Whats your favourite brand? and why?

[chub_on_the_block]

I have a dislike of anything made by Daiwa. I base that on absolutely nothing whatsoever, I have never actually used any of their tackle, I have nothing against the company itself and I am certain they make some excellent gear.

Sometimes I confuse even myself

I got hold of an old Daiwa Amorphus Whisker 13ft waggler rod for about £30 and its a lovely rod for the price - really impressed with it. Delicate tip and fast on the strike but bends well into mid-section with a descent fish.

 

[chav professor]

I have a dislike of anything made by Daiwa. I base that on absolutely nothing whatsoever, I have never actually used any of their tackle, I have nothing against the company itself and I am certain they make some excellent gear.

Sometimes I confuse even myself

Allow me to unconfuse you...lol Top quality, constructed in scotland! Daiwa is Japanese company that invests heavily in the UK, even though it could have moved all its operations abroad. I know an employee who works for daiwa and he is full of praise for the japanese culture of loyalty. beats J W Young and Hardy's hands down........ Famous british tackle brands - everything made in the far east! One even has the cheek to slap on a Hefty price tag that might lure some to reflect its former glory omg - maybe upwards of 300 quid!!!

 

[sussex river man]

Allow me to unconfuse you...lol Top quality, constructed in scotland! Daiwa is Japanese company that invests heavily in the UK, even though it could have moved all its operations abroad. I know an employee who works for daiwa and he is full of praise for the japanese culture of loyalty. beats J W Young and Hardy's hands down........ Famous british tackle brands - everything made in the far east! One even has the cheek to slap on a Hefty price tag that might lure some to reflect its former glory omg - maybe upwards of 300 quid!!!

Well i never knew that! i too have had a mysterious dislike to daiwa and have never owned a rod or reel made by them, but after reading that i will remove my blinkers. you are right about the japanese, just look at the likes of nissan its widely known that it cost them more money to build cars in this country but they still invest large amounts in the production lines.

 

[Berty]

Allow me to unconfuse you...lol Top quality, constructed in scotland! Daiwa is Japanese company that invests heavily in the UK, even though it could have moved all its operations abroad. I know an employee who works for daiwa and he is full of praise for the japanese culture of loyalty. beats J W Young and Hardy's hands down........ Famous british tackle brands - everything made in the far east! One even has the cheek to slap on a Hefty price tag that might lure some to reflect its former glory omg - maybe upwards of 300 quid!!!

I made that exact point a couple of years back when an EX "board" member of FM was telling all and sundry how good the expensive "British" (made in far east!) rods where!........Daiwa have made and still make rods to blow them all away!!

 

[ravey]

£30 for the Amorphous was a result. I have two from new and reckon they are cracking rods for my styles of fishing. I have more Daiwa gear than is probably healthy...

The Japs do seem to look after their UK employees. One bloke I know who works for Toyota tells me they will do whatever they can to prevent job losses. Yes, times have been grim, but he said that they stand by their workforce.

Nice to hear in this climate.

 

[sam vimes]

Just to put the brakes on a little before this turns into a Daiwa love in (and I like Daiwa well enough myself). Only the top end rods and poles are made in the UK, not every rod and pole, and certainly not the reels.

 

[frothy]

Rods - tricast for coarse and Harrison for carp
The rest of my gear is a right old mixed bag of all sorts...some good some bad!...oh and dymag for carp gear and tlb alarms

 

[chav professor]

Just to put the brakes on a little before this turns into a Daiwa love in (and I like Daiwa well enough myself). Only the top end rods and poles are made in the UK, not every rod and pole, and certainly not the reels.

Obviously to be competitive, cheaper stuff is made abroad.... top end Daiwa costs....... because its made in the UK, because it has been designed with UK angling in mind, because its designed to exacting standards.


Another fine company which invests in a british work force is drennan. I have never seen anything made by this company which is rubbish. Mr Drennan has factories in various parts of the world - The rods and reels are manufactured abroad, but this keeps costs down and affordable. I had the pleasure of seeing some original pictures of Peter Drennan even prior to his making floats in his parents shed.... even as a fresh faced teenager he kept company with many greats of the time.... peter Stone, walker, Taylor brothers, Sonny and bill warren to name but a few.

I could never bring myself to pay through the nose for a Hardy flagship model.... The quality is first class - but the price does not reflect the labour market from where it was assembled.

 

[Keith M]

DIAWA have made excelllent rods for years.
I have two 'Diawa Harrier Amorphous Whisker float rods' (made in Scotland); a 14ft general/long distance float rod (AWM14) and a 13ft 'Light' float rod (AWM13L). They were priced at £180 & £165 respectively back in 1995 but I bought them for half price when the shop closed because the owner retired.
The 13ft light float rod is still a brilliant light waggler rod designed for hooklengths down to as low as 8oz which can put many of todays rods in the shade after all these years.

I also have an old-ish Diawa 2lb Powermesh Carp rod which I still love using for floater fishing for Carp.

The rest of my favourite rods are classics made by Drennan (Tench, Specialist & River Quiver rods), Greys (Prodigy Barbel, Multi-tips & Carp rods) and Hardy (my 15ft Hardy Marksman Specialist float rod was presented to me when I retired earlier this year so I didn't have to pay out of my own pocket for it)

Oh! and I also have an old Shakespeare 17ft/20ft float rod that I occasionally like using for deep waters and for far bank trotting for Chub and large Roach on my local streams.

Plus a few odds-n-sods made by Abu, Shakespeare and other manufacturers that I no longer use.

 

[mark brailsford 2]

I have a dislike of anything made by Daiwa. I base that on absolutely nothing whatsoever, I have never actually used any of their tackle, I have nothing against the company itself and I am certain they make some excellent gear.

Sometimes I confuse even myself

Don't get you mate!!!!!!!!!

 

[paul80]

It's difficult for me to pick my best as I have owned and sold so many good bits of kit over the years.

But of all that kit I still have some that is still in use so I suppose that must be my favourite stuff.

In regular use is a Middy 2.5lb 12ft Carp Rod and two Silstar KR10 reels which are as silky smooth today as they where when I bought them 15 years ago, so silky smooth that I can use them as I would a baitrunner even though they don't actually have that feature, they are just so smooth and the line is so easily pulled from the reel as to make a baitrunner feature obsolete.

Other than that and the Youngs Purist pin I owned a good many years ago before the recession in the 90,s kicked in and resulted in all my expensive gear being sold for a song at a boot sale, just to pay the mortgage.

Nowadays I have set myself a limit to never spend more than £50 on any single item, although I have slipped over that for special occasions. Mos of my gear has now come either from Dragon Carp of TF Gear and to be honest on the whole I am totally happy with my gear, I still catch many fish of all sizes and the vast majority end up on the bank, so my cheap as chips gear is not that bad.

Paul

 

[barbelboi]

Harrison rods, made in the UK, are fine for me and make up the largest single manufacturer of my rods (6). Also pre-Masterline Normarks from the Japanese Dimaru factory (3) and have a couple of Preston Carbonactive rods (does anyone know where they are made??) plus the the odd Diawa, Greys, Fox and a '57 BJ MKIV Avon.
Jerry
PS Dumped the solid glass/hollow glass bits years ago.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Good question, but I'm not sure that I have a true set of favorites.

For coarse fishing rods I own Normark, Preston, Tri-cast and Carbotec, amongst others, but for Fly fishing then it is Sage, every time!

Reels really depend on method, so there are centrepins, Shimano Stradics and Daiwa Infinity for Carp fishing. Fly reels are Sage, Abel and Orvis

Most ancillary kit is from Preston as I think their quality is very good and prices competitive, but for luggage etc then it is Trakker and Korum.

For my pole fishing then it is Milo and Preston almost exclusively as I've never been let down by any of their gear.

 

[terry m]

Reels - Shimano
Rods - Century or Greys
Alarms - Delkim
Metal - Matrix
luggage - Korum
Bivvy - Tracker
line - Shimano technium

 

[S-Kippy]

I can't honestly say I have a favourite brand....it depends what I want and how much it costs/I can afford. That said...on the basis of what I've got and am happy with.

Rods [Coarse] : Greys & Drennan
Reels : Daiwa & Okuma [cannot stand those big,ugly,overated,heavy Shimano things]
Luggage : TFG/Chub
Bits : Korum
Alarms : Anything BUT Delkim purely on principle.

Pro Gold or Pro Clear line...occasionally Sufix

Funnily enough...though I have a few Drennan rods and love them all I've had two go on me for no reason. The only other rods that have gone on me in 40 + years of fishing is a Normark Match rod that I slammed against a iron canal bridge [fair enough] and a Sammy Shakespeare spinning rod that disintegrated into a million pieces when I tried to lift a boulder the size of a small car off the bed of the River Wye with it....also fair enough.

There are some brands I would not touch with a very long barge pole.

Fly gear its Hardy & Sharpes for me [slower action suits my casting style] with Greys & Shimano reels. Sage rods are OK if you like beans & peas...I dont.