World Record Rod Manufacturers

[Mark Patenaude]

Interesting Info:

According to the 2007 World Record Game Fish Records here are the top graphite fly rod manufacturers with the number of world records in 07'

Sage - 75
G. Loomis - 24
Thomas & Thomas - 18
Orvis - 14
Redington - 7
Albright - 4
Winston - 4
Cabelas - 3
Temple Fork - 3

Kind of gives you an idea of who is selling the most rods doesn't it.

[AgMD]

Or maybe it tells us who sells rods to folks who have the money to go after world records.
AgMD

[Mark Patenaude]

I don't know that it is so much about chasing records. I think a great number of them are caught by people in the right place at the right time. Sort of like the guy who caught the world record Brown - but not on a fly though.

I do know however that adjusting for output (#'s manufacturered) that Sage does sell more rods than the other manufacturers do and I think they offer the most number of "lines" of rods (i.e. XP, RPL+, etc...) Also, Sage does offer rods in a very competitive price range with some of the others listed like TFO and Cabelas.

With that said, remember that there are only about 3-4 companies that manufacture the blanks (but of course in accordance with the respective manufacturers' specifications) i.e. St. Croix (really surprised that they weren't listed) and their IPC technology.

Mark

[AgMD]

A lot of the records are not just for biggest fish but are also for tippet class, line class, etc This is particularly true in many of the salt water records. Breaking the record for the worlds biggest Marlin, say, doesn't happen too often. The biggest overall fish in any species is usually not that much bigger than it was 50 years ago. But the biggest Marlin on a given class of tackle is a record that can be worked for. A new record of a bigger fish on lighter tackle usually involves a lot of long distance catch and release. A lot of the records are held by folks who seek them and may invest years in their pursuit. There are many stories of guys who held a record, lost it and won it back. True enough that many are held by a lucky kid w/ an Ugly Stick who just happened to be in the right place at the right time, but a lot of the records are held by guys who work at it with a manic determination.
AgMD

[Mark Patenaude]

All good points...

I think that the guys who chase records are forgetting about why we do this thing that we do.

[AgMD]

Mark, I think you have it exactly!! Some of us don't have to catch the biggest or most fish. Heck, some of us don't even have to be the best fisherman, which in my own case is obvious.
But then there are the type A personalities who have to make a contest out of everything and for whom winning doesn't count unless somebody looses.
AgMD

[JoeOverlock]

I think it would be fun to get an IGFA record. One of the guys in the office bought a IGFA membership and there are a lot of records that are empty.

I'm aiming to be the IGFA 20Lb tippet fly rod record holder for bluegill.