Meet Bob Brown, President of American Rodsmiths and passionate angler

Introduction: American Rodsmiths is a fast growing rod manufacturer that makes use of innovative materials both in their blanks and their grips and Bob Brown the President of the company takes time out of his busy schedule to give us the inside scoop on the company and their upcoming products.

Zander: Hi Bob, thanks for taking the time to sit down with us. Please tell us about yourself and your role and responsibilities at American Rodsmiths.

Bob: Zander, thanks for affording us this interview.  I am currently a partner and the President of American Rodsmiths, and this is the start of my fourth year with the company. Prior to joining the American Rodsmiths team, I was the President, and a partner in All Star Graphite Rods.  My role with American Rodsmiths has been to develop and market new products for the company, but my background in the industry has always been in sales, so I wear that hat also. 

Zander:  Can you tell us more about American Rodsmiths, how long has the company been in business?

One of the new innovations from the company is the V17 ProTour Grip is soft but firm to the touch and is tacky for added grip

Bob: American Rodsmiths has been in business for about 10 years now and was started by Robert Scherer, and some of the Original All Star Rods gang. Robert is an avid fisherman, and it has been his life long passion to develop the finest rods available to anglers. All of us at American Rodsmiths are very passionate about our fishing. We will not put a product into the market place that has not been thoroughly tested by our in-house staff as well as our Pro Team.

Zander: What sets American Rodsmiths apart from other custom rod builders?

Bob: What sets American Rodsmiths apart from other rod builders is our commitment to anglers. What anglers are looking for are rods that perform to their expectations. We build every rod as if it will be the only rod we will ever be judged on. We want every person who buys at an American Rodsmiths rod to know that they are getting our best. We pride ourselves as being the “Industry Leader” in rod innovation, and have won many awards over the past 3 years for our advancements in rod designs.

Bob does a little field testing

Zander: A number of your higher end rods make use of titanium in the blank what are the benefits of using this material?

Bob: ALL of our higher end rods now have TITANIUM fibers in the blank itself.  We are the only company that has been able to integrate Titanium into our blanks. Titanium adds incredible STRENGTH to the blank. By adding Titanium we are able to use higher modulus graphite in our rods. Our H3 Titanium Ultra series is 92 million modulus and our H3 Titanium series tops out at 87 million modulus. Titanium allows us to make them Lighter and Stronger, without compromising Sensitivity.

Zander: At ICAST you introduced a new line of rods with golf style grips called “V17” can you tell us more about these rods and when they will be available?

The new V17 Pro Tour handles draw their inspiration from golf grips, and can be re-gripped just as easily without tools

Bob: At ICAST we introduced the first replaceable fishing rod Handle, or “Grip” as we now call them, the New V17 PRO TOUR GRIPS. Over the past 2 years we have been working with WINN Grip Inc. the golf industry’s leader in golf grip technology, to develop this new replacement handle for fishing rods. American anglers are spending thousands of dollars in aftermarket wrap products to cover up their cork handles to get better feel. We have solved that problem. The V17 ProTour Grip is soft but firm to the touch, is tacky for added grip, and stays that way when it gets wet. We developed the concept and Winn Inc. had the material we needed to build these new grips. From the response we have gotten from fishermen and customers, they will change fishing rods forever. Once you fish with the V17 Pro Tour Handles, you will want them on all your rods. They are available in both casting and spinning models, and will hitting the market the first of the year.

The real beauty of the V17 Grips is you can change your grips whenever you want, just as you would re- grip a golf club. It takes about 2 minutes to change one, and requires no tools.

Zander: Is weight reduction an important factor of consideration when designing rods at American Rodsmiths?

Bob and the team with a nice bag for the day

Bob: Weight reduction is always important when building new rods.  American Anglers want the lightest, strongest, and most sensitive rod they can get. We have some very light weight rods in our H3 Titanium Ultra and H3 Titanium series, as well as in our popular Team Series, bass rods.

I think our lightest rod is 3.2 oz if I’m not mistaken. But let me say this, we will not compromise strength for weight. What I mean by this is you can make rods that are too light for their intended purpose and won’t perform, as they should. In today’s bass fishing world, anglers want both light rods and heavy rods for different applications. Heavy, meaning heavy actions like pitchin’ sticks, Flipping Sticks, and bigger Carolina rigging rods. We feel that our Team Kicker Stix are to lightest but strongest rods ever built.

Next Section: How does a rod get designed?