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Bauer is 100% USA made.

Ross is made in Colorado.

Sage is made in S Korea and I have heard TFO now makes them. They have been sourced from several countries over the years. I was not able to find the source in a quick search. Lots of non-Chinese reel choices out there.

I use the cheap bass pro shops one White river I believe they are called to total satisfaction , I do have an old Shakespeare on one rod , because it was my dad's not because of any greatness of the the real. Small stream trout rarely require a reel that is the "Best"

That's far from the case with most big game fish....................you really do need a reliable & smooth drag.

If not, you're going to likely lose a lot of fish because of it & I don't want even hear about palming the reel................might work, now & again, but that will also cost you fish over time compared to a reel with a good drag.

MM

I dunno man…. From first hand experience, let me tell you





































Those young Chinese gals have some darn good hand-eye coordination.

Of course you realize that "Made In America" & "Made In USA" signifies only that the final assembly took place here.

Bought a cheap 99 dollar combo from bass pro about 10 years ago. It's a 2 piece 7 foot dogwood canyon. I have literally casted a million flies with that rod/reel. Great little rig. Bought my 10 year old boy one last week. A 3/4 reel and a 4 piece 7.5 foot rod. Quality has only went up. Love orvis stuff, but for a good, reliable, and packable rod if hiking is needed, check out dog wood canyon stuff.

This is gospel but for trout not,put your money in the rod

While not to exotic in the last year I've bought 2 Pflueger Medalist 1494's a DA and a CJ the DA has backing and a flyline 7 maybe a 8 wt. From Ebay you would think they are gold plated but I got 30 bucks in both of them. Got to get them out. Mb

Decided to get a new reel today. Wanted to give a new brand
(to me) a try. It's a Zero made by Redington. Big ol sticker on it says made in Korea. Thought it was a pretty slick setup. I mean after backing and line your at 175 bucks probably. Anyways, waded for about 5 hours today and caught a few here and there and I'll tell ya, I'm impressed with this reel. It does not have a drag feature, which the small brownies under 15 inches I really don't think require it. Anyways, if your gonna go for a new reel, these aren't a bad 100 dollar deal.