Winston rods at Costco..whodda thunk

High end flyrods and custom longboard surfboards have a similar market, relying on the afcionados who view their flyrod or surfboard as an icon of their passion, willing to pay more for handcrafted quality over mass produced utility.
The pricepoint rods in my skiffs are fine for function without worry of breakage, but they certainly don't provide the connection of a fave Beulah or Powell.
As to surfboards, my custom orders number well over a 100, without a mass produced board ever making it's way among them. Which is why when I call one of my fave shapers for a new one, they pick up the phone, and my order usually jumps the que.. :)
 
Long_Rod_Silvers said:
I dunno......$1,200 for a new 'top of the line' fishing pole doesn't feel like it's all working out...
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All a matter of perspective, I suppose.

From my perspective it seems like things have worked out pretty well since over the course of my lifetime there's been a massive improvement in the quality and selection in every category of gear at inflation-adjusted price-points that are almost certainly the same or lower than when I was a kid - not to mention entire categories of gear like everything in the spey-universe that for all intents and purposes didn't even exist. As an added bonus - even lower-end rods seem like they cast well enough for my purposes these days even though I enjoy owning/using the handful of high-end rods in my collection.

If only I could say the same about the fishing!
 
JayB said:
All a matter of perspective, I suppose.

From my perspective it seems like things have worked out pretty well since over the course of my lifetime there's been a massive improvement in the quality and selection in every category of gear at inflation-adjusted price-points that are almost certainly the same or lower than when I was a kid - not to mention entire categories of gear like everything in the spey-universe that for all intents and purposes didn't even exist. As an added bonus - even lower-end rods seem like they cast well enough for my purposes these days even though I enjoy owning/using the handful of high-end rods in my collection.

If only I could say the same about the fishing!
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Fair points. For sure the 'economy' rods have taken big steps forward. And yeah, the two hander game has come a long way.
And my comment about it "all working out" was more in jest as a statement about inflation over the last15 years.
What was ~$600 for a top of the line rod back in the mid 2000's (say a Z Axis in 2007 for example) is now $1K for an R8. Which isn't that out of whack with what inflation has done. Yuck.
 
I have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, the high-end rods I have. They were bought a number of years or in some cases decades ago. In my book the latest is not necessarily the greatest. Now being retired and on fixed income I would rather buy used rather than new and spend the difference in cost (savings) for trips and/or guides in travels around the nation.

I am not hard on my gear but truly appreciate the warranty by Winston. It has been used a couple of times and allows me to keep rods that actually feel like an extension to body. Loomis used to have a great warranty - no longer. Even makes me more appreciative of the Winston warranty.
 
Long_Rod_Silvers said:
Fair points. For sure the 'economy' rods have taken big steps forward. And yeah, the two hander game has come a long way.
And my comment about it "all working out" was more in jest as a statement about inflation over the last15 years.
What was ~$600 for a top of the line rod back in the mid 2000's (say a Z Axis in 2007 for example) is now $1K for an R8. Which isn't that out of whack with what inflation has done. Yuck.
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If you take your $600 fly rod from 2005 and look at its price today it would be about $950 give or take.
 
Long_Rod_Silvers said:
Fair points. For sure the 'economy' rods have taken big steps forward. And yeah, the two hander game has come a long way.
And my comment about it "all working out" was more in jest as a statement about inflation over the last15 years.
What was ~$600 for a top of the line rod back in the mid 2000's (say a Z Axis in 2007 for example) is now $1K for an R8. Which isn't that out of whack with what inflation has done. Yuck.
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What is out of whack is the price of a used rod now is more than the original cost when bought brand new. Damn pandemic...
 
SurfnFish said:
conversely, a $200 rod today is likely to be as good as that $600 rod from twenty years ago...
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You're saying a redington vice ($200) is as good as a Z Axis?
I don't know 'bout that...
But I think your point that the economy rods have gotten a lot better and the gap between the entry level rods and the upper end rods is a lot smaller now - I'm with ya there.

Buzzy said:
If you take your $600 fly rod from 2005 and look at its price today it would be about $950 give or take.
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Yep. Played around with this a little bit today. Was interesting checking

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RCF said:
What is out of whack is the price of a used rod now is more than the original cost when bought brand new. Damn pandemic...
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Yeah, but now you can tell my wife all your rods are investments, they're going up in value!! :)
 
RCF said:
I have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, the high-end rods I have. They were bought a number of years or in some cases decades ago. In my book the latest is not necessarily the greatest. Now being retired and on fixed income I would rather buy used rather than new and spend the difference in cost (savings) for trips and/or guides in travels around the nation
I am not hard on my gear but truly appreciate the warranty by Winston. It has been used a couple of times and allows me to keep rods that actually feel like an extension to body. Loomis used to have a great warranty - no longer. Even makes me more appreciative of the Winston warranty.
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Winston has phenomenal service, whenever I bust a section and send one in, I email them to build an extra tip and they have always done so and for a very reasonable charge on top of the standard warranty fee. It seems to me in contrast to a company located on an island nearby, that Winston values having their previous lines of rods in circulation still being fished. My $.02. Kudos to them for sucking it up and buying the rest of the bandit rods.
 
Buzzy said:
I subbed at a fly shop a few times. I came to understand barely enough about the business to claim knowledge of the ins and outs but the shop was visited by "reps" (not influencers) and those reps were part of the decision making process on what the store had to offer customers. What I don't know anything about is the contractual relationship between the reps and the manufacturers. I find it odd that Winston wouldn't know who they were selling the rods to.

Your insider information might explain it, but at this point what I've observed is as fly fishers, in this thread, we as a group can't agree on much of anything so it's no wonder our fishing seasons on rivers keeps sliding downstream.
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Well...I agree with that.

Somehow I think the manager of a certain Costco will probably get a bonus. I mean...he bought some rods and priced them to where he could still make some money and give his customers a good deal, and sold out in one day! I want that guy working for me!
 
Tim Lockhart said:
Well I have two takaways from 100 and some odd posts. Keep my Costco stock and make a list of estate sales to attend. Promise me you won't bury yourselves with all these high $ fishin' poles.
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Well...what if they're low dollar? I'm getting close to having enough...
 
Evan B said:
The controversy is more about whether Winston should be responsible for honoring the warranty on something outside of their dealer network, which is a guideline in their policy.
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Evan B said:
The best way I can explain it without going in to too much detail (I just don't know what's ok to get out there yet) - an insider set up to have 100 rods shipped out and disguised who they were shipping/selling to in a way that wouldn't send any red flags.
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Would be interesting to know if this insider worked at Winston or for an authorized retailer.

If the insider that setup the purchase was affiliated with Winston, it was an internal mistake on Winston's behalf and should absolutely honour any warranties that may come up.

If the insider worked for an authorized retailer and sold the rods to another reseller, the authorized retailer should be dumped from their program but from a consumer stand point the rods did actually come through an authorized retailer in a round about way,

If the insider falsely claimed they were affiliated with an authorized dealer that's a whole different issue.

Regardless, if there were initially only 100 rods out there and the local rep bought up remaining stock the whole warranty issue is probably a smaller issue than this thread has blown up to be as the total number of misdirected rods out there are not many.
 
BNF861 said:
Would be interesting to know if this insider worked at Winston or for an authorized retailer.

If the insider that setup the purchase was affiliated with Winston, it was an internal mistake on Winston's behalf and should absolutely honour any warranties that may come up.

If the insider worked for an authorized retailer and sold the rods to another reseller, the authorized retailer should be dumped from their program but from a consumer stand point the rods did actually come through an authorized retailer in a round about way,

If the insider falsely claimed they were affiliated with an authorized dealer that's a whole different issue.

Regardless, if there were initially only 100 rods out there and the local rep bought up remaining stock the whole warranty issue is probably a smaller issue than this thread has blown up to be as the total number of misdirected rods out there are not many.
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Yeah, It sounds like he was able to swoop in and get just about all the rods, so this hypothetical warranty issue isn't even something to debate over at this point. He did the right thing by getting ahead of that issue.
 
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