An avid fly angler since youth, in the 1960’s Tom was following a career in academia that took him to a series of historic trout waters, from freestone streams in Michigan to the spring creeks of Pennsylvania. He was building bamboo fly rods in Chambersburg, PA in 1969 when, along with his brother-in-law Thomas Maxwell, he threw caution (and academics) to the wind and Thomas & Thomas was born.

An opportunity to purchase rodmaking equipment and the largest cache of Tonkin bamboo in North America led Tom to western Massachusetts where he made his home while the fledgling company grew and flourished. With the heart of an artist but the mind of an engineer, Tom was one of the first to embrace the use of graphite in fly rod construction in the 1970’s.

He was also an early adopter of two-handed casting which led to some of the first graphite spey rods on the American market. Today, Tom continues to advance the frontiers of fly rod technology and design with the same passion and insight that first put Thomas & Thomas on the map.

In 2014, Neville Orsmond, had the opportunity to take the helm at T&T which set the stage for the realization of a lifelong dream – to work alongside company founder Tom Dorsey, creating the world’s finest fly rods. With a strong commitment to an American-made and serviced product, Neville aims to bring the tradition of Thomas & Thomas excellence and innovation to a new generation of fly anglers around the globe.