Who do you think deserves the highest marks? Quality, innovation, staying the course, pricing, superior product results, etc.

 

You're welcome to mention companies that aren't as broad-based as the big ones. Let us know why you like the company or their product(s).

 

Would also be interesting to find out if any of you were impressed by a company and they got swallowed up or went broke or whatever but are no longer with us!

 

Just something (hopefully interesting) to yak about on an internet forum.

I had to check the calendar real quick, see me in January.

Strike King. They make quality baits and every kind you can imagine.

i'm going to have to go with berkley. great quality hard baits, great quality terminal tackle, great quality soft plastics with the emergence of maxscent, they win it for me. now if only they came out with a jig line 

Penn and Shimano are well known for making excellent fishing gear. I have Penn Senators that are older than me and they still work great.

Pure Fishing... Berkley, Abu Garcia, Fenwick, Penn, Spiderwire, Stren, Mitchell, Pflueger, Sebile, Shakespeare, Van Staal, Ugly Stick and there are several other brands under their umbrella.

 

oe

6 minutes ago, OkobojiEagle said:

Pure Fishing... Pflueger,

I'm a little disappointed with PF right now. They've removed all but the President XT from the BC lineup...I sent an e-mail a month ago asking about this...still haven't heard anything back, and there's no news blips about a redesign or anything.

 

It's a shame cause I've been a Pflueger 'fan-boy' since the 70s...half my spinning and 2/3 of my BC reels are currently Pfluegers...but if PF is 'tanking' the brand, I may have to look elsewhere.

I'll say Shimano for reels, Zoom for soft plastics, and Creme, for innovation years ago.

11 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

I'll say Shimano for reels, Zoom for soft plastics, and Creme, for innovation years ago.

Accurate assessment. Imo

Zman also gets a nod.

The OP ask about manufacturers.  I’d have to say the Chinese,  they manufacture just about everything mentioned in this thread. ☹️

Strike King purely for baits. Pure Fishing for everything top to bottom. 

9 hours ago, EWREX said:

i'm going to have to go with berkley.

I'm going to go with Berkley as well, they make lots of different types of quality gear. I have not used much of their hard baits yet but their powerbait plastics are my favorite soft plastics of all time. I also love to use Berkley gulp in saltwater and they also work amazingly well. 

I love my Lucky Craft lures, but the Ratl-Trap has been one of my best year round producing lures. Also, Berkley has some good jerkbaits. The "Juke Shallow 100" is being used a lot and producing well. Plastics...I have a lot of Zoom stuff. As far as rods and reels, I have a mixed bag of mid-grade stuff, but I'm really liking my Dobyns/Shimano spinning set up.

Me.  ?

Shimano reels and rods. Strike King soft plastics

12 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

The OP ask about manufacturers.  I’d have to say the Chinese,  they manufacture just about everything mentioned in this thread. ☹️

Sad but true

Rage Tail, GYCB, Shimano and Seaguar are my top four.

 

Strike King product line (mostly Rage)

Sunline

Shimano

 

 

 

Mike

Daiwa

Power Pro

Strike King

 

I've moved to Siebert Jigs but New-Tech makes some awesome jigs as well...

I like rapala, zoom, and nichols for baits. Just brands that have stuck out to me over time. Heck idk about other stuff. I like my fenwick rods

I'm easy ~

So anyone who can Pull off

Fish Hard

A-Jay

I'm a Daiwa fanboy

22 hours ago, Bird said:

Accurate assessment. Imo

Zman also gets a nod.

 And Rapala for best balsa and reaction innovations for most original. That is all that needs to be said.

I was reminiscing about a the old Cordell Redfin bait that was a fave bait of mine when I was young, it caught fish! That led to a video how-to by Cotton Cordell. Which led to an article about his death. He lived a long life and caught a bazillion fish and certainly made a successful lure company.

 

The Big-O sure was a game-changing bait. Kudos to Fred Young.

 

https://fishingtackleretailer.com/cotton-cordell-dead/

 

 

I don't worry about who is best, and focus on what is best.  Pick the best in class for each piece of tackle, regardless of brand.  Brand loyalty will eventually let you down.  Talk to any Ford guy.

50 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I don't worry about who is best, and focus on what is best.  Pick the best in class for each piece of tackle, regardless of brand.  Brand loyalty will eventually let you down.  Talk to any Ford guy.

Agreed.  Of course you can add any GM guy, Mopar guy, BMW guy, etc.  Brand loyalty is a disease that misleads you.  Instead focus on picking what really resolves your need in an optimal way.