So, I am a big fan of Eagle Claw fishing products. From their hooks and gear and especially to their fishing rods. I have not heard too many anglers on here mention them. I know that Eagle Claw is geared more towards trout anglers, as they they were founded in 1925 when trout was THE SPECIES long before bass angling was a sport and I rarely see bass anglers praising Eagle Claw the way I see trout anglers do. You cannot deny the quality of products that Eagle Claw produces. But I feel their products are somewhat snubbed these days in the fishing communinty. Especially by bass fishermen. I currently use an older rod, a 7'0 medium action Eagle Claw Red Eagle for my smallmouth bass and trout set up. It works great! Never a single issue has come up. If you have any doubts look at the fish in my profile. These rods are tough! Are there any other Eagle Claw users out there? (Im also not a big fan of Ugly Sticks. Very overrated in my opinion.)

And also, I had the same rod throughout childhood that I used for trout. Over 10 years. It took a beating each trip, but always came back for another round! It was a black and yellow rod that I will never forget. It only broke when a big T.V. fell on it while moving. I was literally in tears, sorry to say, as I had wanted to give my childhood rod to MY children someday. This is one reason I fell in love with Eagle Claw rods. They stand the test of time, and they have earned my respect. Their hooks are also the first thing you will spot in many angler's tackle boxes!

I believe that the reason Eagle Claw (Wright & McGill) is not big in the bass fishing market is that they have never marketed to bass fishermen specifically. I understand that their new line of rods is a big improvement over what for years was decent, middle of the road tackle-good but not great. I also think the yellow color puts off some anglers who factor appearance into their purchase. I learned long ago that a fish rarely sees your rod until it's too late. It is an old adage in bowling that a male bowler buys performance, a female (with exceptions) generally will put appearance first. Anglers can be the same, with experience replacing gender. Tom

Thanks Pegsguy. I think you are right that Eagle Claw hasn't really targeted bass anglers as a demographic for the most part. And if a fish does see your rod it will probably think it is a branch! And what about Carrot Stix?! They are orange for crying out loud and some people think they are the best! I guess many anglers, like myself, are loyal to their brands. For me, it's Eagle Claw and Quantum.

I have an Eagle Claw reel that I absolutely love, it really works well day in and day out, and at a great price (from Walmart). Except for one minor slip up (it exploded in the middle of a cast and I lost the bail roller because a screw came loose, totally my bad), its a great reel. Haven't tried the rods though, but I prefer to keep a lower profile out on the water, so I don't have an Eagle Claw or Carrot Stix rod.

Posted By skewl on 08 Mar 2011 05:09 PM
I have an Eagle Claw reel that I absolutely love, it really works well day in and day out, and at a great price (from Walmart). Except for one minor slip up (it exploded in the middle of a cast and I lost the bail roller because a screw came loose, totally my bad), its a great reel. Haven't tried the rods though, but I prefer to keep a lower profile out on the water, so I don't have an Eagle Claw or Carrot Stix rod.

Eagle Claw rods come in a variety of colors skewl. Not just the classic black and yellow. I use a darker red one and a black one. Good rods. Are they the best? Who's to say. But I love them!

These are a couple of the rods I use. The Red Eagle is my favorite.

Eagle Claw hooks are very good quality and I am more impressed with them overall than some of the other brands that seem to be really popular with the bass guys such as Gamakatsu. I have both brands and like them both but I have had some Gamakatsu hooks with some quality issues and have also had several corrode very quickly. I have never come across any Eagle Claw rods so I have no opinion but I have heard good things from people that have used their rods. I also really like their Nitro grease fish attractant. That stuff really works well.

Thanks for the comment Sierrafishing! I agree. Eagle Claw hooks are very good. They are of a higher quality than other hooks on the market.

I think you have to look carefully at the type of hook you're buying. If you're buying the bottom of the metal, typical bronze finish, you're going to get rusty hooks easy regardless from with manufacture it is. If you buy the hook that are chrome plated or forged are going to be better. I've used a lot of Eagle Claw hooks, but when it comes to upper end hooks there are many good offerings from other hook manufactures that will provide better performing hooks. Eagle Claw really didn't have any hooks competing in the upper end category until they came out with the Lazer Trokar hooks.

Posted By slipperybob on 12 Mar 2011 03:59 AM
I think you have to look carefully at the type of hook you're buying. If you're buying the bottom of the metal, typical bronze finish, you're going to get rusty hooks easy regardless from with manufacture it is. If you buy the hook that are chrome plated or forged are going to be better. I've used a lot of Eagle Claw hooks, but when it comes to upper end hooks there are many good offerings from other hook manufactures that will provide better performing hooks. Eagle Claw really didn't have any hooks competing in the upper end category until they came out with the Lazer Trokar hooks.

Eagle claw hooks are the most popular fishing hooks on the entire market! Making up 34.5% of all hooks purchased. They must be doing something right. So I don't see how you can say they didn't have any hooks "competing!" Eagle Claw's Lazar Sharp hooks are considered to be the sharpest hooks out there by most professional opinions. Not to mention they are the only brand of fishing hooks made in the U.S.A.! But you know how us Americans suck at making quality products.....

Eagle Claw sells the most hooks because of price, period! The Lazer Sharp hooks are as good as any on the market but their standard hooks are so-so. Next time you are in a store look at a package of Eagle Claw snelled hooks (probably their biggest seller) and note that the hooks are made in USA but "hand tied in Mexico". It won't be long before they move production offshore also. Tom

It's not merely because of price. It is also because Eagle Claw sells a quality product, period! And who cares if they are hand tied in Mexico? The HOOKS are what I am buying not the tied on leader!

Just to clarify, the Gamakatsu hooks I have that corroded quite quickly are nickel finish(they look like chrome but say nickle on the package). I try to avoid bronze hooks specifically for that reason. The Eagle Claw hooks I have are all of good quality. One example is the round bend short shank trebles I bought for some of my crankbaits. Granted they aren't as good as Owner stinger trebles but they are nearly as good as the excellent quality Mustad and Xcalibur Tx3 trebles I like to use. They are all uniform, sharp and well finished and cost less than my other hooks of choice. They make some lower grade hooks and some excellent high grade hooks.
I disagree that we Americans suck at producing quality products. America produces plenty of quality products. Some of the highest quality fishing components are made in the USA. Even many things manufactured elsewhere are designed here and made to the manufacturer's specifications. We must be doing something right because we are still the number one exporter of goods in the world.

Posted By Sierrafishing on 13 Mar 2011 12:08 AM
Just to clarify, the Gamakatsu hooks I have that corroded quite quickly are nickel finish(they look like chrome but say nickle on the package). I try to avoid bronze hooks specifically for that reason. The Eagle Claw hooks I have are all of good quality. One example is the round bend short shank trebles I bought for some of my crankbaits. Granted they aren't as good as Owner stinger trebles but they are nearly as good as the excellent quality Mustad and Xcalibur Tx3 trebles I like to use. They are all uniform, sharp and well finished and cost less than my other hooks of choice. They make some lower grade hooks and some excellent high grade hooks.
I disagree that we Americans suck at producing quality products. America produces plenty of quality products. Some of the highest quality fishing components are made in the USA. Even many things manufactured elsewhere are designed here and made to the manufacturer's specifications. We must be doing something right because we are still the number one exporter of goods in the world.

Sierrafishing I was using sarcasm to make a point when I said that! I completely agree with you. America is the greatest country on Earth and we produce the highest quality products on the planet!

I enjoyed using the Featherlight hooks and several Lazer Sharp hooks, when they first came out. They also have the biggest presence in commercials if not the only presence in advertising and marketing. Granted the Lazer Sharp hooks have seen improvements in recent years, but they're still behind several other manufactures. A few examples of hook comparison. Mustad Ultrapoint hooks have points that are a lot stronger than compared to the Lazer Sharp hooks. The points don't roll if you merely bump the hook into some rocks that the Lazer Sharp hooks tend to do. VMC chrome vanadium hooks are superior to Lazer Sharp hooks in terms of corrosion resistance and sharpness. Gamakatsu and Daichi hooks are have always been just plain sharper than Eagle Claws, even in plain bronze hooks with a straight point vs the curved points of Eagle Claws. The Gamakatsu metal is not at strong as the Daichi and points will roll easer on contact with rocks. Owner hooks with their cutting point has the lowest force requirement for penetration. Lazer Trokar hooks may have a bit more of an edge over the Owner hooks, but with a cost of twice of that. So far I'm just comparing the hook points. Look at the barb on the hooks. Eagle Claws have huge barbs in comparison. Most of the other manufacture hooks hold fish just as well if not so much better. When you get into treble hooks, all my Eagle Claw trebles are tossed aside or snipped off from my lures and replaced with VMC, Mustad, Owner, and Gamakatsu trebles for better hook up ratio and holding fish. All of this is not even an issue of quality, but pure performance.

Posted By Captain Quantum on 13 Mar 2011 01:05 AM

Sierrafishing I was using sarcasm to make a point when I said that! I completely agree with you. America is the greatest country on Earth and we produce the highest quality products on the planet!

I thought about that after I posted and wondered if you were being sarcastic. It is sometimes hard to tell on forums like these and I have talked to people that think almost everything made in America is poor quality.
  Back to the Eagle Claw topic, I just remembered that I bought some jig heads from Bass Pro Shops not long ago that have Eagle Claw hooks. They were a selling point for me because I didn't know the quality of the hooks on the other similar jig heads they sell. They are very good quality, some of the best hooks I've seen on a commercially available jig head.

Yes, Eagle Claw's hooks are incredibly good and of a high quality. I don't understand why the brand is being talked down by the other members on here. VMC, Daichi, and Gamakatsu are very good hooks as well. I have them on my top water and crankbaits. And I use Gamakatsu for my bass set up when rigging soft plastics. But Eagle Claw makes excellent hooks as well. I don't think the quality and performance of their hooks can be refuted. But that's just my opinion.

But the main point of my topic was to see if there were any other members that liked and used Eagle Claw fishing rods.

Hey Captain. I currently have two of the eagle claw(wright and mgill) spin/fly pack rods. I am not sure exactly how old they are but I know that my father got them by at least 1974, possibly earlier. I don't use them a whole lot but I do love them. I also own an eagle claw featherlight 5 wt 7.5 ft fly rod. it is very light in the hand and is a joy to cast.

Brian