Aftco harpoon12/24/2023 ![]() Milt Shedd truly was a visionary and his passion for the ocean and the creatures that live there drove that vision. What is so unusual here is that this was 1963, not only a full year before SeaWorld was open, but prior to even the thought, in the business world, of concepts such as "cause marketing", "going green", or even simply giving back to the community. It is common in today's world for businesses to focus on ways to contribute to their community. Hubbs was created in order to give something back to the marine resource via science and education. Peggie did all the accounting on the Shedd family's kitchen table for the first 6 years. In the beginning, it was mainly Milt and Peggie. Hubbs has become a major marine research center. Milt Shedd and wife, Peggie, found the Mission Bay Research Foundation, which Milt later renames, the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. Axelson developed AFTCO roller guides, and no expense was spared in his effort to develop the world's best roller guides and roller tops. To indulge his passion for manufacturing and inventing, he built a full-fledged machine shop in the basement of that waterfront home. After selling his business he bought a home on a double wide lot on the water front of exclusive Lido Island in Newport Beach, CA. ![]() What is unusual is where he developed them. As an angler, he could not find roller guides to match his quality standards, so he decided to make his own. Axelson, not only loved the manufacturing process, but fishing as well. Today, AFTCO is still owned and operated by the Shedd Family.Īxelson Mfg Co was a large company with over 1,000 employees that manufactured a number of products including aircraft landing gear, tooling for the oil industry and even the famous Axelson machine lathe. 15 Year's later he would sell the company to Milt Shedd. Axelson founds the Axelson Fishing Tackle Company (AFTCO) in the basement of his double lot bay front home in Newport Beach, CA. This was some of the very first sportfishing to take place in Cabo San Lucas, MX. Milt is invited along to help insure fishing success. Milt Shedd begins yearly trips with Herb Bell aboard the 5-Bells to Cabo San Lucas. As reported in SportFishing Magazine in their January 2000 article reviewing important fishing firsts in saltwater fishing from 1900-2000, "With 200 boats in the So Cal fleet, Milt and his two friends caught 5 of the 8 fish caught by that day." It did not take long for others to follow Milt's lead, and sight casting for marlin quickly became common practice in So Cal. He figured if he could cast a live mackerel by a tailing or sleeping marlin his catch rates would improve and they did. While cleaning marlin to smoke, he often noticed mackerel, sardines, anchovies, and more in their stomach, but rarely did he find flying fish. For Milt Shedd, one of his real thrills in fishing was to figure out a better way to catch them. Prior to 1952 the conventional way to catch striped marlin in So Cal was to troll dead flying fish on the surface. Milt Shedd and friends use live bait for the first time to catch marlin. West Marine offers a variety of conventional and flying gaffs by manufacturers such as Blacktip, AFTCO, Cuda, Danco, Sea Striker, and Bubba Blade.4-year-old Milt Shedd walks with his father onto the Santa Monica pier and looks into the water below beginning his fascination for the ocean and the fish living in it. After setting the hook, the “gaff person” jerks the hook free of the pole and the line (which remains attached to the hook) is made fast to a cleat. The procedure for using a flying gaff involves bringing the fish (frequently a large marlin or other billfish) alongside the boat at which point the hook is set into the fish. Flying gaffs consist of a very sharp detachable hook (usually made of stainless steel) that is affixed to the end of a pole which can be aluminum, fiberglass or carbon fiber. ![]() The hook is usually made of stainless steel, has a very sharp point and often a barb.įor very large fish, a different type of gaff, called a flying gaff is used. The pole can be made out of aluminum, fiberglass or carbon fiber. In its simplest form, a fishing gaff is a pole with a sharp hook attached to the end that is used to grab and pull a fish out of the water and into the boat. When it comes to boating fish that are too large for a net, gaff hooks become necessary. ![]()
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