About Us
Australian Rod Manufacturers is one of the largest independently owned custom rod builders in Australia offering anglers a diverse range of quality fishing rods from whiting to marlin and bass to barra. Based in Brisbane, Queensland, Gary Howard began building and repairing his own fishing rods at the age of fifteen and has fished since he was old enough to hang onto a fishing rod. Living close to the waters and having a strong passion for fishing the two grew rapidly.
In the early years, the late seventies and early eighties, the range of fishing rods initially focused on a small but popular range of estuary and surf rods. A keen club angler himself, Gary worked on developing a range of rods specifically targeting the many beach and estuary club anglers to the style in which they fished and the reels that the used. Models like the 'Greenback' and 'Breambo' are still built to the original formulas and remain some of the best sellers in this field.
From those first handful of rods and nearly three decades later the range now incorporates over 150 different models as well as traditional custom built rods. Many large and noted companies have used Gary's talents over this period to design and build rods. Having fished all over Australia, with several State and National fishing records, Gary has a keen perception of what anglers want out of a fishing rod and with an extensive range of blanks available there isn't too much that can't be built. Gary also works closely with Fuji Tackle, the builders of the finest rod components in the World, developing and evaluating new products.
Many local blanks are still used today as well as quality fishing rod blanks from the United States like Calstar, Seeker/Sabre and Shikari and the likes of Composite Tube Systems (CTS) in New Zealand. Australian Rod Manufacturers also distributes these blanks nationally as well as being the Australian distributor for Accurate Reels - another fine quality product crafted in the United States.
Because Australian Rod Manufacturers is only a small family owned company, they are able to cater for small runs down to individual rods and with the wide variety of blanks and components available the range is not limited to the one brand of blank or even the one design from any particular model.
In addition to rod building, Gary has a strong media presence in his home State of Queensland where he has regularly presented fishing and boating segments for Channel Seven's local show, Creek to Coast. A regular contributor to fishing and boating magazines, newspapers, radio and fishing seminars it's fair to say that fishing rods and fishing are a major part of his life.