Store bought rods

[chris69]

I recently bought a cheap Barra rod 6”8 and when I got home I thought I’d back bone it and see we’re it was and it’s about 60 degrees out to where I would have built it on and it got me thinking that next time I’m in the store I will find the most expencive rod and put a bend in it with the butt on the floor and see if the high end rods are back boned.

Has anyone thought about doing this before buying a rod , if a top brand rod makers did this and it’s not hard to check they would come out on top in sales I think, also on guide size ,I’m thinking about stripping the guide off of it and up sizeing them there small to take any heavy leader material considering it’s a Barra stick .

[NAGG]

You'll be surprised at how many mid to high end rods are not built on the spine .

Having said that - It's much easier to test a blank than it is to test a finished rod

Chris

[stevej]

“Cheap”

Many wouldn’t even realise.

bait up cast it out stick it butt first in the mud and crack a beer

[Sheik]

Very good point Chris -certainly agree with the guide size.
Had old mate recently test about thirty bloody rods to combine with a sienna. Just a mid range rod. One shimano had a cork grip and the reel flexed about 10mm when it was on so took that back. Others were ignored bc their top eyelet was about 2mm diameter... a disturbing number of them really. I tie FG's when I can but if I'm throwing out a livey I use impr albright every time as it stops the sinker, and takes me 10 secs to tie (FG takes about 5 minutes) but it rips eyelets so I wanted a nice open one. Not many available. Ugstiks certainly mostly have open eyelets but sometimes prefer a stiff rod for liveys as you have 0.2 seconds to get them out of the snag before pingtime.

[chris69]

You'll be surprised at how many mid to high end rods are not built on the spine .

Having said that - It's much easier to test a blank than it is to test a finished rod

Chris

Yer i can believe that id like to get into some gloomus rods and give a few a roll,i no that Eric Grell would have backboned his loomus rods when he was building for them aswell as
Garry Howard.

[chris69]

Very good point Chris -certainly agree with the guide size.
Had old mate recently test about thirty bloody rods to combine with a sienna. Just a mid range rod. One shimano had a cork grip and the reel flexed about 10mm when it was on so took that back. Others were ignored bc their top eyelet was about 2mm diameter... a disturbing number of them really. I tie FG's when I can but if I'm throwing out a livey I use impr albright every time as it stops the sinker, and takes me 10 secs to tie (FG takes about 5 minutes) but it rips eyelets so I wanted a nice open one. Not many available. Ugstiks certainly mostly have open eyelets but sometimes prefer a stiff rod for liveys as you have 0.2 seconds to get them out of the snag before pingtime.

I believe that the way some rods are made these days there not running the blank through to the butt to save money,there's a lot of garbage out there these days a bought a Samaki heavy spin stick and the guide placement is horrifying to the blanks flex it needed an extra guide when you run line over it its like a 50cent piece and maybe different guides,they all wont to use fuji K guides these days.

[Corry]

I was chasing a new Barra rod on our last trip to the NT, after lots of shopping around the tackle stores to find one that was keen to give good service, we ended up at Fishing and Outdoor World. The guys there were great to deal with and it turned out that they had some partnership or deal with Shimano and had helped or had some part in designing a purpose built Barra rod.
Ended up getting one (along with two other rods and a couple of bags of lures ), it's been the best rod I've had for Barra. Nice length, great strength through the butt with good 'whip' on the end, and the best thing is decent size eyelets. Now I'm waiting for the next trip up that way so I can get another one, I should've gotten a few of them while I was there.

[NAGG]

Very good point Chris -certainly agree with the guide size.
Had old mate recently test about thirty bloody rods to combine with a sienna. Just a mid range rod. One shimano had a cork grip and the reel flexed about 10mm when it was on so took that back. Others were ignored bc their top eyelet was about 2mm diameter... a disturbing number of them really. I tie FG's when I can but if I'm throwing out a livey I use impr albright every time as it stops the sinker, and takes me 10 secs to tie (FG takes about 5 minutes) but it rips eyelets so I wanted a nice open one. Not many available. Ugstiks certainly mostly have open eyelets but sometimes prefer a stiff rod for liveys as you have 0.2 seconds to get them out of the snag before pingtime.

Hi Sheik

I often replace the tip guide - go larger & upgrade to Sic (Silicon Carbide)
Pretty well all my barra rods have been given this treatment .

Chris

[russ71]

I recently re furbished a few brand new store rods, Osprey OS 30 to 60 lb. imagine your line touching then passing the blank as it becomes loaded, that's the placement of the guides on these rods $400 plus rods. Anyway the outcome was very happy customers, but a stressful time for me removing guides and re-positioning and adding more to a brand new rod without marking the blank.
Not a fan of store rods, when a person hands over their hard earned cash for crap quality saddens me.

[Volvo]

Store Rods are just that , to satisfy most peoples budget and the cost of a store bought Rodwoulldnt even cover the cost of good guids on a custom built Rod .
Though one can purchase top end Rods through tackle Stores so cannot brand all Store bought Rods the same ey..

[NAGG]

Store Rods are just that , to satisfy most peoples budget and the cost of a store bought Rodwoulldnt even cover the cost of good guids on a custom built Rod .
Though one can purchase top end Rods through tackle Stores so cannot brand all Store bought Rods the same ey..

What do you mean by a store rod ?

There are a hell of a lot of store rods that are up with the best of what could be custom rolled .

There is only so much functionality that can be built into a fishing rod ......... a good blank , reel seat , guides & grips .

Chris

[NAGG]

Just another point on store rods (non custom rolled) most custom rod makers cannot put the time & money into a development of a rod like a company can . ...... even their own blanks.
Go have a look at a Zenaq , Ripple fisher or Yamaga rod

There are not too many rod builders that can match it - particularly at the high end .

Back in the day - custom rods were more about the fancy intricate bindings as much as anything ....... these days rod manufactures realise that all that fancy binding just adds weight & takes away from the performance of the blank - How times have changed.

Chris

[shortthenlong]

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I have nothing else to add

[stevej]

Nagg and guide trains you rarley saw high end guides on anyting in shops
i remember having to get custom made lbg just to get sic guides on a rod ,7-900 for a rod 20 years ago

daiwai and shitmano just copied and emulated what the light weight custom guysand high end japanese guys were doing

[russ71]

Your dead right Chris, I normally only make about $100 on a rod.
But I have quite a few top end rods that I have purchased where the epoxy has started to break away from the guides. I've built rods where the epoxy is still going strong and over 10 years old, my favorite snapper rods with custom grips like how Billy from the Nerbs makes them that I use religiously. The companies that build a rod these days for lightness in hand, so they look pretty boring. well I've never been able to feel the difference in a couple of hundred grams I find that funny. Anyway its a hobby of mine and I get more enjoyment of the customers reaction when they collect the rod. Custom rods are built with care and dare I say perfection, unlike the production line. But I do understand store rods are a lot cheaper, and I get that and why.
I'm currently building a Calstar 50lb leather grip with ALPs pale gold roller guides with a bent butt to which I hope to sell for around $800. Probably spent around 8hrs on it and haven't put the guides on as yet. Still thinking of putting a double sided silhouette weave of a marlin on it.

Cheers
Russ