One Upset Rod Builder

OK, so most people thing that St. Croix rods are one of the most top of the line companies on the market today. Usually just because of the price of their fishing rods. Also, because of their Warrenty. Allow me to tell a story that might change your mind about the quality of their product.

First, why do you offer a lifetime warrenty on some rods and a 5 or 2 year on others? Why offer a warrenty in the first place? Is it because your rods break so much that it is the only thing you can do to sway people to purchase your product? The lifetime rods are more expensive, yet seem to break more often? I've had 20 dollar rods that last longer and IF they do break, shimano, Sage, and others replace them.

Next, you Must send the entire rod back to them (your cost) and provide a $20.00 bench fee. If they determine it is faulty, they will send you a new rod (keeping the $20.00). Not only did you pay $350 for a rod, you payed to ship it and payed them again to get you a new rod. Again, do you feel GOOD that you have a lieftime warrenty?

On their site they have a feature called "upgrade". If you break a rod, you can send it in and (with a fee) can upgrade to a better or newer style. Sounds fishy but I understand they don't have rod materials from 20 years ago. Basically it is like trading in a car... not a warrenty. Also on their site is the fact that "due to popular usage and overstocking of OLDER rods, the upgrade program has been discontinued".... sounds to me like they have a ton of issues with their rods and people are sending them in all the time. Doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.....I sent a question regarding this and have yet to hear a reply.

All of the above is great if you buy a rod from the store (say a Legend Elite). You break it, send it in, and IF they determine it to be defective they send you a new one (which of course you payed shipping at 20 and a bench price at 20). So now you have a brand new legend Elite that costs $350 at the store yet you paid $390 for.... Again, that sucks.

Now say you have a custom rod builder build a rod on their Blank. The blank price is $200.00. The cost of the eyes, thread, epoxy, finish coat, handle, reel seat and arbor are another 50. You don't have anything extra and the build price is $75.00 labor for a total cost of $325.00. What happens when that rod breaks? St. Croix will warrenty the rod blank and send a new one. Who pays for new eyes, reel seat, labor...... ? Is the customer expected to pay again? If so he now owns a $350 dollar rod that he spend$450.00.

As a rod builder, I would not expect my customer to foot the bill (if it was not his fault). But, I should NOT have to eat the cost of materials and labor.

Reason for my rant..... I finished a custom St. Croix build for a customer last week. Beautiful 6'3" rod on their brand new SCv platform. Customer wanted this rod built because St. Croix no longer offers this rod in anything other than split handle and he doesn't like it. THe rod was a Medium weight, extra fast action used for jigging walleye. It is the same rod as the Legend extreme you would buy in Cabelas for $375

He picked up his rod last night at 9pm and he loved it. Everything about it to include the titanium eyes I used and light weight epoxy. The rod is way lighter than a store bought one with a split handle. At Midnight he placed his reel on the rod ($200 shimano stratic) and begain to put line on. The front tip bent and broke just above the 3rd eye 15 inches from the tip. No fishing... no jigging, no nothing. This rod is meant to jig 1/2oz weight and fight big fish yet it could not handle putting line on!

Is it a faulty blank? Without question. Will they replace it? Absolutly? Who eats the cost of new eyes, reel seat, Arbor, thread, and other materials? You guessed it. In the end I will take care of him but, this was no fault of ours.

I will no longer be building St. Croix rods. Sure they back the blank, but what about the rest of it. You don't buy a boat, put a new trolling motor on it, fish finder, ropes and so on, then have the boat leak and take it back only to have the company give you a brand new boat with no trolling motor, fish finder or anything else

Sorry for the rant but to say I am ticked would be an understatement. So now I wait. My customer owns 7 St. Croix rods and due to the information on their site, will no longer purchase them.... Want more... here you go.

In the Mid 2000's, Gary Loomis decided he wanted to retire. He sold his company "G-Loomis" to shimano for an undisclosed amount of money. Gary built this company specifically with the custom rod builder in mind. He was a steelhead fisherman and understood the importance of slow action (bend from tip to tail) and lightweight tackle. In 2009, shimano decided that they would no longer be selling rod blanks to custom builders. Also, they began to go with the times and change their actions to Fast or extra Fast. Gary was pissed and felt slighted....So

Gary started a new company. It is called North Fork Composite. They do NOT manufacture one finished fishing rod. Blanks only. You want a North Fork it will be custom built. These rods are offered in all the actions you can no longer get for supposed high end companies, slow, moderate, moderate fast.... all the rods a stealhead fisherman or fisherman that like a noodle type rod. Try getting that in most 6 foot rods today (you can't). These rods are built with Carbon Fiber..... Best part, they are cheaper than St. Croix, Sage, Fenwick and, you guessed it, G-Loomis.

I will be moving most of my customers over to this rod company. Gary doesn't worry about a lifetime warrenty. He backs his product. You break it by your fault, they will make it right. If the rod breaks because of their fault, they make it right!

That's a tough spot to be in trying to make you customers happy,maybe tell them up front how it is when replacing a rod.

Have used Ugly Sticks for years. Not you custom rod for sure. I have broke 2 of them trying to get UN-hooked from logs. I always save me receipt.Took them back both times and was given new ones no questions asked. Not the fantasist on the market, but a good warranty. I don't blame you for ranting. If I spent that much on a rod & it broke? Somebody would catch hell..

Larry,
Funny you mention it. Every run of the mill rod I have broken has been taken back no questions. Then you buy a name and a warrenty and you jump through hoops.

I understand the companies position and under normal circumstances, would have no problem spending 40 bucks for a new rod. What hurts is when you build it, spend all that effert on a faulty blank. Wish it would have broke before hand. Hopefully the company is understanding. I just had to vent because it happened during the weekend and i have to wait two days to speak to someone.

Fortunately, the customer is a great friend of mine. He felt guilty. I built the rod for a pretty low labor cost so....

More practice I guess

Hey rich, that's a tough spot to be in I totally understand cause I had the same situation What I did was cut of all the guides save them and just replace the cork handles or ask the rod company to replace the broken section. All you have to do is retie that part. This way your customer don't have to repay for a complete rebuild. I normally try to meet them half way on the labor. As far as rod blanks, that is not the first time I've heard that about gloomis , and st croix. I have been using baston/rainshadow blanks. And have had great results and they backup their warranty. Which is not used often

Sorry about your frustration.

My expierience with St. Croix.....

I had always wanted a rod from either St. Croix or GLoomis, everyone always said they were the best....and it is human nature to want the best I guess, so for years I figured one day I would own one. Well last year I was working near Wausau Wisconsin and I figured one weekend I would go do the factory tour and buy souvenirs for the family......and, buy a rod from them!

After choosing a rod, hats, sweatshirts, shirts, stickers etc. I took them to the counter and a very friendly young man did the checkout, and gave me some in store specials......free stickers, reduced price on the hoodies, I thought I had gotten a good deal and was pretty excited about it and couldn't wait till the next time I flew home to distribute the souvenirs. While I was waiting for my trip to come home I went in the Gander Mountain store in Wausau......and there was my exact same rod I had just purchased from the factory for $20.00 less! Although that was a bummer, I guess I marked it down as one thing off my bucket list of places to go and things to do.

Just hope I catch some fish with it now........:biggrin

Kevin,
I wouldnt feel so bad if he would have had it a day or week. Then at least i could chalk up depreciation. In talking with other builders, they request the old rod back to cut off the eyes. I prefer a two piece rod and personally only build two for myself. Unfotunately, this customer likes a one piece. Break was at the third eye, 15 inches from the tip. Looking back, i remember a slight crook in the rod when alighning the eyes. I have built on Batson and really like them. Talk to Kevin at Getbitoutdoors. I believe he is their number one distributor.

Like Ashman said, the name is a bucket list item and it is hard to sway someone away from it.

Catch 22 is that I want to get him a rod ASAP but have to wait on St Croix.

We all hate to wait.

speaking of rods being built, im working on three jigging rods . one will be my first split grip, one with custom cork handle made from 1 3/4 rings, the other just straight grip. trying to get all finished before next weekend, were headin over to detroit river to see if we can slap some walleye around and test out new rods. these three are all one piece blanks, after this build i gotta do some reconstructing of my work bench- didnt factor in longer one piece blanks:Doh: but its workin for now.

Wow I'm depressed. I buy most of my rods and reels at garage sales for $5.00, clean them up and catch as many fish as I can. Come to think about it I thnk most of my rods have ACME written on them. Thanks guys you made my day. Hence the "lowbudget."

Mike,
You may buy garage sale rods but I would be willing to bet those rods are worth way more than you think. I too buy rods at garage sales. I look for old rods built with materials no longer used. Shakspher made glass rods years ago that would cost hundreds today. I own ten of them. All garage sale finds.

Kevin, i know the feeling. I ended up setting up a six foot table in the middle of the room. Detroit should pickup. I may head there myself. Ice flow late last week was bad. Very few eyes caught but they did get limits of perch. Buddy went to maumee and got his limit in an hour. Water temp is warmer though.