From Graph Paper to the Water: The Story Behind a JT Rod

A finished fishing rod may look simple; a blank, guides, a handle and a reel seat, but at JT Outdoor Products, the story of a new rod begins long before any of those components are assembled.

It usually starts on the water.

Maybe a member of the JT Pro Staff recognizes that a particular technique could benefit from a rod with a different load, power or action. Maybe a customer points out something they wish their current rod did better. Sometimes the JT team simply sees a gap in the lineup—an opportunity to build something that could give anglers an advantage.

Those ideas make their way back to JT, where they are discussed, vetted and prioritized. Not every idea becomes a new rod, but when the team identifies an opportunity to make something meaningfully better, the development process begins.

And it begins with something surprisingly simple: a blank sheet of graph paper.

Designing the Blank From the Ground Up

Joe Bricko and his father, an engineer and inventor with multiple patented designs, work together to engineer the blank from the ground up.

Rather than simply choosing a power and action from a catalog, the process starts by defining exactly how they want the new rod to perform. On a full-size sheet of graph paper, they create a load chart showing the desired power and load characteristics of the blank.

A minimum of 10 different weights are used to create a series of curves. As the amount of weight changes, so does the curve of the blank. Together, those curves provide a detailed picture of how the rod should load and respond under different amounts of pressure.

That full-size drawing becomes the blueprint for the new rod.

The completed chart is then provided to JT’s blank manufacturer, where the specifications are used to produce Prototype No. 1.

From the Drawing Board to the Water

When the first prototype blank arrives, the work is far from finished.

JT builds the blank into a complete rod using the premium guides, handle and other components being considered for the final production model. At that point, something that began as an idea and a series of curves on graph paper has become a fishing rod.

Now it has to prove itself.

The prototype is put into the hands of Joe Bricko and JT’s tournament anglers, who test it under real-world fishing conditions. These anglers put the rod through the same demanding use they experience throughout a tournament season, helping ensure each design can withstand the rigors of competitive fishing while delivering the sensitivity, power, action and performance it was engineered to provide.

Years of fishing and tournament experience come into play during this stage. The team isn’t simply determining whether the rod works. They’re looking at how it loads, how quickly it responds, how it feels in an angler’s hand and, most importantly, whether it provides the advantage the original design was intended to create.

Test. Refine. Repeat.

What looks right on graph paper doesn’t always feel exactly right once there’s a lure on the end of the line and a fish pulling back.

Feedback from Joe and the JT tournament team goes directly back into the development process. Adjustments are made to the original design, and a second, refined prototype is produced.

Then it’s back to the water.

The new prototype is built, fished and evaluated again. If something can still be improved, another adjustment is made and another prototype follows.

There is no predetermined number of rounds and no shortcut to the final design.

“There isn’t a predetermined number of prototypes. We’ll go through as many rounds as necessary until the rod performs exactly the way it was intended to perform.”
— Joe Bricko, Owner, JT Outdoor Products

That could mean two prototypes, or it could mean several. The process continues until Joe and the development team are satisfied that the rod delivers exactly what they set out to create.

Only then is the blank considered finalized.

From Prototype to Production

With the design approved, the project moves from development into production.

The JT team forecasts anticipated market demand and orders the blanks and premium components needed for the new model. At the same time, the marketing team begins preparing the rod for its introduction and eventual launch on the JT Outdoor Products website.

The blanks and components then make their way to Farmington, Minnesota, USA, where the JT team builds the finished rods.

This is where everything comes together—the original idea from an angler, the engineering, the full-size load chart, the prototypes, the tournament testing and every adjustment made along the way.

More Than a Finished Rod

By the time an angler picks up a finished JT rod, they’ll probably never see the sheet of graph paper that started it.

They won’t see Prototype No. 1 or know what changed before Prototype No. 2 was built. They won’t see the hours spent on the water testing different versions or the conversations that led to another adjustment in the blank.

But all of that work is built into the rod they’re holding.

As Joe Bricko explains:

“A JT rod doesn’t start on an assembly table. It starts with an idea for how a fishing rod could be better. That idea is engineered on paper, turned into a prototype, tested by tournament anglers, refined until it’s right, and ultimately built by our team right here in Farmington, Minnesota, USA.”
— Joe Bricko, Owner, JT Outdoor Products

From the first idea to the final build, every step has a purpose: create a rod that gives anglers an advantage on the water and make sure it earns the JT name before it ever reaches their hands.