Wm. A. Harms: Custom Rod and Gun
Michael Simon
A Leonard model 37H was at the heart of it all.
It was a lovely, lithe 6½-footer crafted by Ted Simroe
and discovered amongst a small grove of cane delights
at “Beckie’s”— Barry Beck’s fine little anglers’ emporium
in Berwick, Pennsylvania ... This handsome model 37H had
been a special order and was built with a small cigar grip that
gently flowed into a cork reel seat. It was very attractive but I
wanted the traditional butternut wood reel seat on my Leonard.
Beck assured me he knew just the thing and referred me to
his friend Bill Harms who could probably do the desired
retrofit for me ... I met Harms the following spring and he
turned out to be a very charming and pleasant professor of
English literature at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Although Carlisle is famed for its role in the Revolutionary War,
I was also aware of the fact that the main reason the town was
known outside the Cumberland Valley was because the
Letort Spring Run ran through it.
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