# Pflueger & Shakespeare- the truth?



## RiverDoc

I was in Gander Mtn and noted that some reels that have had the tag of Pflueger, are now the same reel with but with the Shakespeare nametag; i.e., Supreme. The other day, I called Pure Fishing to order parts for my Pflueger and the receptionist told me that they own both Pflueger and Shakespeare. 

Seems to me that it has been easy to get parts for Shakespeare reels, but more difficult for Pflueger reels. For Pflueger parts, they sometimes have to backorder. I'd like to know what is going on. I went to their website and it seems that Pure Fishing is everybody-that is, the big names. If they own Shakespeare than why bother calling a Pflueger reel Shakespeare and why not just call it Pure Fishing? Who is Pure Fishing? Thanks.


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## dinkbuster1

reason they do that is there are folks out there who shop by brand name and end up paying more for the same lower cost item. they may be a different color, stickers, but looking at the frame and design they are identical. there are times i have bought lower price/cheaper name brand stuff and it be of better quality than the "Big" name. not everything is that way but in the fishing tackle world especially i see a lot of that going on with rods, reels, etc.


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## Tokugawa

RiverDoc said:


> I was in Gander Mtn and noted that some reels that have had the tag of Pflueger, are now the same reel with but with the Shakespeare nametag; i.e., Supreme. The other day, I called Pure Fishing to order parts for my Pflueger and the receptionist told me that they own both Pflueger and Shakespeare.
> 
> Seems to me that it has been easy to get parts for Shakespeare reels, but more difficult for Pflueger reels. For Pflueger parts, they sometimes have to backorder. I'd like to know what is going on. I went to their website and it seems that Pure Fishing is everybody-that is, the big names. If they own Shakespeare than why bother calling a Pflueger reel Shakespeare and why not just call it Pure Fishing? Who is Pure Fishing? Thanks.


Pure Fishing owns a lot of brands...including Abu Garcia. Pure Fishing is owned by Jarden - a large conglomerate.

Pure Fishing's reels are designed and manufactured by the same company that makes reels for BPS, Lew's and other brands. They just put a label on them as Abu, Pflueger...or whatever.


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## RiverDoc

dinkbuster1 said:


> reason they do that is there are folks out there who shop by brand name and end up paying more for the same lower cost item. they may be a different color, stickers, but looking at the frame and design they are identical. there are times i have bought lower price/cheaper name brand stuff and it be of better quality than the "Big" name. not everything is that way but in the fishing tackle world especially i see a lot of that going on with rods, reels, etc.


dinkbuster1: OK, I see. I well recall, when I was a boy, Shakespeare, Pflueger, Daiwa, and Abu Garcia, were the big names. Each was made by its own company. I believe that Pflueger was started in Ohio? Now these are all made in China, so we lose "something" by having them made there. I guess the names really mean nothing and it is probably a lot like designer clothing, gym shoes, etc. People buy with a sense of awe but are buying a name only. Thank you.


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## RiverDoc

Tokugawa said:


> Pure Fishing owns a lot of brands...including Abu Garcia. Pure Fishing is owned by Jarden - a large conglomerate.
> 
> Pure Fishing's reels are designed and manufactured by the same company that makes reels for BPS, Lew's and other brands. They just put a label on them as Abu, Pflueger...or whatever.


Thanks Tokugawa. I guess then, that all of our reels are made by prisoners in China and the name really means little.


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## spfldbassguy

I'd take a reasonable guess and say most people buy things based off of "name recognition" reguardless of what it might be. Who cares if the same company builds reels for alot of the companies out there,people is still gonna buy them. I'm sure there's companies out there in other sectors that produce stuff with different names. Pure Fishing is no different to me. I'm still gonna buy a Abu Garcia or Plueger as wanted/needed.


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## cmalinowski

It would be cool if there was a website out there that could tell you who makes what and if one reel or rod under one name could be bought for much cheaper under and different name. I for one really care less about name brand, but do have my favorites that I typically buy. If I could purchase the same thing at less money then I wouldn't care what the name was on the side. 

Is anything made in American anymore? I prefer to buy american but anymore it seems hard to find fishing equipment except for really high end stuff that is made here.


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## Snakecharmer

cmalinowski said:


> It would be cool if there was a website out there that could tell you who makes what and if one reel or rod under one name could be bought for much cheaper under and different name. I for one really care less about name brand, but do have my favorites that I typically buy. If I could purchase the same thing at less money then I wouldn't care what the name was on the side.
> 
> .


Just cause Dodge and Mercedes are owned by same company doesn't mean they are the same car. Shaekespeare and ABU Garcia aren't going to be the same reels either...


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## Tokugawa

RiverDoc said:


> Thanks Tokugawa. I guess then, that all of our reels are made by prisoners in China and the name really means little.


Pure Fishing makes their reels in Korea.

If you want a reel with a pedigree, then Daiwa, Shimano and round Abus are still manufactured in their own factories.


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## thelatrobe33

Snakecharmer said:


> Just cause Dodge and Mercedes are owned by same company doesn't mean they are the same car. Shaekespeare and ABU Garcia aren't going to be the same reels either...


I understand your point for sure, but I think if you look closely at similar tier reels from Abu, Pflueger & now Lew's you'd see that they indeed are pretty much the same reels with different names. 

FWIW... I don't own any Pure Fishing reels any longer because their customer service is far more quarrelsome to deal with. Shimano and Daiwa only from here on out. If you have a part you need for one of their reels it takes 1 call and it's in the mail (and usually free of charge).


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## BigBag

Ardent...... Made in the U.S.A.!


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## thelatrobe33

BigBag said:


> Ardent...... Made in the U.S.A.!


Sadly, I'm not sure Made in the USA carries much weight when we're talking reels. The XS1000 is basically a rip off of many other reels that came before it (that are made in Japan). The looks are archaic, it's quite heavy, and the way it's built is convoluted. For $250 my money stays with a Curado or a Zillion.


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## cmalinowski

Speaking of Zillion, the Gander in Hilliard yesterday had one in the case on clearance, marked down $100, I think it was on sale for $150. Not sure if they have just the one in the case of if they had more behind the counter.


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## Tokugawa

BigBag said:


> Ardent...... Made in the U.S.A.!


The perfect example of overpriced, American made junk. It is so sad. 

Penn is made in the USA and is quality.


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## RiverDoc

Tokugawa said:


> Pure Fishing makes their reels in Korea.
> 
> If you want a reel with a pedigree, then Daiwa, Shimano and round Abus are still manufactured in their own factories.


My Pfleuger says China. Once the reel is passed off to someone else, I believe the quality goes down. Look at all of the product liability suits arising from China. They get sued, close down, and go under a new name, owned by daughter, son, etc. Thanks for the info on the reels.

I did look at a best selling Shimano at Gander Mtn and was disappointed. It hardly had any bearings; it had clips instead of screws. Seemed like a disposable reel.


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## legendaryyaj

RiverDoc said:


> I did look at a best selling Shimano at Gander Mtn and was disappointed. It hardly had any bearings; it had clips instead of screws. Seemed like a disposable reel.


The best selling Shimano reel at Gander is probably their cheapest Shimano reel and that shouldn't speak for the rest of Shimano. If a reel with high bearing count sells to you then that's fine, but I'd rather have a reel with a few quality bearings than a reel with a crap ton of crap bearings.

I think that the Gander reels are also all Pure fishing reels. The spinning reel combos all look like the pflueger models. I know the old Gander Titanium rods use to be rebranded American Rodsmith Titanium series rods.


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## Snakecharmer

Tokugawa said:


> The perfect example of overpriced, American made junk. It is so sad.
> 
> Penn is made in the USA and is quality.


Penn is also a Pure Fishing brand.


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## spfldbassguy

I don't care where Abu Garcia spinnig reels are made I'm gonna keep on buying and using 'em. They got a Revo spinning reel that I'd love to try out but the price tag is kinda high. I might just have to pull a few extra O.T. hours to purchase it but it'd probably be worth the money.


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## MadMac

Many products are like this, not just fishing related items. Lowrance also owns Eagle. I bought an Eagle 642C IGPS. There was a similar Lowrance model that came out at the same time. The Eagle had 640 vertical pixels as opposed to 480 on the Lowrance but the Lowrance had more power. Well the Eagle was rated to 800' and was plenty for the inland lakes I fish and was $50 cheaper. That target separation is quite a bit better with 640. Now take light bulbs. Any kind from household to industrial. If Phillips gets an order so big they can't fill it in time they will pay GE out the @$$ to make the lights with a Phillips name and logo. It's better for them to make the quota and keep the customer even though they didn't make any money or even lost some on the GE made portion of the contract. Or vice versa. So brand loyalty comes tongue in cheek when it come to businesses making the almighty dollar. The same can be said with just about any product. If Sony has a problem at their plant that makes power supplies they will just get some from another manufacturer and your TV may have an inferior power supply in it.


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## Iowa Dave

Madmac I know what you are saying about the Eagle unit but the Lowrance unit came loaded with fantastic lake maps from all over the US. For that reason I opted to buy the LMS 520C instead.


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