‘People Are Most Important’ – An Interview With New Winston Owner Lance Robertson

Lance Robertson has just a hint of a Texas accent—enough that he feels immediately welcoming and upbeat in the first moments of a conversation. As we spent the better part of an hour on the phone last week, it became apparent that’s exactly who Robertson is.

In May, Robertson bought the R.L. Winston Rod Co. from David Ondaatje, who had owned the company since 1991. The ownership change took the fly fishing world by surprise, as Ondaatje didn’t make it publicly known he was looking to sell. And in many ways, he wasn’t, as Robertson mentioned during our chat.

“David was open to a transition not to own the company, but he didn’t have a plan,” Robertson said. “The biggest challenge was he wanted a great steward, but he didn’t know how to find that person.”

It turns out that Robertson—who has owned a home in Twin Bridges for years, and moved to Montana full-time in 2025—was that steward. He’s a former oil and gas executive who started fly fishing five years ago, but has gone about as deep into the sport as you can. Buying a rodmaker—much less one as storied as Winston—speaks volumes to Robertson’s commitment to the sport.

Speaking with him, he doesn’t come off as someone who didn’t grow up fully enmeshed in the industry. His passion and love are genuine and evident, and there’s a refreshing optimism in his voice that’s not always present in fly fishing industry lifers. There’s no pining for the good ol’ days, no wistful memories of Montana before “The Movie” and Yellowstone. In fact, Robertson has cast relatively few of the storied rods in Winston’s back catalog.

“I’m focused more forward than backward, if that makes sense,” he said. When asked about any of the vintage Winston he’s thrown, Robertson said he recalled casting a B2T (one of the most sought-after rods in Winston’s entire catalog) and an IM6, but that he really loves his 8’3″ 4-weight Pure 2.

He doesn’t have a favorite rod, either. I asked him to pick one, and he laughed. “That’s like picking a favorite child,” was his answer.

Why Winston?

To go from an oil and gas executive to owning Winston is quite the career change, but it’s exactly what Robertson wanted.

“I get to learn all new things,” Robertson said. “On a personal level, that was a big part of the motivation. I wanted to do one more thing, but I wasn’t sure what it’d be, because when I get way outside of my normal lane, that’s when I learn the most.”

After Robertson’s company was sold, he had both the time and means to be thoughtful about his next path.

“My wife and I, prior to that sales process, had been working on where we wanted to spend our time when we retired,” Robertson said. “I would say, for 15 years, we’d been drawn more and more into the Mountain West. We love the vistas, the fly fishing, we love the people in Montana. They’re just really normal, old-fashioned, family-values centered (people).”

When Robertson and his wife brought up the idea of moving to Montana, their middle son was all for it, even though it meant he’d spend his senior year of high school in Twin Bridges, Montana. The family made the decision and moved to Montana full-time within six weeks, and their two sons still living at home quickly made friends with boys who liked the same things they do—hunting, fishing, and sports.

At this point, the entire Robertson family was diehard anglers. They live on the Big Hole River, and fly fishing is a family affair for their clan. Their family vacations all now revolve mostly around fly fishing, and Robertson said his boys just can’t get enough time on the water.

“This is a family investment for us,” Robertson said. Throughout our interview, he kept coming back to how much he and his family love fly fishing, and that this is something they’re all bought into together.

After falling in love with fly fishing and moving to Twin Bridges, Robertson made the obvious connection—why not take the final step of his professional career into the outdoor space? He drove by the Winston factory on a regular basis, and couldn’t quite shake the thought that fly fishing would be a fun business to get into.

Despite the fact that he’d only recently started fishing Winston rods, that he wasn’t steeped in the company’s rich history and culture, and that he didn’t have a personal collection of vintage green sticks, Robertson eventually decided that Winston was the right opportunity for him.

The Sale

David Ondaatje wasn’t actively trying to sell Winston. The opportunity to buy the company wasn’t just waiting for Robertson.

“The good things don’t fall in your lap,” Robertson said. “You’ve gotta go figure ‘em out, identify them, and make it happen. I got to know David…David’s owned this company right at 35 years. It’s a very important part of his life; that was clear talking to him.”

What was also clear to Robertson, after a career of overseeing many company purchases and acquisitions, is that Ondaatje was open to selling Winston.

“You get used to the buying and selling process, so it didn’t take me very long to understand that David was open to a transition not to own the company, but he didn’t have a plan,” Robertson said. “The biggest challenge was he wanted a great steward, but he didn’t know how to find that person.”

Robertson said it took Ondaatje a long time to get comfortable with him, but eventually, the two started talking about a potential sale. They made it official on May 15, 2026. Ondaatje will stay on in an advisory role for another year.

What’s Next

Winston is just the latest Montana-based company to be sold lately. Simms Fishing Products has been bought and sold twice recently, gobbled up by private equity firms. W.L. Gore and Associates owns Sitka. Stone Glacier, a hunting gear company, was bought up in the same private equity deal that took Simms. It’s no secret that these companies have faced some challenges after ownership changes.

So it’s no surprise that, upon news of Winston’s sale, diehard fans of the brand were on edge. What would a new owner try to do with the beloved company?

Even though Robertson isn’t a Winston lifer, he understands that concern remarkably well. And he also understands how much this brand means to people.

Some of his first exposure to Winston rods was at lodges across the world, as he and his family traveled to fish. After a day on the water, around the campfire, the talk inevitably drifts to gear at some point, and Robertson was struck by the high regard Winston was always held in.

“People who fish Winston have a bit of reverence about it; they really love the rods,” he said. “Then I started fishing ‘em, and I was like, oh, I get it.”

And it’s the people that Robertson really cares about. Multiple times throughout our conversation, he mentioned how much the people matter, regardless of what business you’re in.

“People, process, and systems — people are always first and by far the most important,” he said. “So when you see the team’s good, you say, gosh, that feels really comfortable. And the brand itself is loved and appreciated, and I think there’s a lot of opportunity for the brand to grow.”

Robertson consistently raved about the team in place at Winston currently, and reiterated his desire to make Winston the absolute best place to work.

“I want this to be a fun company to work for, people who are happy to be here. I want it to be financially successful, for the health of the business.”

That said, he also sees places where Winston can stretch its wings a bit. He’s already identified a few ways for the company to grow its market share, but cautions that he’s going to be very deliberate about any moves.

“We have to be really thoughtful about retaining all the very best parts of Winston and why people love us, and maybe do some things that people don’t expect us to, in a very positive way,” Robertson said. “That’s the value of the enterprise, in a nutshell, that people love us today.”

In Good Hands

I’ve been a Winston fan for almost as long as I’ve been fly fishing. I own 13 Winstons, belong to a few Winston-only forums, and have entire friendships that center around these rods.

I say this not to brag, but to make this point: I was one of those worried Winston fans who wondered what was in store for the company under new ownership.

After spending time with Robertson, though, I feel much better. He’s a family man, an avid angler, and he loves Winston enough to put his own money into the company. I’m sure we’ll see the company try a few new things out, but that’s good. Even though the short-lived Nimbus and Kairos rods (mid-priced sticks from a few years ago) weren’t amazing, it was wonderful to see Winston try something new.

Case-in-point: The Air 2 Max is a huge departure from traditional Winston feel. Those are fast, powerful sticks, but they’re fantastic. Some of the best saltwater rods on the market. That was another chance the company took, and it worked out well.

I’m certain Robertson will take a few chances, and I welcome them. I’m excited to see where he takes the company, but I’m not worried that Winston is going to lose its way. At its heart, the company is about the people, just like Robertson said. And the people are the ones who love these soft, accurate, light, gorgeous rods, made in the heart of some of the fishiest country on the planet.

That’s a winning combination that I don’t see failing anytime soon.