The exhibit, on loan from the American Museum of Fly Fishing, depicts the evolution of that bent pin and the paraphernalia used to produce and present it. Fly fishing is more than a recreational activity. It embodies sport, craft, philosophy, engineering, physics, entomology, ichthyology and literature. One of Ernest Hemingway's rods, a Hardy, is included in the displays. So is the Payne rod used by Babe Ruth, and the Divin rod used by Zane Grey.
Politicians are well represented in the exhibit.
Daniel Webster fished with a massive, three-piece rod, and became an expert angler. Legend says he practiced oratory on the fish he caught, berating them with lectures and accusing them of being anti-federalist. Calvin Coolidge was converted to fishing by Secret Service Chief Edmund Starling. Dwight Eisenhower's Orvis rod is displayed, along with the Fenwick rods used by Jimmy and Roslyn Carter, and the Cabela's rod used by George Bush. Also featured are tools used by famous rod builders Hirman Leonard, Hiram Hawes and Letcher Lambuth.