Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
Rent This Rod rents premium fly rods and reels by mail across North America. Reels arrive with fly line already installed but no leaders, so renters still buy tippet, flies and licenses from a local shop. A broken rod costs a flat $100 damage fee rather than the replacement price of the rod.
David Moore and his co-founder Brian are longtime fishing partners who started Rent This Rod, a mail-order service renting high-end fly rods and reels across North America.
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How does renting a fly rod by mail actually work?
Renting from Rent This Rod starts with an inquiry sent through the company's website, which lists the available inventory and brands. Rather than an automated cart, the founders reply personally and outfit each customer for the trip they are taking. The reel ships with fly line already installed, and the rod can go anywhere the shipper reaches, though most rentals stay within North America or go to travelers based there.
What happens if you break a rented fly rod?
A broken rental rod costs a flat $100 damage fee. That fee covers the repair itself plus the cost of the rod sitting out of inventory for weeks while it is being fixed. The founders point out that repairing a rod you own would cost about the same, so the policy functions like insurance rather than a penalty.
Do rod rentals take business away from fly shops?
Fly shops near the company's North Carolina base do not rent equipment, largely because breakage and liability make rentals a headache, and the main shop the founders use had rented in the past and stopped. Those shops now refer rental customers to Rent This Rod. Because rentals ship with line but no leaders, renters still go to a local fly shop for leaders, tippet, flies and licenses, and the founders were working on a revenue-sharing arrangement so shops could offer rentals without carrying rental rods.
How did Rent This Rod get its first inventory?
The first rental rod came off eBay: a nine-foot five-weight from one of the most expensive production rod lines available. To test whether anyone would actually book, the founders also listed two of their own personal rods on the site, including a rare fiberglass Scott and a couple of Orvis rods. Demand from that test, plus one untested contact that turned into a phone call with the CEO of Thomas & Thomas, put the business in operation.
Which rod brands are in the Rent This Rod fleet?
Rent This Rod's partner brands at the time of recording were Clutch Fly Rods, Thomas & Thomas fly rods and Ross reels. The company also announced a new partnership with Tom Morgan Rodsmiths, the shop founded by a former owner of Winston, making Rent This Rod one of the only ways to rent or demo one of those rods before buying. For Thomas & Thomas rods the founders refer purchase inquiries back to the manufacturer rather than selling the rental unit.
Why is inventory the hardest part of a fly rod rental business?
Inventory is what has kept most people out of fly rod rentals, because demand clusters and multiple customers want the same rod for the same week. Buying enough rods to cover that takes capital, so the founders deliberately grew slowly through the first year. They used that first year to measure which categories customers actually rent, saltwater versus trout, before committing money to scale the fleet.
What is the biggest operational risk in shipping rental rods?
The one real failure the founders could point to involved a third-party shipper rather than the rods themselves. A rod and reel going from North Carolina to San Francisco on roughly seven-day standard shipping hit a marked carrier delay, with the client due to leave for a week in Wyoming. The founders had a plan to overnight a replacement setup to the destination, though the original shipment arrived in time.
Key takeaways
- A broken rental rod costs a flat $100 damage fee that covers repair and the rod's time out of inventory.
- Rental reels ship with fly line installed but no leaders, so renters still buy leaders, tippet, flies and a license locally.
- Fly shops that stopped renting gear because of breakage and liability now refer rental customers instead of competing for them.
- Test demand before buying inventory: the first rental rod came off eBay, and the founders listed their own rods to see whether anyone would book.
- Coast-to-coast standard shipping ran about seven days, so plan a buffer and have an overnight backup before a trip departure date.
- Renting for a week is a cheaper way to test a $1,000 to $1,200 saltwater setup than buying one for a single trip.
