Prototyping an Abel reel. (Ross Purnell photo)
October 07, 2024
By Ross Purnell
The best fly rods these days all seem to be in the neighborhood of $1,000. Despite what you’ve heard from local curmudgeons or YouTube influencers, that price has nothing to do with unconditional rod warranties. Most manufacturers report rod breakages/returns of about 1% to 2%, and it’s usually just one section of rod that needs to be replaced, a small fraction of the retail cost of a finished rod. Do the math and you can see that warranty work is far less than 1% of the overall cost of producing the product. Another easy way to bust this myth is to look at all the other top fly-fishing products and you can see that waders, fly lines, and drift boats have all increased in price by similar amounts—with or without an unconditional warranty. In 1986 a G.Loomis IM6 fly rod was $189. A Scientific Anglers Air Cel Supreme was $18, and Simms Neoprene waders were $129.
If you really want to ignore the most obvious culprit—inflation—and delve into how we arrived at $1,000 fly rods, $1,200 reels, $800 waders, or $150 fly lines in 2024, look at the actual significant factors. First, most of these top-quality products are sold at local fly shops, which form the backbone of our sport. These small American businesses survive on a keystone markup, which is a 100% increase over what they paid for it. In oversimplified numbers, if they get a product wholesale at $500, they sell it at $1,000. If this seems excessive, you likely haven’t operated a specialty retail business where volume is low. These small shops are owned and staffed by passionate fly fishers like yourself, they have mortgages to pay, they have long-term employees and they want to pay them a livable wage so they can share their expertise and their passion with new fly fishers who walk in that door. Without these fly shops, we’d have fewer places to buy flies, tippet, hackle, floatant, lines, and everything else we use. More important, the friends we have there who are important parts of our community wouldn’t have these jobs.
In many cases, you can buy these products online directly from the manufacturer for exactly the same price, but why do that and cut out your local shop? Buy local means keeping jobs and stores and money in your local community. These shops advocate for the resource with government agencies, coordinate river cleanups, teach schools, donate time to veterans’ organizations, and the list goes on. They serve an important purpose and they should be supported.
Take it another step backward and look at the small American manufacturers making premium products. They buy expensive components, they maintain highly trained manufacturing staff, and pay them a living wage based on American standards. These people are all friends and neighbors. If you walk into the Abel manufacturing facility in Montrose, Colorado, or the Thomas and Thomas factory in Greenfield, Massachusetts, you see skilled American manufacturing at its finest. Many of these employees have families to support, and on the weekends they go fishing just like you and me. This is the “industry” we choose to support.
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Many consumers have no idea about the expenses involved with manufacturing a $1,000 product. The equipment costs millions, as does the facility, and paying American staff is the biggest expense. The components are not cheap—rod companies compete with the wine industry for the best cork, they have machined aluminum reel seats, lathed burl wood inserts, and titanium stripping guides. Premium carbon fiber prepreg can cost $200 a yard. In every product from waders to fly lines to machined aluminum reels there is a massive investment in human resources, local communities, and our resources.
In an election year when American manufacturing will be a hotly contested debate, let’s give a shout out to all the “good” corporate citizens in our sport who create the best fly-fishing products on planet earth, follow the best possible manufacturing processes to do no harm, support their employees, help protect our fishing resources and the environment, and participate in their local communities. When you’re out there waving around a $1,000 fly rod, it’s not just a stick you catch fish with. It’s a point of pride and symbol of what you believe in.