At last weekend’s Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, New Jersey, our friend Ken Tanaka showed up with a film crew to talk to Tom Rosenbauer about some of the new products for 2017. Regular readers will know Ken as the host of Wish4Fish, a great video series about fly fishing.
Tom shows Ken the new Mirage reel—made right here in Vermont—which is built around the same drag system as its predecessor, but which offers some cool features, including better sealing, type III anodizing, a great drag-adjustment system, and a killer design. We’re also introducing what we believe are the greatest snips ever made. They’re a heck of a lot more expensive that that pair of nail-clippers you might have been using, but these new snips work a whole lot better and will last a lifetime. For saltwater and big-game species, our new pliers combine fine-tuned sensitivity, power, and comfort. Both the snips and the pliers are made in the same Vermont shop as the new Mirage, and even the sheath for the pliers is made in the USA.

Hmmm. Not sure I appreciate Orvis entering the fray in this political climate about being made in the USA or not…. . I’m Briitsh and live in London. That its made in the US suggests quality usually but unfortunately the perception of your emphasis in these complicated political time is perhaps more towards economic natipnalism, not really something I want to consider (or not). Fly fishing is something of a universal sanctuary and it’s a shame if an ugly political debate or ideology enters this world. That some of your fans ‘always buy American ‘ is commendable patriotism but should perhaps be kept a private matter rather than an opinion you should invite at this point in history. The rest of the world feels excluded from the Orvis community.
“Made in the USA” has been around for decades. I’m sure they mean nothing political by it; you made it political with this post.
To everyone else, obvious troll is obvious, don’t feed.
Reel looks rad, Tom!
Made in the US means more to the ppl in the US then anywhere else.
Mark is a jackass. I love Orvis. Visited the Manchester shop and factory. I was impressed how you let women work from home. I will always buy American if given the choice.
Making American products great again!
Mark, if you are concerned, then go buy some Hardy gear and call it a day. We all know that Made in America is preferable to the Asian made products of recent years.
Orvis has always been proud of and states when they make anything in the US, and it’s never been controversial. They import too. As a matter of fact, many collectible Orvis reels were made by Hardy, and were great too. Sucks to see anyone troll politics here where it does not belong. I fish to forget about that stuff.
Kindly please stop trolling here, there are so many other spaces for that.
I work in a machine shop in vermont, and I am making the parts that go into this reel. I am amazed with the quality of these reels. I make everything from parts for airplane engines to missle guidance systems and these parts are much more complex than those. When they say made in the USA it stands for quality. I am proud to be a small part of this.