dropshot40

B@ssCrzy, AT Thanksgiving it would have been a Titanium 2 made by Wright Mcgill.. Im not saying mass quantities are bad.. It seems like a 15% defective rate.. Which in reels is high.. Usually 3-5% is considered norm. If I had to choose on a reel in that price range of 50-70 bucks hands down it would be a Pflueger President. We had less than 1% defect rate on them (and a portion of them were user abuse ie being stepped on). Least of all spinning reels we sold.. Better than Abu, Shimano, Daiwa, Quantum, Okuma... etc etc..

Lil'skeeter, Manufacturer I guess in "loose" terms. Yes they use actual production facilities in Asia. But the whole design process is done by them. They create the entire thing then use a coule plants in Asia to build. From what the guy was informing me was the one facility is the mass producer.. (Cheaper rods, common components) the other factory is the small run, high end factory that is some sort of ISO certified. For example, the extent that they oversee production, when I mentioned in a previous post about how I was concerned about a steelhead rod that was being made. (Too few guides) when explaining to him he pulled out his phone, called QC for the factory, and told them that this certain production run numbers need to be changed to 10 guides from 7. So for me saying the its a GLV factory is not correct, but like I mention above here everything is done by them, the couple Asian Factories just push the buttons. Hope that clears it up.

No problem, It was interesting when I digged into the private label stuff how much I found out. Being im not rich I found alot of private label stuff considerably cheaper. The other thing that kind blew my mind was the price of private label as it gows up the chain. It only confirmed to me why so many reel companies do their own rods because of the money to be had. I.E. a rod that retails for say 49.99 you can bet the retailer bought it for 25.00 give or take a dollar due to the lengths. Now on the manufacturer side that same rod they sold to the retailer for 25.00 they bought it for 7-9 dollars depending on length.. Being my time on the retail side and no in a supplier side its pretty amazing. A 150 retail on a rod? Retailer bought it for 70-80$ and the manufacturer bought that same rod for approx 25$. See why its soo lucative for the reel companies to do rods? Or for a retailer to private label product? The only thing that keeps small tackle shops from private labeling is the cost involved. Most of these companies require a run limit. Usually 500 pcs per length/action/ etc, and not per brand. SO your talking 3000 pcs in a 6 model rod line up. As well these companies are all cash money business. They do not allow you to do terms with them. Its pay upfront or no go. So the little tackle guy the 25k needed upfront to buy and then sitting on 3000 rods is not feasible. Hope I shed a light. As for the Rod companies.. IE Duckett, Dobyns, Denali, the smaller guys.. I would bet alot of money they are the same way. If their stuff is made in China.. I bet they are too using the same Producers I mentioned previous. I just cant confirm that.

JohnD, Id like to think I know the ins of everyone but I dont. Well, when I saw the Toray blanks a light went off. I researched alittle and found that the *** *** used 30 Toray and the *** used 40 Toray (Same as the Gander Elite) as well as the use of Evolve reel seats and guides. Looks like they started with the *** rod, down graded the seat, guides and grips and came up with the Gander Elite.. Nice Rod. As for other companies I know Shimano in their Lower rods 149$ and lower are done by GLV. Not sure on their higher ones. Some lines by ABu, Daiw, BP, Cabel, Quant, Berk, Shake, Pflu, All St, Pinna, Fenw, are done as well. Ever notice when a reel company that also has rods comes out with a new reel they get into the factory, how its made, this and that etc.. You dont see that with the rods. I wouldnt doubt for a second any reel company who also does rods outsources the whole thing. Reels are their blood.. So with that said.. Last year when I was in Minnesota for Gander Mountains Fish University (Basically a trade show with all thier suppliers) I had a few minutes of talking to the rep from GLV. ( I had concerns about the steelhead rod they were producing) and asked him some questions about producing rods. Its actually quite amazing. Basically you can either A. Give them a rod you want copied, no matter who its made from and bam you have the exact rod. (Barring any patents i.e. St Croix, G Loomis etc) B. You want a custom rod? Its actually amusing. You pretty much say I want a rod that retails for 149.99 using a Nano Blank (Carrot Stix) it needs to have say recoil guides, Fuji skeletal reel seat. We want it split grip with this type of and quality cork. What color blank you want, thread. You want it avail in spin/cast what lengths, actions, tip action etc and shortly there after the supply prototypes to look, feel, use.. If something is a miss, you have them adjust anything you want. Guide location, maybe too light/stiff action then rated and they reconfigure. I wouldnt doubt for a second that pretty much any rod out there that is done in China come thru two of these companies (GLV International, or A Bos Ltd) these are the two power houses in this market. My guess is they use the same factory/s in China for the companies in the US.

No problem.. As no info was available at the time on the Elite when I posted my last posts I have gathered info on the Elite. The Elite was a designed and produced rod for Gander by *** hence alot of the similarites. When first saw I started thinking they were involved but couldnt confirm. Well when another associate was doing a "Pro Deal" (purchase of product thru the manufacturer for a significant discount) on one of the rods, it actually directed him thru a web site of ***. So I can confirm they are. Still all lower models like stated above (Titanium, Tournament, Guide, and Advantage) still are designed are produced by GLV International. That GLV makes alot of rods for many Big Box Stores, as well as many Rod/Reel companies.. One real popular company "Sh" last year began having all their rods done by them. I could go on and on. As for the reels a couple of this years models ( GSX Tourn Pro Spinning or Baitcast - Blue in color or the GSX Elite baitcast- grey color, and the GM FW Spin - Black) are made by Danco.. I know, never heard of them but the do a ton of private label stuff. The quality of these is a real disappointment. Not too hot.. Other Big name reels can be had for the same or a little more cash that are far superior. Its too bad because the original Titanium spinning reel (Metallic Green) which was done by Danco as well the Original Tournament were work horses. Sold hundreds and never had a single one come back. The Titanium 2 (Metallic Green) which came to be and sold late last year and this year, as well with the Tournament (Silver) were swapped to Wright Mcgill late last season and they have not performed well. The couple baitcasters that were done by Quantum that last couple years I have not been able to confirm if these are a go forward thru the season or the stores are just burning thru remaining stock. (These reels are easily noticeable with their Quantum markings. Yeah the Vortex rod issue was only on the spinning rods and wasnt caught until a week in the field. Funny thing is once it was caught, all the rods were cut in half and thrown in the dumpster. Imagine 40-60 rods per store times 116 stores.. Ouch...Nothing else really too new.. Youll see in the Ganders some new bass jigs by Gander Mountain, awesome jigs. They were originally sold in 2 packs under the X Factor name, but now done individually. These jigs were all produced by Jewel.. Awesome jigs.

Its the "Scatter Rap" and is being produced in 4 Variations: Crank, Minnow, Shad, and Countdown... About 15 color patterns in each model.. Other than the Countdown they all have diving depths ranging from 5-8 feet. Like I said in an earlier post.. I saw the minnow in action in a pool at a distributor show.. It is a really wild acting bait.. Hooloigans post from earlier has a very accurate description on the bill and its actions.. Good price point as well..

Hooligan, No we are talking about the same thing... I can PM to get into alot more details.. I know a certain distributor that placed orders for it at the end of January when the Reps displayed it at the show.. They were very strict as to no pictures to be taken. And no dealers were allowed. I know of another distributor who has just in the last few days began pre ordering it for their accounts.

I've seen this demonstrated at a recent distributor show in a hotel pool... It is quite impressive... And after reviewing the press release Im glad to see they are offering it a few styles and not limiting it to one line... The only question left for me is will it catch fish... With the money Rapala is dumping into marketing... plus the years of R & D, as well as the money they fronted for production, and finally the sheer extent they are gonna display this in many retailers.. It has to be successful.. or they will be out alot of money.. and without a doubt when I say alot of money I bet 7 figures...

Are you staying in the Harbor or going out to the lake? If your going to the Lake during May hit up the creek mouths 10-18 feet and whip jerk baits.. The smallies, depending on what time of May will be either pre spawn or on the beds. Jerkbaits are killer down there that time of year. If water is gin clear and you see bass on beds... and depending on wind, you can drop shot with 1/4 to 1/2 oz DS sinker, run bait approx 12 inches up. There are tons of baits that work for drop shot down there. Just stay in the 3-4" range. I really like Roboworms... But honestly there are dozens of killer baits that all produce consistantly out there. Also if bed fishing you can use some different Texas Rigs, or one of my favorites is a 1/2-3/4 oz Football Head Jig with a Craw type bait, or a beaver style bait. If your staying in the Harbor i've had most luck throwing 3-4" jerk baits in natural colors (Blue or Black Back on Silver) they key is that the Emeralds follow along the rock break walls.. Key is running your bait as parallel as possible to the walls... If you start to throw them at say 30 degree angles from the rocks youll see less bites.. Parallel is key and matching the emerald shiners as close as possible. Also... Ive had some days where throwing a 3/8 oz White double willow spinner bait near the warm water out flow has been killer. Look for the small ledges around the warm water outflow About 100 feet out.. Somedays the smallies school up hardcore there. Good Luck to yah!

AN update to 2013 product.. Rods continued to be made by GLV international... Baitcast reels are transitioned to Danco from Quantum... Spinning reels im not sure on full assortment but see some going to Danco instead of Wright Mcgill... The X-Factor line of Rods/Reels/Jigs/Spinnerbaits are discontinued...

Not sure if its too much of a secret... Many big box retailers already have received info on it... Distributors placed orders on it already and are beginning to take orders on it for their accounts... Just the general public has not seen it...

The blanks are manufactured by GLV. They do not buy blanks. They purchase the graphite and produce them. Now I couldnt tell yah where they buy the graphite from.

As a person who has worked for Gander for 4 years I can shed alot of info on the particulars of their private brand label. First off their reels. The Baitcasters are Quantums. Most of them are stamped on the reel and if not the boxes are. The spinning reels are kinda split up. The Guide Series, Tournament, and Titanium Reels are currently produced by Wright McGill. Wright took over producing these reels sometime in late spring early fall of 2012. Previous to that the reels were produced by a company called Danco out of Florida. That was a short lived venture of about a year. And before that the reels were done by Pflueger. The only reel left still produced by Pflueger is the X-Factor Spinning. As for the Gander Mountain rods (As well as other retailers and even so called manufacturers) they are produced by the largest manufacturer of rods in the world GLV international. They currently are producing rods for just over twenty companies (Big Box retailers as well as a bunch of Rod/Reel companies which will remain nameless. http://www.glvint.com/index.html Gander has been using this company for three years. Previous to that it was A Bos Ltd. This doesnt downgrade their quality whatsoever, alot of their rods are high quality with high quality components. I personally love the GSX Elite II. They are light, excellant actions, awesome components, and a great warranty. The Gander I was at we took back any Gander brand rod at any time with no questions asked. I made sure my guys followed this to a tee. It had our name on it. I I never liked some of the rod companies warranties. (Send us a check for 50$ and we will repair or replace etc) So I made sure we took it back and swapped it out with the same or comparable rod. No do all stores do this Im not sure, some may stay strict to the policy (1 year, 2 year etc).. If your curious sometimes about who makes something for a company look at the first 4 digits of the UPC. That is the manufacturer specific code. Many times retailers will not change this for their system (more work involved) and some will. At Gander when we private labeled something it went under the 4000 UPC beginning. But some items were never changed and left with the manufacturer UPC index. PS incase you ask the Gander Mountain soft plastics are all produced by Big Bite Baits.