I have never looked up the actual numbers on who sells more, but as a repair shop, isn't it a good thing for reels to NOT come in? Either way I am sure you are right and reel sells are somewhat reflected by repair shop numbers too. I would be willing to bet that 90 percent or so of fisherman don't care for or appreciate higher end gear though and just go with what is cheapest, but by no means does a Zebco 33's sales reflect its quality or performance.ShimanoFan wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:39 amHe rigged it! (kidding) Just goes to show that forums do not match the overall national tackle market. Reality and forums are miles apart!
For example, here you find most people who post are enthusiasts for tackle while the vast majority of tackle sales are to people who could not care less. They walk into Walmart and buy some cheap chinese junk and use it until it breaks and go back and buy some more. That is more than 99% of the market, while the enthusiasts make up less than 1% -as a guess, and a lot of that 1% is what fills up forums while the 99% could not care less and will never pay big bucks for fishing gear and certainly will not bother with tackle forums to discuss it- or debate and argue about it- and get hostile over it.
Another thing to consider... take here in central Florida for example... I work in a rod and reel repair shop that has been in business for 32 years now. We see mostly Shimano and Penn and very few Daiwa reels if ever. We see more Zebco and Quantum reels than Daiwa. So in our 'reel' world, Shimano is king by a long shot, and it is Daiwa who? Shimano far outsells Daiwa by a long shot in our area. Nearly all saltwater reels are either Shimano, Penn, or other, but almost never Daiwa.
Just the way it goes... while on this forum Daiwa has a strong following that does not match the numbers of the 'reel' world so they can out vote the king of the hill around here...
And this comment is not trying to bash Daiwa, only posted to show a different perspective that I see in 'reel' life.
Last week, I think one Daiwa TWS came through the front door- that I saw. However, a ton of shimano came in. Shimano far outsells Daiwa. Simple as that.
Either way, I want to hunt the actual reel sales to see who sells most, would be even more interesting to see just the US and not the entire world, problem is I know nothing about saltwater reels and have no idea how much they affect general/freshwater/bass reel sales, especially in coastal areas, like where you live. Where I live, 95% or more reels will be freshwater, I don't and haven't ever even seen saltwater reels for sale, even in bigger stores hours from my backwoods home.