TackleTour

Megabass all day! Have acquired 17 of them over the last 2 years.

St. Croix, All Star, Dobyns, United Composites, Calstar, Seeker & a number of my rods are custom builds on blanks.

Shimano/G.Loomis and St. Croix

If I was a deca-millionaire or more, I'd rock JDM rods probably though.

I'll stick with building on Point Blank rod blanks moving forward. Or at least until someone creates something better at a reasonable cost. I really wish Point Blank and Fuji would would find a worthy and reliable rod manufacturer to start building and producing for the masses, so everyone could experience and enjoy these top notch blanks. Or maybe I don't .....

St Croix and Loomis (but I also use others)

Gloomis... but lesser known but very popular in socal is Initex Composites AKA Graphite usa.

After multiple St.croix, Shimano, Loomis, and Megabass tours, I’m back with Kistler. For me, they just fish right. Nothing against or wrong with other manufacturer’s lineups, and it’s been a fun journey to try and fish with multiple high end rods (and quite a privilege/luxury).

I've had a few St. Croix, Shimano, and Kistler rods. St. Croix rods are generally pretty decent in my experience and they're all over Minnesota so it's easy to find people with one to try it. That said, my Expride was a great sensitive lightweight rod until I broke it with a Ned head, and I enjoyed using it (will be replacing it with another). I also got a couple Kistler Helium3s recently and so far I am impressed. They are fun to fish and look great doing it (IMO). I still feel like I need more time with them, and a couple big ones, before I can really say how I feel about them. But right now I don't have a clear favorite brand, honestly. I want to say St. Croix because I've used them the longest, but I really like the look and feel of the Expride and Helium3, and I have more Helium3s, so it may end up going to Kistler, once I get another couple dozen hours on the rods.

Do people really have to prefer a single brand? Every brand has weak offerings and strong offerings... most of them anyway.

Cashion. Their rods are lighter and the builds are much cleaner than they were. I don’t know what they did but they are even better than they were.

Gloomis for USDM, Evergreen for JDM.

G Loomis!
Nothing is more sensitive IMO!
and excellent warranty!

G Loomis

G. Loomis for life! The NRX series are my go to rods. Ultimate sensitivity, actions that fit my angling style, and its a brand I trust.

I started with Daiwa and Megabass and fished Megabass for many years. I came to raid japan by accident and they struck a chord.
I gathered many of their rods over the years and faded away from Megabass. There was no particular reason for that the raids tended to be slightly better than the MB equivalent. I didn't like the newer MB rod not. pretty much everything past X7 I lost interest in. I fished a few older Evergreen Kaleidos but not for long. I did pick up a Kaleido Inspirare black briar and what can I say.... I am impressed. Definitely next level. But unfortunately next level pricing too. I did try a few other brands like Deps and Gan Craft but parted ways quickly. Don't get me wrong they were great rods too just not what I was looking for at the time.

I love G. Loomis & Shimano rods
My favorite series are NRX, Poison Adrena, Expride, and the old black cumaras and cumulus.

For bottom contact I will always chose NRX, havent found anything from any manufacturers to beat NRX sensitivity.

Shimano rods are for my moving baits and niche technique rods.

Old Cumara rods had great sensitivity and actions.

I used to love Fenwick with their 1st release of bass technique specific elite tech rods. But they are pretty terrible in todays world.

13 is a company im newer to but have found some sweet rods in the envy 2 series like the chattet/crank and jerk/pop and fuse.

I think St. Croix makes some nice rods for Midwestern anglers.

Not a fan of Daiwa rods except for the Kage series & Steez.