Looking at rods with John Posey, Owner & President of Lamiglas
 

John Posey Owner & President of Lamiglas

Introduction: Perhaps even more enjoyable than getting to use some of the latest and greatest gear in the tackle industry, is the opportunity, as part of TackleTour, to meet and talk to some of the executives that bring us all the tackle world as to offer. Lamiglas has been in existence for fifty-six years and is one of the, if not the oldest, large, American rod company still under private ownership. My first introduction to their product came over twenty years ago, and though recent priorities have taken my interest elsewhere, I’ve always had a fondness for the Lamiglas product in general. Shortly after the debut Zander’s article on their XMG50 bass rod, I had an opportunity to speak with John Posey, National Sales Manager for Lamiglas. The following are excerpts from our conversation.

Cal: Hello John, thank you so much for the opportunity to get better acquainted with you and your product. Lamiglas has been around for a long time. Can you share with our readers, your history with the company?

J.Posey: Where to start? Lamiglas has been around since 1951 and my father, Dick Posey, was a sales rep for them back in the 60’s. In 1971, the founder of Lamiglas passed away and his surviving family lost interest in keeping the business. In 1977, my father bought the company from the founder’s family, and has served as owner and president ever since. My weekend job as a teenager growing up was sorting blanks in the factory, but my original career path had me going a different route. I had a career in Seattle as a radio host for a rock and roll station, but as the industry changed in the early nineties with big corporations buying up all the independent radio stations, I was looking for something different. In 1995, my father called with an offer and I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve been with the company ever since as National Sales Manager handling all our sales staff, new product introductions, and national accounts.

Cal: Lamiglas has a long list of materials used for rod blanks. From the recently reviewed

John originally was a radio host in Seattle for a rock and roll station before entering the tackle industry

 and relatively new XMG50 graphite to your Certified Pro blanks to your exclusive G1000 material. Where are all these blanks made?

J.Posey: About 95% of our blank product is still made in Woodland, Washington. We’ve very proud to be one of the few American companies still manufacturing at least the majority of our product here in the United States. We do import a small percentage of blanks and fully assembled rods to stay competitive in the entry level market, but all our mid to high end product is still made in our factory.

Cal: One of my favorite rods is a gift I received from all of my friends the day we went out on a salmon fishing charter to celebrate my pending nuptials to my beautiful wife. That rod was a Lamiglas G1300T two-piece mooching stick built on the G1000 blank. To this day, everytime I pick up this rod 7’6” stick, I marvel at its balance (about 4.75” up from the center of the reelseat) and incredible diameter to strength ratio. This rod is super thin yet paired with the just introduced Shimano Calcutta 100, I was able to land a 25lb salmon that day with relative ease. In fact, I just pulled this rod out again to look at it and plan to take it out with me on my next bass fishing trip to use a cranking rod! The G1000 is touted as a Lamiglas original. Tell us more about this blank and its primary use in your lineup of product offerings.

J.Posey: The G1000 is really where our graphite product all started. In the early years it was known by some other names, but G1000 really stuck, so it’s held that designation for quite some time. It evolved, really, from our trout and salmon series rods and really exploded into full blown offerings for salmon and steelhead, then to spinning tackle for lakes, and over to our line of surf rods. It is still the backbone of our product offering and the material chosen for the great majority of our product in the $150 - $200 price range. It is a high performing, durable blank, and has really been a great line for us.

Costa Rica Dorado

Cal: I recall, several years ago, the Ti2000 rods and blanks made a big splash in the industry. The use of exotic materials in the rod blank is alluring and there are many rod manufacturers in Japan that at one time or another experimented with the use of titanium, kevlar and even boron in their blanks. Some continue the use of these and other materials while many have abandoned this practice all together. Lamiglas used to make a line of Ti2000 bass rods but you are now only offering this blank in your salmon and steelhead float rods. What is the reason behind the scaled back use of this exotic blank?

J.Posey: In a nutshell? Costs. Titanium is a wonderful material that actually amplifies vibrations. Combined with graphite and used as a full shaft at the base of the rod, the increase in sensitivity is amazing. We still use the Ti2000 in our salmon and steelhead drift rods where sensitivity is paramount, but the material costs have gotten too out of hand for us to continue offering it in a great number of lines. Our bass rods built with these blanks were going for well over $300, our salmon rods over $400, and our fly rods well over $600 with no real end in sight for price escalation. We had to make a decision and chose to cut back on the line. The series is very popular and in great demand overseas. In Russia, for example, where these rods can retail for over $1,000 US a piece, owning a Lamiglas Ti2000 rod has become a bit of a status symbol similar to owning a BMW in the States or so I’ve been told by some of our customers over there. They use the rods for salmon, pike, huge catfish and even sturgeon.

Cal: There is a constant debate in our discussion forum regarding balanced rods versus lightweight rods. The basic position of the balanced rod group is such a product will feel lighter in your hand allowing you relax your grip, which will in turn leave you more able to detect those subtle strikes. The lighter is better crowd argues the less material on the rod from thread wraps to epoxy to grip material to other decorative items the better because this translates into fewer items on the final stick to dampen the vibrations down the length of the rod into your hand. Which side of this argument do you tend to agree with and why?

J.Posey: Well, as a rod manufacturer, this is something we really have to juggle and really, our priorities are providing the necessary action in our rods to suit the intended technique followed by a responsive, sensitive, and durable product. We can go the light as possible route providing the ultimate in sensitivity, but these rods might not prove to be durable enough for the fishery. When an angler hooks a fish, and is all excited trying to bring the fish to the bank or onto the boat, he’s going to put the rod in some compromising positions. We have to accommodate these situations and do our best to make sure the rod is not going to break not only while a fish is being played, but when the rod is laid down, thrown aside, or held and an awkward angle while a fish is being landed.

Similarly, balance is a difficult characteristic to fully address because we

 don’t really know what kind of reel the angler is going to put on the rod, or what kind of baits he’ll be throwing the majority of the time. What’s important to us, really, is to balance all the characteristics of a rod whether it be balance, weight, durability or castability.

A serious fish caught while field testing new rods

Cal: As the National Sales Manager of Lamiglas, how much fishing do you actually get to do?

J.Posey: I try to get out as often as I can. In fact, just recently I was out fishing for some Spring Chinook and I’m always taking customers out fishing. It seems somewhat trivial but really, in order to know what’s going on out on the water, and what people are doing and needing out of their gear, I have to be out there with them. I can’t rely on second hand reports, and even if I could, it’s hard to work out the bugs and address design issues without actually using the product, so it’s important for me to get out on the water and to get out quite often.

Cal: What is your favorite species to pursue?

J.Posey: Steelhead. That’s where it all started for me was pursuing, or really, hunting for steelhead because that’s what it’s like, hunting. But as I’m getting older and affected by the cold more and more, what I’ve really grown fond of is the blue water. Anything that’s out there, dorado, tuna, sailfin, you name it, I love it and I travel to Mexico, Costa Rica and other places to accomplish this. I also go right off the cost of Oregon or Washington for Albacore tuna when they’re here.

Oh but you know what else we have here local are the smallmouth on the Columbia River. We’ll often fish for salmon in the morning and then switch up in the afternoon to pursue the smallmouth. This is becoming more and more popular because you don’t need a fancy boat to go after them. Just grab your gear, hit the bank and fish. And the smallmouth up here get pretty big too. They’re great fun.

From left to right, Tom Posey (uncle), John Posey, Dick Posey (father), on the Sandy River in Oregon – Chinook salmon

Cal: What product in your current lineup are you excites you the most?

J.Posey: I’m real excited about the XMG50 rods with the woven graphite handles. Cork as a handle material for fishing rods is in trouble. One factory in Portugal has already closed down and the other main factory is on strike. With the demand for cork actually going up, this is a bad trend, and even with all the factories operating efficiently, there are only so many cork trees in Portugal. Sure, cork is available from other countries, but the trees in other parts of the world just aren’t mature enough to produce cork in the quality we see from Portugal. So with the graphite handles, we have a way to address this developing issue.

We actually have plans to put these handles on more rods, but not because of the shortage of cork, it’s because these handles clean up easier, they look nice, don’t chip, there are no worries of fill falling out and they always look brand new! We feel the sensitivity is increased because by comparison, cork deadens vibrations and graphite is better at transmitting this information to your hand.

Cal: What does the future hold for Lamiglas? Any exciting new product in the works that you care to share with us?

J.Posey: I’m real excited about our new surf series. We’re going to have these at ICAST. Also new are some deep jigging rods. We’ve been selling these rods internationally for some time and doing quite well, and now with Shimano promoting and popularizing this technique here in the United States, it’s really gaining ground. We’ve been working on these rods for several years with our International customers and it’s just a great way to catch big fish.

John Posey catches a17lb Steelhead in the Skagit River, Washington

Cal: Do you do take custom orders?

J.Posey: We do take custom orders. The minimum order is 25 rods with the same specifications. It takes us about four to six weeks to fulfill an order and we actually do quite a bit of this for tackle shops all over. It’s a great way for us to keep up to date on the needs of anglers across the country. Sometimes these custom specifications will find their way into our regular product line.

Cal: John, than you so much for taking the time with us and helping our readers learn more about you and Lamiglas. We look forward to continuing the education through some planned product reviews. In the meantime, is there anything in parting, you’d like to say to our readers?

J.Posey: We’re a small American owned company and we can react a lot quicker than a lot of other factories in terms of people who want a specific stick. We’re able to concentrate on some niche fishing techniques and we take pride in being able to give our customers this attention. So the next time you’re in the market for a rod, give us the opportunity to fulfill your needs.

TackleTour would like to thank John Posey for taking the time out of his busy schedule to talk with us and give us some insight into what makes Lamiglas one of the more well regarded manufacturers in the industry. We look forward to continuing our relationship with him and his company enroute to bringing you more reviews on their product.