Where's your fishing rod made?

[Ogandrews]

3 hours ago, Allen Der said:

assembled.  I dont think there are any guides made in USA

 

Premiers are made in Park Falls and start around $140.  

 

Must be the premiers on up then, i know the bass x and probably mojo bass are made in Mexico. Not like it really makes any difference they are still amazing rods

[CrankFate]

All over the place. I like the idea of American made products. Japanese rods still have the best QC, even if they’re not made in Japan. IMO, the best thing that happened to St Croix was moving production to Mexico.

[dodgeguy]

2 hours ago, rangerjockey said:

Not anymore, Ark Rod in Harrison Arkansas used to make Falcon but they sourced overseas and last I heard Ark Rod was closing or was closed. The Cara has been discontinued.

 There is a new American made rod on the way. Made here in the Ozarks . I hope to have one in a couple weeks to try.

 

Not according to the falcon website. As far as I know they made their own blanks.

[WRB]

Read The ALX link referenced in the initial post,

St Croix, Loomis, Lamiglas, or other rod builders don't make their own guides, reel seat and they also import some rod blanks.  Very few lay up rod blanks in the USA, most are imported and a few assembled here. ALX, St Croix, Lamiglas and Loomis have rod blank making facilities for thier higher end more expensive rods. Not sure about the source North Fork Composites Gray Loomis brothers rods that Kistler uses?

Tom

 

[Tywithay]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Read The ALX link referenced in the initial post,

St Croix, Loomis, Lamiglas, or other rod builders don't make their own guides, reel seat and they also import some rod blanks.  Very few lay up rod blanks in the USA, most are imported and a few assembled here. ALX, St Croix, Lamiglas and Loomis have rod blank making facilities for thier higher end more expensive rods. Not sure about the source North Fork Composites Gray Loomis brothers rods that Kistler uses?

Tom

 

North Fork Composites makes their blanks start to finish in Washington. 

 

Batson Rainshadow blanks are also made in the USA

 

[rangerjockey]

8 hours ago, dodgeguy said:

Not according to the falcon website. As far as I know they made their own blanks.

Pretty common knowledge that they moved production over seas last year and dropped the Cara line.

I do think the Cara will eventually come back as a higher priced model. It wouldn't make much sense to have 2 models within a few bucks of each other like the Expert and Cara would have been. The price of the Lowrider actually went down some after production was moved.

If they ever actually produced rods in Broken Arrow it was before my time.

6 hours ago, WRB said:

Read The ALX link referenced in the initial post,

St Croix, Loomis, Lamiglas, or other rod builders don't make their own guides, reel seat and they also import some rod blanks.  Very few lay up rod blanks in the USA, most are imported and a few assembled here. ALX, St Croix, Lamiglas and Loomis have rod blank making facilities for thier higher end more expensive rods. Not sure about the source North Fork Composites Gray Loomis brothers rods that Kistler uses?

Tom

 

Gary Loomis runs NFC. How well is open to argument but I'm not sure he even has a brother in the buisness....maybe.

The NFC is a great blank with zero customer service and lots of folks are pizzed about delievery times of the Edge rods.. shame.

 

[CountryboyinDC]

On 4/17/2020 at 10:54 PM, jbsoonerfan said:

Does made in the USA mean from the carbon up, grips, guides, etc. Or simply assembled in the USA? Just wondering.

The article differentiates that.  Bottom line is if the blank is rolled here and it's assembled here it's made in USA.  Assembled in USA means the blank was rolled outside of US.

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, CountryboyinDC said:

The article differentiates that.  Bottom line is if the blank is rolled here and it's assembled here it's made in USA.  Assembled in USA means the blank was rolled outside of US.

My personal opinion?

If ANY part of the rod was made elsewhere - guides, seats, etc - then it shouldn't have 'Made in the USA' on it. I know it's finicky, but that's just how I roll.

[CountryboyinDC]

15 hours ago, CapeCodSox said:

I hate to rain on a parade ... The New Experts made overseas completely blow the doors off of the Cara’s and it’s not close.

I've heard that the new Experts and Lowriders are improvements over the most recent US made ones.  I actually liked the US made Experts I had over the Cara T7s.  But I haven't heard that it's a night-and-day difference.  Regardless, I used Falcons because they gave great service (I've warrantied a couple of rods with them), I felt like they were priced reasonably for what you got, and they at least assembled their rods in the US.  Now, they might do 2 of those 3 still, but my dollar is going elsewhere.  

20 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

ANY part of the rod was made elsewhere - guides, seats, etc - then it shouldn't have 'Made in the USA' on it. I know it's finicky, but that's just how I roll.

I get it and I like that attitude, but that would be hard to find outside of corrugated fiberboard and high density polyethylene beads.  Almost everything else has components from outside the U.S.  So the label would be on less than a dozen products.  I

[MN Fisher]

12 minutes ago, CountryboyinDC said:

Almost everything else has components from outside the U.S.  So the label would be on less than a dozen products. 

Maybe it should be that way...wake people up to the fact that there's not much actually made here.

[CountryboyinDC]

12 hours ago, CrankFate said:

IMO, the best thing that happened to St Croix was moving production to Mexico.

I can tell you that if St. Croix moves all rod production out of Park Falls, they'll lose 1 customer, at least.  I've never even held a Mojo or Bass X.  I was curious about the kayak-biased rod to see if it solves an issue I never knew I had.  If I get to curious, Cashion had some rods that looked like they took the same approach at the Richmond Fishing Expo.

[Tywithay]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

My personal opinion?

If ANY part of the rod was made elsewhere - guides, seats, etc - then it shouldn't have 'Made in the USA' on it. I know it's finicky, but that's just how I roll.

That means there are zero made in the USA rods.

[Southcoast Bassin]

LOL ! Yes your exactly right ! 
news flash boys ... EVERY rod has parts on it that are from overseas ! 
All of them ... so don’t fool yourself into this only buy American thing with rods.

 

I don’t care what any of the Companies supposedly claim ... ITs complete BS!

They all have components on them from overseas .

 

Bottom line about the new Falcon Expert is they fish like a $500 Loomis for less than half the price and that’s a fact.

[CountryboyinDC]

57 minutes ago, CapeCodSox said:

Bottom line about the new Falcon Expert is they fish like a $500 Loomis for less than half the price and that’s a fact.

Maybe, but someone on this forum that has a rod locker full of GLXs and NRXs is probably saying, "If I had a nickle for every time I'd heard that..."

[Southcoast Bassin]

LOL ... trust me nobody knows better than me I own all 3. 
The Expert definitely fished better than the GLX . The NRX is obviously close...

[Vilas15]

5 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Maybe it should be that way...wake people up to the fact that there's not much actually made here.

People know. Most dont care and all else equal will buy the cheaper product made using cheaper labor.

1 hour ago, CapeCodSox said:

LOL ! Yes your exactly right ! 
news flash boys ... EVERY rod has parts on it that are from overseas ! 
All of them ... so don’t fool yourself into this only buy American thing with rods.

 

I don’t care what any of the Companies supposedly claim ... ITs complete BS!

They all have components on them from overseas .

 

Bottom line about the new Falcon Expert is they fish like a $500 Loomis for less than half the price and that’s a fact.

So if 99% of the parts and labor is US and 1% is china youre going to call that made in china? The rods arent "contaminated" by using pieces from other countries. Some is better than none in my opinion. Ill stick with buying rods from the factory store in park falls.

[rangerjockey]

43 minutes ago, CapeCodSox said:

LOL ... trust me nobody knows better than me I own all 3. 
The Expert definitely fished better than the GLX . The NRX is obviously close...

I don't think the Expert is the rod the the Cara was but it was never intended to be, It's a solid mid tier rod.

They got off to a slow start and drove the prices of the Cara's on the secondary market up, I personally sold 7.

 I wouldn't be surprised to see a Cara replacement at ICAST .

[WRB]

14 hours ago, Tywithay said:

North Fork Composites makes their blanks start to finish in Washington. 

 

Batson Rainshadow blanks are also made in the USA

 

You are right Woodland Washington were Gary Loomis started out with Lamiglas.

However I recall reading an article that Gary couldn't complete with Shimano owned G.Loomis company making rods and set up a company under his brother's name in Illinois called North Fork Composites, the rods were made in Woodland were Gary was living.

My 1st graphite rods were Fenwick made in Kent Washington, the company was headquartered in California. The early Fenwick graphite  rods broke randomly and a freind suggested Lamiglas graphite rods. I used Gary Loomis engineered Lamiglas rods for next 35 years. The only reason I changed to ALX custom rods Alex was recommended by Lamiglas when they stopped making custom bass rods in 2012.

Tom

 

[Southcoast Bassin]

1 hour ago, rangerjockey said:

I don't think the Expert is the rod the the Cara was but it was never intended to be, It's a solid mid tier rod.

They got off to a slow start and drove the prices of the Cara's on the secondary market up, I personally sold 7.

 I wouldn't be surprised to see a Cara replacement at ICAST .

 

It’s allot lighter than the Cara....and it Loads differently. Its a better feel rod in my opinion. 
so the Icast has been cancelled but yes Falcon is bringing back the Cara rod.

They has planned on rolling it out at Icast.

 

I spoke to B Hallman and behind the scenes him and Christie have been playing with them. 
He said that for him the Expert Amistad is his go to regardless of it all.

 

Like I said ... I’ve been throwing them for over 25 years. I’m very familiar with the different rods and changes. 

2 hours ago, Vilas15 said:

People know. Most dont care and all else equal will buy the cheaper product made using cheaper labor.

So if 99% of the parts and labor is US and 1% is china youre going to call that made in china? The rods arent "contaminated" by using pieces from other countries. Some is better than none in my opinion. Ill stick with buying rods from the factory store in park falls.

 

[Southcoast Bassin]

Contaminated??? Seriously dude get a grip.... I’m talking quality of rods. 
And believe me ... Loomis definitely rolls out their share of crappy rods !

I spent over $5000 on Loomis rods over the years. 
With technology now ... It’s a waste of $$$.

[rangerjockey]

22 minutes ago, CapeCodSox said:

 

It’s allot lighter than the Cara....and it Loads differently. Its a better feel rod in my opinion. 
so the Icast has been cancelled but yes Falcon is bringing back the Cara rod.

They has planned on rolling it out at Icast.

 

I spoke to B Hallman and behind the scenes him and Christie have been playing with them. 
He said that for him the Expert Amistad is his go to regardless of it all.

 

Like I said ... I’ve been throwing them for over 25 years. I’m very familiar with the different rods and changes. 

 

Loads differently ?  The amastad is his go to regardless of what ?

[Vilas15]

44 minutes ago, CapeCodSox said:

Contaminated??? Seriously dude get a grip.... I’m talking quality of rods. 
And believe me ... Loomis definitely rolls out their share of crappy rods !

I spent over $5000 on Loomis rods over the years. 
With technology now ... It’s a waste of $$$.

Goes hand in hand. If two rods use the same components and one is assembled in the US it will cost more than the one assembled by people making 10 cents an hour. You do pay a bit more for a USA rod of the same quality as other options, something some people are willing to do and others arent.

[Southcoast Bassin]

Not interested in turning fishing into politics!
Don’t we have enough of that BS in our country????!

MY POINT is ..... 
Obviously in these hard hit economic times .... Most people don’t have $300 to $500 to spend on a rod.

The Falcon Expert rod kicks the crap out of anything else in the $180-&225 price range .

Now go back to watching all the crap on TV and spend money that you probably shouldn’t spend on $500 rods !

 

[Glenn]

Oh geeze.  C'mon folks, chill out. Go walk outside or something, then leave it at the door.

[fvogel67]

3 minutes ago, Glenn said:

Oh geeze.  C'mon folks, chill out. Go walk outside or something, then leave it at the door.

Agree.