Kistler Helium Rods

[sdfd504]

When someone talks about getting their first Kistler rod it brings back memories. The first thing that comes to mind is when I first saw a post talking about the Kistler Helium rods about a month before my birthday last year. I started to research the rods and at first I was skeptical. Why? Well then I was using All Star and Daiwa rods and I was happy with what I was using. There couldn’t be a better rod on the market I kept telling myself as I looked at the $200+ price tag on the rod. Well I researched as much as I could possibly do and after reading a review about the rod from the guys at TackleTour.com I decided that I was going to try a rod out.

Well let’s fast forward to July 20, 2004 when the rod arrived and it was right on time. I was sitting by the door waiting on UPS to deliver the rod. Well the doorbell rang and there was a huge white PVC pipe. I was like why the heck is a PVC pipe being delivered to my house. Then I looked at the address and it was from Kistler rods. That was the first time I had a rod delivered in a PVC pipe but after thinking about it that is the best way to ship a rod without it breaking. After opening the tube up there was the new rod. A 7’ Medium Heavy Kistler Helium LTA rod. Even with the bubble wrap on it, the rod was still lighter then all of the other rods that I own. After taking all of the wrapping off of it and putting the Team Daiwa X reel on it I was in heaven. I could see why people give the rod such high reviews.

I took the rod out that night to test it out. I was amazed by the sensitivity of the rod. I could feel every rod, brush pile, and even the fish breathing on the bait. After catching several fish with it I knew that I wanted more of the Kistler rods and little did I know then that 6 months later I would be on their Pro Staff.

Here I am a little over a year later with numerous Kistler rods and some people say that I am biased with my opinion but I was like most guys a year ago when I thought the $200+ price tag was crazy but I have not looked back since the first rod.

Since my first Kistler rod I found out why people like the lighter weight reels. I put a Team Daiwa Fuego on my 7’ Medium Kistler Helium rod when it was available and I amazed at the lightweight combo. After fishing a tournament for 6 hours I was not fatigued at all at the end of the day. In the past at the end of the day I was very fatigued and it had to be because of the heavier rods and reels.

I hope that if you were thinking about purchasing a new Kistler rod that I helped you with you decision some. If you have any questions feel free to email me or PM me with them. Also below are some links to a few reviews by other people with some great pictures of the rods.

http://www.tackletour.com/reviewkistlerlta.html
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewkistlerltahe76hc.html

Thanks,
Blake Smith
Kistler Rods Pro Staff

 

[sdfd504]

Also if any of the guys want to look at the rods I will be glad to meet with you somewhere to let you take a look at the rods.

 

[ranman]

How do you get on a pro staff?

 

[sdfd504]

Work, work, work oh yeah did I mention work emoLaugh It is not always easy to get on a Pro Staff of a company. I don't just send out a resume to every bait company, rod company, or reel company out there. I pick the ones that I believe in and I contact the companies Pro Staff director and normally I will send a resume to them and they will look it over and compare it to others that they have received. If they think that you will be a benefit to them then you are placed on their Pro Staff but that is not the end of things. In order to get better discounts or free products you have to work your butt off. That means doing shows, working at dealers, and anything else that they ask you to do. Most of my sponsors have different levels and a point’s sheet. You get points for doing different things and after a certain amount of points you move up a level which means you get a better discount. The bigger the company is the harder it will be to get on their Staff.

 

[ranman]

So how good do you have to be?I've been in the money in the times free press tourney but if you've read my dogfight reports this year you can see that I stink in shorter tournaments.Do they expect you to fish everything out there?Or does it depend on how much support you want?

 

[sdfd504]

What most people think is that companies want you to fish every tournament that there is when that is really not true. The sponsors I have now don't really push for me to fish every T that is out there. What most sponsors want is somebody that can sell their products and if they finish good in tournaments then that will help also but is not required. For example Kistler Rods has a points system and everything you do you get a point. If you finish in the top 5 you get 5 points and if you win you get 10 points but the T has to have at least 25 boats in it. But on the other hand if you get a new dealer to carry the rods or you write an article about the rods for a newspaper, online website etc. you also get 5 points. So by doing that you don’t have to be the best fishermen out there to get sponsored by them. When I talk to the owners of the company or their Pro Staff manages I tell them what I can do for their company for the next year and I also tell them what tournaments I fish so that they will know. I am real lucky that my sponsors understand that I can’t always fish every T that is out there but by doing shows for them that will make it up.

 

[ranman]

probably wouldn't work out for me then,In person I'm pretty quiet and shy.even in my buisiness I prefer to let my work speak for itself.So based on that and my lack of tourney results I don't think I'll be sponsored anytime soon Sure wished I was born with the gift of gab!My sister seems to have gotten all of it,she never seems to shuts up!

 

[sdfd504]

Yeah one major thing is you have to be able to talk in front of a crowd and not be afraid of doing it. Working booths at shows and doing seminars at your fishing club meeting means that you have to talk a lot emoLaugh Sometimes working a show for 8 hours get boring but if you have some other guys that are pretty nice near you it makes the day go by quicker. If you want to try to get on a Pro Staff of somewhere feel free to ask any questions that you have and I will try to help you out if I can.

 

[CouchTater]

Blake pretty much said it all...

I started my sponsor search back in May/June this year. If you are serious about obtaining sponsors, you need to have a good resume and knowledge of the product/service. Keep in mind that most of the smaller bait companys, such as hand-poured internet companys, they know who buys there products and who has them.

What I'm trying to say, before you approach a company for a sponsorship, make sure you have used their stuff and know all about them. It helps more than going in there blind...

Tater

 

[RangerRob]

I sure hope you contacted Storm, Tater!!emoPoke

 

[CouchTater]

I did Ranger... Never got a reply. emoToast Said something that they read an article of mine about using their products... emoGeezer

 

[Fishheadspin]

i have used kistler rods before all i can say is alot of HYPE. I am not a prostaffer. i am a tournament fisherman and a weekend fisherman that works a 50 hour hour a week , time clock punching job. I use Falcon rods. great return policy you break it, you get a new one, I have done it many times. Usually have one back in 5 days at that. All stars are great too. castaways are OK.

Do not buy into all the hype about $200-400 rods.

 

[RangerRob]

... so, for those of you at home keeping score, it's ... 1 'for', 1 'against', and 1 for the Barbie Combo !!!

Sorry. I couldn't resistemoLaugh emoLaugh

 

[ranman]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZinggggggggggg!

 

[jim4596]

if u guys like light rods u should check out the all pro rods. they are very similar to the helium rods. they arent quite as light, but close. they have titanium guides. and they are a lot more reasonable. tn federation members can get them at a pretty significant discount too. also, they are made in mcminnville and carry a lifetime warranty. if they break, mail it back or drive over and they will switch it out. i am not a pro staff guy, just an average fisherman. but i do like those rods and would recommend them and they are made locally. i use the apx series.

 

[ranman]

Joe's custom rods (423)472-1544 sweetest rods around.

 

[sdfd504]

If you guys want to try one of the Kistler Helium rods out let me know. I would be glad to let you look at the rods anytime you want. Some people may say that the rods are all "HYPE" but most of the time either they haven't used one before or they are the competition. Kistler has some of the best customer service in the business. I can have a rod to me in three days and if I ever have a problem I can always call and either talk to Trey the owner or Clifford his right hand man. I know most of the bigger rod companies you can't do that. If you \have a rod that is broken almost every time you will have a new rod 3-4 days. What else could you ask for? Also if you are interested in getting a Kistler rod I can hook you up with a dealer that will give you a pretty good discount.

 

[Fishheadspin]

Falcon is exactly the same in their return policy. AND no i am not the comp. i am a fisherman and yes i have used a kistler rod. i am not a dealer rep. You are a rep SDFD so your opinion is obviously bias. I am giving a totally unbiased opinion. All Pro rods are good, hard to argue against all star, Joe's customs are very nice rods also. Falcons have several series of rods that are all nice and very affordable.

 

[RangerRob]

No offense here, Fishhead ... but it's sdfd's J-O-B to be biased. He started out as a regular retail customer ... liked the products ... and was invited to be on their prostaff. Not the other way around. He hasn't bashed any other brands - he's just merely said, "here's what I use ... check 'em out."

It's like the age-old debate of Ford vs. Chevy. Everybody chimes in and everybody has opinions, but in the end, you still have the same bunch of Ford fans and the same bunch of Chevy fans. You like Falcons, jim likes All Pros, ranman likes Joe's ... proof there will always be a difference of opinions.

Lates,
RR

 

[Fishheadspin]

i did not bash kistlers either. i said they are way to expensive for what you get. they are not 100 dollars better than all stars, falcons, Joe's or anyone elses. I am just offering up an opinion to anyone that reads this that is totally unbiased. It is not my job to sell rods if it was i would have a website!