Admittedly, what I'm about to write is really about those of us that have multiple rods and reels. If you own one freshwater rod and/or one saltwater rod with no plans to buy others then you may find the following interesting but otherwise useless.
Most serious fishermen have multiple combos for fishing. Most bass fishermen have spinning rods and baitcasters. From there, it gets broken down to mediums, medium-heavy, heavy, and even extra heavy. Some of these rods are made for special techniques such as swimbaits, dropshot, and Ned rigs. You can't use the same rod for dropshoting as you would frogging. In the ocean it would be difficult to use the same rod to fish chunks on the bottom and also casting small Zoom flukes on the surface. The point is most guys have rods for many situations.
I have the added issue of not only fishin for largemouth bass and striped bass but everything much smaller and much bigger. I love fishing for many species. I've spent plenty of time casting for three inch Common Shiners. I've also chased sharks and everything in between. While I do not consider myself a gear junkie I do have rods and reels for everything I fish for.
While talking with other fishermen there are differing philosophies on how they choose what to buy. When I am on my canoe I bring four or five rods. When I fish with Adam I limit myself to three and he brings three or four. Many boat guys will bring ten rods all pre-rigged with lures.
Many guys will use all of the same brand in different models. Some fishermen believe that if you get all of the same brand then you will be used to the feel when you pick up the next rod. For example, many pros fish Lew's so all of the rods in their boat will be high end Lew's rods/reels. They may have the KVD rod in ten different models from a medium light spinning to a heavy baitcaster. Obviously, many of these pros are sponsored so it is easy to use the same brand when the company gives you twenty five new rods a year.
But many working stiffs will also be loyal to one brand and model. They believe if something works for them why change (if it ain't broke why fix it?). Many guys come into the store who only fish St Croix rods. Many are really loyal to Shimano rods and reels. I can't argue their philosophy. If they put down a medium St Croix Premier and pick up a heavy Premier, in theory they should have a good idea of the sensitivity and strength of that model.
I had a conversation with Adam about this and he completely disagrees with this choice. He prefers to fish many different brands and has many models. His counterpoint is equally valid. It is fun to fish with different gear. It's fun to put down a Stradic and pick up a Johnny Morris Signature.
I think in general, most of us have different brands in our storage room. If for no other reason sometimes we are willing to spend more money and other times money might be a factor. So until we get really serious most of buy based on want and price over brand loyalty. However, there does come a time when you ask yourself "if I am satisfied with this rod/reel do I want another of the same model or do I spend more for the next one up in quality, maybe even a nicer model in a different brand?"
I've given this question a lot of thought. My boss makes fun of me and is shocked that I am (at my age) not loyal to one brand or another. Part of that can be explained that much of my gear is old but still in good shape. So until I got this job, I had kept the same stuff for years. But, since I now have access to almost all the brands on the market with a discount, I have tried a lot of different brands.
However, now that I've tried a lot of different models I reached the point of knowing what I think is great gear and what is over rated. So when I buy a rod now I ask myself that question of buying a different rod of a model I like or do I buy a different brand? I hate to ever admit agreeing with Adam but I think it is more fun to have differing rods and reels. It's more fun to use my Shimano Stradic for Smallmouth and a Carbonlite for trout than it would be to use two Stradics.
There is another catch to all of this... Experimenting with different rods and reels does not come without its own peril. Adam has a buddy that owns a bass boat. His name is Mark and he has multiple Bass Pro Carbonlite rods. He is satisfied with them but he is a gear junkie. He came in the other day and was thinking about buying the Platinum. The Platinum is a $200 rod and honestly it is the nicest rod I have ever owned ( I did not pay $200 for it). Fishing it for five minutes and I knew it is better than any rod I have ever casted. When I told Mark how much I loved it, he actually went back and bought another Carbonlite AND NOT the Platinum.
His reasoning was this, if he noticed the Platinum was far superior to Carbonlites then he would then consider his Carbonlites junk and he wouldn't want to use them anymore. This would send him down a rabbit hole of replacing very nice rods with an arsenal of $200 rods because he liked them better. I can not argue with this and I have faced similar circumstances. There have been times where I bought a rod to fish along side a similar power (like a medium) only to find out the new rod was so much superior that I no longer wanted to fish the old rod at all and it sits in the closet as a "spare".
There is no right or wrong answer to this question. It is interesting to think about the differimg philosophies. I doubt myself or Adam has ever missed a fish because we were not as familiar with a rod than the guy that has been fishing Daiwa for thirty years. At the same time, if that guy has been using Daiwa for thirty years (I've been using Daiwa reels for twenty for surf casting) who am I to say they are wrong.
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