1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

 No offense taken......And I appreciate your comment and insight on the subject, but we know exactly the size and weight bat he needs prior to purchasing. His job is to pick the color he wants. I've been coaching since t-ball and have seen the same horror show you're referring to.

 

You can do what I do - during winter workouts I hand my son his new bats and say, "Here - this is what you're using this year." 

 

It's going to be brutal on the wallet this year with new new USA Bat rule. I can't buy last year's models at a discount.

If you pay attention, the big name brands are sticking to the plain old colors that we're all used to. Only the newer/smaller guys are using these obnoxious colors in order to get people's attention. 

 

My opinion? If you need to make something obnoxious colored in order to sell it, maybe you should design a better product...

48 minutes ago, fishballer06 said:

My opinion? If you need to make something obnoxious colored in order to sell it, maybe you should design a better product...

 

Amen !  

 

Even those Shimano's Curado rod that is coming out based on the ICast.

Those look way better !  

Just because a rod is obnoxiously colored, doesn't necessarily mean it's not a good product.  I can think of a Park Falls company that makes bright blue, turquoise, and orange rods that are pretty spectacular.  I think someone said it already...it's about brand recognition.  The tried and true companies can kinda do as they like because they've been in the game a while and people know them.  The new companies need a way to stand out and crazy colors make perfect sense.  It's a really easy way to put your own original mark on your product.  There are only so many combinations of available rod components out there with which to build.  Guess what?  These companies are all using the same stuff!  How many rods are there on the market now with a black blank, black eva handles, and stainless micro guides?  

 

If you don't stand out against the crowd, how will you get noticed by your customer base?  Why try the new Hammer, when a well known brand like Falcon already makes an identical looking rod? 

"Why try the new Hammer, when a well known brand like Falcon already makes an identical looking rod?"

 

Why? Maybe Hammer knows how to spell beaucoup.    See, odd colors don't bother me, but odd names do. And it's "bo-koo (IPA bo'ku)"

 

John

 

 

I watched Flukemasters live Icast vid on the 13 new rods and reels. The colors were puke green and trashy tangerine. Horrible, the man needs some common sense.

 

i am not into the whole fluorescent green phase the industry is going through. I avoided the Lews Mach 1 and 2 for that reason. 

Used up gift cards at tw, on lews tp1 speed stiks. The reason was for the grip,reel seat, and the microwave guide system. As far as color, its ok i guess. I clean rods up when needed,so this one will be no different.

Color ain't got nothing to do with performance!

 

I test drove Lew's Mach Speed Stick IM6 Casting Rod coupled with a Lew's Mach II Speed Spool Casting Reel.

Color wasn't that bad, luckily there's not much of it.

 

They're targeting the young angler, not us old farts!

 

I'm around College Team anglers, High School Team anglers, as well as my 10 yr old grandson.

 

They aint us!

 

They weirdest we hand in my era was Rick Clunn, arrogant & straight forward but a d**n good angler. In club meetings he seldom talked unless you asked him a direct question. He didn't answer you directly but talked to the whole room. He knew he was better than us!

 

Then comes than crazy Yankee Michael Iaconelli 

 

These youngsters today with those crazy colors are as good as most of us!

On 7/13/2017 at 8:31 AM, fissure_man said:

Two words: Brand Recognition

 

If the target customer sees TV pros or other anglers fishing with particular gear, they are more likely to recognize those products on store shelves or online if there is something distinct about it.  That’s not so much the case for all the generic, black/grey/cork rods, although functionally those products may be just fine.

 

I was at an outdoors show this year where Carrot Stix rods were being offered at some kind of discount; lots of folks were buying.  By the end of the day, having all those people walking around with the bright orange rods in bright orange sleeves would have been tremendous marketing for them; it was pretty clear to make the connection to the booth where all these folks were buying rods.

    

The trade-off is that some customers will be turned off by the loud colors.  But generally all these companies offer muted-color options too.

So true thats what got me into duckett rods