Who makes the best fishing tackle?

[Mrs Ronnie H]

hi
Sure is some differing opinions here.
Matter of personal choice I reckon-- me I like my Okuma overheads and my Wilson Live fibre rods.

I have to agree with Wamjam-- forget the name and hefty pricetags-- we all go out to fish and who cares if my reel aint a Stella or made by Daiwa-- i still catch fish.

Cheers
Ronnie

[BLOOEY]

First of all, i dont treat my reels all that well, a rinse when i remember too and a once a year service. I purchase mid $range reels.I have had daiwa reels before and after a decent amount of usage they wear out, become sloppy or simply fall to bits. Shimanos can definately cop more abuse and use without dying. Ben

[NAGG]

First of all, i dont treat my reels all that well, a rinse when i remember too and a once a year service. I purchase mid $range reels.I have had daiwa reels before and after a decent amount of usage they wear out, become sloppy or simply fall to bits. Shimanos can definately cop more abuse and use without dying. Ben

It will be interesting if you will be able to make the same comments about the latest Shimano range - particularly their mid price lighter rods and reels ........... they are certainly being made to a price point & are lowering the bar

Chris

[MudRiverDan]

hi
Sure is some differing opinions here.
Matter of personal choice I reckon-- me I like my Okuma overheads and my Wilson Live fibre rods.

I have to agree with Wamjam-- forget the name and hefty pricetags-- we all go out to fish and who cares if my reel aint a Stella or made by Daiwa-- i still catch fish.

Cheers
Ronnie

Okuma make some good gear but it does not seem to be so available as Shimano, maybe they have downsized their range or are being pushed out of the retail market.

[Noelm]

Shimano are trying to introduce a sort of restricted sale thing too, you may not be able to buy one in just any old shop (so I was told) just like (say) Penn Spinfishers are almost only available at BCF now, but then, maybe the other tackle stores don't want to go anywhere near them after they changed manufacturing countries! or maybe BCF just sells them cheaper than "they" can buy them for? who knows where all this will end, ut the fact remains, ANY poll will see Shimano on top, same as the motor poll will see Yamaha on top, 4X4 will see Toyota first, does not make them better though, just more common/popular.

[NAGG]

while I'm a Daiwa reel fan or real daiwa fan I do like to toy around with other manufactures product - my last purchase was the top of the line Pflueger patriarch XT baitcaster ....... now this was priced at a point where it would be competing against a Core or Alphas type R - no way jose certainly it reads well on the specs but it needs to be pulled apart every trip to make it tolerable .......... certainly a disappointment .

Chris

[softplasticsdude79]

shimano baitrunners for me,but everything else Daiwa.

Adam

[reggy]

while I'm a Daiwa reel fan or real daiwa fan I do like to toy around with other manufactures product - my last purchase was the top of the line Pflueger patriarch XT baitcaster ....... now this was priced at a point where it would be competing against a Core or Alphas type R - no way jose certainly it reads well on the specs but it needs to be pulled apart every trip to make it tolerable .......... certainly a disappointment .

Chris

Yes, reminds me of the pot metal kick levers issue with ABU Revo reels. Very dissapointing considering the $285.00 price tag.

[MudRiverDan]

I have a Diawa Alphas R edition, definitely robust, light and easy to use, has some real winching power too for a small reel, very nice.

I recently bought a Shimano Seinna 4000 for general rock wall and live bait fishing,of course bait reels dont do the milage of a sp/lure reel so it looks tough enough to handle the mess and punishment of bait fishing from the shore.

not a light reel but you can't go wrong for $60.00

[softplasticsdude79]

I have a Diawa Alphas R edition, definitely robust, light and easy to use, has some real winching power too for a small reel, very nice.

I recently bought a Shimano Seinna 4000 for general rock wall and live bait fishing,of course bait reels dont do the milage of a sp/lure reel so it looks tough enough to handle the mess and punishment of bait fishing from the shore.


not a light reel but you can't go wrong for $60.00

yeah,i know i didnt mention in my first post,but If this was a value for money poll,the Shimano sienna would take the cake for me,Great little reels for the price.I used them for years until i could afford some better quality.

[insider]

For every piece of fishing gear you should look at the specification NOT the brand. The poll shows that Shimano and Daiwa are the two "Ford and Holdens" of this world but it does not mean they are the best. Most of the Shimano and Daiwa products are produced in China, Malaysia and Thjailand and NOT in Japan. They also outsource production so they are not making all their own products. There are so many better producers of better gear, you need to just have a look.

[Jason Killen]

Hi Insider,
I'm interested in what these better products are? I'm not having a go I genuinely want to know. I know there are heaps of good rods that are not well known but what are some of the reels? I stick with Shimano or Diawa because I know what I am getting and they also tend to be more reliable from experience than other brands. I think a lot of people are relucant to spend the same money on an unknown brand when for all you know may be an inferior product. What other reel brands in your experience are better products than shimano or daiwa?
Cheers
Jason

[NAGG]

For every piece of fishing gear you should look at the specification NOT the brand. The poll shows that Shimano and Daiwa are the two "Ford and Holdens" of this world but it does not mean they are the best. Most of the Shimano and Daiwa products are produced in China, Malaysia and Thjailand and NOT in Japan. They also outsource production so they are not making all their own products. There are so many better producers of better gear, you need to just have a look.

.

Just my opinion - but Daiwa & Shimano produce some of the best tackle across the entire range... ... at most price points . Yes there may be some specialist manufactures that produce absolute gems (rods & reels) but they are usually high end and or specialist tackle (Megabass , Smiths , Van Staal , Hardy Bros to name a few .
when it comes to mainstream tackle .... the likes of Penn , ABU , Pflueger , Quantum , Okuma , etc etc all try hard but produce very few products that become standouts.
Even custom rod builders fail to get over the top of the best that that are offered by Daiwa & Shimano ( I'll include Loomis as part of Shimano).

So with that said - Can you give some examples of tackle that you deem to be better ........ I'm actually looking at some new gear ...... so I'm interested

Chris

[insider]

Hi All

Please don't get me wrong the high end Shimano and Daiwa reels are excellent peices of engineering but if you look around there are much better peices of gear made by specialists in their field. Of the reel manufacturers Shimano, Daiwa, Omoto, Banax and Tica are really the only quality manufacturers of a large range of reels. If you want quality spinning reels that are the top of the line Nagg nailed it saying Van Staals. He also pointed out a good point that the following are now only marketing companies "the likes of Penn , ABU , Pflueger , Quantum , Okuma" all the preceeding companies do not make their own gear and access suppliers that many smaller companies work closely with. Quality game reels you can look at the Italian Gladiator and Everol reels along with the Internationals + Tiagras. It is interesting to note that the Everol reels have patented a system where the drag pressure stays constant whether the spool is full or getting empty.

For the rods please note Diawa and Shimano do not have a rod factory they own so their rods are coming from selected Chinese and Taiwanese factories that many other comp[anies can source so look for ranges that are made for our market and not Japanese / European / USA rods that suit what we do.

For the sake of lures there are too many to go into but the specialists win out in the end. Hands down.

For line, go "Made in Japan" or made in Europe.

Cheers
Insider

[NAGG]

Hi All

Please don't get me wrong the high end Shimano and Daiwa reels are excellent peices of engineering but if you look around there are much better peices of gear made by specialists in their field. Of the reel manufacturers Shimano, Daiwa, Omoto, Banax and Tica are really the only quality manufacturers of a large range of reels. If you want quality spinning reels that are the top of the line Nagg nailed it saying Van Staals. He also pointed out a good point that the following are now only marketing companies "the likes of Penn , ABU , Pflueger , Quantum , Okuma" all the preceeding companies do not make their own gear and access suppliers that many smaller companies work closely with. Quality game reels you can look at the Italian Gladiator and Everol reels along with the Internationals + Tiagras. It is interesting to note that the Everol reels have patented a system where the drag pressure stays constant whether the spool is full or getting empty.

For the rods please note Diawa and Shimano do not have a rod factory they own so their rods are coming from selected Chinese and Taiwanese factories that many other comp[anies can source so look for ranges that are made for our market and not Japanese / European / USA rods that suit what we do.

For the sake of lures there are too many to go into but the specialists win out in the end. Hands down.

For line, go "Made in Japan" or made in Europe.

Cheers
Insider

Shimano own Loomis - Loomis make their rods in the US ........ I have also heard that Daiwa infact do have rod making operations ( I think one is even in the UK)

Everols - like the Finnor are not like they once were (IMO)

Chris

Chris