I was extremely saddened today of the the end of production for Carron lines, a company began by Myself, Jimmy and Gwyneth Jack back in the early 2000s and one I have many fond memories of.
While we built a top-end brand, for me, it was much more than this, it was about the people and relationships formed.
Jimmy Jack and I met in the early 1990s when he came to fish with me at Lower Pitchroy, forming a strong friendship. Our shared competitive nature and interest in the small margins that make a significant difference in life led to the creation of the company.
After winning a Spey casting competition with a fly line I had made from glueing 3 lines together we set about making what we knew would be the best fly line on the market. However, although we were both highly motivated, to achieve this goal required something more than just the two of us had. A meeting with, Mike Gormely, the then production manager of fly lines at Shakespeare, would be the final part of this Jigsaw as the four of us quickly realised that as a team we had something incredibly special.
Mike was to fly lines, PVC and Plastic as I was to fishing and casting and jimmy was to crane hire and motor racing, a top-level guy with ambition. My attention to detail had Mike round the twist. Each time he would send a prototype of the ne Carron Jetstream line up for trial, I’d cast it and say, its good, but it's not “great”! We need this line not to be good, but to be “great”! Jimmy, Gwyneth, and I fully understood what we were trying to do with the brand so knew that the line had to be better than anything out there. Whilst I knew we could make it better than anything there at the time, to achieve this required us to be radicle and after the cutting of 3 sets of dyes, finally we had the right shape and density. The line was ready. For me this was such a wonderful feeling as we all know the line was not good, but “great” and would be the catalyst to project the company in the right direction. The Dye had been cast, and it would be my first venture into the world of the fly-fishing business.
The line with its unique taper took the market by storm and the rest is history. Sitting here writing this my mind flashes back to being invited to the opening of the new Farlows shop to have the lines as a center piece of the line stand there. For a Spey Ghillie, this was really something. My first folly into the world of casting demonstrations with Jimmy and Gwyneth at Sportfish reading. When I look back, without this friendship, in all probability I’d still have been working at Knockando, no Partridge, no Hardy, no travel no casting instruction, no nice house. Life would have been different to say the least.
At that time, the four of us came together as a team and made a trailblazing flyline that had a great following. Unfortunately, we lost Mike some time back and with him a real font of knowledge. At Carron, Jimmy and Gwyneth produced some of the best leather products in the world, excelling in everything they did. So, it is such a shame that I hear of the end of the company today. Those early days were some of the best of my life and I will always be indebted to Jimmy and Gwyneth Jack, two special people, for their help, advice but most of all friendship.
This is a short extract from my book.
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