Fishing rod made in USA?

not anymore! So I broke my fishing rod I've had for about 16 years and decided to give in and buy a new one. Made in the USA means a lot to me so I went looking for a fishing rod made in USA. To my suprise there aren't any! All I wanted was a 6' ultralight rod for fishing in the Potomac. Even the reputable St Croix whose plant is in Wisconsin since 1948(sold out to chinease in 2005), Pflueger (made in usa of foreign parts), Shakespeare Fishing Tackle Makers of America's #1 Rod — The Ugly Stik Made in China, shakespeare Made in China, Quantum Made in China. Shimano - China, Shimano - China, What about the reputable G.Loomis? well they were purchased by Shimano in 1997.
All Star graphite rods are manufactured in Houston TX but use Fuji® guides and reels seats. Diawa? (To handle sales and distribution in the United States, Daiwa Corporation first opened its doors on September 26, 1966) so not a USA firm. Castaway in Texas made in USA but uses Fuji parts. American Rodsmiths? Hey I think I found one. Eagle Claw is the only fishhook made in the USA. they don't specify where the rods are made. It was crazy looking at all the rods on display. ALL of them said Made in China at Wal-Mart and Dicks Sporting Goods.

So what did I buy? I purchased a 6' ultralite Quantum rod because I really liked the construction and feel of the rod. I'm glad I didn't continue my search in the stores because I wasn't going to find any too easily. there are custom rod makers out there who build rods for over $100 each but they still use foreign parts. Even though some of these manufacturers are foreign companies I'm okay with that as long as they are manufactured in the USA and providing us with jobs. When did we start relying so heavily on foreign stuff for our basic needs?

when americans decided to have unions. Thus all the lazy people were paid top dollar for doing crappy work. How many american teenagers do you know that want to do manuel labor, then on top of that, want to do a good job, show up everyday no matter what weather and not complain. When you run into some one that fits the above criteria and speaks english please let me know so I can give them a job.

This looks to be the start of a good old fashion argument!

Good help is hard to find. Hard workers are almost imposible to find.

My field is construction, home improvements. We cover from Conn to Va, west va and PA. Unless you hit the central PA rednecks the majority of our crews werent born in the USA. Its not that we havent had American born but not many do manual labor. Its the ones that mail checks acros the border that bust hump to make the money. Gets tough to explain to people that only want American crews but in some areas I cant find any!

I was talking to a Plumber and he was saying that no one goes into the trades anymore. Computer school has replaced votech. Whats even sadder is I cant talk to my doctor - could barely speak english aand I had to tell her what treatment I needed. When assigned to her again I demanded a different doc due to communication issues - so they gave me another one that wasnt much better. And this is at an army facility.

What has happened? The highly skilled jobs like Doctor and Engineers are outsourced and no one wants the entry level. The gimme generation has arrived

Unfortunately I have to agree. Ive seen it first hand at Corning (the plates and pots people) which is now World Kitchen. I provided Rehab services for them in the past and got to witness a change from middle aged women woring their assembly lines to 90% spanish speaking workers. Many americans don't want to work and lack the motivation to do a good job. It isn't all their fault as they are pressed with increased demands and low pay for what seems like an endless job and little reward. Cost of living goes up, pay is cut to make the company profitable. those that grew up in really tough conditions and know the value of a job and will work for anything to make a dollar. many of them live in the same house 10-20 in a household to make ends meet and are used to that kind of living conditions. Interesting enough there was a cut by 90% in the number of workers receiving rehab due to work injuries. it seems they don't want to be singled out and will ignore small injuries and work through it in order to keep their jobs. I no longer provide rehab services for them because the demand is so small. As long as it is assembled in USA and results in US jobs then I'm okay with it. overseas they work for very little and can produce products cheaply and you can't compete with that in the US unless you have a very good quality product. We as a country should be self reliant. I make the extra effort to buy products Made in the USA but it can be very difficult identifying them. Besides when I have a problem with a product I like being able to speak to someone that lives in my community to resolve the problem. Thats the person that cares about their reputation enough to make things right!

I agree but disagree. I think The american worker has started to expect more. 1950 very few homes had a TV, 1970 it was one TV and 3 broadcasters. 2007 I own 5 TVs and theres only 4 people in the house. I grew up sharing a bedroom, now each kid is expected to have their own. In the last 30 years the average square footage per person in a home has doubled. I think in the last 30 years we have lost sight of the difference between needs, wants, and if onlys. Hole in a sock - toss the pair. Little Jimmy's clothes are tight run to the gap - what happened to the garbage bags of hand me downs tucked in everyones closet. And thats at the family level.

it used to be a stigmatism to take handouts. If you needed a hand your family pitched in, your church or people next door. Now we have people having kids to stay on welfare and collect so they dont have to work. Get hurt on the job you wrapped it up and worked; now you trip over your shoe lace and you fill out a dozen forms, see 8 doctors and are off 3 weeks. (true story by the way).

I watched one person refuse job offers because it was too low. But he had no qualms about borrowing from mom and dad to keep the boat and both cars. Instant gratification and wants ruined it. Unions helped by fostering the entitlement attitude. Buut the loss of personal responsibility was the final nail in the coffin. Remember that when you read the story of the gangbanger shot by the police and the mom saying it wasnt his fualt he aimed a gun at the cops - they didnt need to kill him.

Good points allium and this was going to be one of my first responses to this post. Our standard of living will have to start to come back down. The US will not be a world power for long and our capitalistic ways are to blame and we're all guilty of it. There aren't many people now that would walk up to a Wal-mart shelf and choose the USA product compared to the China product. Both items are of the EXACT same quality and composition, however, the Chinese product costs half the price. This is why you find the made in the USA label on very few walmart items. As far as unions go...they were created for good reason but i believe their intentions and protection to workers has been abused and compromised all faith and support.

The Chinease made Ugly stick that I broke worked fine for the last 15 years of use and abuse. don't know exactly how the end broke off but I was in transit in the vehicle when it happened. It probably would have lasted another 15 years. Guess their stuff is like ours in that they produce varing degrees of quality depending on what is needed and what the consumer target is. With all the publicity recently with chinease food problems there may be better labeling and people should be able to make the decision a little easier, if they really care.

I can honestly say that american metal is by far better then chinese and that is one thing I always stick to buying US made except when Its a jeep throw away tool or to be used on the trail or in the field. But any way Nick that was a good point you brought up about americans standard of living, I was watching on tv that they said if america keeps up with its current consuption along with a few other countries that the world resources will begin to be depleated by 2050. This is one of the main reasons I always try to recycel all my beer bottels. This way I'm doing my part to save the world.

When i was saying about quality i'm not talking everything. I'm just making a point that, for example, an american made fly swatter might cost $1.50 and a chinese of the same material, shape, size, color and manufacturing process will cost 23 cents from china and sold at walmart.

Excellent point joe...I got a good laugh!

K... 2 points I feel I need to make (being part of the younger generation and all)...

1) Education plays a MAJOR factor into this as well... I spent $25,000 for 2 years of school... don't even have a degree because I could not afford it any more... I now have 30 years of loans to look forward to, and if it had not been for a few lucky breaks I would have nothing to show for it...

Think how much your kids will pay for college compared to you... and then think about how they can afford that making minimum wage someplace...

Our economic system is failing 2 fold... 1 by out sourcing, and 2 by not promoting from within by educating at a reasonable cost... more and more I see it at my job... bi-lingual this and that instead of TEACHING... take the short cut instead of fixing the problem...

2... back to the original topic of the post... found this link in my iNet travels that may be of use...

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/shoppingindex.html

I shall step down of my soapbox and pass the torch on.