What happened to carrot stick rods

[burrows]

I know these rods are still on the market and Boyd duckett left them but why are they so unpopular now they used to be very coveted among many a bass anglers including myself. I was just wondering because no one seems to mentioned these rods anymore. What happened to carrot stick rods?

[ww2farmer]

Never owned one, and never will. But my guess is............lots of quality (breakage) issues coupled with poor customer service, and honoring ........or lack the of, the "warranty". That's what I gathered from the guys around here that had them and no longer do.

Also for a time............the "fan boys" were just obnoxious...Now I can't say this for a fact, and it's purely IMHO, but I think a lot of tackle companies put there "pro-staff" up to flapping their gums on forums like this, and to me, back when these rods were first popular, it seemed kind of obvious that this was going on.

[iabass8]

god awful customer service along with more rod  breakages than probably any company. It's been bought out by a different owner in the past year (maybe 2?).

[ethan-333]

they break like toothpicks. i had 2 snapped both on hooksets. id rsther fish a berkley lightning shock rod than a carrot stick. now i use denali

[corn-on-the-rob]

A gentle wind blew near their headquarters and their entire rod inventory snapped in half.

[BaitMonkey1984]

I have experience with these. My dad and I have had three carrot sticks now. Two rods have been broken in the first year. Customer service is terrible. Returns takes forever and website and call center are unresponsive. 

 

The only good thing is the sensitivity is good, and warranty isn't bad. You can get a new rod for $40-60 bucks and add an additional rod(s) up to 3 I think for the same price. Break a rod, put in warranty and get a second rod for an extra $40. Then wait all winter for the shipment of the new rods. 

[tomustang]

Legend has it their rod failure rate was equal to every other competitors success rate..

[RB 77]

9 hours ago, corn-on-the-rob said:

A gentle wind blew near their headquarters and their entire rod inventory snapped in half.

Shots fired! Haha.

[buzzed bait]

they've now migrated into the reel game 

[F14A-B]

What happened to Carrot Stix? They took advantage of the American fisherman. As far as I'm concerned the Congress should declare War against the Canadian company of thieves..

[cottny27]

Watched a new Roland Martin fishing show last and he was using nothing but Carrot Stiks.  Since when??  I bet he's getting paid big to do that.  It's hard to watch his shows, but it was late and there was absolutely nothing else on.  "Oh, son!"  

[Raul]

16 hours ago, ethan-333 said:

they break like toothpicks. i had 2 snapped both on hooksets. id rsther fish a berkley lightning shock rod than a carrot stick. now i use denali

Well, it´s your fault for fishing with crap gear, Lightning Rods are actually waaaayyyyy better than Carrot Sticks.

[ethan-333]

1 hour ago, Raul said:

Well, it´s your fault for fishing with crap gear, Lightning Rods are actually waaaayyyyy better than Carrot Sticks.

lightning rods are excellent rods!

[topwaterbob]

A Carrot Stix I was going to bid on ebay went for over $200 recently. To much for me. I have one and love it. It's the original PG model. I've broken three Kistlers and this rod has lasted even catching some pretty big bass. I'm not a fan boy because I use many different rod brands. It's light and responsive and it's a ton of fun catching bass with.

[Fishinthefish]

I can't imagine breaking a kistler. I use them for catching 25 to 30lb salmon out of lake michigan and I've never even had one so much as bend funny. Carrot stixs on the other hand I swear you could sneeze on them and lose a rod tip.

[Grantman83]

The one I owned snapped at the tip on a dink...never again 

 

the new owner claimed the old ones were defective because the threads on the guides were actually shearing through the blanks causing all the breakage issues.  

[Josh_Bovaird]

Ive been playing phone tag on a rod warranty through them for over a year.  Keep telling me someone will contact me back.  Spoke to the manager a few times and he prmises its gonna be taken care of and ill  be upgraded to the next level rod for my wait.  Well I'm still waiting and don't hold my breath on a phone call.  I don't think ill ever see that rod.

[burrows]

I almost feel bad for the company I don't like to see companies go down, I guess. Hopefully they make some major changes.

[A-Jay]

I heard that their manufacturing facility was the target of a Deliberate and Malicious Infestation . . .

A-Jay

[Big C]

Really they're not bad rods, they are super light and sensitive.  I'm not so sure they have WAY more rod breakage than other companies, but when it happens to someone, and get no response they go on the ole' interwebz telling anyone who will listen the stink.  Most other companies would just replace it.   I have been using them for years with minimal problems (normal wear and tear).  I think their biggest problem is customer service.  If they instituted a "no questions asked"  replacement policy that was faster and easier than the old system.  They would start gaining a little more respectability. 

[buzzed bait]

On 2/20/2016 at 5:54 PM, Big C said:

Really they're not bad rods, they are super light and sensitive.  I'm not so sure they have WAY more rod breakage than other companies, but when it happens to someone, and get no response they go on the ole' interwebz telling anyone who will listen the stink.  Most other companies would just replace it.   I have been using them for years with minimal problems (normal wear and tear).  I think their biggest problem is customer service.  If they instituted a "no questions asked"  replacement policy that was faster and easier than the old system.  They would start gaining a little more respectability. 

there was also a shift at some point on quality.  my buddy bought an older model one back in the day and it was a far superior rod to one of the newer model version i purchased later on.  i sold that rod before i ever had any issues with it, but it was not the same quality rod my fishing partner had bought and still uses with no issues to this day.

[junyer357]

30 minutes ago, buzzed bait said:

there was also a shift at some point on quality.  my buddy bought an older model one back in the day and it was a far superior rod to one of the newer model version i purchased later on.  i sold that rod before i ever had any issues with it, but it was not the same quality rod my fishing partner had bought and still uses with no issues to this day.

I agree.  I know of several guys still using them to this day.  Seems about a year or two before duckett left is when they went to crap. Older ones when they had the origional free replacement warrenty at any vendor were good rods. 

[Chance_Taker4]

I thought the "Carrot Stick" was being produced by a different company. I had the ones made by e21that broke just by looking at it cross eyed. The new owner supposed to have stronger blanks and better guides on them. If I was in the market for a new rod the new stix would be on my short list just to give them a try again. I think the reputation they received under e21 has scared everyone away from them entirely.

[Steveo-1969]

On ‎2‎/‎20‎/‎2016 at 6:06 AM, Grantman83 said:

the new owner claimed the old ones were defective because the threads on the guides were actually shearing through the blanks causing all the breakage issues.  

I've never owned one, but FWIW I was at a sports show a couple weeks ago and the rep in the Carrot Stix booth told me something similar.  He said the breakage problems came from guide threading being put on too tightly by a machine.  He said the new owner has since fixed this problem and the company is now trying to repair their bad reputation that was caused by rod breakage and poor customer service.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Too tight of a wrap combined with poorly preped guide feet is a legit possible cause for a blank failure. I find it odd that such a problem would be widespread and continuing though. No one is perfect but if the response to an inevitable circumstance is severely inadequate it's like pouring gas on a fire.