Are you brand loyal for fishing gear?

I Never really noticed until last year, but yes, I am super brand loyal. All of my fishing clothing is Striker or Blackfish, I have way more shimano reels from over the years than I care to admit, even though I have switched all of my go to setups to Daiwa. All of my rods are home built by me, Boats have been Alumacraft.

I tend to find what I like and stick with it forever, only because I like knowing that if something breaks, or gets lost, or runs off in the hands of my teenagers that I can remember what it was and replace it.

The only who claim to be are the ones getting paid to say so…
That said some brands make quality, some make crap.
Some start good, and get crappy.
Same have bad runs but how they deal with it is the difference.

If I find a quality and price point I am happy with I tend to stick with it untill it no longer is that way. Sadly today with mergers, buyouts and off shore production that can change any time.

Very interesting comments here. After looking through all the posts. Pure fishing brands are probably my least favorite however really like the Abu Garcia Veratis rods. Interesting on 13 Fishing some like or really dislike. I got 2 new 13 Meta rods nice but not the quality I was expecting. Never liked any of there reels. The following for St. Croix rods really surprised me. For the cost to me they are just too heavy compared to other models of less price points.

mrpike1973 wrote:

The following for St. Croix rods really surprised me. For the cost to me they are just too heavy compared to other models

For the most part I agree with your statement. I really like my loomis for vertical jigging because of the weight difference and I feel more with them too.

I’m very brand loyal. But I’m also a bit biased, as I used to rep for one of the largest fishing tackle manufactures. I will say, their quality from when I started to now has dropped on their lower end stuff, but I think their high end rods have gotten much better. Their reels have dropped off some as well.

Line and bait have gotten better and better.

But, I think that has a lot to do with the turnover at these companies. Each new brand manager wants to put their “name” on their product and reinvent the wheel, even if the current line needs no changing. I ran into many young brand managers that thought they had the next best idea that was a complete flop on the shelves.

Anyways, yes, I am brand loyal.

I am for some items and not for others.
I was only a Shimano reel guy for a long time as I tried a few low end Daiwas and they were junk and now I have a mix of mostly Shimano and Daiwa but a few pure fishing and even Okuma mixed in. I think I really like the out of the box performance of Daiwa but they seem to degrade much faster than the comparable Shimano as of late for me. For rods I am all over the place, try everything from the high end NRX and Steeze to store branded rods from Cabelas, and Scheels and also customs like TUCR and Elliot. It is interesting to see how what you can get for around $80 – $120 has improved considerably but for the little refinements and lighter weight components or rods you really can pay a lot more fast. I am all over the place for lien also, I have different preferences for different applications. It is hard to beat Recoil guides and Fireline Nano for winter open water use though.

I wouldn’t buy a reel that didn’t say Shimano on it for 3 decades. No I wont buy one.

All my reels have been Shimano for yrs, except my musky setup is an Abu. I went to buy an additional Shimano for the wife, same style and make but the bail hits my knuckles but not hers thankfully. So with that being said I needed a new reel for my sunny rig, picked up a Diawa dang is that sucker smooth, it throws a bobber and flu flu a long ways. Rods, been filtering out the old to St.Croix’s, love em, great sensitivity to match with 832 suffix.

About the only thing i have been brand loyal to is Suffix line since it came out.
I used to be loyal to Abu Garcia reels 30 plus years ago but now i’ve got several different reel brands and rods.I will buy about any brand of tackle not to fussy if priced right.

I am as far as rods and reels go. Almost all my rods are St Croix and the reels are a mix of Diawa and Shimano.

For my rods (open water and ice) I have started to go with some of the smaller manufacturers over the years versus the big names like St Croix or GLoomis. Not that there is anything wrong with those, I just think I can get a very comparable rod thru a smaller manufacturer and I like to help the little guys if their product is up to par. My choices over the past few years have been TUCR and JT Customs. I did just get a Scheels Tournament rod paired with a Pflueger President reel the other day just because of the price I thought I would gamble and find a use for it somehow. Not sure what I will go for on my next purchase of a rod, plenty of other smaller guys to try out or stick with my current preferences

For my reels, I used to be diehard Shimano but sometime 10 to 15yrs ago, they stopped including extra spools (which all the rest did shortly after) and then Shimano had a bad year or 2 of the Symetre reels where there was a bushing or washer that would sweel and unseat and the reel would practically seize.

From there I went with Pflueger and still like them but their higher-end reel (Patriarch XT I think) had too many open spots around the spool allowing dirt to get in over time and that wrecked gears/bearings. the Supreme XT is their best reel in my opinion

Now I am in between the Abu Revo SX reels and the Diawa Tatulas. Only knock on the Tatulas is the reel handle doesnt collapse

My next issue will be finding a new brand of rain gear. For the past 15yrs I have been a Cabelas Guideware guy. My current set is less than impressive. I stay dry but the cuffs on both sides of the jacket have torn ( as have others I know with the same jacket) and they put a stupid flap at the bottom of the zipper on the front of the bibs that only causes problems when unzipping. I have been eyeing the Rapala rain gear and also the Striker rain gear (since I am a big fan of my Strike ice suit)

Maybe?

I prefer the Fenwick rods and Shimano reels but I have so much gear for just myself that I only buy when I get a smoking deal now. Pouncing on all the Covid era gear people bought new and never used lately. Ice gear in the summer and open water gear in winter you can still score great finds.

I’ve used Trilene XL 4 pound since it came out and still use it. I buy no less than a 1000 yard spool each early spring and go thru it by fall, but then I am religious about keeping decent line on the reels at all times. I don’t fil;l spools completely with new line, but rather leave about 2/3 of a spool of old line as backer and fill from that point.

I like my Shimano Saharas and Symetres, but have found a couple Scheels branded reels in the $140.00 range that are proving to be worth their cost. I have sevaral Sahara 1000 reels that are over 25 years old that are on rods I use today yet. I have two Shimano Nascci [sp.?] reels in the 1000 size that are nice reels for newer reels. In line with several other comments, I think the older products have a greater degree of quality so I go out of my way to keep these reels clean and functional. I don’t toss old reels that have died, but rather hold onto them to farm parts from when another like reels dies.

Rods? St.Croix has done me well. I have a couple of rods I made years ago that I still use and of late have added a couple of hand wraps on Rain Shadow blanks that are sweet.

Lure-wise, since I make my own I don’t really worry about what the market has other than to pick up some replacement Gulp stuff. I’m a color guy and will spend a lot of time looking at new colors that the major bait companies have come out with. If certain new color patterns jump out at me I’ll buy a bag of them, take out a couple to use as match samples then give the rest to someone who might like to use them.

Dutch mentioned old tackle doing as well today as the new fangled stuff and that comment is spot on. I still have Mitchell 300 reels that work like a charm as well as some very old Shakespeare push button reels, including an underspin full sized reel. I have plastics yet from over 25 years ago that do everything anything I make today or that I can buy today.

Here’s a Shimano Custom 1000 series, one of two purchased to go on a pair of 5’6” Berley Lightning Rods in April of 1984. Still in use today even though it is clunky by todays standards.

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I have some of everything. The only thing consistent is Berkley for all of my line. No specific reason other than I’ve always been happy with the line and they come out with new stuff too.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

Here’s a Shimano Custom 1000 series,

I have one and love the rear Fightin’ drag where you can set it tighter for a hook set and quickly back it off for the fight.

If I catch more than 3 fish on a lure i am forever loyal, then pike steal them, I go to the store and they are discontinued.