North Fork Composites blanks

Been a while since I put something up on this blog, been busy lately plus having to serve my nation for 2 weeks keep me away for a while. Problem is that I haven't been fishing lately so what can I put in here? Luck have it that recently I am doing some search on the net to look for a 3 section 15ft noodle rod, previously I saw one piece for sale at a US website which is built by Dick Swan, but by the time they responded it is already sold.

One thing leads to another, then I saw an article that got my attention, it is about Gary Loomis (yup the same guy that started 'G Loomis' the company and partner with a Taiwan firm for 'Loomis & Franklin') first started his rod business by buying fly blanks and transform it into a noodle rod so that he can downsize his terminal when the fishes are not biting. Anyway, what have happen to between the man and the company is that he sold it off to Shimano more then a decade ago but stay at the company likely because of contract obligations. Recently, he is back to to a business he is familiar, manufacture blanks and his new company is North Fork Composites

Usually I am not excited about any new blank manufacturer as I hardly owns any custom rods, simply because off-the-shelf rods suits me well in terms of price and choices. However sad to say it is still very very tough to find an off-the-shelf noodle rod here locally, which means that one would most likely have to buy the blanks and have it built by a rod builder. Ever since GLoomis exit from the blanks business, I can't find any blanks manufacturer have a similar blanks that is close to the specs of a GLoomis NR1382S
Well, now that Gary Loomis is back in the blank business, I am hoping that he have noodle rod blanks in his line up. As I look thru the PDF catalogue, yeah they do have it! It is the StN116x-2 series! Great, but however to my dismay, based on what I do understand about rod strength and action, these blanks might, just might be softer then a float rod but stiffer then the NR1382S. A quick email to them didn't really help much except that it is yet to be in production but is expected to be soon. I do hope that they are able to tweak the material a bit so that it can be 'Noodle Action' while remain in the 'Ultra Light' class. However all is not lost yet, as they revealed, they will be looking in the future for a 15ft noodle rod blanks, this is what I will be hold my breath for in 2010, hope I do be able to get more news on this development in future. Well, if they can make an Ultralight Noodle action 15ft they will have a customer in me who is willing to place an pre-order with them once they have finish their development.

However, I think it will not be anytime soon as it is a new company and they need to address the Bread and Butter offering first, i.e. Fast action, Mid tp High power rods. Let's face it, I am not sure about the US market, but like I mentioned a lot of times already, here Noodle rod is a niche market, how many folks are willing to pay a couple of hundred dollars for a long limpy fishing rod that look like it is having an erectile dysfunction which to most is good for bait fish only. So I do think will not happen in the next couple of months, but let's hope and see. BTW, they have already appointed Sabre Stroker as their distributor here, which make prefect sense due to their past business dealings.

Edited - Removed portion on TFO rods, apparently I have assumed wrongly that North Fork supply TFO the blanks but I am wrong, their blanks are from another source.

Well, finally I seriously do hope that these blanks will be affordable range, keeping my finger cross that it will be. Hope they can get some huge OEM orders to recover their start up cost and keep retail pricing as low as possible, maybe only in my dreams. haha.  Do check out the PDF catalogue on their website, there is a portion to explain rod actions & power, which is helpful for those newbies choosing to purchase their first few rods.