According to a 2023 report from the American Sportfishing Association, there are 52.4 million recreational anglers in the United States. That is more than U.S. golfers and tennis players combined. With so many fishermen and fisherwomen, it’s no surprise that the fishing tackle industry is brimming over with gear from countless companies. It can be difficult to separate quality from inferior gear in this crowded market. Which fishing tackle brands should you avoid?
24/7 Wall St. set out to answer that question by scouring fishing blogs, YouTube channels, TikTok, message boards, and the like. We were not looking for individual anglers who had an axe to grind against a certain brand. Rather, we sought out brands that were consistently listed as subpar by a large number of anglers on a wide variety of these internet outlets.
There was little consistency in the reviews we consulted, except for the following five brands. These brands were consistently criticized for their low-quality construction and poor performance.
Nothing ruins a day on the water faster than malfunctioning fishing gear. These brands seem to have a higher chance of frustration and failure than their competitors.
1. Zebco
- Most Criticized Gear: Reels
It’s a bit difficult to include Zebco on this list because it holds so much nostalgia. For many anglers, they learned to fish with a Zebco 33, Zebco 404, or some other Zebco closed-face reel. The push-button operation is the simplest reel mechanism on the market for kids who are learning to fish.
However, Zebco reels are also made with cheap materials. The reels have a high failure rate, and repairing a closed-face reel is enough to make any angler lose their patience.
2. Favorite
- Most Criticized Gear: Rods
Favorite brand rods were certainly not a favorite on many of the outlets we consulted in our survey. Numerous anglers noted that these rods break easily. One even provided video evidence of a Favorite rod breaking on the same day that he purchased it.
The price of these rods is low to mid-range. Favorite rods may not break your bank account, but they just might break on your next fishing trip.
3. Eagle Claw
- Most Criticized Gear: Fishing Line
This was far and away the most criticized brand of fishing line we encountered. Eagle Claw is a go-to choice for many anglers because it is one of the cheapest fishing lines available. Is it still a bargain when it breaks and you lose a nice fish, though? That happens…a lot.
The line also has a high memory, meaning it retains the shape of the spool it comes from. This creates problems with casting and lure retrieval. It can also turn into a “bird’s nest” in your reel. Eagle Claw is much more well-known for its fishing hooks, but you may want to leave the brand’s fishing line on the store shelves.
4. Star
- Most Criticized Gear: Rods
Star is most well-known for its saltwater fishing rods, although the company manufactures freshwater gear, as well. There are numerous videos and blogs from frustrated anglers and their broken Star rods.
5. Off-Brands
- Most Criticized Gear: Everything
Okay, so this isn’t a single brand. However, this also may hold the greatest potential for frustration and a completely ruined fishing trip.
While the fishing tackle market has a myriad of long-standing, reputable brands, it is also brimming over with knock-offs and no-name gear. A cursory scroll of Amazon will produce more off-brand fishing gear than we could ever list here.
There is a market for this generic gear because quality fishing tackle is expensive. Beginners, casual anglers, and anglers who are on a tight budget can be easily enticed by the significantly lower price points of this gear. However, the results of this off-brand tackle is a total crap shoot. You might score some decent gear that will actually last for a while. However, there is a better-than-average chance that you will be fighting your tackle more than you will be fighting fish.
To make matters worse, the reviews of these products on retail sites such as Amazon can’t always be trusted. Disreputable companies have been known to pay for positive reviews. It is unethical and against Amazon’s terms, but it still happens.
You are much better off going with an established brand that has a trusted reputation among generations of anglers.
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