Had a friend of mine over for a small christmas party, up to now nobody but my wife and brother has saw the rod I am building, till I showed it to my buddy. Its wrapped but will not try and finish till after new years, when things settle down.
got a phone message from the friend I had over for christmas today.
He knows somebody that tournament fishes, more than likely local tournaments but still he is serious.
Well my buddy was telling him about the rod I am building, and I guess he poured it on pretty good, the guy wants me to call him to talk about building him a new set of tournament rods.
I am flattered and when I quit laughing I will call. If this works out at all my suggestion to him is give me some idea as to exactly what he has in mind. I will build one, if he likes it then we go from there,
I sure as the dickens am not going to pass myself off as some pro at this,
right now I can't stop smiling, I have read enough in this site to know this is not as easy as it looks.
I will keep you posted, if nothing else this should make good entertainment.
I am open to suggestions
PS. if not for rodmaker magazine and this web site I would not even think about trying this.

Glad to hear you made a good contact with a potential customer. Now, however, reality sets in. Be very careful when building rods for tournament bass fishermen (any fishermen, really) and make sure if this does actually come about you explain your warranty to him in great detail. Many guys believe that an expensive rod, if it's any good, is also unbreakable. If you do not lay your cards on the table upfront, you could wind up with some major headaches down the road.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but just don't let the excitement of a nice sale cause you to overlook some potential pitfalls that we all face when we start selling rods.

........

Jim,

Tom has given you invaluable information. With each rod, I give out a brochure with do's and don'ts of proper rod handling techniques(which I took from Tom's article in Rod Maker). Along with the brochure, I also have a written guarantee explaining what is covered and what is not.

Has saved some hard feelings in the past!

Regards

Congrats,thats a great feeling to have your craftsmanship as a sales tool when you have yet to build a reputation.Be sure you know the tax rules and regs as far as Federal Excise tax and local sales tax.yuo dont want to start selling and have the IRS come down on you.In this day and age(around here anyway)people can be vindictive and turn you in either because you are in competition or just to do it.Tom has an excellent artical in the library at the top of the page.Anyhow keep them coming and have a happy new year.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

thats why I posted my potential sale on here, to get some good advice, in my excitement I had not given any thought to warranty or anything along those lines, the do's and don'ts thing sounds real good.
I already own one business with the usual warranty complaints, normally even if its even remotely my fault I warranty my work, and I have a very good rep. because of that, but rod building is a different world and I plan on being as careful as possible.
thanks for the advice, you can bet I am listening to everything you tell me.

Any tournament fishermen I have known, watched or had any thing to do with, were VERY hard on their rods, throw one down, grab another one, throw it down,do it again and again. Don't see why they would want to spent the money on a custom built rod when they can get a rod good enough for their rough use at Wally world or K-mart. Just my opinion, but don't think they would take the time to appreciate a really good rod.
Murf

Jim, I have fished local tournaments for about 15 years and I believe tournament fishermen are the hardest on equipment there is. A lot of them get a new set of rods and reels every season. A new boat every 2 -3 seasons. I dont know where they get the money cause they usually dont win enough to do that.
Be very careful as others have indicated in giving a warrantee. You can get burned by these guys. Most of the folks I know that used to fish the RedMan and Other local big tournaments think nothing of breaking a rod. If they think they can get it repaired or replace for
free, it may happen more often than can be justified. It would almost be worth it to exempt tournament fishing from the warrantee but that could present some problems.
Good luck
Dave

Fellers,

It's called the Bubba Factor. Been there and done that and would respectfully advise you to decline building this Bass Pro Wantabee a new set of rods.

Later,
Bubba Mc

With all due respect to Gerald & Fred, not all tourny fisherman are guilty of the "bubba factor." To suggest that "they" would not "want to spent the money on a custom built rod when they can get a rod good enough for their rough use at Wally world or K-mart" is both bigoted and flat out incorrect. There are a number of professional anglers who use custom made rods and there are countless weekend tourny fisherman who do as well. Some of these "Bass Pro Wantabee" anglers have no problem with dropping $500 or $600 on a single outfit.

Just make sure you are up front about your return/warranty policies right from the start and you might find yourself with more rod requests from the "bubbas" then you could possibly have time to build. Having to turn away request isn't a bad position to be in!

Joe,

I apologize, but I did not say all Bass Fishermen abused their rods. There is probably at least 10 out of every 100 that do not abuse their tackle.

I have been a Bass fisherman for about 55 years and might add that I fished both club and money tournaments for at least 20 0f those 55 years. I also have been a rod builder since 1960, therefore I feel like I know what I am talking about. You can go ahead and build them for the Bubbas in your part of the world. I wish you well, and maybe you luck will be better than most of the rest of us.

Later,
Gerald Mc

Thanks for the advice, I plan on asking a lot of questions about his habits and what he expects in the line of repair work or warranty.
I have one friend that every time we go fishing he manages to break one of my rods. (glad we only go once a year.)
If this works out, I plan on one rod, if he likes it and it holds up for a while I may do another, I get a complaint he gets his money back I take the rod for salvage parts and thats that.
your varied opinions on tournament fishermen reminds me of the fishing web site I visit, and our opinions on who is the most rude, bass fishermen or striper fishermen.
thanks for the input, i really appreciate it.

Almost no product is warranted the same for commercial use as opposed to private or personal use.

In most professional sports, the pro's don't get much warranty coverage at all on the gear they use. Most real pro's, be it fishermen or cyclist are provided with sponsored gear at little or no cost. Warranty is not an issue.

Independant professionals(non-sponsored) usually buy and maintain their own gear. These guys can't afford to abuse custom built gear. If you charge an approriate price for your rods and spell out your warranty in writing there will be no trouble. Be certain to make sure of the warranty details provided by your component suppliers and make certain to separate them from your workmanship warranty.

Personally, if someone was fishing one of my rods professionally I would be reluctant to offer anything more than a "repair at cost" type of warranty.