IDO switching from TUCR to 13Fishing? What gives?

So what’s the scoop switching to 13 fishing? IMO TUCR is a better rod and You guys have used them for years. Just curious….

It’s not about what’s best….it’s about $$$.

Sponsorship and advertising its what pays the bills.

Smellson wrote:

It’s not about what’s best….it’s about $$$.

No offense meant but you wouldn’t last a quick minute in the fishing biz.

Hand to God, we took a pay cut to switch. For those that have been doing this as long as I have it’s never about who is willing to pay the most. The people that take that road are in, out, and gone from the industry in a few short years.

So, why the switch? Changing markets and opportunity.

Changing markets…

Ten years ago factories building ice rods used junk components and garbage blanks. The resulting rods were flat out awful.

Enter small shops like Thorne Bros, TUCR and others that started to push ice rod quality forward by tailoring their blanks to specific applications, using high quality components and putting a lot of attention into the quality of their finished products.

The result was the small shop rods made the rods put out by the big manufacturers that primarily focused on open water look and feel down right shoddy. Popularity of “custom” small shop rods exploded.

Fast forward to the last couple years and the big shops have caught up, and in some cases surpassed, the quality of components and blanks used and all the while prices charged by the small shops have gone through the roof to a point that a $125-$200 ice rod doesn’t even raise an eyebrow with some.

In my opinion this is not a healthy trend or direction for what is a very niche industry. The landing will not be soft for some. Please note this statement is in no way directed at any specific company. I see this as a steep hill to climb for the category as a whole.

Opportunity…

For the last couple years I’ve been actively looking for a rod company to work with that would allow me to have some input on how to make a series of rods that fished like a $125+ “custom” yet could be sold at $65-$75 +/-. A rod that offered performance AND value. It can be done. The components and blanks are out there.

What I’ve described above is why IDO made the switch to 13 Fishing after multi-day meetings with their ownership, marketing and design teams. I left those meetings convinced that 13 Fishing saw the market and opportunity in much the same way I did. Simply put, we would be able to play a small but important role by weighing in on some design decisions to help ensure the finished product comes out as intended and lives up to the performance and value proposition described above.

If you’re looking for a rod with a unique action, decorative wrapping, a specific length not offered elsewhere then look no further than TUCR. They make a very good rod and the owners are fantastic people that I consider good friends.

But if a $65-$75 +/- rod that looks feels and fishes like a rod at twice the price then 13 Fishing should have some interesting products coming in the future.

And that is the reason for the switch. Any additional questions don’t hesitate to ask.

I think that is a very wise decision James. I dont have any 13 fishing rods, but I have owned a Blackbetty freefall which I didnt really care for. Wasnt as smooth as I would have liked, but I know a lot of people like their products. You being able to provide input should be a wonderful asset to them since I think they are based out of Florida right? Dont think they know much about ice fishing

Not sure why everybody on here gets all wrapped up on who the sponsors are

Hope it works out for you James, in the past some of their stuff was questionable quality at best. Will you name a rod “James walleye ripper” LOL

Coletrain27 wrote:

Not sure why everybody on here gets all wrapped up on who the sponsors are

Exactly! Remember when they switched to Eskimo people lost their damn minds. After checking out the Eskimo lineup after they switched I was VERY impressed and they had some innovative ideas incorporated too. Plus I think their seats are far more comfortable. Competition is good.

thanks for your response James. i never understood the custom rod industry. i get it if you are a guide or tourney angler but unless you got money to burn, nobody needs a $200 rod for the casual freshwater fisherman. i have found some beautiful craftsmanship on my $100 HMG’s and my 13 rods.

no knock on the custom rod makers, they make great rods. i am a big fan of the small tackle makers that work out of their homes creating new products not found anywhere but a few places locally or online.

you like what you like so if you need a $200 rod…..you do you!

Thanks James. Back towards my reality. I have purchased some expensive fishing rods over the years but never once did I buy an expensive ice rod. Your explanation sounds great. AND I have been a fan of 13fishing for years. I’m running two of their ice rods right now. My favorite is my Gill Slayer W-24UL. Its not called a Gill Slayer by 13fishing. That’s my name for it!

I always buy my reels and rods separate. I’ve had some great help here over the years finding the best reels.

James Holst wrote:

For the last couple years I’ve been actively looking for a rod company to work with that would allow me to have some input on how to make a series of rods

I would be tickled to sit down with you and work on a blank design. Even as a pre protype design you could present. (sorry I don’t want to do any mass production. Someone else like 13 can have that.)

bigcrappie wrote:

Hope it works out for you James, in the past some of their stuff was questionable quality at best. Will you name a rod “James walleye ripper” LOL

No, that’s not what I envision. I don’t want and wouldn’t ever recommend a “signature series” line to any manufacturer. What I hope happens is good ideas come in from a diverse group of very talented and experienced ice anglers to help 13 Fishing’s very talented rod design team come up with some well received rods. What they end up being named is beyond my pay grade.

I love the Fish 13 Muse Gold. Great action in their blanks and the price is right. I bought the 7’2″ ML one about a month ago in Detroit Lakes, love it.

Short term gains or long term strategy, it’s all about bu$ine$$ in the end.

I like that idea and the switch. “Variety is the spice of life” as someone once said. TUCR makes nice rods – no denying that and I doubt their business falters at all anytime soon. Moves like this allow people to see other reliable products as well within the same industry. I admittedly have an Otter shack, but have been in plenty of other brands that do the job for a similar price point including the Eskimo shacks that IDO now runs. In a world that’s being overrun by inflation, competition might be the only saving grace for pricing.

I’ve got one 13Fishing rod and for what I use it for (dead stick), it works just as good as a $100 dead stick and was probably $30 or so. Certain applications don’t require super expensive equipment. The guy catching jumbo perch on the river in 4′ of water with a “custom rod” is simply wasting his money. Setting the hook brings the fish out of the hole. Much like spending $200+ for a leadcore rod in the summer is a waste considering the application. I will be interested to see some of 13Fishing’s more affordable high end rods in the price range that James mentioned.

That sound great James, 13 is a solid company and I would also welcome something that felt and performed like my customs without the price tag. Still will support the custom shops as we will want them around too.

I have been Fishing the 13 omen (open water) spinning rods for about 5 years and I fish them side by side with the St. Croix Legend Tournament both in MLXF and they fish relatively equally in my experience. What isn’t equal is price. (tried one reel, not impressed)

When I saw the announcement that 13 Fishing is a new sponsor for this season I thought “With James’ input, 13 Fishing is going to become a MAJOR force in ice rods.” and that’s what it appears is in the works.

I hope that your design influence also extends to improving the drag systems on their inline reels – all the inline reel brands are “parts bin reels” with the same parts and different names. A big void/opportunity waiting to be filled.

Good luck, and I’m looking forward to seeing 13 Fishing’s products evolve with your help.

13 is fine, but the tips tend to be pretty fragile. No other rod that I have has had a tip brake. 3 13s have broken tips over the past 3 years or so.

Brittman wrote:

13 is fine, but the tips tend to be pretty fragile. No other rod that I have has had a tip brake. 3 13s have broken tips over the past 3 years or so.

Oh God, don’t even start on those awful tickle sticks lol. I do really like my 10 dollar widow makers. Found 5 on sale at gander going under days. I wouldn’t pay 79 for them but 49 maybe. I also wouldn’t pay 135 for a tucr either

Add me to the broken tickle stick crowd lo

CaptainMusky wrote:

I think that is a very wise decision James. I dont have any 13 fishing rods, but I have owned a Blackbetty freefall which I didnt really care for. Wasnt as smooth as I would have liked, but I know a lot of people like their products. You being able to provide input should be a wonderful asset to them since I think they are based out of Florida right? Dont think they know much about ice fishing

I have found VERY few reels that perform decent in cold weather,until I disassemble and re-lube them.A guy I fish with sold me 2 BB freefall reels,he said they were herky-jerky junk.Whoever assembled them at the factory went crazy with the lube,there was probably enough to service 3 reels.

Oh nice, please tell 13 Fishing to expand on baitcasting ice rods.

As of now they probably have the best medium powered baitcasting ice rod on the market. However who’s willing to produce a Medium light or even Light powered baitcasting ice rod?

I’m thinking James and IDO will now need to add a special guest on the show some time. A fellow 13’r by the name of GMAN. An ice show of course. That would be entertaining!

milemark_714 wrote:

I have found VERY few reels that perform decent in cold weather,until I disassemble and re-lube them.A guy I fish with sold me 2 BB freefall reels,he said they were herky-jerky junk.Whoever assembled them at the factory went crazy with the lube,there was probably enough to service 3 reels.

Im sure that is probably the case here too. My buddy when he buys new reels boils them and then relubes them. That is what I should do with it, but I have since bought 2 piscifun icx inline reels that work flawless right out of the box and the drag is FAR superior.

That is one thing that I like about Frostbite is that they offer two lines of rods. One that have the recoil guides and top of the line components and one that is budget friendly. I watch some of the channels on youtube that fish with those rods and they use both series, top of the line and budget friendly, and they say they both perform the same. I have a couple of the budget friendly rods and have begun to sell my custom ones as I feel that the performance is the same. I think that the change to 13 fishing for the reasons you have stated should be appreciated.

I did not hear though in the video last week exactly what the setup was you were using. Not a huge deal but maybe I just missed it.

Question is. How many ice fishing rods are you collection from over the years?

Well said, thanks for the insight….

from a business perspective it makes sense. when ya’ll made the H-bird switch from marcum I thought in all likelihood, this wasn’t a more lucrative gain. bigger companies don’t really need to pay more for you to sponsor their products.

same here IMO. and you are 100% correct. prior to the custom rod craze, rods were awful in the ice fishing world. like an afterthought. manufactured rods now are lightyears better than they were.

and it makes sense to market a product that is more affordable to everyone.

My only hope is that you forever avoid the Clam scam, James!

isu22andy wrote:

Add me to the broken tickle stick crowd lo

Add me to the broken Tickle Stick club too. Just ended up cutting my broken tip down to the next eyelet and filing the end to make it smooth, although I haven’t used it since. Fishing anything heavier than 1/32oz is pushing it on this rod. I’m willing to see what 13 Fishing comes out with in the future, but first impressions haven’t been good. Maybe their tackle is better? Their inline reels are just ok. If 13 can do custom rod quality at half the price, count me in.