Pitittieri Rods

Welcome to Pitittieri Rods

If given the choice. Would you rather have an “off the rack”, production line made rod costing $300, $400, $500 or more? Or would you rather have a craftsman made rod, made by one person, me, from butt to tip that I’m proud to put my name on, usually costing less including shipping?

My business was born out of a convergence of ideas, circumstances, frustration and a passion for fishing. Avid fishermen seem to continuously upgrade their equipment. Maybe it’s a sickness, as my wife claims. Perhaps it’s expert marketing of all the various equipment and tackle that seem to catch more fishermen than fish. Whatever it is, we all do it……. we’re bombarded by the bigger, better, shinier, more life-like, stronger, lighter, more expensive and on and on.

Rods have significantly evolved from the old heavy, large diameter fiberglass with plain steel guides, etc. to graphite. And now there are so many different graphite rods from so many manufacturers nobody seems to know which is better, although we all “assume” higher pricing means higher quality.
I have yet to see Consumer Reports Magazine (or any entity) test and compare graphite surf rods. My frustration was that I caught that “disease”. I needed (wanted?) to upgrade. But it’s very hard to part with $300, $400 and even $500 for a nice new “better” rod. Adding to my frustration was each one of these high priced rods wasn’t exactly what I wanted. The length I wanted wasn’t light enough, or it was one piece when I wanted two pieces. The reel seat was too far up the shaft and the guides were too few and/or inferior. While we all realize graphite blanks are made differently by different manufacturers, how significant is the difference relative to the price for performance. Also I began seeing some things in the higher priced rods that I would classify as defects. If I’m thinking of paying hundreds of dollars for a rod, I don’t want to see guides wearing their way through the thread and epoxy. Summary….I couldn’t determine what made the $500 rod any better. All I saw was a really nice looking rod, not exactly the way I wanted it that had a popular name on it. And those rods are made off an assembly line where all it takes is one person having a bad day to cause a defect.

So I started building my own. I‘ve built a few in my life and repaired many. I opened a few wholesale accounts with suppliers for high quality parts. The result…..I surprised myself! The rods came out great! Strong and functional, and they appear to be what you all are looking for because the response has been fantastic.