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Match Fishing: So, who is Daryl Hodges and what is your background in fishing?

Daryl Hodges: I’ve been fishing since the age of six or seven years old, nobody in my family fished so a bit weird why I went into fishing. I just had a passion for the outdoors and fishing in particular. I’m self-taught through hundreds of books.

I’ve worked in several different companies – pharmaceuticals, opticians, then took a bit of a career break in my late thirties when I thought: “What do I want to do now?” I’ve always been in marketing roles and fishing was my passion so my girlfriend at the time, who’s now my wife, said: “Why don’t you try and get into fishing?” So, I sent a speculative letter to here (Dynamite Baits) as it was the nearest place to where I lived – there wasn’t a role advertised but I sort of engineered one for myself. That was back in 2011, Dynamite had just been purchased by Rapala. I didn’t get a response and after three attempts I wrote to Rapala and got a call the next day, then I came in for an interview and a couple of months later I was here working. That was just before the joint venture with Shimano and my role was focused on European sales and marketing.

When we got the Dynamite brand back from Shimano in 2017 it was all about bringing it back to what it used to be before. At that point the relationship between Shimano and Rapala in Europe was breaking up and for all the tackle brands that were distributed for Rapala we became their UK hub and wholesaler, hence why we see Rapala, Storm, Okuma, Carp Spirit and Normark now.

About five years ago when the Okuma announcement was made, where we acquired the Okuma rights for distribution in Europe and Russia, I was discussing with an Italian colleague, Enrico – back in the day Normark rods were popular in Italy as well – whether we could give the factory a project in developing Normark rods again and he said: “Why not? Why don’t we?” and that’s how it started really. I didn’t think anything of it until a week later he called and said: “Are we going to start this project then?” We got the go-ahead but didn’t know if we would ever use the Normark name again. That was a Canadian outdoors hunting/fishing brand originally – it was never a match brand, but John Mitchell, who ran the Rapala Normark UK operation, used it as a brand name, and it became a household name for its match rods. 

MF: Why were the rods no longer available?

DH: In the mid-1990s Normark used to distribute a brand called Cortland, who made fly rods and lines, then they lost the distribution of that in 1996 and that made the operation in the UK of Rapala Normark not really sustainable. As a result they broke up some of the distribution of some of the brands and Masterline took the Normark rights. In the beginning it was no problem because they used the same rod blanks and the same factory and principles, but over a short period of time they changed the factory and the blanks to try and be more profitable. The Normark Mk2 rods were just a pale shadow of the old ones, with a totally different look and feel. A little bit cheaper than the 2000s but they were on cheaper Chinese blanks.

MF: What made the originals so good?

DH: I think the way that they were designed and built, and also they were among the first rods to use the Torayca carbon, a top-quality Japanese carbon, and I think they were so good because they were designed from scratch and built in a factory that Normark worked very closely with, so Geoff Salisbury, Omri Thomas and John were very meticulous on attention to detail and quality, and the factory in Japan was all about quality and precision. I never met Geoff but I understand he was a match fishing legend who liked his rods and was very meticulous.

MF: What made you want to bring them back?

DH: I have a few of the old ones in my collection, one of each, a Titan, Microlite and an Avenger, and despite buying more modern top-quality rods, for the chub and barbel float fishing I do I kept finding myself going back to my old Avenger and using that all the time. It was creaking like mad but still the most fun to use and the rod I enjoyed using most.

I helped The Tackle Box a long time ago put some finishing touches to some float rods and enjoyed it, and I’ve fished for so many years and done one discipline of fishing for so long I know what works and what doesn’t, and what I like and what I don’t like, and it all came about because of that chat I had with Enrico. I got quite excited and rang John and said: “What do you think?”, and initially he was not that interested, saying it was best to let sleeping dogs lie. I thought he’d be more up for it and told him I didn’t need an answer straightaway, and it might never happen but would he be up for it if it did. The next day he rang me and said: “I’m in. But just promise me if you don’t make them as good, we won’t release them.” I said yes, deal.

When we got started, we looked at all his old original technical drawings, the brief, the specs, he’d got a huge selection of rods, so we sat down and selected a small range to develop. We spoke to the factory and got one of our guys, a rod expert in Italy, involved too. We wrote a brand new brief for every rod because we didn’t set out just to copy them, that would have been easy, we wanted to… I won’t say ‘improve’ them because that sounds really big-headed… make them a Normark rod for the current era, for a new generation. Obviously if we could improve things on the way we would, because there were some things you could improve. They now all have keeper rings, the handles on some of the old ones were too long, the tips were very fragile, but we wanted to keep the overall balance and power and as much Normark originality as we could.

MF: Are the new Normark Legacy rods similar to the old ones?

DH: Very similar. The curves and the bending is almost identical in most cases; I’d say all of them have a little more power, but that’s because a lot of the older rods go sloppy over time as the resin breaks down and they’re not as strong, but we also deliberately wanted to make them a little stronger as well because fish are bigger and fishing styles have changed. The plan was always to make them a little bit stronger but keep the progressive action and curve, and how that power comes in. A lot of the issues I was having with rods I was buying were basically because they were making stiff pokers that have no feel and no bend, where the bottom five feet of the rod does nothing.

They needed to be rods that were fun to use.

MF: Where are the new rods made?

DH: They’re made in the Okuma rod factory, which is in Taiwan in China. It’s incredible, I was there recently and was blown away by the amount of people there and also the amount of equipment, and the amount of rods they’re making for different markets. These rods are for what they call the ‘high end Japanese market’ in a totally separate section of the factory, with temperature control, climate control and dust control. The floors are all polished and sensors check every hour to see if there is any dust, and if there is they shut everything down.

Incredible, not what I imagined it to be at all.

They’re made in China and we’re not afraid to say that.

MF: How many and what rods are in the new Legacy range?

DH: Initially we developed six float rods and five feeder rods. We decided in the end just to launch five of the float rods in the range. The 12ft Microlite is an all-out silvers rod, then there’s the Titan, a real all-rounder that does everything very well and is probably one of the best all-purpose match rods around, in 13ft and 12-14ft versions. 

The 12-14 was my idea because we wanted a 12ft, a 13ft and a 14ft version, we didn’t want to go to 15ft, we didn’t want to go crazy to start with because we didn’t know if we would be accepted back into the market, especially after the Masterline launches, so we needed to go carefully. The 12ft is ideal for small rivers and the 14ft for bigger rivers like the Trent. The 13ft is the optimum length and would always be my go-to rod, it’s the best in terms of balance and action. There’s also the more powerful Avenger in 12-14ft and 13ft versions too.

MF: Are these rods just aimed at river anglers?

DH: I’m primarily a river angler, rivers are my passion, so they are aimed at river and traditional anglers. I know they have made their way into commercial fisheries, hence why with the 12-14 we wanted to make some sort of flexibility there to do that and it doubles up nicely as a pellet waggler rod. 

So yes, primarily for river anglers but they’re such nice rods to use they will of course be used on commercial fisheries, and also traditional float fishing for tench, but generally for stick float anglers, waggler anglers and slider anglers.

MF: If you put the new rods side by side with the old ones would you notice a difference?

DH: You’d definitely notice the difference because they look like a modern rod, but they do look like brother and sister. We wanted to keep the Normark heritage of the logo and the style – although we’ve got the graphics going the right way on the new rods – we even kept the rubber Fuji gimbal at the bottom of the handle for a long time but we binned it towards the end because it looked out of place on a modern rod. 

I wanted the rods to look very modern, classy and also not understated but not too in-your-face. I think we’ve got the look and feel spot on because we needed to appeal to the older owners who used to buy them, when they were a bit garish in my opinion, with big gold bands on them and the lion logo – a bit dated now, so we’ve modernised and refreshed it, with a nice ‘silk’ finish on the butt section with a weave, then a standard matt finish that’s very on-trend so they look very nice. 

We kept Fuji fittings, because Normarks have always had Fuji, and the Fuji DPS screw-down reel seat too, which for me I don’t think has been bettered. Does it look a bit dated? Maybe, compared to some of the modern reel seats that you see nowadays, but I find it feels right when you’re holding the rod all day. We did change the upper part of it to cork though, I prefer cork to Duplon, and more hard wearing if you look after it, it looks more classy. We’ve used some nice engraved rod butts instead of the gimbals, and the cosmetics came together nicely.

MF: What’s the price range of the new rods?

DH: My plan was always to keep them under £300 to make them accessible, because I couldn’t afford a Normark rod when I was younger, and with it being our factory we don’t have a middle man to worry about. In the end we’ve gone slightly over £300, but that’s mainly due to a last-minute price rise from Fuji to be honest, and also I went a little bit extreme on the rod bags; I wanted to design unique rod bags, so we have the classic velour three-piece bag for the collectors, inside a sleeve for made-up rods with space for a reel to sit, the rod sits inside nicely protected and can be taken to the bank clean, supplied with rod bands and tip protectors.

The Microlite is the cheapest, the 12ft is £279.99, the two 13-footers, the Titan and the Avenger, are the same price at £289.99, and the 12-14ft models are both £309.99. People say why isn’t the Avenger more expensive than the Titan because it’s the next one up, but there’s the same amount of carbon and the same fittings, it’s just a slightly stronger carbon but it doesn’t cost us any more so let’s just keep it simple.

MF: Are the Normark Legacy rods available now?

DH: Yes, they landed with us about two weeks ago, we unwrapped and packed them and made up the serial numbered boxed versions, with a certificate in there as well, signed by John and myself.

MF: Can you explain the serial numbered rods?

DH: We wanted to make it a bit special for the launch so the first 100 rods of each model in each length all had a serial number from 1 to 100 put on at the factory at the butt, then they are packaged in a special collector’s edition presentation box, with each section protected and including a rod bag at each end, rod bands, tip protectors and the signed certificate with the serial number on, stickers and a few other bits and bobs, then the box is serial numbered to match the rod. They were £20 more at retail and sold out straight away. 

I know some of them will never see the bank but each to their own. I also know some people have bought the boxed version and then two other rods to go out and fish with.

MF: When will the feeder rods be out?

DH: We’re planning on June 2026. I don’t want to rush anything but even if we were to get our skates on and finalise them now we wouldn’t be getting them until around

February/March time so it doesn’t make sense for us to do that. We’ll take our time and get them right. That’s the same for the 13ft Microlite and we’re looking at doing a couple of 15-footers as well. People are asking for longer rods, which personally I’m not a fan of but that is the trend now.

MF: If people want to go and have a waggle of these rods, where can they find them?

DH: They are in around 85 shops now, I believe, up and down the country. We’ve tried to be selective but all the major local independent retailers have got them, they understand what our pricing structure is about, no discounting.

MF: Daryl, thank you for your time and good luck with the rods.

The Normark Legacy Rods

MICROLITE 12ft
Exceptionally light and like its predecessor an absolute pleasure to use when targeting all silvers and shy biting fish.

Originally designed for canals and smaller rivers there is still plenty of power in reserve towards the butt section when connecting with species like chub or tench.
RRP: £279.99

TITAN 12-14ft and 13ft
A true all-rounder, the Titan can do it all. It is equally at home trotting for roach and dace as it is for targeting quality chub

Beautifully balanced and amazingly light the Titan will deal with all but extreme situations. In a classic 13ft version and a versatile 12-14ft model that is two rods in one.
RRP: 12-14ft £309.99, 13ft £289.99

AVENGER 12-14ft and 13ft
The powerhouse of the range and designed for trotting for barbel and chub in snaggy swims. However, with a sensitive tip and very responsive action it’s not out of its comfort zone for small fish either, and is equally at home punching out wagglers on stillwaters. It excels when trotting for specimen fish on pacy rivers and its power defies its weight and feel.
RRP: 12-14ft £309.99, 13ft £289.99

Features:
• Japanese 40T + 46T high modulus Torayca carbon blanks
• Fuji Alconite K-Frame Single leg Tangle-Free Guides
• Fuji NMV Anti-Wrap Tip Guides
• Fuji DPS Reel Seat
• Premium Grae Portuguese cork handles
• Aluminium laser engraved Normark butt caps
• Supplied with two bespoke designed rod bags
• Neoprene Rod Wraps and Tip Protectors for extra security
• Designed and developed in the UK, hand built by Okuma Japanese technology

These rods have been created with natural venues in mind, but their quality and balance make them a joy to use almost anywhere. The Normark legacy continues.