Design Makes a Better Rod – Diamondback Fly Rods

We visited with Nate Dablock, Owner and Operator of Diamondback Rods.  Nate is an angler, artist and all around interesting guy whom we met last year.  He is a bit of a character with an interesting story. He also created a pretty cool rod innovation that was first introduced in 2015, and we got to try it out and hear Nate’s story.

T: Tell us a little bit about your background and why you got started in the fly rod industry?

ND:  I am an artist who completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in industrial design from Syracuse University.  Being an artist and creative person, it is second nature to be a tinkerer.  I find myself always examining how things are built, how they work and what they were made from.  My training has me always questioning why something was done a certain way and how it could be better.  I’m a strong believer in keep it simple and the design of the Diamondback rods started the same way.  Looking at what is out there, what can be improved, which changes or modifications could make it better.  Being an avid fisherman, I wanted to make a better rod.

T: Were you always a fly fisherman?

ND: As a kid, I always enjoyed fishing, but it wasn’t an obsession.  As I got older, I began fishing more with friends.  Living in Central New York, we have a lot of water and options.  I have some good friends that lived on some of the smaller lakes and ponds and were on the water a lot exploring, and just trying to catch fish by any means.  When I started working at Cortland Line in high school, I finally picked up a fly rod and began taking it all in.  Over time, fishing excursions with friends meant bringing the fly rod instead of the spinning rod.  I don’t have one specific passion or targeted species when it comes to fishing. I really enjoy it all: hitting one of the small local streams, going to the Keys, or heading out in the boat on a small lake.  Now that my son is getting a bit older, he enjoys tagging along.

T: Did you always want to work in fly fishing industry?

ND: Actually, no.  One of the sales managers at Cortland was a really good fly caster and often took time to give spontaneous lessons at work.  He was the first person to show me the basics of casting a fly rod.  I will never forget that first lesson out in the grass. I just couldn’t get it.  I was so frustrated and after saying a few choice words and vowing to never pick up a fly rod again, I quit trying.  After a while, I decided give it another try and very slowly over time, I started to pick up the fundamentals.  Looking back, I laugh and think about how things would be totally different had I not picked the fly rod back up. Maybe I’d be making custom furniture or something.

T: What did you do before Diamondback?

ND: I started in the industry when I was 16 years old, with a summer job working with some friends at Cortland in the rod and reel repair department.  Being the type of person that I am, always wanting to build stuff, take things apart, put them back together, I quickly became “the guy” that handled all of the reel repairs.  At that time, Cortland was the distributor of many different products, so I was doing the reel repairs for Hardy, Cortland and STH reels.   I just loved taking something that didn’t work and building it back into a functioning reel.  Having customers call to thank me for things like reworking their grandfather’s Hardy reel was incredibly rewarding.  The other interesting part of doing the repairs was looking at some of these reels and having them tell stories about where they had been and the fish they had caught.  And with that, sometimes wondering how some of these reels could have been damaged as badly as they were. So many stories; I dropped it, I ran it over with the car, the dog chewed the handle off. We saw it all.

I was always an artist throughout school and wasn’t sure what direction that would lead me in for college.  Although I had a big passion for drawing and building things, I knew that I wasn’t going to become an artist or a carpenter for my profession. 

So I decided on industrial design, which is basically the design of anything; a field that incorporates so many different mediums that it allows you go in many different directions.  I continued to work at Cortland throughout college and was offered an office position there when I graduated, handling all things creative or artistic.  Knowing that I wanted to stay in the fishing industry, I was later able to buy the licensing rights for Diamondback from Cortland and decided to pursue that.

T: What was Diamondback before you bought it?

ND: Diamondback was a rod company that manufactured rods in Vermont for many years.  After changing hands several times, the company and brand eventually became an asset of Cortland, so I was very familiar with the brand, having working for Cortland for almost a decade.  The original Diamondback factory in Vermont was closed years ago and the brand was essentially gone.  It had a noble history and loyal following a hugely popular rod called the diamondglass, so I thought it had potential to become something great again. 

T: How did the resurrection of Diamondback Rods get started?

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