Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: RalphH on April 30, 2026, 11:38:16 AM

Title: What are you buying when you purchase a new fishing rod?
Post by: RalphH on April 30, 2026, 11:38:16 AM

Fishing rods can be very expensive with rods of hundreds of dollars and even over a thousand becoming common. Does a higher retail price buy better performance?

Not always and it's common for well known brands and labels to spend much more on marketing and promotion than quality materials and design.

More info is in this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPSZVzrycf8

Title: Re: What are you buying when you purchase a new fishing rod?
Post by: wildmanyeah on May 11, 2026, 03:29:40 PM

reminds me of hockey sticks 7% material and labor costs, the rest marketing

Title: Re: What are you buying when you purchase a new fishing rod?
Post by: RalphH on May 13, 2026, 06:22:18 PM

Most retail pricing works pretty much the same. When I worked in retail most costing was about one quarter to one third the regular retail price.

Title: Re: What are you buying when you purchase a new fishing rod?
Post by: adriaticum on May 22, 2026, 10:21:06 AM

I am looking for historical evidence of quality.
Price does not always translate into quality.
So looking for value gems often pays off.

Title: Re: What are you buying when you purchase a new fishing rod?
Post by: yoh on June 02, 2026, 11:10:19 AM

I end up purchasing a lot of my tackle on Aliexpress nowadays. Lots of reviews online for some quality gear.
The shipment/fulfillment can be quite slow and customer service is next to nil, but I've had a lot of good success if that is worth any anecdotal evidence.

With everything being outsourced and made offshore anyway, it's been nice to 'cut out the middleman' in some ways.