Your Favorite Rod and Reel Brands

[Cgolf]

When I did my Black Friday reel thread I definitely saw that some that had brand preferences. I know I have some on my reluctant to buy list too. Will be interesting to see others favorites:)

 

Spinning Reels 3 brands 

Pflueger Presidents

Daiwa - even though I always have order extra bail springs

Shakespeare - I have 2 excursions and a Cattera that have lots of years of river fishing abuse with zero issues. 

 

Spinning Rods

St. Croix

 

Baitcasters

Lews orange crush is awesome, 30 mark rose Walmart clearance reel not great

Quantum, but my reels are 10 plus years old, no knowledge of current

Daiwa Laguna and Viento solid magforce with twitch stick tons of issues

 

casting rods

St. Croix

Cabelas Pridigies

 

As you can tell I am a lower end guy (cheap lol) and not brand loyal. 

 

Brands I would prefer to stay away from

Shimano

Pinnacle

 

I have two Abus about to be wrapped for Christmas so another brand to try. 

 

[mrcimon]

I’ve got 1 Spinning setup. 

 

St. Croix Legend 7’1 medium

Shimano Stradic Ci4+ 2500

 

My casting setups are mainly G.Loomis and St. Croix rods with Daiwa and Shimano Reels

[Jig Man]

I have an assortment of rods; Gloomis, Fenwick, Falcon, and St Croix.  I don't know how many reels I have but I carry 18 in the boat.  All of my reels both spinning and bait casting are Shimanos.

[GReb]

Don’t have a favorite. My arsenal is a hodge-podge of brands. There are so many quality items from different brands I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer. I’d say my favorite rod currently is the Falcon Cara and favorite reel is Lews. But I catch plenty on dobyns, st croix, ALX, daiwa, quantum, etc. 

[Matt_3479]

Rods

 

-gloomis 

-st.croix 

 

reels

 

-shimano

-daiwa 

[MIbassyaker]

I am a fan of anything I can get a good deal on.

[Mobasser]

I'm not really brand loyal. Use a bunch of stuff older and newer. Rods- Shimano, Fenwick, St.Croix and Berkeley. Reels ABU 4600c, 5500c. Spinning- Various Shimano, 1 Diawa, and vintage Zebco Cardinal4. Most all is mid grade tackle.

[greentrout]

casting reels...cabela's, bps, kk, quantum, pflueger...spinning reels...mitchell, shimano, browning...spincast reels...zebco & abu garcia... 

 

casting rods...bps...cabela's fish eagle II ..fenwick...all star...shakespeare...spinning rods...bps...daiwa...

 

good fishing...

[SWVABass]

Rods spinning abu st croix and one other, casting abu crowder Wright and magillis and an MHx I built

 

reels spinning all lews speed spools casting pro qualifiers Daiwa and abu.

 

best set up to fish overall the Daiwa on the crowder rod.

[WRB]

I am not into brand preference however reluctant to change anything that works good.

For decades I used Abu Swedish made Ambassaduer reels while buying a few other brands like Shimano, Lew's and Daiwa reels. In the mid 90's I changed to Shimano Calcutta round reels and Daiwa TDHA's, now Tatula low profile reels and still use them. Spinning changed from Cardinals to Shimano Stractic.

Rods, Fenwick and Lamiglas were the rods I used for decades, then changed to Loomis followed by Dobyns swimbait rods, ALX custom baitcasting rods, changed from Phenix to Major Craft spinning rods.

I use a mix of brands and tend to keep my tackle for along time.

Tom

[new2BC4bass]

You should try a Pinnacle Primmus Xi HS.  A favorite of mine.  Why do you want to stay away from Shimano?

 

I am not brand loyal.  I have favorites from quite a few brands.  A list would be fairly long.      A lot of my rods and reels are older models.  I am worse than Tom. I seldom get rid of anything. 

 

In reels I have favorites from Daiwa, Shimano, Pinnacle, Pflueger, Okuma, Abu and Lew's.  Plus the unmentionable.

 

Rods: ALX, Falcon, Fenwick, Daiwa, Dobyns, Megabass, Major Craft, Abu and believe it or not....Quantum.  Plus a couple customs.

[Cgolf]

5 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

You should try a Pinnacle Primmus Xi HS.  A favorite of mine.  Why do you want to stay away from Shimano?

 

I am not brand loyal.  I have favorites from quite a few brands.  A list would be fairly long.      A lot of my rods and reels are older models.  I am worse than Tom. I seldom get rid of anything. 

 

In reels I have favorites from Daiwa, Shimano, Pinnacle, Pflueger, Okuma, Abu and Lew's.  Plus the unmentionable.

 

Rods: ALX, Falcon, Fenwick, Daiwa, Dobyns, Megabass, Major Craft, Abu and believe it or not....Quantum.  Plus a couple customs.

Mainly from another forum years ago that seemed everyone used Shimano and pushed them as the best. Of course ignoring the binding issue on the spinning reels;) I was also low budget then and took a beating for my ugly stick Shakespeare excursion setups;) 

 

So that turned me off to the brand, even though I am sure it is really good quality.  

[RyneB]

Reels: Mostly Abu Garcia,  but I also have a few Curados and Lews. I have 1 Daiwa Tatula that I just cant seem to part ways with. It's just a reliable reel that casts a country mile.

 

Rods: i prefer ALX, that's what most of my rods are. I have a couple Kistlers and an old BPS Rick Clunn topwater rod that has done well for me.

 

[Cgolf]

24 minutes ago, WRB said:

I am not into brand preference however reluctant to change anything that works good.

For decades I used Abu Swedish made Ambassaduer reels while buying a few other brands like Shimano, Lew's and Daiwa reels. In the mid 90's I changed to Shimano Calcutta round reels and Daiwa TDHA's, nowxTatula low profile reels and still use them. Spinning changed from Cardinals to Shimano Stractic.

Rods, Fenwick and Lamiglas were the rods I used for decades, then changed to Loomis followed by Dobyns swimbait rods, ALX custom baitcasting rods, changed from Phenix to Major Craft spinning rods.

I use a mix of brands and tend to keep my tackle for along time.

Tom

I am with you, I have three quantum accurists that are my workhorse reels and have been for about 15 years and will still be in the mix next year. Will be really bummed when they give out. Wish I had bought more, but I was new to baitcasters then and probably only had three casting rods at the time.

[Dens228]

St. Croix AvidX rods

Lew's reels

[Cgolf]

2 minutes ago, RyneB said:

Reels: Mostly Abu Garcia,  but I also have a few Curados and Lews. I have 1 Daiwa Tatula that I just cant seem to part ways with. It's just a reliable reel that casts a country mile.

 

Rods: i prefer ALX, that's what most of my rods are. I have a couple Kistlers and an old BPS Rick Clunn topwater rod that has done well for me.

 

How do you like the Abus? Just got a left handed gen 3 S (acadamy sent me wrong reel and was out of rights, but they gave me a fair deal) and an STX HS Gen 3. Love my Abu round Musky reels, hope these are as good. 

[RyneB]

I like them because I have small hands and they just fit my hands better than other reels. Of the 4 brands I have, I dont hsve anything negative to say about any of them. I have had good luck with all of my reels, I had one Curado that i sent the hook and the drag stripped. But that's really the only issue I have had.

[fishwizzard]

Reels I am mostly all Daiwa. I have gotten so used to their braking systems that I have a lot of trouble switching to anything else.  

 

Rods I mosty use Loomis and Megabass but if I had to pick one it would be the loomis MBR rods, they work well for about every presentation I have tried on them. 

[Basseditor]

I’ve spent about 10 years buying mostly Kistler Rods. The new 2019 Zbone rod is really their best achievement to date. 

 

I have a variety of rods, but Kistlers are my favorites.

 

Two years ago, I began buying all Daiwa reels. But I have Daiwa reels from the mid-1990s too. Also, I have about 10 Cabela’s Arachnid reels (designed by Daiwa) that I really like. I use those on my 20-25 lb. line set ups with heavy action rods. I first read about those on this forum. Thank you guys.

 

I have 5-6 Steez (bought my first Steez through this forum) on my lightweight rods (Kistler 3 power LMH ZBones). If I could get away with fishing those all the time, I would. But, many times I need the power rods.

 

 I have almost 40 Kistlers now and with my two sons, we’re at about 80 Kistlers. But I’m done buying for awhile. (Although I really want to try a rod made with graphene. Just curious.)

[Mike L]

I have more Fenwick's than any other brand but it just seemed to work out that way. 

My next rod will most definitely be an ALX. 

 

Most of my reels are Shimano's which again just happened to happen. 

Believe it or not the one I end up useing the most is a PQ. 

 

 

 

Mike

[Mobasser]

9 hours ago, Mobasser said:

I'm not really brand loyal. Use a bunch of stuff older and newer. Rods- Shimano, Fenwick, St.Croix and Berkeley. Reels ABU 4600c, 5500c. Spinning- Various Shimano, 1 Diawa, and vintage Zebco Cardinal4. Most all is mid grade tackle.

The next casting reel I buy will be a Shimano Calcutta.

[NYWayfarer]

I have reels, spinning and baitcasters from all the major brands that I have purchased over the years.

 

Right now I find the rods and reels I fish with the most come from 2 brands, Lew's and Kastking.

 

I love my Lew's baitcasters. The Tournament MB and the Mach 1 see most of the fishing action nowadays. Kastking Speed Demon and Assassin also see action. Spinning gear is mostly my Kastking Sharky 3 and my Lew's Mach 2.

 

As far as rods go I like my Kastking Perigee 2, Calamus and my Lew's Mach 1 rods. My Denali AttaX and Zeynx see a lot of use as well.

[22RangerZ520R]

I'm strictly Shimano/G.Loomis for rods & reels.    

 

I cleaned and repaired reels for almost 10 years.  Shimano is #1 in my opinion for quality, etc.  Daiwa is a close 2nd, then Abu Garcia.

 

My current arsenal:

 

(14)  Shimano/G.Loomis Conquests

(4) G. Loomis IMX Pro's (3 swimbait/1 crankbait)

 

(10) Shimano Metanium MGL HG's

(4) Shimano Stella FJ 3000's

(4) Shimano Calcutta 400D's

[MrPeanut]

I'm not brand loyal at all, both my rods and reels are a hodgepodge.  I tend to use whatever the best deal I can at the time to get the most bang for my buck, but mostly there's so many good brands out there I like trying different things. Otherwise how would I ever know if I like it better.  To me a lot of the fun of fishing is trying new baits / techniques, and also new equipment.

 

Rods - mix of loomis, dobyns, st croix and alpha angler 

Reels - mix of Abu, shimano, lews and a ***

 

 

[Boomstick]

For spinning reels, I'm partial to Daiwa and Pflueger. I'm a huge fan of the Daiwa BG especially for the price, but if I'm on a budget, the Daiwa RG or Pflueger President are great reliable options.

 

For casting reels, I'm partial to Daiwa, Pflueger and Shimano. I have two Tatula SVs which are great and I got my youngest son a Pflueger Supreme XT and I really like that reel. My oldest son has a Shimano Curado K, which is also a very nice reel I'd consider again as well.

 

For casting rods, I tend to go with St. Croix Mojo Bass or Daiwa Tatula rods. They're solid rods at a solid price point.

 

My #1 spinning rod is a St. Croix Avid X. I figure any added sensitivity will help. I did not go with the Tatula finesse rod because when I read reviews, every single person said they broke the tip off, often on a 1lb fish which was alarming. I also considered a Dobyns Sierra and a St. Croix Mojo Bass.