1/9/12
Reflecting on my journey through the 2012 Denver Fly Fishing Show, my highlight was a chance to meet and talk with Justin Allen Geisel CEO/Owner of Allen Fly Fishing and Evan Burck the Product Development Manager / Staff Pro.
Justin is a soft spoken unassuming person with a big heart and a commitment to succeed. The story of Allen Fly Fishing is a story of sacrifice, hard work and long hours on the road to success. In other words, it is a true entrepreneurial story of American Success.
The story starts back in 2008 when the economy went in the tank. Justin was working for his family in their plastics injection plant. “We were needing to lay people off. At the same time our plant manager just had twins. I didnt want him to be laid off so I took no pay for one year while they kept the factory open and people employed.”
At the end of the year, his father came to him and said,” Justin. You need to do something else now.” So Justin used the supplier contacts from the plastics firm to make contacts for fly fishing products. And Allen Fly Fishing www.allenflyfishing.com was born.
Justin said, “I started with my Alpha reel and then went into hooks as a filler product. Then the hooks took off and have became one of my popular products. Also, I owe the start and growth of the company to my wife (Courtney). Not many people will put trust into someone with no money to try to make something work.”
Justin sells fly tying hooks over the web at prices the big manufacturers can not beat. For about $6.95 you can get 100 hooks. This is roughly twice as many hooks as most suppliers will sell you for the same price. Allen Fly Fishing’s premium hooks are less than $13.00 for 100 hooks.
After two years, Justin brought out his first line of fly rods and more reels at affordable prices. And his prices on all his current line of rods and reels are still affordable.
There are three series of fly rods. The XA starts at $229 and runs to $249. The XA are all 4 pc medium-fast action rods built using a combination of 33 and 36 modulus graphite in the blanks for strength and smoothness of casting action.The weights run from 3 through 10 with a 3 wt 10 ft, a 4wt 10 ft and a 5 wt 10 ft suitable for czech nymphing for $239. There is a 10ft in 6, 7 and 8 wt with fighting butt for $249. The rest of the XA series is the standard 3 wt through 10 wt starting at 6 ft 6 inches and ending at 9ft for $229 and $239. The XA is designed as a general purpose rod for throwing dries, nymphs and streamers. The XA series is built with an internal ferrule for a smoother action under load. (The one I cast was certainly smooth casting with some 50 foot of line out and another 20 on a shoot.) The series sports a titanium chromium plated stripping guide for salt water protection with titanium chromium plated single foot guides that are the smoothest casting I have tried in a long time. On weights 3 through 5 a half wells grip is used and on weights 6 through 9 a full wells grip is used with a fighting butt. AAA cork is used in all grips.
The Myth is the next step up in the Allen Rod Series. The Myth is a fast action rod built with a mix of 40 and 46 high modulus in the graphite blanks. They also feature the internal ferrule design, Silicone Carbide (SIC) lined stripping guides and the titanium chrome plated single foot rod guides. Rod weights are 3 through 6, all 4pc with lengths from 6ft 6 inches through 10 feet. The Myth has been designed for precise close in casting. Yet it has the backbone to reach out for those long casts too. Grips are a half wells with a carbon fibre reel seat to reduce weight. Pricing is $279 except for the 10 ft rods at $299.
The Olympic series was originally designed for salmon and steelhead fishing with the two handed rod. The Olympic series is now gaining favor amoung trout and bass fishers too. Two handed rods are easier to cast and put less arm and shoulder strain on aging muscles than one handed rods. The Olympic is a medium fast action with a powerful tip for loop control of heavy spey, skagit or scandinavian fly lines. The stripping guide is titanium chrome plated and the traditional snake guides are titanium chrome plated for corrosion resistance. Rod weights run 5 through 9 with lengths starting at 12 ft progressing to 12 ft 6 inches, 13 ft, 13ft 6 inches and 14 ft depending on the rod wt. Prices start at $329 progress to $339 and end at a modest $349 for the 9wt 14ft model.
All rods come with a rod tube.
Rods without reels are not much good. Justin and Evan have developed a nice line of Trout reels plus the Alpha and Alpha II reels to meet your fishing needs and conditions. http://www.allenflyfishing.com/pages/reels
Allen Fly Fishing offers an excellent warranty on their products.
http://www.allenflyfishing.com/pages/warranty-registration
Per Justin “We have a new Trout reel being released in April and a saltwater reel in May. We also have another rod coming out in Feb ($150-$160) called the A.T.S. rod. (Allen Trout Series).”
So here we have the capsule version of Allen Fly Fishing, leaving out the 36 hour days, little sleep, traveling, struggle to stay afloat until success was achieved. This is how success is achieved by not quitting, getting the break sometimes and by plain old hard work the American way.
Wishing you at Allen Fly Fishing much continued Success.
Marshall, Editor and Author
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
Every Thing You Need for Fly Fishing
www.successfulflyfishing.com
“Successful Fly Fishing for Trout”
No related posts.
