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Our Brands
The essential rods for walleye fishing
Coastal Inshore rods from the Carolinas to Texas
Steelhead, trout and fly rods for the discerning angler
Premium ice rods and combos for the best ice fishing
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Looking through your favorite sporting goods retailer today, you can pretty much know what to expect as far as the brands they will carry. They're mostly the same brands you've seen on the same store shelves for the past 25 years or more. The only difference is that today, just a few companies own all the major brands, where 25 years ago, they were all separate companies. Berkeley, Shakespeare, Fenwick, All-Star, Abu Garcia and Penn all used to be separate companies. Today they're all owned by one company, which in turn is owned by a conglomerate that also owns such brands as Coleman, K2, Rawlings, and more. G.Loomis, once the top eschelon of manufacturing is now owned by Shimano. Even the major retailers have gotten into the mix, developing a brand label for thier own goods. If you've only recently bought a fishing rod from a major or retail brand, you might not notice anything different about it. However, if you had bought one 15 years ago, and another one recently, you would surely notice something different about the newer product - it's cheaper. Not in price, but in quality. As companies have consolodated in the fishing industry, the focus is not on building a quality product consumers will want to use, but on maximizing their share of the market, and profit margins. Retail prices haven't gone up much in 20 years. Back in 1990 you could buy a cheap graphite fishing rod for $29.99. You still can today, however today's product is made of less expensive, and lower quality materials. While there's been advances in things like carbon fiber, and guide rings, there is a definite push to lower the cost of manufacturing. That means instead of winding 5-1/2 turns on the rod mandrel, now they wind 4-1/2. Instead of using solid "AAA"-grade cork, now they use a thin cork overlay glued over a hard foam for your handles. Instead of the rod blank going all the way through the handle to the butt, now they cut it short at the reel seat and use a plastic tube in the handle. Instead of using the same carbon all through the blank, they use cheaper carbon or fiberglass at the base of the rod and into the handle. These are a few examples of how things have changed in the past 20 years. We are not new to the fishing rod business. We were around for Fenwick's introduction of the first graphite rods in 1973. We were around for Boron/Graphite composites, and we were still in the rod business when they died out in the mid-80's. We saw the rise of new companies like G.Loomis and All-Star Rods, and we saw the consolidation of the industry in the late 80's and early 90's. Since then, it's been mostly about the profit, not the product. ProLine doesn't claim to be completely altruistic in respect to our business, we are a for-profit business also. However we do not subscribe to the belief that our profit should come at the expense of the product. Looking back on the changes in the rod industry, we feel that it has lost something - Pride. Pride in the manufacturing and design quality of the rod. When we speak to people today, many lament that very fact. People speak to us about how once-great brands have been stripped down to a shadow of their former selves. How products have gotten to be disposable, rather than dependable. ProLine aims to change that by offering consumers a product they can depend on. A product that isn't stripped down to maintain a price point, and a product that isn't full of cut corners and cheap materials. With the introduction of the redesigned Icepro line, we are beginning to bring forth our visions of what this industry is missing, in terms of quality, value, performance, and pride. We will continue to develop new offerings targeted for various regional fishing styles. In 2010 and early 2011 we developed the Addiction product lines, for the Walleye, Inshore, and Stream fishing markets. Some of our future products will bear the design trademarks of Roland Martin, and some will be from ProLine's highly experienced designers. In designing rods for specialty markets, we are at the source, speaking with and taking cues from the very folks who will one day be using our products. We aim to prove that when you see our logo, you can be assured that someone actually took pride in the design and manufacture of that product. |
