Lew's and Doyo

[Tennessee Boy]

According to Lews.com the Childre family licensed the Lews brand to Browning in 1989.

[MN Fisher]

13 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

No place on a Google search ever shows up that browning purchased Lew's.

No, but the Childre family DID license the Lews name to Browning in 1989

 

"Over the 40-year-period from 1949 to when the Childre family licensed the Lew’s brand to Browning® in 1989, the family-run business had made many major contributions that would change forever the face of recreational sport fishing."

https://www.lews.com/en/learn/our-story

 

And a pic of a Browning-Lews rod.

[dodgeguy]

5 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

According to Lews.com the Childre family licensed the Lews brand to Browning in 1989.

I knew about that. That's different from outright ownership. Browning also built Lew's reels. They were actually at a high point for that time in quality. 

[Tatulatard]

Are we trying to create some head canon about how lews is a fishing reel manufacturer that designs their own reels from scratch and just uses "the doyo factory" to build their reels and that that browning or bass pro just for some reason could put the lews name on products and that the manufacture, lews, was independent and designing reels in secret this whole time?

[rangerjockey]

I remember my Dad and his buddies fishing the original Lew's reel back in the day. 

They were marketed as low profile and I guess compared to the Abu's they were. 

I may still have one in the man cave but they are a brick by todays standards. 

I broke one out to use as a crankbait reel about 10 years ago and put it right back.

[TOXIC]

The ownership and product offerings have become to complicated for me to track anymore.  My problem lies with 20 reel manufacturers buying/designing/manufacturing from the same wholesalers overseas and then having 20 different price points for basically the same product with minor differences.  I don’t like to overspend for slick marketing campaigns.  Although I can buy whatever I want for the most part, I am not irresponsible with my money and I feel some of the manufacturers are totally snowing the buying public. Just my opinion.  

[rangerjockey]

1 minute ago, Tatulatard said:

Are we trying to create some head canon about how lews is a fishing reel manufacturer that designs their own reels from scratch and just uses "the doyo factory" to build their reels and that that browning or bass pro just for some reason could put the lews name on products and that the manufacture, lews, was independent and designing reels in secret this whole time?

 Lynn Reeves was a reel designer for BPS before he started the Lew's resurrection. 

[Tatulatard]

4 minutes ago, rangerjockey said:

 Lynn Reeves was a reel designer for BPS before he started the Lew's resurrection. 

Bass pro does not design reels.  They purchase them from people who design, manufacture and sell reels.  Reeves left bass pro and took the lews brand with him to do the same thing he was doing at bass pro but with the lews brand essentially resurrecting it and saving it from bass pro/browning.  This is a good thing.

[GaryH]

Holy cow.. I never knew it was so complicated buying a fishing reel. ? 

[PhishLI]

23 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

My problem lies with 20 reel manufacturers buying/designing/manufacturing from the same wholesalers overseas and then having 20 different price points for basically the same product with minor differences.

If this was actually a fact, it would be easy to agree with, but this isn't, and I'm not splitting hairs. While there's crossover on certain clamshell products and maybe up to $150, there's a pretty wide diversity of choices farther up the price point ladder. They're not small either.

[rangerjockey]

17 minutes ago, Tatulatard said:

Bass pro does not design reels.  They purchase them from people who design, manufacture and sell reels.  Reeves left bass pro and took the lews brand with him to do the same thing he was doing at bass pro but with the lews brand essentially resurrecting it and saving it from bass pro/browning.  This is a good thing.

Sorry he worked for BPS . The lew's brand wasn't being used until Reeves left BPS and got the rights to use it. I'm sure he already had all the contacts overseas.

[Tennessee Boy]

49 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

The ownership and product offerings have become to complicated for me to track anymore.  My problem lies with 20 reel manufacturers buying/designing/manufacturing from the same wholesalers overseas and then having 20 different price points for basically the same product with minor differences.  I don’t like to overspend for slick marketing campaigns.  Although I can buy whatever I want for the most part, I am not irresponsible with my money and I feel some of the manufacturers are totally snowing the buying public. Just my opinion.  

BINGO!!!!

 

I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels this way.  It is very hard to know exactly who is designing and manufacturing the stuff we buy.  I usually assume that they don’t tell you what they don’t want you to know.  Go to the website for company like  Cashion and they proudly proclaim that their products are made in America.  You can watch a video tour of the factory.   They bragging about where they’re rods come from not hiding it.
 

When Rather Outdoors bought Strike King they closed the offices in Tennessee and introduced Strike King fish line.  Maybe they built the most advanced fishing line factory in the world and are producing the best line on the market.  If so they haven’t told anyone.  My guess is they are buying the same line made in the same Asian factories as half the line brands on the market. They’re just cashing in on the Strike King name recognition.   I won’t buy it.  Doesn’t mean it’s not good line.  I’m probably using it right now under some other brand that has done a better job of convincing me they are a real fishing line company.  There are too many brands in the fishing industry that are just names being pushed by companies that just do marketing.   I don’t want to support them.  You buy whatever you want for whatever reason you want.

[PhishLI]

15 minutes ago, GaryH said:

I never knew it was so complicated buying a fishing reel.

It isn't. This is all just cognescenti OCD which has spilled out a little. 99.9% of people who fish will never be aware of this info, and if you tried to explain it to them their eyes would just glaze over.

[dodgeguy]

35 minutes ago, Tatulatard said:

Are we trying to create some head canon about how lews is a fishing reel manufacturer that designs their own reels from scratch and just uses "the doyo factory" to build their reels and that that browning or bass pro just for some reason could put the lews name on products and that the manufacture, lews, was independent and designing reels in secret this whole time?

No just trying to set the record straight on history of the company and that they have always been built for Lew's. It doesn't make them bad reels as many Shimano Diawa fan boys claim. They have always had a good reputation. Shimano actually stole their first design. Also trying to open people's eyes to the fact that lots of guys on forums trash brands they have never used . I try not to do that when talking about products. I will state what I prefer and why.

6 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

It isn't. This all just cognescenti OCD which has spilled out a little. 99.9% of people who fish will never be aware of this info, and if you tried to explain it to them their eyes would just glaze over.

LOL !!! How true !!!!

[rangerjockey]

Dodge guy,  Shimano didn't steal anything. There were contracted to build the Lew's reels along with Ryobi. 

Lew's never actually built anything ,even back then.

[TOXIC]

31 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

If this was actually a fact, it would be easy to agree with, but this isn't, and I'm not splitting hairs. While there's crossover on certain clamshell products and maybe up to $150, there's a pretty wide diversity of choices farther up the price point ladder. They're not small either.

Sorry to say that unless you have some more inside information than me who repps for Quantum/Zebco and was pro staff at Bass Pro Shops for 15+ years, then feel free to share.  I only list my history to show that I’m not spewing any 1/2 baked opinion and that I do know a little about the back room operations of some of these manufacturers. Ive worked shows with most all reps from all reel manufacturers and call a lot of them friends.  I used to track who made what for who and who bought which mass produced reels where as a buyer, you fly overseas to the manufacturing facility and pick the level of parts you want your name brand of reels made with but I came to the conclusion that there were only a limited number of suppliers and a whole lot more buyers.  Answer me this…..why has no reel retailer ever marketed their product as made in-house and higher quality?  Because they can’t.  It’s your $$ spend however you wish but as for me, I’m a little more skeptical due to my years in the industry and knowing the manufacturing process of baits and gear.  

[dodgeguy]

They took the design and sold it as their own which is what those silver bantams were . I don't know if that was contracted or not.

[rangerjockey]

The bantam's were a Shimano design. They look similar which is no surprise but they are smaller than the BB1.

The first design was the BB1. 

[dodgeguy]

Just now, rangerjockey said:

The bantam's were a Shimano design. They look similar which is no surprise but they are smaller than the BB1.

We have proof of this ? I've never heard that.

[J Francho]

Ardent tried to market that idea over a decade ago with their XS line of US made reels. They were very heavy and used a dated form factor that just didn't appeal. 

[rangerjockey]

3 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

We have proof of this ? I've never heard that.

Just hold them side by side. You can feel and see the difference. 

J, yep Ardent gave it a go and made them in Macon Missouri.  They couldn't compete in the long run I guess but the upper end reel was pretty good.

 

[zpelletier]

52 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

99.9% of people who fish will never be aware of this info, and if you tried to explain it to them their eyes would just glaze over.

This. 
 

But I can settle this debate. Everyone send me the reel you think is the best and I’ll test them all out ?

[J Francho]

Those Bantams were smaller and much lighter than the Shimano built Lew's reels of the time. 

[TOXIC]

8 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Ardent tried to market that idea over a decade ago with their XS line of US made reels. They were very heavy and used a dated form factor that just didn't appeal. 

Exactly.  It’s hard to compete.  I’m not knocking the quality or durability even though there are a lot of options for wholesale buyers.  My complaint is with the US pricing and getting what you pay for.  It’s very difficult to be a savvy consumer in the reel market which, in my opinion, is why so many latch on to a brand name and defend it to the grave. ??

[PhishLI]

41 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

It’s your $$ spend however you wish but as for me, I’m a little more skeptical due to my years in the industry and knowing the manufacturing process of baits and gear.

You're taking a principled stand based on what you know. I get that. Having fished with both ABU's and Lew's, there's not a lot of commonality after $150, IMO. There used to be much more. A $100 Revo and a $100 LFS are more or less the same thing, but you get different braking systems, spool arrangements, and frame ergos as you buy up the ladder. I don't like fishing with an ABU STX because I don't like the brakes, but I like fishing with a Lew's Tournament Pro LFS. Others may have the opposite opinion, and that's because there are notable differences in performance between the two. Someone else may feel those differences are small, and perhaps they are for most people, but I don't, so I have preferences based on those differences.