Zach Matthews
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That’s helpful Ben, thanks man. I think the ideal way to do this would be to have some kind of pedestal to elevate the object, then enough space between it and the backdrop to allow the backdrop to totally blur when I nail it with a remote flash hiding behind the pedestal. Then I believe I could more or less light the object normally and go from there. The Holy Grail would be a setup that didn’t require erasing anything in post.
Good tips on aligning the objects so I can control the highlights. I was just looking for something to shoot, to be honest. (See below). Hahahah.
Peter –
I think the Chinese *would* be capable of making gear just as good as ours. But that wouldn’t fit the market model. China is a collectivist culture, where the square peg gets pounded into the round hole. I don’t think there’s the support for creativity that we have in the West. What they’re really good at is duplicating exactly the same thing over and over almost infinitely (witness the Beijing Olympics).
So while a Chinese factory would certainly be able to make a point for point copy of, say, a Nautilus, and make it indistinguishable in quality, I don’t think they would be able to independently invent a Nautilus. So far they have made no contributions in the form of an innovative new drag or a wholly original way of making a fly rod. And if they did make perfect copies, then their prices would have to go up. The only way they stay price competitive with the built in disadvantage of shipping cost is to employ people for low wages and to keep quality at a barely-acceptable to medium-decent level.
Thanks Peter. It’ll work in the summer too if the water’s right. I’m not sure where you’re located particularly.
Check this out:
versus this:
http://bluehalogear.com/?page_id=47
versus this:
http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=1T2K
First, if I’m Orvis, I’d be ready to bust some caps at my supplier. But even assuming the knock-offs were stolen or done after the fact, as opposed to coming out the back door of my same factory, what can you really do? I mean, I’ve never heard of Blue Halo reels. Or MaxCatch.
I think this is just the cost of doing business overseas. It sucks. But maybe the solution is to bring production back here where people are accountable and can lock their tech down.
That’s awesome Grant. Doesn’t look like anyone’s been there. Do us a favor and share the photos, ok?
Scott does this stuff for a living–you guys can take it to the bank.
Poor fly tyers; they wouldn’t appreciate being told their inventions are obvious and non-novel. Unfortunately, it’s true. Even a creation as patently useful as the dumbbell eye created by Bob Clouser and then duplicated in practically every streamer ever since was more or less lifted directly from conventional fishing and repurposed.
Misappropriation of IP reportedly happens every day. I’ve talked to a LOT of rod manufacturers who expressed either their concerns about or their completely unwillingness to deal with Asian, especially Chinese, rod makers, even for low-end lines, due to the reality that their partner would be turning around and selling their special tech out the back door as a “knock off” or even as a different name brand.
We’ve talked before about the weird design-by-committee effect that can have, which a lot of people think is the reason the Chinese rods went from dog beaters to world beaters in basically the five years from 2003-2008. Suddenly all these different Chinese firms are working with these great international rod designers, then stealing, selling, collaborating, and generally engaging in an orgy of cross-pollination of rod building ideas, until you get re-badges coming in on shipping containers that can handle a 100′ cast in the Denver pool. All of that happened.
Hey Clay –
No Gheenoe for these guys – it wouldn’t stand up to the moving water and rocks. Although I may try with it down closer to you at some point.
I’ll give you a call in the next 2-3 weeks when this really gets going and we’ll get out there.
Zach
Hey Jonathan –
I’ve had that happen, although not last weekend. Sometimes in that area the crowds get so heavy you will literally get a round of applause when you land a fish. That’s actually pretty fun. You feel like taking a bow, then you realize that would be ridiculous, so you put on a stern face and act all “Oh, this? No, I do this all the time. Yeah, yeah, please no fo-tos.” Hahahaha.
Looks good – what are you primarily targeting with the neutral flotation shrimp? (I can’t listen to the audio here at my desk).
Travis –
Did you get your boat? Did you listen to the podcast on this one? You were the reason I learned about their skiffs and reached out for the interview.
Zach
Tim –
Yes; Bryan had a project going this summer so we decided to hold off until he could potentially include that as something to discuss.
Obviously I didn’t get the new show out tonight – sorry, had to get some fishing in. 🙂 Look for it tomorrow night.
Bob –
As you know, manufacturers read this site. One of them noted after reading your comment that they keep their design files behind an “air gap” (meaning no outside connection to the internet) just to be cautious about international espionage.
Zach
Michael –
As I commented in another thread, it’s almost impossible.
Hailing a 100% overseas manufacturer into court in the United States AND then getting a judgment you can enforce is really only going to happen if there’s an American front company with assets that you can seize.
Theoretically, you could sue the overseas manufacturer in your local court, provided you could show they have done business in your particular jurisdiction. You have to show they have “sufficient contacts with the forum,” usually pursuant to your particular state’s “Long Arm Statute.” Then you have to actually get service of process on them so they know they are being sued. So I guess you could hire a guy to go to China to serve the papers.
There is a 99% likelihood that these companies would just ignore you and keep operating. You could win a default judgment against them here in America, as well as an injunctive order from the court telling them to cease and desist. But again, no way to enforce them.
Think of it this way. Say you’re selling a product you make to someone in Botswana over the internet. A Botswana court holds that you have broken Botswanan law because they have someone there who sells the same product. You haven’t broken any American laws at all. What are you going to do? Probably nothing. I could not care less if there is a Botswanan judgment hanging out there over me, because I am never going to Botswana to submit myself to their court.
As a practical matter, these guys are immune to lawsuits. At the end of the day lawsuits only have power because we submit to the government that enforces them. Foreign nationals don’t, and there’s no way to stop someone from doing business over the internet or through the mails when you can’t seize their assets or send the police out to enforce a court order.
Zach
Tl;dr: Batman may have no jurisdiction, but the courts do.
Mike –
Some of the linked pictures were inexplicably lost in the transition, and I don’t think any of the formerly-uploaded pictures made the shift. But I’ll take a look. Some things were definitely lost in getting the board moved over to the new format.
Zach
It’s actually ideal. There’s also an article coming out this month in American Angler on all forms of stand up fishing.
This turned out to be a super easy mod. It took literally 45 minutes. I’m going to cover the deck in polyester resin to waterproof then cut and glue down the yoga mat for traction and padding if I fall.
When I say it works well I really mean that. I’ve caught enough bluefish, mackerel, and assorted other species to make fish tacos for a party of 18 in one day fishing off this thing.
The problem before was that I had to straddle the seat and put one foot on the rear deck. It was awkward. This will give me more flexibility to move around a bit.
The key to fishing from one of these in the surf is to make a chain anchor. Get a regular fluked sand anchor, then add a length of chain to it, then the rope. The chain will lay down and keep the flukes digging. A normal anchor does no good at all — wave action will lift you right off the bottom.
Zach
We probably ought to note that Tenkara USA itself imports rods, but they did all the legwork to get them developed and at least according to the article, they have an ownership stake in their foreign manufacturing plants. So they’re more akin to a Patagonia than to a Scott. (Simms makes its waders here but imports most of its soft goods, so they’re a hybrid).
But the bottom line is there are all kinds of companies overseas that can and will knock off a fly rod, and it’s good to see someone trying to hold the American partners of those companies accountable. It just isn’t fair for one company to do all the legwork and then have someone else swoop in, knock off the product, and get it made overseas.
Again speaking as a lawyer, I’ve dealt with this at times with companies making things like skeet throwers. From a practical perspective, those overseas partners are totally unassailable in the U.S. courts system. The only people who have their ass on the line if someone is injured by a faulty foreign-made product are the U.S. front companies (which mostly just advertise and distribute) and those front companies’ insurers. A lot of times the front company will simply declare bankruptcy and disappear (if it did not have insurance), then pop up again under another name elsewhere.
Again that’s in a liability situation involving actual injuries as opposed to a trade infringement suit, but nevertheless it is a good thing for companies to have to be responsible for the product they sell and to be held to the spirit of the law, which is what Tenkara USA is trying to do here.
Zach
