01-31-2013, 11:54 PM
I love your Shark Tank post! So in true Shark Tank fashion, let me respond to your questions by first referring to you as Kevin cause you don't sound like Mark, Lori, Rob, Daymond or Barbara.
So Kevin, I appreciate your insight but let me tell you a story about taking the first prototype fishing for steelhead coming out of Lake Erie in the Fall of 2011. When my guide Chris Kazulen (there's an article on him in last Fall's Field & Stream) picked me up he wanted me to use one of his rods. I told him about my invention and how I wanted to use my own rod. His exact words were "Dude, that's stupid. You do not want to mess around with these fish. They can go up to 20 pounds and fight harder than anything you've ever hooked before." After a few more minutes of telling me how dumb my idea was, I insisted on using it and he made clear there were no refunds.
After 15 minutes of fishing he was completely sold. We hooked and landed 8 fish from 5-12 pounds that truly did fight harder than anything I've ever caught before. Chris actually started stopping other fly fisherman that were walking by and having them check out the Rexfly. He's now wants to be my Midwest Rep. That's him on the last video on the kickstarter project.
Have you ever had your line wrap around your reel when you hook a big fish and it takes off? Far too many times when a fish takes out the slack the line wraps around the reel and the fish breaks off. Line wraps around the reel and hook keeper so much that TFO has taken the hook keeper off their saltwater rods to keep the line for hanging up on that but there's nothing they can do to keep the line from wrapping around the reel. With the line hanging straight down from your chest that doesn't happen anymore. Even when casting, how often does the line wrap around your reel or your forceps or something else hanging off your vest? Its the line hanging down from your reel that gets caught up on stuff when we cast. With it on your chest it just hangs straight down and doesn't get flung all around.
You bring up a good point about float tubing and the Rexfly isn't a great help if you are kicking around trolling your flies. I fish from a boat and am casting all day. Without the reel I generate greater line speed and cast much farther than I ever could before. I can now cast my entire fly line which I never came close to doing before. Think about your backcast, you are lifting the entire weight of the reel on every backcast. But your triceps is much stronger than your biceps and can more than handle the lack of weight of the reel on the forward cast.
I liken the Rexfly to when I started snowboarding in 1985. Fly fishing is very traditional and there will always be those who prefer bamboo over graphite just as there are plenty of skiers who think boarding is stupid, but there are also those who will try something new.
There's so much more I want to say but this post is already longer than anyone wants to read and in true Shark Tank fashion we need to keep it short for the commercial break.
So Kevin, I know you're out, but I also know you are an early adopter not a follower, and I'm offering you the chance to get in on the ground floor of something new and exciting. Tenkara is gaining in popularity and the Rexfly not only has all the advantages of that but truly shines with big fish and heaver weight lines.
So keep an open mind, and like I say to anyone, just go out to your park or in your front yard and put the reel in your pocket and see how easy it is to cast. If you're fishing with a rod made in the last 10 years you'll be amazed.
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So Kevin, I appreciate your insight but let me tell you a story about taking the first prototype fishing for steelhead coming out of Lake Erie in the Fall of 2011. When my guide Chris Kazulen (there's an article on him in last Fall's Field & Stream) picked me up he wanted me to use one of his rods. I told him about my invention and how I wanted to use my own rod. His exact words were "Dude, that's stupid. You do not want to mess around with these fish. They can go up to 20 pounds and fight harder than anything you've ever hooked before." After a few more minutes of telling me how dumb my idea was, I insisted on using it and he made clear there were no refunds.
After 15 minutes of fishing he was completely sold. We hooked and landed 8 fish from 5-12 pounds that truly did fight harder than anything I've ever caught before. Chris actually started stopping other fly fisherman that were walking by and having them check out the Rexfly. He's now wants to be my Midwest Rep. That's him on the last video on the kickstarter project.
Have you ever had your line wrap around your reel when you hook a big fish and it takes off? Far too many times when a fish takes out the slack the line wraps around the reel and the fish breaks off. Line wraps around the reel and hook keeper so much that TFO has taken the hook keeper off their saltwater rods to keep the line for hanging up on that but there's nothing they can do to keep the line from wrapping around the reel. With the line hanging straight down from your chest that doesn't happen anymore. Even when casting, how often does the line wrap around your reel or your forceps or something else hanging off your vest? Its the line hanging down from your reel that gets caught up on stuff when we cast. With it on your chest it just hangs straight down and doesn't get flung all around.
You bring up a good point about float tubing and the Rexfly isn't a great help if you are kicking around trolling your flies. I fish from a boat and am casting all day. Without the reel I generate greater line speed and cast much farther than I ever could before. I can now cast my entire fly line which I never came close to doing before. Think about your backcast, you are lifting the entire weight of the reel on every backcast. But your triceps is much stronger than your biceps and can more than handle the lack of weight of the reel on the forward cast.
I liken the Rexfly to when I started snowboarding in 1985. Fly fishing is very traditional and there will always be those who prefer bamboo over graphite just as there are plenty of skiers who think boarding is stupid, but there are also those who will try something new.
There's so much more I want to say but this post is already longer than anyone wants to read and in true Shark Tank fashion we need to keep it short for the commercial break.
So Kevin, I know you're out, but I also know you are an early adopter not a follower, and I'm offering you the chance to get in on the ground floor of something new and exciting. Tenkara is gaining in popularity and the Rexfly not only has all the advantages of that but truly shines with big fish and heaver weight lines.
So keep an open mind, and like I say to anyone, just go out to your park or in your front yard and put the reel in your pocket and see how easy it is to cast. If you're fishing with a rod made in the last 10 years you'll be amazed.
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