Deutsche Angelgeräte Manufaktur
Deutsche Angelgeräte Manufaktur (also known as D.A.M, or D.A.M Germany) were a German manufacturer of high quality fishing equipment that included conventional reels, rods, lures. And their flagship Quick worm gear spinning reels which were more expensive to produce but the durability was unprecedented.
Highlights of the company's products were the Megalite rods and Qucik 1001-5001 skirted spool reels, which had adjustable line lay pattern and the first spool casting brakes.
The company has since turned to predominantly re-branding Chinese OEM products.
History
Founded in 1875 by the brothers Oskar and Fritz Ziegenspeck who soon began to produce their own brand of fishing tackle. In 1902 the brand expanded to the European market under the name "German fishing equipment manufacturers" the initials of which in German are D.A.M.
The company produced some innovations to the word of fishing, such as "DAMYL", the first synthetic fishing line and "Super", the first spinning reel with two winding speeds. This reel was the inspiration for the double speed trolling reels made later by several manufacturers including Penn in the US.
Lutz and Rupert Kuntze sold the company in 1995 to the Dutch trading house Borsumji. The later taken over shortly afterwards by Hagemeyer which took the company to a period of turbulence that saw a sharp drop in production.
Another change of ownership in 2001 nearly led the company to the bankruptcy, but only one year later a group of long time company employees together with some loyal customers who had the money and will to save the 125 years old brand, bought the company and successfully restarted the company's route to success under the name "Neue D.A.M. International" in September 2002. Today the company is still going strong.
The last reel to be built in Germany was the Quick Royal MDS (Magnetic Drag System) in 1994. Since then, all the rods & reels (excluding one) are Chinese re-branded original equipment manufacturer (OEM) products. The one reel, Quick Retro is designed and tested in Germany, but built by Okuma in Asia.