When one brand, one family, and one mission remain focused on one goal for 50 years, innovation becomes instinct. In 1975 Orvis shifted manufacturing resources to produce lighter and more efficient fly rods. Under the Perkins family leadership, we made a leap of faith to adopt an emerging technology: Graphite. At the time we had 120 years under our belts building bamboo and fiberglass fly rods in Vermont with several industry innovations to our name including the first vertically hung fly reel.