I take THEREELTEST extremely seriously, and buy everything he shills.

[newapti5]

Am I the only one who enjoy both Tackle Advisor's and Reel Test's channel? Heck, I subscribed to all of them, and Randy's, Roland and Scott Martin's, Ike's, NDYakAngler's, TacticalBassin's, Glenn's,  ... I even enjoy some of the Googan early ones.  I know some of them may be "controversial" to others, but I learned all about fishing and tackles from the Internet, and I find all of them entertaining on different levels. I am no pro, so I kept reminding myself: don't take yourself too seriously and stay humble; don't take fishing and tackles too seriously. After all, they're just hobby entertainment to me. 

[Darth-Baiter]

if I had to guess.  members on this forum have created a bigger buzz on some gear for me.  I would have never tried a Zillion if it wasn't for the Zillion-Cheerleader squad on this forum.  

[Bankbeater]

There's no way I'm running out and buying a something because a Youtuber was promoting it.

[bulldog1935]

When you find someone who thinks like you do, you tend to trust them.  

What I like about TackleAdvisors, he goes inside the reel, tells you what design features may come up short in a niche you want to fish, that may not matter somewhere else.  He gives all makers both their dues and licks.  

He sold me both on his smarts and on Stradic when he compared Stradic FL to Shimano Sustain built on the '13 Stella platform, along with current Exist, and decided Stradic was "The Best $400 Reel You Can Buy."  

I've fished through spinning reels since high school, and know how they come up short and die.  

His last "$100 Spinning Reel Shoot Out" affected Shimano enough to make them add a Main Bearing to Nasci.  

It's also noteworthy that Shimano didn't change much with '22 Stella series - all they did was push their design harder with a slightly longer spindle - they knew they had over-designed '18 Stella  

Empirical, a nuts and bolts engineer, I've never been impressionable from OP's opinion or feely dialogue, nor entertained by OP's fishing.  Like others here, I also don't enjoy giving my time over to OP.  

[Fishingmickey]

49 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

if I had to guess.  members on this forum have created a bigger buzz on some gear for me.  I would have never tried a Zillion if it wasn't for the Zillion-Cheerleader squad on this forum.  

Now where are your pom-poms and practice you're gimme a Zee.

[F14A-B]

8 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

I always check take-down (bearing swap, etc) youtubes before delving into a new reel model - identify hints and tools needed beforehand.  

OK, I scroll through them to find what I want to find.  

The only guy who makes sense to me for design and niche evaluations is TackleAdvisors, who intentionall doesn't shill.  His extensive take-down evaluations are 5-star.  

https://www.youtube.com/c/TackleAdvisors

 

As far as buying everything, I don't work that way, e.g., all my Daiwas swap the same spools.  

 

Yep he has quite a few videos which have given me ideals on what to buy because he’s got it tore down right now, in front of him or is doing it step by step. Unfortunately he’s only available on Patreon or so I’ve heard. I guess that makes him the new school Allan Hawk. 

[ABU is overpriced]

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

if I had to guess.  members on this forum have created a bigger buzz on some gear for me.  I would have never tried a Zillion if it wasn't for the Zillion-Cheerleader squad on this forum.  

The reel is super popular on reddit, tackletour and youtube comments as well.

[LCG]

Tackle Advisors was an awesome channel. Very knowledgeable and helpful. 

 

I was really liking Omnia rod bend videos, that's something I wish would have been around awhile ago, would have saved a lot of money trying different rods. I liked the original host, but I guess he moved on. 

 

Some of the other popular channels have lots of good tips and advice, but you have to get passed their sponsorships or business partnership. I think they have good content, but some are clearly salespeople that fish. 

[Darth-Baiter]

1 hour ago, Fishingmickey said:

Now where are your pom-poms and practice you're gimme a Zee.

ahhahahahhahahha...

[Brian11719]

5 hours ago, newapti5 said:

Am I the only one who enjoy both Tackle Advisor's and Reel Test's channel? Heck, I subscribed to all of them, and Randy's, Roland and Scott Martin's, Ike's, NDYakAngler's, TacticalBassin's, Glenn's,  ... I even enjoy some of the Googan early ones.

Roland Martin is actually one of my favorites...hoping to get a chance to hire him as a guide and go punch gnarly mats on Okeechobee at some point...

[TheBaitMonkey]

I’m more influenced by the people on this forum talking about gear and all of your thoughts than the influencers on YouTube. A lot of fellow, relatable, addicts on here. 😂

 

That said I like hearing Punch Fishings opinions on rods and reels, because it seems very genuine and unbiased. I wish there were more like him. He’s an addict like us. Chewy Thao has some good reviews too.
 

The Reel Test is an odd duck that has favoritism towards shimano, I’ll watch a cast battle from time to time but that’s about it. 

[Motoboss]

I get my product reviews and gear selections from members here on BR, although there are some fans of gear I would never consider but it is good to see the variety and the force is strong in many.

 

Winter time I watch BR videos as entertainment information and do watch Greg Blanchard’s videos as he promotes competitive kayak fishing in a fun way without pimping any tackle.
Spring, summer and fall I’m fishing!

[MontclairDave]

On 1/16/2025 at 10:15 PM, GetFishorDieTryin said:

I've seen some his content, and Reel test gets on my nerves, he's arrogant and hypocritical.  Some of his casting battles aren't even because he might use different rods or line.  When someone politely points that out in the comments, the guy who quotes the bible in his videos replies with these heinous remarks about the commenters mother or family.  

Tackle Advisors had great content and was open about his bias if he had any.  I trust his reviews.  I don't know I've bought anything outright just because of his recommendations, but I take them into consideration.  I've run into him a few times over the years during the fall run and he's pretty cool, he likes to talk.  

That guy is 100% toxic. Unfollowed him after I got the exact type of response you outlined when I made a very politely stated critique of one of his reel casting comparisons. The idea that this guy posts bible phrases on his channel is laughable. 
 

For me, Punch and TB guys are great, since they are not sponsored. (Affiliate links are fine by me.) The ones that are sponsored and hawk only their sponsor stuff, I occasionally watch for diversion but I don’t take their recommendations seriously. 
 

I also love Ben at the Hookup Tackle. I know he’s trying to sell his own stuff but he also includes lots of helpful tips on reel and rod choice. Plus I am addicted to JDM tackle. So he gets a lot of my screen time (and cash). Plus I won $100 of free baits in this recent Xmas giveaways. He must have gifted $5k of free gear over two weeks. Pretty cool in my book. 

 

[TimTheGearNerd]

I started watching THEREELTEST before he started to put the annoying bible verse in his intros. I liked that there were some quantitative data that I couldn’t get elsewhere and I loved reel porn and gear talk, I do trust Bass resource gear advise more for sure. 
 

I often don’t feel like the reel test knows how to set up his reels which results in crappy results so I stopped watching. I don’t trust TheReelTest
 

I am a huge fan of PunchFishing for entertainment purposes. His videos are just fun to watch. I’ve 100% purchased gear because he pushed it only to find I don’t like the same things. I do agree with his opinion about Daiwa Reels but I still enjoy Shimano reels more. 
 

I did buy a Zillion when I kept seeing praises pop up on the rod and reel forum. So far, cool reel but not blown away yet. 
 

Perfect click bait title, I’m glad you did it. These posts are great. 
 

 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

21 hours ago, MontclairDave said:

For me, Punch and TB guys are great, since they are not sponsored. (Affiliate links are fine by me.) The ones that are sponsored and hawk only their sponsor stuff, I occasionally watch for diversion but I don’t take their recommendations seriously. 
 

I also love Ben at the Hookup Tackle. I know he’s trying to sell his own stuff but he also includes lots of helpful tips on reel and rod choice.

TB is a great fishing channel.  They get into gear, but its not a deep dive unless its a particular rod they really like and even then, its not too in depth.  Matt is very talented at breaking down techniques into simple terms that anyone can understand.

Punch is really good too.  Hes not afraid to give a bum review and hes on top of the latest baits and JDM gear,

Ben is unique from the start in that he imports so much MB and JDM gear, he probably has a big share of that market.  He admittedly has some bias, but it's very hard not to like high end JDM gear, so I get it.  The only thing he said that I don't agree with, or frankly understand, is that rod balance doesn't matter, and he gets irritated when people try to find the balance point on a rod in his shop.  I'm not a fan of tip heavy rods, it makes the whole experience less enjoyable.  I would imagine the vast majority of gear he's using is exquisitely balanced, maybe he forgets what fishing with a tip heavy finesse rod is like lol.

18 hours ago, TimTheGearNerd said:

I started watching THEREELTEST before he started to put the annoying bible verse in his intros.

I don't find the Bible quotes annoying at all, I'm actually glad to see them.  Its the disingenuous nature of it that gets to me.  He does do a good job with reel specs such which is useful.  Its just hard for me to support someone who exudes arrogance at every possible opportunity.   

[Junk Fisherman]

I've bought stuff based off Tactical Bass suggestions.  But generally I get more tackle based on suggestions from forums such as this one.  I also look at reviews on Tackle Warehouse and Tackle Tour.  

[J Francho]

All rods are tip heavy with a bait (or even better, a fish) on the end of the line. 

[Hulkster]

 On The Reel Test: 

 

His channel is ok but if you notice he absolutely SUCKS with a baitcaster. 

 

He is always backlashing and pulling out loose loops/luffing. 

 

His reel are always way overfilled with braid and I commented he would have a lot less issues casting if he didn't overfill them. People agreed and his only comment was:

 

"my reels are filled to the perfect amount"

 

yeah ok buddy lol 

 

 

[ABU is overpriced]

1 hour ago, Hulkster said:

 On The Reel Test: 

 

His channel is ok but if you notice he absolutely SUCKS with a baitcaster. 

 

He is always backlashing and pulling out loose loops/luffing. 

 

His reel are always way overfilled with braid and I commented he would have a lot less issues casting if he didn't overfill them. People agreed and his only comment was:

 

"my reels are filled to the perfect amount"

 

yeah ok buddy lol 

 

 

I'd bet money he doesn't spend more than 15 days on the water a year. And when he is on the water, don't expect 8h+ of fishing, but more like 2-4h. He doesn't seem to be like someone who fishes much at all.

[Columbia Craw]

I’ve purchased two rods based on YouTube information.  Done with that.

[MinDoFmejiA]

only people i have let influence me on a rod is tactical bassin. I was looking into a new spinning set up and finally had a little extra for a good one. Ended up with a bass x and I'm now looking into getting a casting model in the future. 9 times out of 10 though I use influencer types mainly to get ideas and info on specific tips/techniques that I have never used or tried and I'm looking for a high success rate to gain confidence in the specific technique or presentation im trying to use. 

[softwateronly]

On 1/18/2025 at 9:08 PM, MontclairDave said:

Plus I won $100 of free baits in this recent Xmas giveaways. He must have gifted $5k of free gear over two weeks. Pretty cool in my book. 

 

 

Congrats!  I think I watched that episode.

 

scott

[Bass Junke]

I don't watch many fishing vids on you tube. I would never listen to anyone's advice about tackle on you tube when there is a website like Bass Resource along with this forum in existence. 

 

I do check out some of Tackle Tour's reviews. Specifically their reel reviews and line reviews.  

[twisted_metal]

Equipment not so much.  Baits sometimes.