/16
Posts: 5
Location: Mid MI
Just a note, Art passed away Monday, March the 21st. in Saginaw MI. The world has lost a special person.

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index ... er_of.html


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Post 23 Mar 2016, 16:03 • #25 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/11/12
Posts: 716
Location: New Hampshire
So sorry to hear that news. Wow 99! Thanks also for letting us know. Special thanks also for the peek into his work shop!


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