Pro Rods

[gottawayagain]

Does anyone out there remember "pro rods" that GI Joes used to sell. They were about $70 ten years ago and came with a unconditional guaranty. If you broke it, return it to GI Joes and get a replacement free. They were great rods, especially for beginners because of the forgiving "classic" action. Would like to know who made them so I can get one for my wife who is just starting to fish for steelies. I seem to think they may have been a loomis blank??

[Bill_Batson]

"Pro Rod" went out of business in the early 90s. Rodco had their own series of rods, as well as quite a large private lable rod business. They made their own blanks,as it was the old Conolon/Garcia factory. Bob Barry, the blank designer, passed away about seven years ago. It was a great loss to the industry. He was a really good guy that had been in rod manufacturing since just after WWII. I used to meet with him at 5:30 AM every morning for an hour, and just talk about the history of fishing rods and materials.
The assets were purchased by Penn Fishing Tackle, and is now known as Rodco Inc.
Rodco does the made in USA series for Penn. Penn has continually been sending more and more of their rod models to an offshore facility in China.
It appears that the Rodco factory will be shut down by the end of the year, in favor of the imports.

[gottawayagain]

Too Bad! I still have a couple of the rods and love them! I guess I'll have to try and find something similar, made in the USA!!!

[Catch 22]

I saw that Fishermans Marine has their North River rods on sale for under $60.00. They have the same warranty. Joes had a similar deal with a NorthXNorthwest. I haven't seen them lately though. For boat rods they should do fine. For a drift rod though, I don't know. I don't know the specs.

[Pitch Pocket]

I've got a 8'6" Pro Rod plug rod that is my favorite to catch sturgeon and salmon on. It outfishes all my other rods for sturgeon, I think mainly because of the soft tip.