Where did the Kistler name come from?

The History of Kistler Rods - A true American Dream

First I want to thank you for having an interest in Kistler.  As president, I am honored that your fishing passion brings you to our digital front door!

To get a sense of how Kistler has become one of the premier bass fishing rod manufactures today, I’d like to share with you a little bit about where we started, and what we believe in. 

When I was a young boy, my father helped start up All Star Rods with a friend of his, giving me a chance to see first hand the ‘business end’ of a sport that I loved.  The great thing as the kid of ‘the boss’ is I had the chance to be the tester of many new designs.  Not only did I get to experience some rods built for much more than the local pond, but also I soon observed what worked and what didn’t in the design of bass rods.  As the days past, my father began Castaway rods.  Dad knew a thing or two about building good quality fishing rods and it showed.  During this time, I had joined the military with a tour in Iraq, but as soon as I returned, dear old dad put me to work.  I was initially hired on like anyone else, at the bottom of the corporate ladder.  Although I worked hard, and worked my way up the ladder a bit, I wasn’t satisfied, and like many other young men, felt I could venture out on my own to do other things.  A few years went by, and after trying and failing a couple of business ventures of my own, I discovered that my true love was fishing, and making fishing rods. 

So with the lessons learned from my father, I started Kistler Rods.  I had nothing more then a couple of names in a Rolodex and the desire to build a truly innovative and unique fishing rod.  Thanks to the loyalty of some customers of my fathers’ old company, the dream I had grew quickly. They heard about what I was trying to do and put in a very large order.  Since I was starting out in my garage, this was both a blessing and a curse. Suddenly I was in a scramble to find the type of rod blank manufacturer that would meet my specifications and handle large orders at once.  I found such a company with a good reputation but after a few years their quality did not hold up to the rigors of our standards and I was on the search for a new provider of rod blanks.  This took on a life of its own and after going through a few manufacturers we landed on one that could provide us with the lightness and strength we demand.