Made in USA rod manufacturer hails industry first

A Made in America rod builder has hailed his team’s efforts in producing an industry first.

Dr Matthew Cashion, founder and CEO of Cashion Rods, says: “If American manufacturing is going to come back, it has to earn its way. We will never win on cost of labour so we have to win on what we know. That means science, better processes and a team willing to try what nobody else in this industry has tried.

“The CR6c is what that looks like in practice. It came out of a development workshop and production floor in the same building in Sanford, North Carolina – and that’s the kind of manufacturing I want to see more of in this country.”

Cashion is talking about the development of the first carbon fibre fishing blank finished in Cerakote, a thin film ceramic coating best known in the firearms industry where it protects metal against abrasion, corrosion and daily wear. It debuts on the company’s new ELITE Pro Series and has been engineered, tested and put into production at Sanford.

The CR6c pairs Cerakote with Cashion’s Energy Dispersal Jacket (EDJ), a layer that absorbs and spreads impact across the blank. Together they replace the heavy clear coats most rod blanks rely on for protection, keeping the raw carbon look while cutting weight.

“Rods live a hard life,” said Reid McKinstry, Cashion Operations Manager. “They bang against gunwales, rattle around rod lockers and get dragged across truck beds and docks. Most of that damage starts at the surface and Cerakote is one of the toughest surface protections out there.

“The EDJ handles the impacts so the anglers get a blank that shrugs off the scuffs that normally chip a clear coat and because Cerakote goes on so thin, we are not adding any weight or dulling the feel to get there. The carbon does its job and the finish protects it in the process.”

He added that the CR6c is a major reason the ELITE pro Series runs 16% lighter than Cashion’s ICON series.

Cashion is one of the few rod companies that rolls its own blanks in the United States, using high-performance carbon fibre pre-preg sourced domestically. Keeping design, chemistry and production under one roof is what made the CR6c possible, said Dr Cashion “The development team could adjust formulation and application on the same floor where blanks are rolled, test the results and repeat.”

The CR6c blank is available for all blank and OEM customers now and is featured across the ELITE pro Series at cashionrods.com and through authorised Cashion dealers.