Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - 40
A QUARTER CENTURY
FOR BIGDADY RODS
by Alex Zidock Jr.
photos by the author
by Alex Zidock Jr. photos by the author
I
n the early days of television, talk show host Art
Linkletter made his living from the simple revelation,
" Kids Say the Darndest Things. " For Randy Emerich, it
was his young daughter's darndest spelling error that he is
proud to affix to his fishing rods.
" When my daughter was in kindergarten, the teacher
said, let's make a picture of your mom or dad to take home.
My daughter drew a picture of me, and because she was
learning to spell, she wrote across the top of an image of a
big me, 'To My Big Dady I Love You.' I am big in stature, so
when it came time to name my rod building company 25
years ago, the name was a natural, " said Emerich.
Emerich has been building fishing rods in Pottsville
for more than a quarter century. He started by asking
many questions and much trial and error. " When I was
a teenager, we had many mom-and-pop fishing shops in
the area. There was one shop I frequented, and one day I
asked Ed, the owner, if he would show me how to build a
rod, and he agreed. He made fly rods, " said Emerich.
40
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater
Randy Emerich, Bigdady Rods, with a finished rod.
Over the years, Emerich made everything from 4-foot
ultralight rods to offshore big game rods for his customers.
" If there was a mistake to be made, I made it. And, even
after more than 2,000 rods later, I am still learning how to
do things better and more efficiently, " said Emerich.
The basics for good fishing rods begin with the rod's
core. " There are a lot of manufacturers out there, and
some try to cover the whole spectrum of rod blanks.
One company might make a good spinning rod blank
for a trout rod, another the best bass blank, and still
another makes a superior fly rod blank, so I pick and
choose to get the best blank for the rod I want to build, "
said Emerich. He can determine characteristics that
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - Cover1
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - Cover2
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - 3
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - 4
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - 5
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - Cover4
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