who bought them?

To this day, the Shripm Tail Classic 7 ft rod is my favorite above my others. Not too rigid, not too flexing, but juuust right. I've yet to find any other rod with that same "feel".

I've always been a big fan of mine...lost it last year and so I got another.

Shake a spear...(purefishing)

The Academy brand All-Stars at 49.95 are made in a China and in no way indicative of the former All-Stars made in Houston.

Oddly though, the Platinum series is my fav. All-Star rod, and those were made in China after the buyout...

[This message has been edited by aggiegolfer03 (edited 3/31/2011 10:29a).]

Twice a year Academy marks them down to 25 bucks. If you like that rod so much, grab 3-4 of them.

Castaway >>>>>> Allstar IMO

at the level he's talking about it really doesn't matter...both are standard IM6 rods made in China for Academy...

not to say they aren't good rods for $50, both of them.

Castaway is made at the same factory in China as All Star. In fact, there are a handful of factories in Asia which make probably 90% of all the rods sold in the US.

Only Loomis and St. Croix do any manufacturing of graphite blanks in the US these days and even they have started to off-shore a good deal of their lower end production. Even rods which claim to be "Made in the USA" are really just assembled here out of foreign made components.

I get the sentiment, but all but the HD series from Falcon are made in Oklahoma..

Especially with fly rods, and I'd assume casting rods, very few blanks are made in the US. Basically, if a rod is under $200-$250 it is probably made in china and finished in Korea if your lucky. We have had salesmen from china call us and invite us to tour the factories and offer to make you your "own" rods for you. With company names, wraps, glaze, anything you want.

My favorite rod for the money is made in China with a lifetime warranty...The Shimano Crucial

It's all about QC reguardless of where it's made...

If I thought the US produced the best fishing reels too I'd be fishing with Ardents (puke)..

I'm with the OP, the vintage Allstar Shrimptail Special is an awesome rod. Dad's got one that most of the eyes been replaced and is still his goto saltwater rod. I use primarily Kistler Rods nowadays. Ironically enough, Billy Kistler helped start All Star, started Castaway and joined his son, Trey within the last few years at Kistler Rods.

Golfer- the may be assembled in Oklahoma but the don't "bake" the blanks there. The used to get their blanks from a company called Shikari in OK but they went out of business in probably '03 and sold their stuff to an overseas company.

LSRR- I don't know for certain but I've been told that even Orvis has their high end rods made in So. Korea. I know Loomis and St. Croix started off-shoring their lower priced stuff. Don't know about Sage.

China's QC has made tremendous gains in the past decade or so. Not just in rods but everything. Nowadays it's possible to get high quality, highly detailed manufacturing done. They are still a bunch of commie a holes but the old "made in china junk" saying isn't as true as it once was. I think things made in India are now the bottom rung.

Yes Orvis does buy make many rods in Korea, but they are not the high end rods. Their USA made rods still run $500-$700. Many of their reels are made "offshore" as well. That's why you can get a Battenkill reel for around $100 when they used to be $300. Easiest solution is to just buy a Hexagraph!

As far as I know all G Loomis is still made here. Shimano rods have never been made here but in spite of being the parent company they haven't been mixed.

Love my Team Allstar 7'6"