This month’s focus for our W2 Profile piece is Daniel Charles, owner of Bent Rod Fishing.
We first met Charles, 45, of Winchester, Virginia at the Richmond Fishing Expo after spying his unique baits.
We were fascinated by his Mogambo swimbait and the proprietary process Charles is using to create the lure. We asked him about the creation and evolution of Bent Rod Fishing to its current state.
“So Bent Rod has changed A LOT in its four years. I started Bent Rod with my brother Derrick as an Amazon- based drop shipping business. We bought lures from overseas, had them shipped to Amazon warehouses and watched as Amazon took most of our profits in their pick and pack fees. We weren’t happy with the returns but didn’t pull the trigger on changing the business model until the COVID quarantines started.
“I was an executive recruiter, and I believe my brother worked in the pool industry at the time. We both lost our jobs due to the shutdowns, so…we started looking for ways to make Bent Rod a more ‘hands on’ business. I watched a video on YouTube of a guy painting lure blanks and a light bulb went off (the first of two very important light bulbs).
“I ordered a small cheap air compressor, the cheapest airbrush I could find, and a box of unpainted lure blanks and started having fun. I sent a pic of the very first lure I painted to Derrick and he didn’t believe I had painted it at first.
“Fast forward a month and we were both painting and sending each other pictures of what we were doing, and starting to test the waters on friends and family to see if others thought as highly of them as we did, and what do you know… people really liked them!
“We had a logo made, website built, located appropriate packaging solutions and all the things that go into making a business legit. Derrick ultimately decided to step down and return to his career once the COVID fiasco ended, but I still had unfinished business with Bent Rod.
“You see, I had just started fishing hover rigs and had an idea I wanted to test. Hover strolling was my new favorite way to fish but the amount of lead and plastics I was going through was going to drive me into the poorhouse.
“One night as I lay in bed unable to sleep, I had an idea…what if the lead insert used to build a hover rig was not only completely encapsulated by the plastic but also attached to the hook shank?
“It was time to test the theory, so I bought some shrink tubing from the hardware store and attached the insert weight to the hook shank and used a set of helping hands to hold my new jig in place inside an open pour fluke mold and poured a straight pink fluke with my jig inside (the very first RIG).
“When I took it to the Chickahominy River and tested it the following weekend, the results were better than I could have imagined. Before making the jig and encapsulating it into the bait I averaged two or three bass per hover rig before needing to replace something… I still have that first RIG and while I do not fish with it anymore it has caught 37 bass and could catch many more!
“With the theory tested, and very successful, it was time to figure out how to speed up the process. You see, that first RIG took me WAY too long to make and I could only make 1 at a time so it wasn’t viable to sell…yet.
“Then I reached out to Fat Guys fishing, a mold making company just outside of Philly, and told them about my bait. I explained what I had done and what I wanted to do and they helped me fill in the blanks and made the mold for the RIG. At first I sold the RIG along with my hard baits but as time went on I noticed people were walking right past my hard baits and going straight to the RIG. Eventually I ran a sales report through my website and was shocked at just how much it was out performing my other baits.
“That’s when light bulb number two went off… I realized, every time I touched my airbrush to paint hard lures instead of pulling out my Pyrex cups to make RIGs, I was losing money. I started buying fewer and fewer lure blanks and more and more gallons of plastisol until I officially stopped painting hard baits and started doing soft plastics full time. My second idea was similar to the RIG but instead of a pre-rigged hover rig it’s a pre-rigged swimbait…The Mogambo. It is still a very new bait but it is starting off just like the RIG did… rippin lips! “
We also asked if Charles had a mentor or other supporter to learn from or someone who encouraged him along the way.
“As far as a mentor goes, no I do not have a mentor however, I would be completely dropping the ball if I didn’t mention Jerry, Jenny and Jared over at Jake’s Bait and Tackle. They were the first to take a chance on a no name bait maker that talks too much! Jared and Jenny even agreed to sit down with me privately and allowed me to pick their brains with questions like “When a small bait maker approaches you, why do you say yes? Why do you say no? What are things I can do to set myself apart from all the others?” They were very gracious in answering every question I had, and always invite me to participate in events they attend or host. Bent Rod wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them, and that’s no joke.”
So how does you come up with products? Angler suggestion, pro staff, or a fertile lure mind?
“That is a great question! Up to this point I’ve created two baits (The RIG and The Mogambo) and I have touched on the process I used for the RIG…insomnia! LOL The Mogambo was a design I worked on with my son Christian. We wanted another pre-rigged bait but something VERY different from the RIG, and something with a lower level of difficulty to fish than the RIG. Swimbaits are super easy to fish and very popular so the decision was easy there.
“As far as my pro staff go, I have an amazing group of loyal guys out there showing people the benefits of “Getting Bent” but as of yet I have not included them in a bait design… I am however working with them on custom colors for the RIG and Mogambo. Keep an eye out for the Bent Rod ‘Pro Staff Creations’ tab on my website…coming soon!
With so many small bait manufacturers we asked Charles what makes Bent Rod Products different?
“I would say my focus on pre-rigged baits. I know I’m definitely not the inventor of shoot around molds, but I do plan to focus most of my creativity on them. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone do that before. Other than that I’d say the thing that makes Bent Rod different is, ME! What I mean by that is… Bent Rod (for now) is an army of one. Production is done by me, quality control is me, packaging baits…yep, me! By doing everything myself I can control every aspect of the operation and make sure quality is of the highest importance! I can tell you from my experience in recruiting, the more people you add to a situation the more of a chance you add someone with less passion about your product than yourself. That’s when mistakes start happening, so I plan to keep Bent Rod the way it is for as long as possible.”
We asked Charles to explain the process he is using to create the baits with the weight and hook incorporated into the lure.
“So…for the record, I don’t use shrink tubing for my jigs anymore! I start the process by melting lead in a lead pot and shooting my hover and swimbait jigs. I then ‘clean them up’ by removing the lead sprue from the jig and clean off any flashing from around the body with a box cutter. After that I load the jigs into a jig rack I made, to hold them while applying a product to the jig with my airbrush that causes the plastic and lead to fuse together when they come into contact. I then dry the jigs and remove them from the rack. Once it’s time to make baits I take the appropriate jig and load them into whichever bait mold I am using. Once the jigs are loaded and the plastisol is heated and mixed with the appropriate pigments, powders and flakes I just inject the hot plastic into the pre loaded mold and wait for it to cool down. I then either hang them or lay them on cookie sheets to cure (minimum 48 hours).
Now that we know about these unique baits, where can I find them?
Charlies noted his entire collection of baits is available at www.bentrodfishingusa.com. As it stands right now I am in four tackle shops as well… Jake’s Bait and Tackle in Winchester VA, Hoffman’s Tackle in Berkeley Springs WV, Millers Hardware in Stephens City VA and Jims Live Bait and Tackle in Kirkwood PA. I am actively looking for more retail partners as well.
So what does Charles enjoy doing in his spare time?
“Bahahahahah, spare time? What’s that!?!?! In all seriousness though, my favorite things to do is spend time with my partner in crime, my best friend and the most enjoyable person to be around I’ve ever met, my wife Shelley. As long as we’re together, we’re happy. I obviously LOVE to fish, but I also love to grill and smoke meat (my brisket is on POINT!) and on rainy gross days our favorite thing to do is stay in our Pjs and either binge some TV or play some games.”
Our last question was do you see yourself as a ZOOM Baits one day or are you more dedicated to creating a regional brand of soft plastics and why?
“I’d like to find a balance of size and quality. I do understand that eventually I’m going to have to hire people and my army of one mentality will have to end if I want to hang with brands like Zoom. I hope I can pull from my training as a recruiter and really score some top quality people to surround myself with, that are passionate about Getting and Staying Bent! I will say this, as long as I own Bent Rod, the baits will be the highest quality I can make, and made in America. So I guess the short answer is, I’ll get as big as I can before quality takes a hit.
