Hi;

First time post, long time listener.....I am getting back into bass fishing later in '26 out of a Kayak in which I will drag around 6-7 rods ea. time.  I really haven't fished for bass-only since my youth in the 70's on an natural lake in MN in a 15' alum. boat with 4hp - 4-5 rods/reels then.  

 

Nonetheless, I know how to attack the lake (Saguaro-AZ) when I get my 62 y/o azz out there in my comfy kayak.  I'm starting out with 5 Baitcasters, and  2 Spinners.   Basically, I have aligned my style faves and the success out there as much as possible.

 

Here are the 5 slots of BC reel sets I will spend some bucks on to get that setup going, and I had marked No Shimano/Daiwa reels in it w/o any recent experiences.  All the internet chatter and even here would say not to go outside that realm.  I found via online shopping I want these -  Lews SS RX, Lews KVD, (2)13 Fishing Concept A2, and Ardent Apex Tournament.   Those aren't a Shimano or Daiwa, you Idiot.  I get some of that.  My Shimano Bantam reel  from 1979 was smooth as silk way back. Both of my current carbon frame bikes (about $5k ea) have top line Shimano drivetrains and brakes.

 

5 Cats of lures/presentations in BC reels I will start  with - 

1.FOOTBALL JIGS/TEXAS RIG WORMS,  2.SPINNERBAITS/CHATTER BAITS, 3. SWIM JIGS/SOFT PLASTIC JERK BAITS, WTLSS SENKOS, 4.CRANKBAITS DEEP/MID, & 5. PUNCHING/FLIPPING/FROG.

Spinning rod/reel will take several finesse setups and a little overlap of the above with soft jerkbaits, wtlss senkos.

 

Please rip me why I should only go with the Shimano/Daiwa reels and avoid those lines listed above....Maybe the Lews can stay?  Only change out the 13/Ardent stuff?  Thanks for the space and I am same poster on Golf WRX if anybody is a crossover!

 

 

 

Sorry can't help you.  Own more Daiwa reels than any other brand, but besides Daiwa and Shimano, I own 8 other brands of casting reels.  One of my spinning reels is not one of the above 10 brands.  Five brands of fly reels don't have the name of any of the spinning or baitcast reels.

Can't help ya. I own more Lew's than any other brand. My JDM Zillions are my favorite and best quality reels, but I feel like my LFS reels are the best bang for the buck. 

Lews, KastKing, even older Pflueger's are in my line-up....Daiwa and Shimano are good, just not "only them and no others" good IMO.

I only own Shimano reels.  Durability is a big reason.  I have Curado E7s that are around 20 years old and still look and work like they did when new.  Only one of them has had to have parts and that was because I dropped it on the garage floor.  I also have Stradic and Symmetry reels from the same time period.

Two schools, buy a little bit of everything at low end.  

Stick with what works for you, buy fewer and better quality.  These two reels did everything I needed fishing mono/fluoro, from 1984 to 2015 - I never take more than 3 combos on kayak. 

Sticking with brand habit, added Super Duty and partners over 2016 to '19.  

  

When I discovered I didn't need centrifugal, sold those two reels in EX condition, and put the funds into Daiwa 34-mm floating spool (Zillion, Steez, Ryoga).  Except for one ZPI Alcance, which is like Super Duty on steroids and BFS spool available.  Haven't bought anything but 34-mm Daiwa floating spool for the versatility of the spools, and all the reels swap spools (one backup spool on kayak covers them all).  I won't be trying anything else.  

 

simply, Daiwa casting brake is simple, brilliant, reliable, and versatile - matched with the right spool, the same reel can fish 2 g to 2 oz.  

  

Not counting bench-tinkering Ambassadeur, which is a different kind of hoot.  

 

I have no reason you can’t buy whatever you want, go for it.

 

i use Shimano. The first decent reel I tried (Stradic) was a big step up in quality and function from the cheap stuff I had been using. As I’ve had no issues with it or any other Shimano I’ve bought since then I have no reason to buy anything else.

 

I do own an old bullet proof Diawa Capricorn that I occasionally use, bought before the Stradics, and have had a loaner Abu Garcia RevO that I gave back when I got a SLX XT. This beginner BC’er finds the low end SLX much friendlier to learn on than the RevO Premier.

 

 

As an exclusive Shimano user, I see no reason not to try the reels you listed. I have tried several brands, both in spinning and bait casting but shimanos just feel right in my hand. I even tried to go daiwa once but again, the Shimano in that size just felt better in hand to me.  To each, their own. 

I'm not married to any brand, have many different brands from 13fishing to Okuna and many in-between.

Shimano just feels better, spinning and casting.

I have abu garcia reels, lews, daiwa, and shimano casting reels. Spinning reels I have a shimano and daiwa. Personally, I prefer the feel of the Daiwa spinning reels. I compared a miravel and a legalis in store and based off feel the legalis had less start up inertia than the miravel which is shimanos mgl. For baitcasters I like both brands. My zillion is definitely smoothest, but my curado 150 will out cast it. My lews lfs is for frogging. Just try a variety of brands and see what you like. I would definitely try Daiwa and Shimano if your spending over 100.

Only Kastking reels are in my lineup. If you have any questions feel free to message me. I have a code that will save you extra money on their site. Don't know if I am allowed to post it here.

Shimano and Daiwa largely do all their own engineering, design, and manufacturing. And have done so for a long time. Basically everyone else buys from a couple third party private label manufacturers and puts their name on it. That doesn’t mean the ‘others’ aren’t good quality sometimes. Some of the reels they put out are great reels. Almost all of them are decent reels for the price point. Many get geary over time or have other issues. But the big two put out a consistent product and I’m confident they are going to be there when I finish my fishing journey. 

In the 90s i started with Shimano and Diawa. Then i bought a few Bps round Pro Qualifier reels. Purchased a few Pinnacle round reels. Used them about 10 years and went to Pflueger round reels.went to their low profiles. I eventually went to Lews and have never looked back. My Lews are every bit as good as my brother in laws Shimano and Diawa Reels. The only Reason to not use anything else is because we get brainwashed by those who insist there is nothing else.

 

Why buy a brand that doesn't even design their reels? Let alone manufacture them.

2 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

Shimano and Daiwa largely do all their own engineering, design, and manufacturing. And have done so for a long time. Basically everyone else buys from a couple third party private label manufacturers and puts their name on it. That doesn’t mean the ‘others’ aren’t good quality sometimes. Some of the reels they put out are great reels. Almost all of them are decent reels for the price point. Many get geary over time or have other issues. But the big two put out a consistent product and I’m confident they are going to be there when I finish my fishing journey. 

Pretty much this.  I'll also add the difficulty in getting parts for long term ownership of the reel.  I have no problem getting parts to service my 10+ year old Daiwas but this can be harder for rebrand reels when you don't even know who actually made it let alone what model it actually is and brand on the outside is basically [your name here] and is of no use. There are a number of old BPS Doyos on this site still ticking so I know it's possible to track down parts or raid parts reels but some of these brands like Kastking changed manufacturers and even BPS has used multiple manufacturers at the same time.  It's hard to maintain something when you don't know what you actually have.

Got several brands, But my Carbonlites get most the work. But love Diawa too

12 minutes ago, Micro Module Police said:

Why buy a brand that doesn't even design their reels? Let alone manufacture them.

Price?  Quality for the money?  Best I could find in a quick search was that the Pinnacle Primmus HS Xi was made by some company in Taiwan.  I love that reel!  Casts great.  Not finicky at all.  Pretty light at just under 6 oz.  A good looking reel in my eyes.    

 

I have to admit up front that my reels don't see a ton of use so worn out parts are highly unlikely.  Too many and don't get out much anymore.

 

First cast with my Helios Air was love at first cast.  

 

bowhunter63: Have a pair of the darker goldish colored Carbonlites.  They were 2 of the 3 reels I learned to cast #5 Shad Raps.  A pleasure to use.

 

No idea who made the older blue Patriarch XT but it's another good looking, fairly light, good casting reel (as in decent distance without being finicky).  Aluminum frame and titanium coated aluminum sideplates at 6.8 oz.  See this review: https://www.tackletour.com/reviewicast09reelspflueger.html

 

Daiwa are some of my favorite reels, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to exclude other brands.

38 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

Price?  Quality for the money?  Best I could find in a quick search was that the Pinnacle Primmus HS Xi was made by some company in Taiwan.  I love that reel!  Casts great.  Not finicky at all.  Pretty light at just under 6 oz.  A good looking reel in my eyes.    

 

I have to admit up front that my reels don't see a ton of use so worn out parts are highly unlikely.  Too many and don't get out much anymore.

 

First cast with my Helios Air was love at first cast.  

 

bowhunter63: Have a pair of the darker goldish colored Carbonlites.  They were 2 of the 3 reels I learned to cast #5 Shad Raps.  A pleasure to use.

 

No idea who made the older blue Patriarch XT but it's another good looking, fairly light, good casting reel (as in decent distance without being finicky).  Aluminum frame and titanium coated aluminum sideplates at 6.8 oz.  See this review: https://www.tackletour.com/reviewicast09reelspflueger.html

 

Daiwa are some of my favorite reels, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to exclude other brands.

Price is one of the main reasons why shimano and daiwa is better. Years ago, these two didn't have anything "cheap", so if your budget is low, you had no choice but to choose another brand. Daiwa now has the Tatula 80-100 and Shimano has the SLX. For a low price, you're not gonna beat this with another brand.

I have Shimano baitcast reels, but will gladly fish Daiwa, Abu, Lew's or Kastking if it's the right reel and price. I prefer Shimano's braking way more than Daiwa and slightly more than the Doyo reels. 

 

Spinning gear, I love my Lew's spinning reels. I don't fish spinning gear over 12lb braid and 8lb leader though, so your mileage may vary.

1 hour ago, Micro Module Police said:

Price is one of the main reasons why shimano and daiwa is better. Years ago, these two didn't have anything "cheap", so if your budget is low, you had no choice but to choose another brand. Daiwa now has the Tatula 80-100 and Shimano has the SLX. For a low price, you're not gonna beat this with another brand.

I could also reason the Shimano/Daiwa dominance as "JDM" coming back into fishing being a cyclist with the Shimano gear as superior and Golf.  There are many gear whores whom only want Japan clubs, I have been one having  forged iron set I ordered from Japan (Honma) that are gorgeous and high quality.   

 

But on price tiers -

If brands C,D, and E only have 4-5 BC reels and I can afford there 2nd highest model,  yet with both JDM, no way - I'm not gonna fish with a $500 reel with their top end likely over $700.   I posted out of frustration with the big two pricing - each has at least a dozen reels out and the range in pricing from top to bottom is wide.  Lews is my pick for two casting and one spinning and they also have many models.

 

My Shimano XT groupset on my HT Carbon MTB is not their top end, it is second highest - but it absolutely is more durable and performs better than the top end of the few other bike OEMs in that world.  

Although I really like my Daiwa’s I’m definitely into trying alternative brands as well and have a few different brands. That said I agree with @Bigbox99 in getting parts and had a positive experience when I cracked the nose piece on a Piscifun Saex Elite which is identical to the Ardent Apex Elite and after contacting Ardent they sent the nose piece for free even when I offered to pay for the part. Although I didn’t need internal parts I’m pretty sure they are identical reels internally as well. 

Bass casting friends...what a Godsend site!

 

I have it pretty narrowed down on reel lineup.  I always was gonna have a Shimano Spin, and a Lews in that area - on on a Med Fast Rod, the other a Med Lite XF Rod, respectively.

 

For BC, will stick with my two Lews choices, their SS RX and the very similar KVD Elite.  I'm gonna also be good with either Kast King, 13 Fishing Concept A2, Okuma, or Quantum in one or two most other categories.

Then, with all the thread input here and around - I will splurge with Daiwa Tatula SV, probably a 150 & 100 for two other slots.  I loved Daiwa spinning reels over 3 decades ago, using their mid to lower tiers then. 

 

Capping it with 5-6 Baitcasters, but not too invested in the alternate brands so I can always convert fully into one of the big two and maybe still go w/lotta Lews.  FWIW - My 1978 original Lew's Speed Stick Glass Spin Rod was made in Japan  - 1st new gear for me as a youth.

1 hour ago, Eric 26 said:

Although I really like my Daiwa’s I’m definitely into trying alternative brands as well and have a few different brands. That said I agree with @Bigbox99 in getting parts and had a positive experience when I cracked the nose piece on a Piscifun Saex Elite which is identical to the Ardent Apex Elite and after contacting Ardent they sent the nose piece for free even when I offered to pay for the part. Although I didn’t need internal parts I’m pretty sure they are identical reels internally as well. 

The metal frame Kastking and Piscifuns are not bad reels. The Kastking Elite reels, any of them, are very nice for the price.

I have a long time buddy.  We used to fish together almost weekly for 30 years.  His position was buy cheap.  I went to visit him last week and he showed me some newer combos.  Lot of Kast King products.  I noted he had a a box of junked reels and a stack of beater rods.  That’s his mindset.  It’s his money.  There are the rare exceptions where you can find decent service able, performing products at great prices but staying with reputable manufactures has served me best over the last forty plus years.

Kastking now manufactures their own designs in their own factory. Okuma does as well. If I were not going to buy Shimano or Daiwa I would look to these two brands. People like to hate on KastKing because of their reels before they built their own factory. I would say any Kastking Elite series reel is definitely worth checking out. I have also heard the two KastKing Skeet Reese reels are very good. My next reel I have my eye on is the MgTi. I believe that reel is a giant killer.