Growing up on the water in Westport, Mass., Zack Richardson has always been obsessed with fishing. He built his first fishing rod at just 12 years old.
One rod turned into two; two turned into three; and eventually, Richardson had constructed 100 of his own rods before he even started high school.
He didn’t know it at the time, but that first batch of rods would be the beginning of what is now a thriving business. Zack’s Custom Rods can customize all aspects of the fishing rod from the aesthetics to the functionality.
“We piece together components of the fishing rod that you won't find on a factory build,” Richardson, a Bryant University student, told Rhode Island Inno. “We make sure that everything on the rod and how everything goes on the rod is the best it can be, so it can last 10 times longer. It's an investment that is for you and fit for you.”
The company has built surf rods for people fishing the Cape Cod Canal, rods for people that like to fish on kayaks in freshwater, heavy duty offshore rods that you might see on the hit television show "Wicked Tuna" and much more.
“We get people of all walks just ordering crazy things that you would never even imagine."
And when Richardson says custom, he really means it in every sense.
The company can make rods different colors. It can add decorative materials like feathers. It can put someone’s name on it and anything else one might think of. Every rod is fitted for the customer’s specific height, and the company can also adapt different design components of the rod by request.
That might be putting the rod guides — the rings that hold the line — at the top or bottom of the rod. On the surf casting rods, for instance, the company will place the guides to enhance casting distance.
“We get people of all walks just ordering crazy things that you would never even imagine,” said Richardson.
For example: One customer had a shoulder injury that prevented him from casting in the traditional over-the-head style. So, the company built a shorter rod that allowed the customer to complete a sideways cast.
Richardson’s craft and expertise has turned his rods into high-end luxury items, with rods selling for as much as $1,700, although price varies depending on the buildout.
Throughout middle school and high school, Richardson built rods in his basement as a side hustle. But once he got to college, orders really started to take off.
He won the Goss Prize at Bryant, a special award for student entrepreneurs, and used the funds from the award to open up his own shop in Westport, right behind Westport Bait & Tackle. He has started taking on employees as well to help with the demand.
The company has received orders and inquiries from people in New Jersey, Florida, North Carolina and even Australia. Despite the cold winters in New England, orders outside the region have kept the company busy.
Looking ahead, Richardson said he is planning to overhaul the website and add drop-down menu bars so people can customize and build their own rods online.
As production ramps up, he expects the company will mass produce a lot of semi-custom builds, essentially doing subcontracting for tackle shops scattered across the Northeast.
These tackle shops typically order between 15 to 20 custom “shop rods” that have a specific color set, a certain grip and the tackle shop’s logo on them. The idea is that these are the store’s specialty rods and of the highest quality.
Richardson said he also sees the company moving in a direction where it manufactures a lot of its own components, and eventually produce some of them overseas.
“The market is definitely booming, especially with the economy being the way it is,” he said. “It's growing each and every year as more people get into fishing.”
