Angling Trade E-Survey: What do you think is the legitimate lifespan of a fly rod model? In other words, how often should a rod company “reinvent” its flagship brand, based on what your customers are willing to buy?

• Every year. Callaway and TaylorMade introduce a new driver every year, and people buy the hype. We could do the same in fly fishing with rods with enough marketing muscle.
• Every two or three years. Maybe a bit faster turnover than the current pace in the industry now.
• Every four or five years. That seems to be what most rod companies are on now—different models for different applications every year or so, but the big name brands should last five years.
• A lot more than five years. I have too much trouble unloading the inventory I have, let alone picking up a new model entirely. My customers will buy flies every week, but they’re only going to buy a
• I don’t know.

View Results