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Back to the "Custom vs. China" debate and the "Merican Made" comment... this is a global economy which leads me to question which "Merican Made" truck Hawkeye drives and how many Mexican parts it contains. At one point in time my driveway contained a Ford Mustang, Chrysler Town and Country, Chevy Silverado and a Honda Odyssey. Which one was made in the US? The Honda. The rest were made in Canada. Which one had the most American made parts? The Honda. I sense rod envy and a confused Hawkeye.
My SUV was built in Germany, 100% from the ground up...I can actually pop the hood and see the name of the one man who built the engine, in fact (that's custom). All except the casting, I suppose, which is still done on-site. And there's not much rod envy, as I can probably trade that truck for two or three of your "custom" companies. This isn't a money thing; but, I get how you'd take it there...follows trend with you guys and your posts. You're still seemingly missing the point, although the guy below your thread gets it...it's not us vs. them on where it's made. This is about the elitist attitude that a company building overseas, versus a company buying every part overseas and gluing them together here, is somehow inferior. When in fact, to counteract Stinky's point, I'm fairly certain those bigger companies provide hundreds, if not thousands more in the way of employment. Let's just take those big guys building ice overseas: St. Croix (save that high end series), 13 Fishing, Clam, Frabil...and how many employees do you think those four have, or lives they touch in shipping to big box and every retailer, than the "custom" creators of the most magnificent rods on the planet? Not to mention, I would imagine any one of those companies sells in one series, maybe one sku, what a "custom" company does in an entire season. Talk about economy boosters. ...you're basically insulting 98% of the ice fishing population with the custom glued in the US is king crap. Nothing wrong with being the 2% I suppose, must be nice up there on your perch. Just be sure to not poop on every average Joe on your ascension into ice fishing glory.
Pretty sure way more than 98% of the ice fishing population really could care less. Global economics huh? Are you serious? Ice fisherman arguing economics... Unbelievable. I wasn't expecting humor, but thats downright laughable.