Are you brand loyal for fishing gear?

As I think over the past years of my fishing life got to thinking about what brand stuff I use the most. For rods 13 Fishing, Sixgill thanks Bearcat, And Abu Garcia Veritas. For reels yes I said it got a few Shimano Curados, For spinning all Daiwa. When I started fishing all Berkley products or Pflueger or Abu Garcia now really don’t think they hold up. Powerbait worms are still a favorite. Absolutely love Yum wacky worms. Favorite crankbait for bass still is a Rapala Countdown. As you progress in your fishing walk do you find yourself upgrading staying the same or trying lots of new things? Getting a order ready for Omnia fishing for opener and the mind started to wander.

The day will come when you realize you have everything that you could possibly need. Stuff you bought 10 years ago will still catch em as well as anything you could buy today.

Being a tackle junkie I have new stuff thats 5 years old and never been fished, but thats the fun of winter, buying stuff.

I believe I’m at that point now It’s amazing how much you buy and only use half of it.

I’m fairly brand specific with my reels (Daiwa) and rods (TUCR) but for tackle and other things not really. I like seeing what else is out there and the pros and cons of other company’s products.

Most of my reels are Daiwa. MY bread and butter rods are Daiwa Tatulas and St. Croix Avids.

I was big in to a few higher priced brands and then found sixgill. Great quality half the cost and the same if not better sensitivity as my Loomis Elliot and st croixs. The dreadnought is one of the smoothest spinning reels I own. I now own 6. But other then that I have a wide variety I’ve tried. I’m actually at the point now where I realized I have to much stuff and don’t really buy anything unless I loose 1. I have tubs of brand new tackle in my garage that hasn’t been opened in 5 plus years. Both ice and summer time. I used to have to have it all and all the latest and greatest. But I’ve since learned better.

So no I’m not to brand loyal because there is to many other great options out there. But when I find something I like, I tend to buy multiples. And with rods and reels, when I buy new ones I hand alot of my old ones down to nephews and Mt kid and even buddies. I don’t really sell much because I give it all away for free

Not loyal, just lazy. I don’t want to do research every time so I settled on Daiwa and St. Croix because I liked the ones I had.

Rods I lately stick with Loomis, St Croix and Fenwick, also have a couple 13’s for crappie rods. Reels are Shimano, Pflueger and more recently Diawa. Tackle not so much brand loyal but stick with something I like.

Not really.

I try to find quality stuff that will last and work as intended time and time again regardless of brand

Daiwa for reals, hands down the best I haven’t blowing one up yet.

Rods I have a mixture, I tried some 13fishing stuff again last year and I hated there rods. I have been sticking with Basspro pro rods “hard to find a 7′ heavy rod” or St. Croix rods.

Tackle, is whatever works lol. Jigs I love ATT!

I buy value over brand. Lucky for a lot of you young guys. There is not a LOT of pure junk out there today like there was back in the late 80’s early 90’s. And quality stuff is not priced through the roof these days either.

-J.

The only rods I will use are Tiny Rodwork Custom. They perform better than they look and the builder is a cool guy.

I have no brand loyalty to the blanks I use. I have ordered from over 25 different manufacturers. I bought one blank and thought it was great so I picked up another blank in the same line but different action and thought it sucked. The same material makeup in the blank is not the best for all applications.

With baitcasting reels I have all Shimano. Tried others and kept going back.

I am a lot like Bearcat. Lots of extra stuff and more than I could use in a season. I still hoard my tackle. As I make new rods I hand my other stuff down to kids that would use it.

I have been working on this new sturgeon rod with a maple, cherry, and walnut handle and another one for an IDO member. I just had 4 leave my shop and I forgot to take a pictures of them.

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Build all my own rods for ice and open water so i guess my brand on DH blanks. I have been adding more daiwa (Tranx still for muskies) for open water but still lean the okuma baitfeeders for ice. Not really brand dependent but like reef said i found a daiwa i liked when my 20 year old shimano blew up and just keep buying the same one

Suffix 832 or Powerpro . Authentx plastics . About the only brand loyalty I have .

I am really liking the Sixgill Rods I bought a couple years ago, and i have 2 or 3 fenwicks. I also tried a couple Piscifun reels a couple years ago, and for the money they seem to be worth it.

Nope. I buy whatever is the best value at the time of purchase. Closest I am to brand loyal is St. Croix, they have always served me well and reasonably priced with a fair warranty imo.

hop307 wrote:

I am really liking the Sixgill Rods I bought a couple years ago, and i have 2 or 3 fenwicks. I also tried a couple Piscifun reels a couple years ago, and for the money they seem to be worth it.

Sixgill has the best customer service and warranty as well. My akylos are fantastic trolling rods for crank baits and I’ll put my lykan against any gloomis or tournament series croix I own. The sensitivity is perfect for jig fishing.
I also run the kranken for throwing crank baits and a couple creature rods for bottom bouncers. For the price and product, very hard to beat. But of you haven’t tried a dradnaught reel, do your self a favor and get one.

I use Fenwick for myself and when the rest of my family fish with me they use Ugly Sticks. Had too many broken rods by their inexperience. Lol!!!

I’d say brand loyalty is a no for me, but quality brands would be a yes. Everyone can define that in their own way, but the quality brands I stick with are shimano, daiwa, st. croix, Two Brothers Innovation, Limit Creek, and scheels. Can’t say I’m familiar with Sixgills but will certainly read up on it as time allows, interesting.

Freshwater gear :Baitcasters I go for Lews or shimano. Rods I custom build on a variety of blanks but Phenix gets the nod usually
Saltwater gear: I go with Avet reels and Calstar or Phenix rod blanks for the rods.

For ice fishing I use all TUCR with Sienna or a Ceymar.
For soft water almost exclusively St. Croix but I haven’t bought a new one in at least 10 years. Reels I have a few Pfueger, a couple Cabelas, few Shimano’s and 4 Okumas.
Just bought 3 new Ceymar’s to put on crappie rods and 3 new Diawa’s for some walleye rods to replace some of the above.
Main plastics bfishin, Berkley, and any brand twister tails. Cranks mostly Berkley and Rapala.

Maybe brand anti-loyal? Brand 13 is a no go for me, Abu used to be a favorite but don’t really buy anymore. For reels I usually check to see how they are made, if it has a spool bearing I might give it a try. Can’t stand Berkley soft plastics so I like yum cheaper and have a better feel.

I am not elite enough to care about stuff like this. I use cheapo rods and reels and they all catch me fish. The good part is that I don’t have to baby them either. If someone steps on an eyelet, no big deal — it wasn’t a $200 rod. Keep them in the boat at a resort without worrying about them walking off.

The only thing I do stick to is Rapala crankbaits. I have a lot of faith in them and the alternatives aren’t much cheaper so I just go with what I know.

I use to be rather brand loyal. especially when it came to Reels and Rods. These days not so much so. I probably have 5 or 6 different brands of reels and even more brands of rods these days. I think the shift in quality from some of the more major brands is the reason for that. Sadly some of the Top brands from the past have sold out in the name of overall profit, and it has ended up costing them in the long run. These days I don’t mind spreading my money around to various manufactures. I think having more suppliers keeps the cost down and the quality up some.

If something works for me, I stick with it. Doesn’t have to be the best, just needs to work ! That said, I like Any Walleye Rod with Gary Roach’s name on it and Shimano Reels.

I used to pretty much just be a shimano reel guy. I have gravitated towards a few diawas now in addition to the shimanos.

Rods are several kinds. St Croix, G Loomis, Falcon, Fenwick. Haven’t bought a rod or reel in years now. I only buy them when I need to replace something now.

I still love the old green Shimano Curados. The new ones aren’t as smooth. Building my own rods. We will see if they work. Hope so.

ssaamm wrote:

I still love the old green Shimano Curados.

I still have a couple of those.

From a bass perspective I’ve tried just about every brand of rods and reels. I won’t own another casting reel that doesn’t have a Daiwa logo on it. I’m a little more lenient on spinning reels, but I still run almost all daiwas.

As far as rods go, I have all sorts. I used to run all St. Croixs, but branched out as I knew there were better options out there. I have been very impressed by Megabass, but obviously those are expensive. I own a couple daiwas, croixs, phenixes, scheels, shimanos, and 13s.

I have been extremely impressed with the 13 fishing blackout spinning rod. They retail at $80, and are only offered in a 7’1 Medium action. I got both of mine on sale for $40 and couldn’t be happier. I can say wholeheartedly that I’d rather run these than most other spinning rods, regardless of price. Only issue I’ve had are with the goofy hook keeper rusting out, but that’s a $4 fix with a Fuji Easy Keeper which I put on most of my rods anyways.

I haven’t been impressed with G Loomis at all, so I sold all of mine. To me they feel like an even more expensive St. Croix.

As far as baits go, there’s a couple brands that I’m loyal to because they support me.

Aside from that, I run almost all Z-Man everything. I’ll never throw any chatterbait that isn’t a jackhammer, and seldom throw any plastic that isn’t made by them.

Cast as good if not better than any of my new ones.