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Event Article:
2006 ICAST Rod Coverage |
ICAST Coverage Day 2 (Rods) - Perfectly matching reels in application,
balance, and style (continued)
Setyr:
In between meetings we stumbled upon a rod manufacturer we haven't ever talked
about before. We decided we just had to be late for our next meeting and
discover what Setyr rods was all about.
Started in January of 2005
by a handful of former Rogue and G.Loomis employees, Setyr rods is a growing rod
manufacturer out of Southern Oregon offering contemporary styled rods built on
their very own blanks.
Andy Hinds explains the Setyr
design philosophy to Zander and Cal
We were greeted at the
Setyr booth by Andy Hinds, who gave us a rundown of the company and his position
as Designer, and Production Manager.
Setyr builds rods..."The American
Way"
He was very excited to
share with us, their swimbait stick which has been a hot seller of late, and we
were impressed by the rod’s relative light weight, yet, powerful feel.
Recoils are used for sensitivity
and weight reduction
This particular rod
featured their top end bass blank, a split rear grip, no foregrip and Recoil
guides by REC. Setyr also offers a complete line of Salmon and Steelhead rods
with prices through their entire line ranging from right around $150 on up to
just under $300.
We paired a Chronarch with the
swimbait rod to get a feel for the overall rig balance
Andy challenged Zander to stress the capabilities
of their swim bait stick, and the rod proved to be one tough stick. Though
extremely crisp in feel this rod will act as a catapult for everything up to a
Huddleston, and have plenty of muscle to move any fish that is big enough to
take on your monster swimbait. No matter how high Zander lifted the rod simply
arc'd further, never showing any signs of duress under the strain.
Zander is impressed with the rod's
action and lifting capabilities
After the stress test a spinning rod caught Cal's
eye. Mostly because the look and feel of the rod was near identical to that he
gets built up by his preferred custom builders. Sure enough when he held the rod
in his hand he found the balance point to be very similar as well. Here is an
American rod that looks and feels just like a custom, but is available over the
counter.
Cal finds the spinning rods remind
him of customs he has built up
We personally have never field tested these rods
on the water, but based on our initial impressions we look forward to seeing
just what these custom feeling rods will do.....something tells us that we will
be further impressed.
Another look at the "custom"
approach to the spinning rod's reel seat
Conclusion:
Innovate or risk being lost
in a market full of obscure and indistinguishable product… That was the theme on
the 2006 ICAST floor and nowhere was it more apparent than in the booths of each
and every rod manufacturer we visited. While a few manufacturers had new and
exciting takes on the freshwater market, some chose to concentrate on building
out already established product lines, a few worked on creating the perfect match
for their own reel lineup, while still others turned away from this already
saturated business and chose diversification for 2007 by delving into the
saltwater market. Whatever position they took, rest assured, all brought their
best to compete in perhaps the most personal of all tackle categories.
That wraps it up for our
"Live" rod write-up. I hope you enjoyed this two day experience as much as we
did, and we want to thank all those that participated in the dialogue over the
last two days. Now stay tuned as we turn our attention to all the new lures that
ICAST 2006 had to offer. -Zander
