I have never favored any brand.

Of the 7 rods I use most often there are 4 brands represented. Falcon, Berkley, Cabela's and Kast King. I'm not married to any brands, but the Falcons are nice. I would own more of them.

I have four brands, Cashion, Dobyns, Shimano, and Pflueger.  

Today St Croix spinning w/ Shimano reel, Original Phenix spinning/ Shimano reel, Major Craft Casting/ Shimano reel, ALX custom casting /Daiwa reel. Down to the minimum.

I am partial to reel brands with top customer service like Daiwa, Shimano reels, rods are feel right to me and used several brands over the years.

Tom

I use 13fishing, dobyns, All star,st croix, ark,berkley, Abu,Quantum, Falcon,Daiwa, Fenwick and soon ill have a major craft in the lineup.

In my main rotation for bass fishing, only one. St Croix. But for other species or occasional use: Daiwa, Ugly Stik and Quantum. I have a Luhr-Jensen rod as well that's been collecting a lot of dust. 

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

I develop web apps for a living. Why would I want to do work stuff to my hobby? I don't even have a PC in my home. 

No PC in your home?  Now that is weird.    I'd also say very unusual.

 

I program lathes for a living.  If someone wanted a Macro B program, I would gladly work on it from home.  A regular program...not so much although I have done so in the past.  Guess it depends on what a person loves to do.  I must admit I haven't been on cnczone or practicalmachinist in a long time.  Things had changed quite a bit in them the last time I looked.  I hardly recognized the forums. 

I have three different brands. The vast majority of my rods are BPS Platinums with three Patriot thrown in. I own two St Croix's and one Loomis Smallmouth Series rod.

4 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

I plead the 5th. 

The oldest rod I own is Chubb, and don't fish, but it's fun to cast. 

 

Certainly the brand I've bought the most, presents for my dad, a few for myself and daughters, is Falcon - Lamiglas is a close second. 

 

The two rods I bought most recently, and the next I plan to buy are Valleyhill. 

I always thoroughly enjoy your posts with the high quality pics and explanations of your equipment. I'm sure you could open a museum with the treasure trove you have. 

I use four currently. Dobyns, St. Croix, Lews, and BPS.

I use whatever is the absolute best for each technique I'm not that brand loyal but over the years I've noticed that most brands or series in a brand are mostly hyped up on forums, the majority of my rods are JDM specific models from Daiwa, Evergreen and Megabass with a few JDM Fenwick models (that's light years ahead of the USDM market Fenwicks)

 

USDM market rods consists of custom St. Croix blanks and a few NRX and Conquests, but these are mainly back ups when I'm traveling or not on my own boat.

 

I believe it's best to use what works best given the task not just because its brand X, although some brands or series in brands are the best in mostly every category.

 

 

I’m currently at 10 different brands soon to be 11, ranging from All Star to Wright & McGill. If I ever chose to pick one brand it would probably be Okuma for me as I feel they cover a wide variety in both actions and price points I’m comfortable paying. I will admit I’ve never tried, looked at but never pulled the trigger on higher end rods so my opinion might change then. 

Edited January 17, 20224 yr by Eric 26
Grammar

The majority of my stuff is Shimano and Falcon. Good stuff at a good price. 

I gravitate towards St Croix.
 

I also like Fenwick, Abu Garcia and 
Lew’s rods. 

I like trying different brands, sometimes I use them for a few seasons and re-sell some. Then sometimes new stuff comes out and try out other brands/models.

 

What I'm using currently:

2-Powell 

2-Kistler

2-FXCustom

1-St Croix

 

I have falcon BPS and Dobyns.

On 1/14/2022 at 10:35 PM, Hammer 4 said:

1 Turners house brand, spinning rod.

The 'Californian' rods? 

 

I believe they are phenix feather blanks. The actions, powers, and lengths match up identically. I have some too.

 

I don't necessarily see myself as being brand loyal. I just like what I like within my means.  I'll fish whatever I find that I like, that I can afford, and has a spot to fill that needs filling.

 

My starting lineup (four different brands; three if you count the Californians as Phenix):

 

Casting Rods:

Californian H/F

Daiwa Kage MH/F

Californian MH/F (fishes closer to a M) 

Phenix Feather ML/F

Phenix Feather L

Cranking Rods:

Phenix Composite X: X-14T

Phenix Composite X: X-13

Phenix Composite X: X-12

Jerkbait Rod:

Shimano SLX M/F

Spinning Rods:

Daiwa Kage M/F (6'10")

Daiwa Tatula M/F (7'1")

Californian M/F (7'1" - fishes a little lighter than my other mediums)

Shimano Zodias ML/F

Shimano Expride L/F

 

Current favorites: I really the Daiwa Kage 7'3" MH/F casting rod and the Shimano Zodias 7'2" ML spinning rods. Depending on what the fish are wanting, I see me giving these two rods a lot of action this coming season.

 

I feel like I have pretty much everything I care to fish covered well enough for me at this time so I don't foresee any changes for a while.

The 'Californian' rods? 

 

I believe they are phenix feather blanks. The actions, powers, and lengths match up identically. I have some too.

 

Yup, I have the 7'1" ml spinning rod, great action imho, and under rated too.

Currently, all of my higher-end rods are Abu Garcia, but I also use Shakespeare and Shimano rods.

 

My "main" rods are Veritas plx tournament rods.

 

The oldest rod I use is a Browning boron rod.

7 hours ago, Big Hands said:

The 'Californian' rods? 

 

I own 8 rods in total. 

2 Fenwick 

2 St croix

2 Kastking 

1 Lews 

1 Lightning 

I use mostly St Crois, Loomis & Kistler. I did buy one Megabass to check them out but was disappointed based on price versus functionality. 

I've only got 2.  Mostly the Old models St Croix Legend Extremes and a few Loomis GLX's.

Shimano and Phenix for my bass setups. I have one St Croix Premier for my trout rod. 

Mostly Major Craft and Daiwa rods in my arsenal.