It’s only been about 18 months since Cousins Tackle Corporation began production at its rod and lure-skirt manufacturing facility, and already the company has a staff of 50 cranking out product at its 13,000-square-foot factory in Huntington Beach, California. Today, Cousins — named for real-life cousins and tackle industry veterans Bill Buchanan and Wade Cunningham — offers fishermen an extensive line of premium rods with actions fine-tuned for all styles of fishing and every type of fish from bluegill to bluefin tuna.
Now, Cousins is bringing its line of American-made, premium quality rods to Northeast anglers. They were first seen at the Suffern Show in New York and will be part of the Bob’s Bait & Tackle display at the upcoming Saltwater Fishing Expo this week in Somerset, New Jersey. New dealers are being set up across the Northeast on an ongoing basis.
Cousins offers more than 300 graphite, graphite composite and fiberglass rod models, and the company is already planning a new line of sticks custom designed for the needs of Northeast anglers. Cousins principals Buchanan and Cunningham have the fishing industry pedigree to design and build superior rods for Northeast gamefish and fishing styles. Over decades in the fishing industry, this combination of talents has helped create such iconic and successful fishing tackle brands as Sage, Seeker, Fenwick, Sevenstrand, Berkley, Spiderwire, Stren, Abu Garcia, Abel and Shikari. The two worked side-by-side at Fenwick at a time when the company was putting out 1,000 rods per day.
Cousins rods all begin as blanks fine-tuned by Cunningham and hand made by rod building experts with years of experience. Cousins rods are finished with the finest components available, including top-grade Fuji and ALPS guides and reel seats, hand-sanded, hand-fitted Grade A cork grips, genuine Hypalon sponge rubber grips, triple thread wrapping and three coats of UV-resistant slow-cure finish. A video of the Cousins rod building process can be viewed at YouTube.
Each Cousins rod takes days and dozens of handcrafted steps to produce — finally finishing with the application of an individual serial number on each rod for quality control and improved warranty service. All Premium Cousins rods are backed by the company’s Limited Lifetime Warranty and Cousins Factory Service.
Cousins will only be sold through independent tackle dealers across the country. To find out more about this new American tackle company, or locate the dealer nearest you, contact Cousins Tackle Corp. at (714) 893-0423 or visit CousinsTackle.com.