nick k
Well-known member
Is the Diamondback fly rod company out of business? It seems like they have recent models and articles on their rods, but I can't find a website for them.
Diamondback Rod Company
- Thread starter nick k
- Start date
- Status
nick k
Well-known member
All I could find for a Cortland website was a cortlandlines.com and that was pretty bootleg and had no reference to Diamondbacks.
nick k
Well-known member
So they are still in business and still making Diamondback rods correct? Any thoughts or opinions on them?
They are making switch rods at the least and I have heard they are pretty darn nice, but can't say from personal experience...
If you have any questions, I would email Artie Loomis @ Cortland
ALOOMIS@cortlandline.com
If you have any questions, I would email Artie Loomis @ Cortland
ALOOMIS@cortlandline.com
nick k
Well-known member
Awesome. Thanks for all the info.
I have a couple rods from the original Stowe, Vt. store and factory before Cortland bought them. As I understand it, the Americana and Classic Trout tapers are still the same. I love mine. On another note, I've dealt with Cortland directly and many people I know have also- service is world class. I'm sure any Diamondback will be well backed. They've got a great discount store.
Charlie
Charlie
nick k
Well-known member
I have two Diamondback Backwater rods. Been looking for a UL 2wt rod and saw that Diamondback make one. Was wondering how it might be. Thanks for the info.
moucheur2003
Well-known member
Cortland bought the Diamondback company a few years ago, shut down the Vermont factory, and moved production overseas. Cortland in turn has been having it own difficulties of late, and I believe i saw that the whole Cortland company was recently bought by new investors. As far as I know they are still making Diamondback rods, but there is likely to be a degree of disruption in the marketing and distribution of all their products and brands while the new management figures out how to bring better order to the previous disarray.
sweetandsalt
Well-known member
It is my understanding that once the VT based Diamondback shop was acquired and closed, it was the end of Diamondback as we had known it. Too bad as they made some very fine rods. The Diamondback name may be used by Cortland for some off-shore product which may or may not be fine but it is not the Diamondback that I knew and appreciated. If I might make a proposal that might do little good; those of you like me who miss original Diamondback, Cortland has all their rod making equipment in storage. Cortland is under completely new ownership with much improved resources, I believe we should express our hope that they will re-open a Cortland, NY based new Diamondback shop and initiate a new generation of great US-built Diamondback rods. Think we can get this done?
nick k
Well-known member
To be honest? No. Sorry to be a downer, but I doubt they really care what a few guys on a fishing forum think, especially when it comes to a huge capital investment and large financial risk. Sorry, the realist in my coming out.
moucheur2003
Well-known member
Cortland has never been an industry leader in rods, and is not likely to have the resources to become one given the other business challenges they are trying to solve. Digging back through the attic of my mind to the MBA classes I took in entrepreneurship and business policy more than 25 years ago now, I think a more realistic possibility is that once they take a hard look at all their products, brands, distribution channels, competitors, and critical success factors, they will make a strategic decision to concentrate on their essential line business, and sell off the ancillary rod and reel businesses. (If indeed their reel business is worth anything; it may not be. They lost the Hardy relationship, and their traditional manufacturer STH whose reels they rebranded hasn't done anything exciting in a while.) At that point someone new might come in and reinvigorate the Diamondback brand.
The nightmare scenario would be if they decide that the most value (to them) in both rods and reels is to keep offering them to dealers under the Cortland umbrella as part of a full range of fly-fishing products, but without treating each product line as an essential stand-alone business that needs to lead the competiton rather than follow it. That was their traditional business model -- the "Cortland Pro Shop" network of dealers -- but they did not stay ahead of the pack in cutting-edge product development, so in recent decades Orvis has beaten them at their own strategy by offering more and better products over a wider range. (If you own a little low-volume fly shop out at the edge of the woods somewhere, your sales are going to be better if you place your one or two wholesale orders a year through your Orvis rep than through your Cortland rep these days.) If they stay on the same course presumably they would continue to offer mediocre rebranded stuff from foreign manufacturers, rather than try to build the internal capacity to develop market-leading products other than lines and backing on a continuing basis, and Diamondback would remain moribund.
---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:03 PM ----------
I think what you're really saying is that it's a shame Cortland decided to take the premium Diamondback brand down-market and close its US operations, and it would be nice if Cortland were able to reposition it back into its old premium niche. I suspect, though, that the new owners of Cortland have a lot more wood to chop straightening out their core business before turning their attention to niche expansion.
The nightmare scenario would be if they decide that the most value (to them) in both rods and reels is to keep offering them to dealers under the Cortland umbrella as part of a full range of fly-fishing products, but without treating each product line as an essential stand-alone business that needs to lead the competiton rather than follow it. That was their traditional business model -- the "Cortland Pro Shop" network of dealers -- but they did not stay ahead of the pack in cutting-edge product development, so in recent decades Orvis has beaten them at their own strategy by offering more and better products over a wider range. (If you own a little low-volume fly shop out at the edge of the woods somewhere, your sales are going to be better if you place your one or two wholesale orders a year through your Orvis rep than through your Cortland rep these days.) If they stay on the same course presumably they would continue to offer mediocre rebranded stuff from foreign manufacturers, rather than try to build the internal capacity to develop market-leading products other than lines and backing on a continuing basis, and Diamondback would remain moribund.
---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:03 PM ----------
It would essentially have to be a start-up from scratch, because there is no present US manufacturing facility and no US staff or product development team. Even most of the old tapers are obsolete in the market today. You could take out the old machines and set them up again, and hire new workers and new product designers, and even try to design a new series of high-end rods that could hold their own against the best of Sage and Loomis and Winston and Orvis, but the only thing that would be the same as the old Diamondback would be the label.
I think what you're really saying is that it's a shame Cortland decided to take the premium Diamondback brand down-market and close its US operations, and it would be nice if Cortland were able to reposition it back into its old premium niche. I suspect, though, that the new owners of Cortland have a lot more wood to chop straightening out their core business before turning their attention to niche expansion.
Last edited:
nick k
Well-known member
Well said.
sweetandsalt
Well-known member
You are undoubtedly correct, Moucheur, that Cortland has many fish to fry before they start baking a cake. I am not a business man and think more in terms of wanting to see more and better rods and reels. The first Diamondback product I ever saw was the original Leonard Golden Shadow rods...I mean, Leonard was still in business so this is way back when. Cortland had a big as Orvis fancy booth at Somerset this year and word is that new ownership is deep pocketed and ambitious. But it is true that starting a new rod factory, even if the old rolling tables and ovens are fine, is a big deal. Still, it would be very cool to see new US made Diamondbacks...
I could ask that a US shop be opened, but I couldn't ask for it to be in New York with a straight face. Why would anyone want to open a company in a state so openly hostile to corporations, and so regulation happy that they tell you what size pop you can drink? U.S. yes, New York never.
Anymore, even the U.S. idea is a stretch.
Upstate is a little different. Lots of people actually go directly to the Cortland store and many people I know are using their stuff for steel and salmon. I don't like the fact that it's been made political rather than an educational issue, but obesity thanks to consuming huge quantities of fat and sugar costs the economy and the health system billions. Yeah, put it right where it was in NY. The guys that were in the rod shop are great. I hope they keep their jobs. You can laugh all you want, I live here and will try to make it the best possible.
Charlie
Charlie
It's not a political issue. It's an economic issue, and it's the state, not just the insane city.
And by the way, they were consuming large pop decades ago. It isn't the sugar, it's the not getting off your obese butt.
And what do you mean "Keep their jobs"? The stuff is in storage so unless they are being paid to babyset the stuff in storage, those jobs are already gone.
And by the way, they were consuming large pop decades ago. It isn't the sugar, it's the not getting off your obese butt.
And what do you mean "Keep their jobs"? The stuff is in storage so unless they are being paid to babyset the stuff in storage, those jobs are already gone.
Last edited by a moderator:
I used the past tense. Perhaps the rod builders can get their jobs back. I should have been more specific. Most people that consume large quantiites of sugar will develop health issues , whether they are obese or not. That's a fact. As I said, I'd like to see it addressed through better nutritional education rather than political edicts. The new owners bought the indemnity for past products. There are a continuum of employees. Not very long ago, the rod shop did repairs, but all new rods were being produced in S. Korea. I'm speaking for Cortland of Cortland NY as a whole, not for the Diamondback subsidiary. You can have all the opinions you want, but perhaps try to be civil and not as insulting. Unless this is an extension of the Drake Forum and things are approached differently.
Last edited:
- Status