End of American Fly Rods

[Sylvaneous]

I'm wondering how much longer American made fly rods will remain a dominant element in the market, or a dominant part of the market. Fly Rod & Reel, (I think) had a blurb about this, a musing of sorts. I want to hear your reflection on the issue.
My take is this: Asian rods (Korea and China from what I can tell) were originally down-market rods and small company rods. A company nobody ever heard of would show up with rods for somewhere around $200 or less. As I remember, Redington started its climb. Nobody really considered a flyrod as a foreign-made item, that I could tell. I was surprised when I bought an economical 4 wt and found "Made in Korea" on the butt.
Now things are much more upscale. Major suppliers are completely foreign. See Redington and TFO. Winston has gone down-market with the Vapor and Ascent rods from China. Powell is maybe the first real sell-out. Unable to succeed on its own with outstanding rods (I have an LGA which is a favorite to this day) it went completely foreign. Asian has now gone up-market and has begun to succeed as simply great performance rods. Powell sells $500 rods from China and Redington's CPS (I own one) won a "Kudos" award.
American made rods now only seem able to compete. The tippy-top level American rods certainly could not sell in the volumes support rod companies as we see them now. Sticking by that, they will receede into the background as Thomas & Thomas has and as Scott seems to be doing. The question I ask is, "How many $650 fly rods can these companies sell each year?" Myself, I give the Made in the USA label a lot of weight. But when it comes to laying down my hard earned and ever-lessening cash, I find my choices made for me. It's tought to go American when $300 buys all the performance that $450 buys. I'd hate to see trully good to great American fly rods become more like cane rods today; an expensive extravigance. I'm afraid that really great Sages and the like will be like a Honda race car. It will generate lots of discussion and a 'fan base' but be nearly beyond even the ardent flyfisher's grasp.

 

Your post and questions, to me at least, are both excellently stated.
But, for all the confusion and wondering about "rod prices and what.... buys what", it once more, boils down to plain and simple old "American Economics".............. to wit......... when factories, like say, Winston, Sage, Thomas and Thomas, et all, can hire GOOD, hard working, steady employees and pay them $1.19 an hour, or worse, we'll once more see "Made in America" on the butt caps of their rods once more.
Glen Brackett and his "Boo Boys", left Winston Rod, over this same argument that you've raised, except with Winston's cane rod division. Today, of course, they're across the street basically, from Winston Rod, with their "Sweetgrass Rod Company", making thousand dollar cane rods.
This is a fun and very good forum for fly fishing so of course, I don't want to go "all political" on even the rod company's going "off shore". But, unfortunately, just like walking into your local Poke-N-Puke burger joint................ there are those, that may not even belong here, legally..................serving up your meal, because "flippin burgers" is BELOW the average American's idea of "employment". (Not, to mention, the average American can usually make MORE on UN-employment!).
Again, basic economics.... if Winston, etc, can raise profit margins, by 45%, solely through cutting labor costs, they're fools not to and they know that.

 

[JJZ]

Buy amercian made bamboo, it will hold it's relative value for years fished, and your grand-kid's will look upon it with sparkle. I don't mean to short-cut your question, just provideing a new clue to a nothing new mystery.

My search has brought me too this path, and am thankful to be walking down it. Maker's are many, some expensive while others being a bargain because lack of reputation.

The Americian graphite flyrod is finding itself quite sparse...

 

[ian_brown]

I don't know what the future will hold for American made rods (labor costs are high, but the dollar is falling). However, the Sage Launch and Orvis TLS are both American made, and start at $180 and $250, respectively. They may cost a bit more than comparable foreign made rods, but you don't need to spend $650 for a decent domestically built rod.

 

[CAMBYSES]

When I bought my clear water 2 weeks ago, The owner of the shop explained to me that the blank was made in the U.S and the rest was done in China. I don't know how many of the maker's are doing this.

No matter how you look at it, American manufacturing jobs and facilities are heading off sure and fast!

Bob

 

[troutbert]

ian_brown wrote:
I don't know what the future will hold for American made rods (labor costs are high, but the dollar is falling). However, the Sage Launch and Orvis TLS are both American made, and start at $180 and $250, respectively. They may cost a bit more than comparable foreign made rods, but you don't need to spend $650 for a decent domestically built rod.

Good suggestions. I believe most of the St. Croix rods are still US made. The St. Croix Avids run around $200 - $230 and are really nice rods. So, way under $600.
I understand their lowest end rod, the "Reign" models, are made in China.

There are also a lot of guys around who will build you a custom made rod from a blank, at a reasonable price. Or you can wrap your own. I did it and I'm not really very mechanically inclined. Many TU chapters and flyfishing clubs do this as a group activity over the winter months. They combined their orders for the blanks and hardware and sit around wrapping rods.

 

[buckbarrett]

I bought a St. Croix this year because I was poor, and felt a little embarrased, which is just plain stupid, because it wasnt a sage or winston or whatever. I got a great deal on it. Now I'm feeling a little better while realizing it was U.S. made. I hope. It doesnt have the feel of an Orvis, but I'm finding if you can throw a line you can get used to anything and be happy about it. And they sent me a nice little note.