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The Australian Rod Builder

Australian Rod BuilderIan Miller's family based business 'The Australian Rod Builder Pty Ltd' is located on the south coast of NSW Australia (a few hours drive from Sydney) and ideally situated to take advantage of nearby fishing grounds for such diverse species as billfish, tuna, bass, bream, trout and more.

Ian's designing talents are also utilised by several tackle companies, most notably Shimano Australia with whom Ian has continued a close professional association since 1995, designing many highly successful Shimano rod ranges on an ongoing basis*.

However, the driving force of the Australian Rod Builder continues to be designing and individually handcrafting fishing rods of the highest order. The benchmark 'Millerods' range incorporates the myriad of rods showcased on this website and 'one-off' custom work. Ian's customers have included Prime Ministers, Presidents, rock stars, sports stars, celebrities, tournament champions and thousands of everyday anglers!

ARB maintains a unique situation in the rod making business. While the range is extensive, each item is truly a highly handcrafted product in the best tradition of custom made rods. The limited quantity of rods are created each year allow the attention to detail, methods of production and quality control to be second to none. Ian is also able to quickly and continually upgrade each and every model with the latest and very best rod components available worldwide as well as his own custom built blanks and fittings.

Ian's rods are uncompromising, his designs cutting edge. They have been proven the world over and are the proud possessions of anglers in every corner of the globe.

* Ian Miller designed Shimano rod ranges include several series of 'Steve Starling' rods, the Millennium range built by GLoomis, the Raider and MFRII rod ranges for specialist lure casting, Triton Sport Fishing Series, Jewel Rods, Sephia squid fishing rods and Tiralejo and Aerowave Surf rods. Ian is also the designer behind the best selling Shimano T-Curve range which includes such famous series as Tournament, Flight, Bluewater, Deep Jig, Lucanus and Tiagra rods - the most comprehensive production range of game fishing rods ever seen in Australia. T-Curve has recently been expanded even further by Shimano and Ian to incorporate Revolution Inshore, Revolution Offshore, Revolution Travel, Revolution Travel Game, Revolution Coastal and Revolution Vertical ranges! Ian's latest designs with Shimano include a collaborative effort with famous fishing identity Kaj 'Bushy' Busch with the 'Bushy Legend Lure' and 'Bushy Legend Bait' rods, and also the new OCEA range including the innovative 'Switchbait' game fishing rods! 

Ian Miller

Ian Miller

The name Ian Miller is synonymous with quality, high performance fishing rods of the finest order. Ian has worked with many of the world's top anglers, boat captains, fishing guides and tackle companies during his career, and this involvement enables him to continually operate at the highest level.

Nicknamed 'Barra' after Australia's renowned north Australian sportfish, Ian regularly travels the country and the world to experience particular types of fishing and design rods accordingly.

'Barra' has also designed tournament winning lures for Shimano Squidgy and consulted with Haines Hunter to advise on bass boat layout and function during the design process of their own 'Pro Strike' tournament fishing boat.

An accomplished tournament angler in both the fresh and saltwater, Ian has attained awards in many of Australia's leading competitions. Inshore events include the NT Barra Classic, The Lake Windamere Golden Classic, and most recently, BREAM and BASS and BARRA events of the ABT.

With a widely successful competition background in game fishing from Cairns to Bermagui in many prestigious GFAA and NSWGFA events, Ian is one of only a few anglers in the world to have caught and released all six species of Indo-Pacific billfish, and is thought to be the first to do so!

Ian is dedicated to the future of fishing and is a recognised fishing journalist in print media. Ian maintained a monthly rod building column firstly in the popular Queensland Fishing Monthly, then in the national Modern Fishing magazine for ten years before recently moving on to the new and exciting 'FishLife' quarterly. Ian is a popular seminar presenter especially at major events such as the Sydney International Boat Show, and he also has a background in fishing radio shows in Sydney and fishing television on Lifestyle.

Ian began building rods in his teenage years, has made it his profession for over three decades, and continues to be his passion. In this time he has built an enviable reputation as a rod designer and craftsman of the highest order, and his name is recognised around the world. This has largely been due to his strict philosophy of maintaining the highest qualities of performance and craftsmanship - something that he continues to hold as the main focus of all his rods found here in this website.

Millerods Workshop Tour

Millerods Workshop TourRecently ARB moved into its own specialist rod building workshop!

Starting with a blank canvas Ian was able to fulfil a long-term dream by personally designing and building his state-of-the-art rod shop with dedicated areas for designing, machining, assembling, binding, finishing and administrating Millerods!

Ian's meticulous approach to his work and his demand for excellence required the fit-out to be top quality and incredibly clean; indeed some describe it as being more like a private clinic than a workshop!

We hope you enjoy this short tour of the home of Ian Miller; The Australian Rod Builder.

Handcrafted in Australia, famous around the world!

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