AFTCO Products - Bluefever Gloves

The world's leading saltwater fishermen have long relied on AFTCO fishing tackle components for their consistently dependable, flawless performance.
 

Forty-five years in the business have made the letters AFTCO and the highly recognisable AFTCO logo, symbols of quality to the world’s sportsfishing community.

AFTCO Mfg Co Inc was started by J C Axelson in the basement of his oceanfront California home in 1957. Axelson was a big-game fisherman, who was dissatisfied with the performance of roller guides and roller tips on the market at the time.

As a master machinist, and owner of the Axelson Mfg Company, he had the equipment and know-how to develop and improve the current technology.

Axleson Mfg employed over 1000 people and manufactured equipment ranging from machine tools, to tooling for the oil industry and aircraft landing gear. However, in the basement of Axelson’s home on a double bayfront lot on posh Lido Island, in Newport Beach, was one of the best-equipped machine shops in Orange County. It was here that Axelson toiled, sparing no expense in developing what he considered to be the ultimate roller guide. His effort was more of a labour of love than a business venture.

Once the basic design and development had been completed, he moved his roller guide operation to a small manufacturing facility in Newport Beach. The first AFTCO roller guide was sold on October 28, 1958.
From the beginning, nothing less than perfection was tolerated. It was said that even the floor in the production area was painted, and that it was kept clean enough to eat off.

An early example of Axelson’s focus on perfection was the testing machine he developed that would allow line to continually run over his roller guides to test for wear and ease of turning. AFTCO still takes an updated version of this machine to tackle shows to demonstrate the line wear superiority of roller guides versus ring guides.

One day Axleson discovered that a slight change in the angle of the vee in the roller would improve its ability to turn. He promptly threw out his existing inventory of rollers, even though they were the best on the market at the time, because he knew the revised design was better.
Due his uncompromising approach, plus his knowledge of manufacturing, and his attention to detail, the AFTCO name began to build its reputation for quality in the international big-game fishing community

AFTCO has come a long way from humble beginnings. In the first part of BlueWater’s series on the brands that built sportsfishing, Rick Gaffney profiles one of the world’s most readily recognised manufacturers of gamefishing hardware and accessories........