hi just wondering what the people thought of cheap fishing tackle in general?. i know a old timer who uses really cheap gear and tackle (fladen stuff mostly) and always catches good amounts of carp and bream, he is generally looked down on by others who use very expensive stuff but the thing is they never really catch any fish....
The main difference i can see between cheap and expensive is the quality of the finish, they seem to function the same tho (apart from reels imo).
I'll get hung drawn and quartered for this....
I'm strictly leisure/pleasure type, been back fishing for about two years after twenty year lay off. When I came back I spent months reading, researching and physically checking shed loads of different tackle before making any purchases. Normally I go for quality rather than price. I used to think it was false economy going for cheap(er) things. I am very demanding and it takes a lot to impress me.
My personal view, and it is my view only (before anybody gets offended or defensive!) is that there is a huge amount of tackle tart snobbery in the fishing world. I've noticed some of the cheaper suppliers get a lot of unfair and biased criticism. Just my experience.
I went down the cheap route and have no regrets whatsoever. I have had a lot of Dragoncarp tackle without any problems and I am more than happy with what I bought and the quality.
My little red rocket, 10' "carbonactive" float rod that cost ten quid from Sir Roger and "Jooleh" was my bargain of the decade. On Friday it handled a 11lb Mirror no probs. Over the last twelve months it's had loads of use and abuse from my eight year old son. Love it to bits. It even managed very well with a 6lb salmon which we caught accidently while fishing for river perch!
I was so impressed with the red rocket I bought the RDX2 11' Pellet/Waggler yesterday at the Uttoxeter Tackle Tour. I'm no expert but I think this is an excellent rod. To the untrained (me!) it's light as a feather, ultra slim, no marks, blemishes or scratches. I'm amazed!
I can't believe the quality for twenty quid. I'm looking forward to testing it tomorrow.
Also, have three cracking Okuma reels that were all less than fifty quid each.
Like most industries there will be a lot of cheap sheyet out there and you do have to be careful. However, overall I'm very impressed with the quality of the tackle I have bought so far.
Getting the cheap(er!) stuff has got me and my son into fishing. If we had bought expensive it would have been prohibitive and we probably wouldn't have bothered.