Bassfan announces today that Ike signed an exclusive deal with Pure Fishing(Berkley) and will fish with Abu Garcia rods and reels, Berkley and Spiderwire lines and Berkley Powerbait and gulp. Does this surprise anyone else? I thought Ike had a good relationship with Diawa and even disigned a line of rods with name on them for Diawa. CRAZY!!!!!!!
I’m sure he’s getting a BIG chunk from Abu to switch from Daiwa. I’m betting he’s gonna be using those $140 rods Abu said you’d see in the Classic, the ones they hype as being very JDMesque & have adjustable rod handle that should be available to buy this summer. Ike just moved up a few notches for me.
And speaking of sponsorship change, did Jimmy Houston jump from Shimano to US Reels? I notice they have been showing one of their SuperCoaster reels at the beginning of his show & they have a sponsorship blurb before commercial breaks now. That’d be more shocking than Ike, considering Jimmy has been with Shimano since what, the late 70s/early 80s?
This is only a thought to pass around but maybe it is their companys way of down sizing and they are taking on other companies out of pure luck.
Maybe with the depression Diawa says we are going to cut corners and ABU says we can afford Ike.
Which ever the case is I wish him and Jimmy Huston all the luck in the world.
I got a chance to meet Jimmy Huston and shake his hand and talk just for a short while; there were about a dozen or more fisherman there and he was inbetween stops on a tour and we spotted him and absolutly mobed him. lol
He didn’t have a chance and had to say something to us even if he was in a hurry.
Niko
^I agree, I think it could be a belt tightening move by Daiwa & Shimano. Everybody knows those names in fishing, so they really don’t need celebrity pushers to sell their products as much as others do.
LilJakeC - 07 January 2010 11:14 PM
WHOA!!!!! I didn’t see that coming!!!! Hopefully he will make a Abu Sig. line of rods here soon. I would love to see what he is using a the Classic.
Oh Snap! Like I said, “I wonder if the same old poll will look different.” I have a Revo on hold. Still debating it. I love my Cards, and Record. Plus I started out w/ BMs. My NRG and Citaca are pretty good too. They all seem to make good reels for the non-pro angler. What’s up w/ Shimano not having a Bass front man like KVD or Shaw? When I think Shimano Larry Dahlberg comes to mind. Who fishes the Elite and uses Shimano?
^That Japanese guy that won at Erie in 08 is the only Shimano guy I can think of from BASS. I think I saw an FLW guy or two using Shimano reels, but I don’t remember seeing any Shimano patches. Linders use Shimano & do they ever use it. They always seem to be using Calais, Stella, Sustain, Calcutta reels.
Wow, Ike leaving Daiwa is nuts! I would like to hear the reason why he made the switch. My guess is Abu Garcia had more to offer him, or maybe he just went were the money was. It seems like two most popular reel companies on the Elite Series are either Quantum reels, or Abu garcia reels, other companies like pflueger, or Daiwa trail in the back of the pack.
I think it is surprising I rember in his book Ike talking about sticking with Daiwa because thats what he used when he started. But he also talks about marketing yourself and making sure you take care of #1 first. So I wouldnt be surprised if it wasnt just a great free agent move on Abu’s part. Daiwa might of been thinking he’ll continue to give us a home team discount and when Abu jumped in and said how about this, Ike said yea that will work. Again speculation but I dont think he was upset with Daiwa’s product. Plus he already had a strong relationship with Berkley, keep that in mind.
