If you’ve been eyeing any fishing gear purchases for the upcoming season, you might as well pull the trigger now. Because U.S. anglers are set to start feeling the impact of the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs. Industry experts say that any way you look at it, the price of fishing gear will increase in 2025 as a result and, in some cases, it already has.
“No one’s immune here,” VP of government affairs for the American Sportfishing Association Mike Leonard tells Outdoor Life. “And it’s not just our industry. I think pretty much everyone that imports anything or buys anything is confused right now.”
Much of that confusion stems from President Trump’s on-again-off-again approach to implementing tariffs, which are being levied on different countries for different reasons. On Thursday, the White House announced a second month-long pause of the 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods that were originally supposed to go into effect in February.
Leonard says it’s the impending tariffs on our northern and southern neighbors, along with the ones already imposed on China, that are most concerning to the U.S. sportfishing gear industry. That’s because the three nations manufacture and export a massive amount of gear to the United States every year.
Approximately 60 percent of U.S. fishing gear is imported and two-thirds of it comes from China, according to 2019 figures from the ASA. The organization notes that since recreational fishing gear is already subject to a unique 10 percent excise tax, adding additional tariffs of up to 25 percent “would be difficult for the industry to withstand” and would almost certainly raise the cost of imported finished products like rods and reels.
“Now, of course, we can’t say what [exactly] that means to the consumer [yet],” Leonard says. “Is it truly a 25 percent increase in the cost of the product? Or are some of those costs eaten by the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer? Who knows.”
He also points out that it’s not just rods, reels, canoes, and other big-ticket items that could be affected by current and future tariffs. Canada, he says, is a big supplier of nightcrawlers and other worms commonly used for bait. This might prompt a lot of Northwoods anglers to start collecting earthworms themselves this spring.
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Then there are the reciprocal tariffs that the Trump administration is considering. Many of these would affect Asian countries like South Korea, another huge supplier for U.S. anglers and gear makers. Although it’s hard to find exact production numbers, many U.S.-bought fly rods are manufactured in South Korea. Nearly all of the budget and mid-priced models offered by brands like Temple Fork Outfitters are made there, while even top-tier rod makers like Douglas and Hardy get some of their rod blanks from Korea. The same can be said for most conventional rods on the market.
“I’m struggling to think of any one [segment of the fishing gear industry] that’s not going to be affected,” Leonard says. “With all these compounding factors, no one’s held harmless in all this.”
Things could change at any moment with this administration, which seems to be using at least some of the proposed tariffs as bargaining chips to force concessions from other countries. So it’s hard to say when anglers will start to feel the pinch of Trump’s various tariffs at the cash register. As of Friday, the tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods have been paused until early April. This is also when Trump is expected to make a decision on the reciprocal tariffs mentioned above.
What About Aluminum?
In many instances, however, manufacturers and consumers of fishing gear are already seeing prices increase. This is due, in part, to the layered tariffs that have already been imposed on China. It’s also a result of the 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which went into effect globally in February.
The Trump administration says the tariffs on steel and aluminum will “restore fairness” to these markets and strengthen the U.S. manufacturing industry. Which could be true in the long run. In the immediate future, though, they will make a lot of the things anglers love more expensive.
Aluminum is used widely throughout the industry due to its incredible strength-to-weight ratio, and its ability to resist corrosion. It’s found in fishing nets, rod holders, motor mounts, and raft frames, along with most modern fishing reels on the market. (Although some manufacturers utilize plastics and other die-cast metals, the best reels in the world are made of machined aluminum.) And the vast majority of the aluminum used in America comes from abroad — roughly 60 percent of it comes from Canada alone, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“So you’re in the worst situation if you are manufacturing a fishing reel in China,” Leonard explains, “because not only are you getting these additional 20 percent tariffs on any Chinese imports. There’s also the 25 percent tariff on the aluminum content.”
U.S. Manufacturers Could Feel the Squeeze, Too
And what about the reels made with pride in the U.S. out of American-made aluminum bar stock? Leonard says those prices could go up, too, because of how interconnected the international sportfishing industry is.
“Especially these larger companies — they have domestic brands, but they also have international brands,” Leonard explains. “And if the company overall is taking a hit, that’s going to hit their U.S. manufacturing [profits] too, which is counter to the whole intent behind what the President is doing.”
This has the leaders of many U.S.-based fishing brands crying out for some relief. (Whether the Trump administration will consider these objections, as it did recently with auto manufacturers, remains to be seen.) One such example is St. Croix Rods, which proudly makes its premier rods at its headquarters in Wisconsin, but also has a rod-building factory in Mexico.
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“Nobody wants them,” St. Croix’s CEO Scot Forristall told Fishing Tackle Retailer on Thursday, referring to the tariffs that have either been threatened or already imposed by Trump. “They can only create pricing and or margin challenges for manufacturers and retail alike. And in a challenging economic time when consumer sentiment is already cautious, the concern is that these tariffs may cause an additional slowdown or shift in angler buying decisions.”
Forristall added that while his company stands to be impacted greatly by the impending Mexico tariffs, he will continue to take a “wait-and-see” approach as things remain up in the air.
“Businesses around the country are still trying to understand what this is going to mean for their bottom line,” Leonard says. “And then there’s the added uncertainty of: Is this real? Is this going to be paused? Is it going to go away? How long do I have to stay tuned to the news to determine when I need to start paying these additional tariffs?”
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