One hundred years in the making, the Powell Endurance Rod Series

Introduction: Powell celebrates 100 years in the rod building business with the introduction of the Endurance line of rods. These rods feature Fuji components and a purple motif that helps the rods stand out versus Powell’s other products as well as competitor offerings in general.

We preview Powell's soon to be introduced Endurance series of rods which commemorate the company's 100 year anniversary

100 years is a long time and few companies, especially in the fishing industry, can make this claim. Powell is best known to our readers for their lineup of bass rods but the company has a long storied history in fly. In recent seasons Powell got really aggressive and dropped the price of their rods to make them even more affordable to anglers. They did this without any sacrifice to quality and anglers responded, making Powell a very popular rod option at both e-tailers and retailers.

The casting and spinning versions both make use of Fuji reel seats

“Powell began as a company in 1910, and I am proud to be a part of keeping it going through our 100^th year and beyond,” said Keith Bryan, President  & CEO of Powell Products.  We started out as a company that produced custom quality fly rods and eventually custom bass rods that received rave reviews from pro anglers around the country. Over the past five years we have evolved into a company with a strong presence in the marketplace, in both the fly and bass markets; 2011 is our year to celebrate that position and no other word can say it better than the word of our new product line Endurance.”

Purple winding checks are used on both spinning (shown) and casting versions

Last season Powell partnered up with the team at Tackle Warehouse and Pro Angler Jared Lintner to introduce new application exclusive specific rods which have also been a big hit. With similar cosmetics to the Lintner application specific rods the new Endurance rods feature the same very cool looking “water spot” graphics on the split grip and right above the foregrip only instead of red these new rods are purple. The rod’s descriptions and logos are all silver and the Purple rod actually matches up surprisingly well with silver reels (the old purple JDM Alphas would look wicked on these rods).

The split grip features Powell's "water spot" pattern in purple

The purple theme is further emphasized with matching thread wraps with black and silver trim and purple galvanize aluminum winding checks. The rest of the blank is matte black which contrasts nicely with the purple.

The rods feature stealthy looking matte black blank loaded with Fuji Alconite guides

The blank itself makes use of Powell’s proprietary maxumfiber that is designed to be extremely strong and still feel light and balanced in hand. Both the casting and spinning rods both feature Fuji reel seats and Fuji Alconite guides.

Aluminum trim rings are also used in the split grip section, adding a nice look and feel to the Endurance Series as well as helping to differentiate them from traditional Powell rods

When asked about the price of the rods Keith Bryan, President and CEO of Powell stated “Where we have significantly differentiated ourselves from the remainder of the market is in what type of components and materials we put on and into our rods at the low prices we charge. We offer high end rods at very affordable prices; we don’t dress our rods down to target a price. We want to ensure that the consumer gets the best bang for the buck, period, and the consumer is very aware of this benefit, and it makes a difference. “The new “Endurance” Series will retail at a price point of $169.99 across the board. “Our motto has been that we produce the best performance and value on the planet, and these new “Endurance” Series rods fit nicely into that program as well; I’m looking forward to releasing them to the public.”

The "Water Spot" design can be seen through the trigger grip as well

The new line of Endurance rods will consist of 16 new rods (12 casting and 4 spinning) and will start hitting store shelves in early November, which gives us a little time to see just how they perform on the water.

The rod matches up with silver reels like this JDM Pixy but would look killer with the purple Daiwa Alphas

Conclusion: Powell as a company has certainly endured through countless changes in the industry and the world as a whole. Key to the company’s success is their ability to adapt to changing trends as well as getting aggressive in an increasingly competitive environment. Bringing both performance and price to the table the new Endurance rods make use of quality components and sport an attractive design that looks cutting edge yet is consistent with Powell’s traditional clean look and feel.