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Most folks don't care much what we do when we aren't fishing,
but we do actually have a life. We do talk with each other a
lot, more I think than most couples do, but, it just seems to
work for us. Like this evening as we were working on a few
slices from a smoked Picnic ham at the dinner table. We were
talking about the upcoming issue and I realized that the piece
we had for thanksgiving was really going to run in the 'Lighter
Side' department.
It is a cute thing but that means I need something for 'Castwell'
and it's already Thursday evening. Lots to do yet and getting
further behind. My wife said I might consider the subject of
how specialized rods have become. The more we tossed it back
and forth the more I realized there was actually something to
say on the subject.
There was a time when America was the king of the assembly line.
The innovator of making a gazillion of something. Not so any
more. As the fly rod business has developed, each company has
created more and more differing rods to fill some slot in the
market that they perceived was not being addressed. And each
year they not only offered improvements to the main rods in
their series, they added more. And the next year, even more.
The theory of 'mass production' and all it stood for is long
gone.
We have all heard of the mass-produced Fords. Not only were
they all the same, they looked the same too. All black. And
the price came down and down. But not so with fly rods. Every
year customers want something else and the manufacturers are
most willing to not only produce it, but fight over the right
to do so. What does this do to the cost? Can you say sky-rockets?
Well, not quite, but just imagine how it used to be. How it was
at a time in the past when there were not as many rods to pick
from.
For one thing, you didn't have as many companies. There were
private, custom cane rod crafter's and a few big commercial
ones, but all cranking out a very limited range of rods. Some
companies had a choice of quality and a selection of weights
and lengths but nothing like what is available today. Alone
now, one company may offer over five-hundred different rods.
As each company develops new rods, up goes the price. There
is no free lunch and development takes time and costs money.
And everytime we decide we really need a special rod for some
special use we have or to match our special style of casting
we keep the ball rolling. Now, don't get me wrong here. I am
not the one complaining. But some out there are trying to say
the cost of fly rods is too high.
The fix is simple. We just all quit buying from all of the
companies except one. The rest will dry up due to no sales.
Then, we all only buy one rod, say it's a eight and a half
foot five weight. That's it. Nothing else.
No spey rods. No nine footers at all. None of the light-weights.
No heavy ones either. Just the same old rod. Very soon the
company will have to make a whole lot of them to keep up
with sales. No point in making all of the other ones in
it's line, they can quit wasting time (and money) on them.
Soon the price will plummet. The ability to mass-produce
will once again be upon us. Rods can sell for a couple of
bucks over the cost of materials. The rod companies can
quit buying all of the other stuff they need for many
differing models and concentrate on just the necessary
materials. Down will come the incoming cost of parts.
Whoopie. Nineteen forty here we come. Not a whole lot
to chose from, but we got the cost down.
Never mind that we just threw a bunch of guys out of work
and will have to toss huge flies with a five weight and
land salmon on the same rods. We got the price down. The
more I see of this, the less I like it. I think there
might be another way. How about we try this instead.
We all go out and buy a big bunch of rods. New fly rods.
It doesn't matter what size they are or whether we ever
may need or use them. Just buy up bunches. As we continue
to do that, the price will come down. Everyone keeps their
job. We all get a nice bank of rods with full justification
and rationalization. We have all been part of a great
commercial event that was responsible for bringing down
the price of fly rods.
Trust me, your wife will be proud of you. Thank you. We
need a lot more like you out there. And oh, I can almost
guarantee, you will probably have a lot more time for
fishing too. ~ JC
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