HONORING LOVED ONES, ONE CAST AT A TIME
Premium fishing rods for every angler's adventure.
HONORING LOVED ONES, ONE CAST AT A TIME
Premium fishing rods for every angler's adventure.
About Survivor Rods
Our Story
My name is Derek Mortensen.
Welcome to our family where we love the outdoors and hanging out as a typical fun loving family.
Well that all changed for three of us on May 24, 2023, when we were hit head on by a drunk driver. Kirstin, my lovely wife, was driving; Saige, our lovely 11 year old, was sitting behind Kirstin. Spencer was sitting in the passenger seat and I was sitting behind him. Why do I explain this in this fashion? Because these details are important to our story.
You see, we were traveling home after seeing the new Fast X movie and celebrating Spencers high school graduation the day before. When a drunk driver veered into our lane, taking out the side of the truck in front of us; hitting him hard enough to detach his rear axle from his truck. Sending her (the drunk driver) right for us. Kirstin gasped as she saw what was going to happen. Little did I know this would be the last breath she took on this earth.The impact took hers and Saige's life; plus the life of the drunk driver. The impact knocked me out for at least a span of 5-10 minutes. When I came too, I could hear Spencer talking to responders and climbing out of the sun roof. I kept saying to Spencer, "Check on your mom! Check on your mom!" I moved with difficulty but I managed to lift myself with my arms to get between the front seats, from there I tried to feel a pulse on both Kirstin and Saige. I kept telling myself that I may not feel a pulse because of the adrenaline coursing through me. I was hopeful that they were just knocked out and that they would come too soon. I then tried to lift myself up to the sun roof after seeing how Spencer got out. I realized that something was definitely wrong with my leg and hip I could not move it correctly.
During this process, Jennifer ,our oldest daughter, was called and told about the accident. She dropped everything she was doing at the theater, where she worked, and drove to the accident. She was intercepted by some friends, who were at the accident, and was told to go to the hospital. So one of our friends drove her to the hospital to wait for us to arrive. At this time, she had no idea the impact this would have on her life. She was at the hospital with family and Spencer when first responders told them the news of Saige and Kirstin. They would also be informed later that I would be life flighted to University of Utah Hospital to undergo surgery on my left hip. The impact sent the ball of my hip through my pelvis shattering it. Two surgeries in 24 hours and ten weeks of non-weight bearing, I am back to 100% to fish another day.
We were hit by a driver with a BAC level of .355, a suspended license, and no auto insurance. I do not say this to throw this driver or this persons family under the bus. I say this to show that this persons improper decision making skills and lifestyle took the life of two Wonderful people who still had a very bright future ahead of them. I am not against alcohol or drinking. I am against people breaking the law by drinking and driving, putting themselves at risk along with others on the road.
OK?
How does this correspond with fishing? Well after we had the funerals and I was at home sitting in my chair in the kitchen; I sent out a group text to my buddies and asked a simple question: "How can we honor Kirstin and Saige that is not in the form of a bumper sticker or a portrait of them on a T-shirt?" To which Grant responded saying, "You know how to build fishing poles and Saige loved to go fishing with us, especially ice fishing." I will never take credit for this concept. So after some brainstorming we decided to make an ice fishing line of poles in honor of Saige; calling them the Signature Saige. We decided to look through the lens of an 11 year old. So as you can see, we have fun colors to our handles and use glow in the dark blanks.
But our fun does not end there, we build all the poles across the spectrum from fly, spinning, casting, to jigging, and trolling rods. We make them all and even make some for ourselves to R&D.
In conclusion, our vision is to help others fish with a handcrafted rod with their family to create many wonderful memories with them while we still have them. Take it from, us we realized how important those memories are. We will no longer be able to create memories with Kirstin and Saige in this lifetime ,but we can help families create memories one cast at time.
And so Survivor Rods was born.
Our Products
We specialize in building fishing rods of all types, from Ice to Fly rods and everything in between.
Our Services
In addition to just building custom rods we offer repair services to rods also. You have a broken rod, or a rod that you want to upgrade the guides on. Were your go to source.