Anyone own or have any experience with American Rodsmiths rods?

I was at the Classic expo yesterday and the only booth that even tempted me to pull out the credit card was American Rodsmiths.  They had a few interesting offerings.

They looked and felt great, but I wanted to do a little more research before pulling the trigger.

Did you happen to see the Mag Strike series?  I've only seen pictures of them online, but they look pretty nice.  I'd be very interested in any reviews/thoughts on the Mag Strike line of rods.

I have the older Signature Series topwater casting model, pre Zell Rowland; it is the Dion Hibdon model.  It's 6'6", medum powered, and has a fast tip.  I believe the newer topwater models might have a softer tip.  

It's not a bad rod.  I still use it for buzzbaits and spittin' images.  It has a Fugi TCS reel seat that hasn't given me any problems.  The rubber winding check has started to rot pretty badly though.  Otherwise, the rod has held up pretty well.  

I bought this rod on clearance at BPS a few years back, well under $100.  It's a nice rod for the price.

Chris,

I think they are made in China.

Just kidding.

No, I don't have them but I have seen them before and they do look good.

Too bad I have enough rods, although how many are actually enough.

Please post your story about attending the Classic.

Who did you see; what did you get; any tips you picked up; what is the new stuff coming out; etc.????

Let us know.

Thanks.

Quote

Did you happen to see the Mag Strike series? I've only seen pictures of them online, but they look pretty nice. I'd be very interested in any reviews/thoughts on the Mag Strike line of rods.

Those are the very ones that caught my eye  The sales pitch I got was lacking.  52 million modulus, picked up an boat anchor with the rod, etc.  Doesn't really mean much until someone who is not sponsored by these guys tells me how it fishes

OK, my attending the tradeshow...I'll go from memory.

Who was there?  Well, I've never attended one of these before so me saying 'the usual suspects' doesn't mean anything.  But the folks who I expected to see were there.  Roland Martin, Jimmy Houston, Bill Dance, Hank Parker, many others I recognized but didn't know by name.

Ran into a nice crew of BR folks.  fivebasslimit, Glenn, Triton Mike...

For whatever reason, I was 100% on 'turbo browse' mode at the show, so I didn't really pick up any tips or watch any demos.  Heck, I didn't even buy anything (my wife asked me if I felt alright ).  So with that said, I'd think someone else would be better off with the details of the new stuff coming out.  But if you have specific questions, I'll answer as best as I can.

Bottom line...I was on the prowl for deals, and I didn't find any  

Just about the best things I saw was the Dick's booth selling old model Avids for $99, and they had the new Strike King Rage Tail plastics for $4 a pack.

I went yesterday and I had a pretty good time.    I ended up buying a GLoomis Shaky Head rod for about $40 under the retail price.   I bought Spot Remover Jigs (pro model) for 3 packs for $10.    Found Yum Dingers at 3 packs for $4.50.      I also got several other things for about 30% to 40% cheaper than they would have normally been at places like Bass Pro.   There were deals there but some of them didn't just pop out when flying though.    Did it justify the drive there?   Well, of course not but that's not why I wanted to go anyway.  

Certainly a plus for me was that I wanted a new Shaky Head rod and I was able to check out all the models.  Pretty much anything I even had a though of considering such as the St Croix Avid, Shimano Crucial, Dobyns, Powell, Kistler,  Carrot Stick, American Rodsmiths, G-Loomis, Fenwick, etc. were all there.  

All in all it was a fun day.