Dodgy Tackle Outlets

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

Some time ago I walked into a tackle shop that had suddenly appeared on the scene in my area. It shall be nameless.

I thought I would pay it a visit as they advertised all sorts of bargains.

I of course looked for the top names: Daiwa, Drennan, Shimano, Preston, Keenets, Greys, Hardy, ESP, Fox, Kryston.

Couldn't find them.

The names they had, I had never heard of.

Some of the stuff looked very dodgy indeed.

I walked out.

Are you attracted by such cheapy retail outlets? Or are you, like me, only buy from top class shops with a reputation for service, good advice and with top brand names in their range?

 

[Phil Hackett 2]

Ron I take you point about dodgy tackle but remember all manufactures have to start somewhere.
I?m old enough to remember the Japanese manufactures entering the UK.
The matchmen (yes I match fished in those days) wouldn?t give them basket space. Mitchells, Intrepid, ABU, Shakespeare dominated.
The rest if they were Japanese particularly, were crap. I bought probably one of the first Diawa reels they imported into the UK at less than half the price of a Mitchell 410. Served me well for several years as well.

I also cycled competitively back then, and it was the same in that sport. If it wasn?t French or Italian it was rubbish. Shimano and Sun Tour were vilified as Jap Crap! The truth was it was as good as them but half the price.

Whilst I don?t know for certain, but I suspect many of what they were selling are Chinese manufactures unknown in this country yet, just as the top named Japanese manufacture were back then.

Regarding reels, I?ve moved over to Okuma, which are Chinese made and great reliable reels, at about 60% of the price of Shimano for the equivalent models.

In this world of mass manufacturing anywhere in it, all you need is a specification to make it too and quality control by the big named brand and it can bee produced anywhere with the industrial infrastructure. Why even Harrison are doing this in China with several of their rods.

As a result of the above, those manufactures making products for big names are going to learn from those specs. and try their hand at there own brands globally.

My view is that we should keep an open mind to new products from unknown manufactures, just so we don?t miss out on something that might just be a little bit special.

Well that the first fish bitten on this bait ain??t it Ron! :0)))

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

Phil,

Yours was just the sort of response I was waiting for. Full of common sense and which hopefully will produce other responses.

I'm all for innovation and new ideas.

What I do loath is counterfeiting by companies who produce rubbish.

 

[John McLaren]

The adage "you get what you pay for" isn't always true (although it often is!). I recently bought a Daiwa Rod from Climax Angling in Sheffield (from an ad in Angling Star), the rod was great value and the guy offered me a baitrunner type reel for ?10 - I thought it would always do a turn and placed an order. The reel is a "Puma", a make I've never heard of, it doesn't have as good a "feel" to it as my Shimano Aeros but it's still a bargain and seems to behave quite well. Anyone heard of this make?

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

Not me.

 

[Wolfman Woody]

One trip to Brussels we had a look for tackle shops in the Yellow Pages and my mate ran me over to it. I was expecting to find a terrific store full of all exotic groundbaits and fantastic reels as European prices. NO! It was worse that one of our third-rate shops over here, so we beat a retreat to the door.

I've gone back to buying those expensive Abu rods now with those fantastically comfortable handles that have a sticker right on the butt proclaiming "Made in China". Great rods!

 

[Alan Tyler]

Any truth in the rumour that some far-eastener counterfeited some centre-pins to such a standard that the afficionados who rumbled them hung onto them rather than try for a refund?