Why so many different lines of rod?

[Caiden24]

I have a question, with each company that makes rods and reels for example Shimano, why do they have so many different lines of rods and reels that appear to all be capable of doing the same thing? Thanks!

[GreenPig]

Money 

[TOXIC]

If you want the easy answer it the fact that every technique has a “better” action in a rod/reel.  While you can use one for multiple techniques, it doesn’t make sense to throw a weightless Senko on a flipping stick.  How far into matching the rod characteristics with the technique is personal preference and many times changes with experience. I do use the same rod for multiple techniques in many cases.  Back in the day Rick Clunn advocated one action rod/reel but that didn’t last long. 

[r83srock]

Money is correct.

 

When I started out not so long ago (25 years) St. Croix had 3 lines of rods:

 

Premier - Good

Avid- better 

Legend elite-best

 

G-Loomis

 

GL2/GL3 - Good

IMX-Better

GLX- best

 

Kistler

 

Graphite/california - Good

Magnesium - better

Helium - best

 

Berkley

 

Cherrywood - good 

lightning rod - better

Series one - best

 

Fenwick

 

HMX - good 

HMG - better

Techna AV - best

 

Shimano had crucial and cumulus rod which are now long gone a nearly forgotten, some of the best rods ever made, that I sadly never owned but had fished. Shimano had reels

 

Citica - Good

Curado - better

chronarch - best

calais - super best lol

 

Marketing changed. The 7’6” flippin stick became 7’11” or 8’, and as the 5’6” pistol grip became the mighty 6’6” full handle “bass rod” along came All Star/castaway/Kistler to market “technique specific “ rods. Falcon too. 6’6” mh fast became 6’10” mh mod fast, and later the standard 7’ mh fast became 7’3” mh XF. It didn’t take long for loomis to come out with bronzeback and mossyback series, and St. Croix to come out with legend tournament (technique specific) and about 5 years later (2008/2009) mojo bass (budgetish technique specific. 

 

I could be wrong but I think All Star (wr1/wr2)/castaway, Kistler/American Rodsmiths/and the not related at all Falcon made technique specific rods popular. Other brands followed and soon reels/reel ratios and spool designs changed. Brilliant really, as technique specific is now “normal” In bass fishing equipment. 
 

Companies can capitalize on everyone’s budget. 
 

The 2008/2009 era (recession) forced companies to provide decent gear for good prices. The $100 rod was never more popular and you got a lot of bang for your buck at that time. Boyd Duckets departure from E21 to start his own brand and Skeet Reese to market his own rods, and of course KVD and his name on everything, made guys like that more money than any tour win. 
 

Today’s gear is awesome. It can be expensive, but the budget gear is better than anything we had 20 years ago. The amount of choices can be overwhelming for a newcomer. I do like simplicity, but I can choose to be simple, that’s easy for me, having choices is a very nice thing to have however.

 

[Tennessee Boy]

Here's a very old joke that will help answer your question.

 

There was an owner of an old-fashioned country store in a small town who was fond of quoting a passage of Scripture after each sale. He had three old friends that would sit around a pot-bellied stove, playing checkers on a faded board. His ability to produce a Scripture for all occasions never ceased to amuse the old timers, and they would listen to see what verse he would come up with that was relevant to the sale made. 

A lady purchased some material and he said, “She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.” A man bought a bag of flour and he said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” A little boy bought some lollies and as he rung it up he quoted, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” 

It was nearly closing time when the chimes over the door jangled loudly. A well dressed young man who was driving a fine truck that was pulling a $100,000 horse trailer walked in. “Can I help you?” offered the proprietor. 

“I need a blanket for my horse,” said the man. “He’s out in his trailer and it’s too cold for just one. Bring me the nicest one you’ve got!” The store owner went in the back store room and came back with a brown blanket. “That’ll be five dollars.” 

“Five dollars? You’ve got to be kidding!”, said the man. “This horse is a thoroughbred. He gets only the best! He wouldn’t stand still for an old five-dollar blanket.” Without comment, the store owner took back the blanket, then merely selected a different color and brought it out. “This one’s $25 dollars.” 

“Now, look,” said the young man, “Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. This isn’t just any old horse! He’s worth thousands! Now I want the best, most expensive blanket you’ve got! Understand?” The owner once more went into the store room, pulled out another color from the same pile of blankets and brought it back. “This one's $100 dollars.” “Now that’s more like it!” enthused the young man as he paid. Then, throwing the five dollar blanket over his shoulder, he left. 

The old timers stared silently at the shopkeeper as they waited to see what possible Scripture he could come up with for that sale! Going behind the register, he rung up the hundred dollars and said, “He was a stranger, and I took him in.” 

 

Now take the story and substitute tackle store for country store, bass boat for horse trailer,  and fishing rod for horse blanket and I think you'll understand. 

[MediumMouthBass]

As other have already stated money is a main factor.

 

But also why wouldnt they? Now a days these companies have so many options for us, you can get a great rod and reel regardless of what your budget is, whether thats $50-1000.

Some people also like buying a rod or reel because of its color, some want a rod with foam handles, and others with cork. 

A few rods and reels actually do, do the same thing. But most of them are different even if its just slightly.

Take the SLX or Tatula lines of baitcasting reels, to most people they are all similar to each other. I have 4 reels in the SLX series, 3 are different and the costs were $100-125-150. Each time i bought the higher priced upgraded SLX (even if just a $25 increase) it got better and better, whether thats the colors, feel, braking system, even the spool technology). But ill use these reels for completely different things. If they only made 1 SLX option i wouldve had to buy a different brands reel to get what i wanted out of them.

Same applies for rods, (say for the sake of this well call it brand 1). So brand 1 makes a texas rig rod, well they offer it in 5 different choices. All the same price and all look the same/have same features, difference is just length and maybe some are fast, while others may be extra fast, well if i bought all 5 rods and took them fishing i might dislike the first four but the 5th might be the best rod i ever used for texas rigs. Just because of the different size/feel to it.

 

Having too many options is a good thing, maybe not for our bank accounts but we have so many great choices when it comes to rods and reels, to where we can really narrow it down even further to get the rod/reel, feel/look/price that we want.

[bulldog1935]

N + 1 marketing

 

If they didn't tell you, you wouldn't know you needed to replace last year's

 

OK, between the different lines, you pay for different things.  Weight reduction in the rod blank - advanced MOC that gets the same strength and bulk modulus (rod taper) in a structure using less total material.  

The other thing you pay for is finish grade in the components and labor details.  

 

[Caiden24]

5 hours ago, MediumMouthBass said:

As other have already stated money is a main factor.

 

But also why wouldnt they? Now a days these companies have so many options for us, you can get a great rod and reel regardless of what your budget is, whether thats $50-1000.

Some people also like buying a rod or reel because of its color, some want a rod with foam handles, and others with cork. 

A few rods and reels actually do, do the same thing. But most of them are different even if its just slightly.

Take the SLX or Tatula lines of baitcasting reels, to most people they are all similar to each other. I have 4 reels in the SLX series, 3 are different and the costs were $100-125-150. Each time i bought the higher priced upgraded SLX (even if just a $25 increase) it got better and better, whether thats the colors, feel, braking system, even the spool technology). But ill use these reels for completely different things. If they only made 1 SLX option i wouldve had to buy a different brands reel to get what i wanted out of them.

Same applies for rods, (say for the sake of this well call it brand 1). So brand 1 makes a texas rig rod, well they offer it in 5 different choices. All the same price and all look the same/have same features, difference is just length and maybe some are fast, while others may be extra fast, well if i bought all 5 rods and took them fishing i might dislike the first four but the 5th might be the best rod i ever used for texas rigs. Just because of the different size/feel to it.

 

Having too many options is a good thing, maybe not for our bank accounts but we have so many great choices when it comes to rods and reels, to where we can really narrow it down even further to get the rod/reel, feel/look/price that we want.

So it’s all personal preference it seems like? I don’t spend enough time with more expensive or different rods I guess because to me I don’t have a favorite rod. They all catch fish so I don’t see how they are different and I don’t see what makes each one better or worse. 

[Bird]

I can feel the difference between a $50 rod vs a $250 rod but can the fish ?

 

Choice is good for the economy, I get that and it ain't just fishing equipment.

I went into Lowe's to buy a gallon of latex paint and had to listen to a 30 minute seminar from an employee on why this paint is better than that paint and this paint has UV protection but this other brand is better at resisting mildew.

 

Just throw money at it.

[bulldog1935]

In this whole mass-produced-utensil marketplace, whatever you spend on your tackle, the tackle will always be worth less to someone else.  

The value of the tackle is what you can fish out of it. 

If you need to sell it, it will be the buyer's market.  Biggest part of this, it's always being supersceded by something new, possibly better, and certainly better hyped.  

 

It's always a joy to find a rod that perfectly fills your niche, feels right, does everything you need, and costs less than you can afford to pay - watch for the close-out and get a half-price back-up.  

There is another side to this, tackle that if you buy well will always be worth more than you paid.  

But that's most always bench-made tackle that by definition isn't new tech, but hand manufacturing, tuning and finishing effort, small batch, small market, hard to come by (looking for it is like paying your dues on the water).  But when you need to sell it,  it will be the seller's market, because someone else has been looking just as hard as you did to find a good buy.  

[TOXIC]

Don’t confuse rod quality and different models with rods that have different actions for different techniques.  

[Dan N]

.

[FrnkNsteen]

In my opinion, the reason the rod and reel companies offer so many different lines of product is so that no matter which one you are looking at,... All of us on here can say, "well, for a little more money you can step up to the ...." 😁

[Caiden24]

15 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

In this whole mass-produced-utensil marketplace, whatever you spend on your tackle, the tackle will always be worth less to someone else.  

The value of the tackle is what you can fish out of it. 

If you need to sell it, it will be the buyer's market.  Biggest part of this, it's always being supersceded by something new, possibly better, and certainly better hyped.  

 

It's always a joy to find a rod that perfectly fills your niche, feels right, does everything you need, and costs less than you can afford to pay - watch for the close-out and get a half-price back-up.  

There is another side to this, tackle that if you buy well will always be worth more than you paid.  

But that's most always bench-made tackle that by definition isn't new tech, but hand manufacturing, tuning and finishing effort, small batch, small market, hard to come by (looking for it is like paying your dues on the water).  But when you need to sell it,  it will be the seller's market, because someone else has been looking just as hard as you did to find a good buy.  

Thanks

15 hours ago, TOXIC said:

Don’t confuse rod quality and different models with rods that have different actions for different techniques.  

I am just saying like outside of a certain line of rods. I know that each different model of a rod within a line has a use but for example, with 3 different lines of rods and they all say they are for top water for example, it’s hard to see a difference in them and why to pay more or less for the different lines 

[MAN]

On 4/24/2024 at 7:53 AM, r83srock said:

 

Companies can capitalize on everyone’s budget. 
 

 

 

From someone who has been doing this for almost 20 years....this is your answer^^

[MN Fisher]

11 minutes ago, Caiden24 said:

why to pay more or less for the different lines 

The more expensive rod lines are - as a rule - tougher, more sensitive and lighter....you're paying for 'better tech'. Gotta balance your needs and your budget - for me that's St Croix Victory.

[Siebert Outdoors]

Its all about price point and the consumer.     The companies are trying to target all price points for every consumer.

[Columbia Craw]

Why are there thirteen flavors of Coke? Market share.

[volzfan59]

Years ago, after retirement, I went to work at Bass Pro Shops in the fishing department. I had been in law enforcement my entire career, never working in the retail field. On one of my interviews, I asked a question similar to yours, but I don't remember the exact question that I asked. I took the Operations Manager's reply to heart. He said "We're in business to make money. We have to stock rods, reels and tackle that fit into every budget. All some folks can afford are $25.00 rods or reels. Some folks can spend hundreds."