Today we're diving into the story behind one of the most influential companies in modern fly fishing, the group responsible for Sage, Rio, Reddington, and fly water travel.

We'll trace how a small graphite rod shop grew into a global brand, how two founders, one obsessed with product and the other with marketing, set a new standard for performance and how that same DNA

still runs through every rod, reel, and flyline carrying the Farbank name today.

This is the Wet Fly Swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing,

how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip and what you can do

to give back to the fish species we all love.

Mark Bale spent more than three decades inside the Farbank world,

helping guide the evolution from mom and pop roots to a company that defined an era of fly fishing.

From Don Green's early graphite breakthroughs to the rise of spaycasting

and the fragile egg philosophy that kept the culture intact,

he's seen it all from the inside.

By the end of this episode, you're going to not only understand the story of Sage, Real

and Regington, you're going to hear what those decades inside the industry taught one angler

about passion, people, and change in fly fishing.

All right, let's get into it.

Here he is, Mark Bale.

How's it going, Mark?

Really good, a little jet lagged. I've been in Europe, but I'm home now and sort of getting my feet back under me. It does take time. Nice, nice. Have you worried out, Europe was fishing, or what were you

doing out there? Well, I fished a lot this fall, September and October,

but actually I was walking Hadrian's Wall in the UK. That's a traditional walk. That's something

I'd wanted to do for a long time, 85 miles, and now I can say I've walked across England.

Wow. That's what I was doing. Amazing, yeah, 85 miles. That's a good chunk.

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