Noob College Student..looking for an open back seat sometime

[Joel]

For about the same price, try a BPS Carbonlite (especially the micro guide version--light and crisp actions), Shimano Compre, Falcon Bucoo, or maybe a used higher end rod. You will quickly find those Skeet rods gathering dust. Good luck and post some pics of your future catches. Looks like you're off to a great start!

I've got several other rods, from loomis, BPS, All Star, Castaway, Yamamoto etc.... This is just one that my buddy that owns a tackle shop said to try for the money. I brought 6 rods here but i prefer not to risk breaking my high end ones if its not a tournament.

The Cabellas Prodigy rods are nice for $99 as well..just checked them out they are on sale for $60 at the moment! Pretty sure most of the Cabellas brand gear is made by Diawa. I think BPS is made by pflueger or pinnacle..I'm not big fans of either of those companies, but to each their own

For quality rods that aren't going to break the bank, All Star rods are probably my favorite. But the Cabellas Prodigy rods are a close second. Fairly light for $99. For reels...You can't go wrong with a Curado.

Can't wait till every rod in my box is a gloomis or team daiwa. I just got my first loomis a few weeks ago and all I can say is OH MY GOD! It might be the most amazing thing I've ever held in my hands. I can't wait to go to bass pro or cabellas and hold a Steez. I wont purchase a $400-500 rod without touching it first.

I have a few Curado's, they are my go to reel, actually just got a new one a couple weeks ago. On the thought of Cabela's rods I have actually never bought anything from them...Since I'm from MO where Bass Pro was founded thats where I usually bought my major items. (other than that (ztackle.com) I like the Loomis rods..have a spinner at the moment that I rarely use (not that I don't like it..) but as far as daiwa i'm not a big fan but everyone has their likes and dislikes. Steez are one of the greatest feeling rods I've ever had in my hands...but I've broke a couple $300 rods and I'm not quite willing to make that jump! More often than not you will see a BPS signature series rod in my hands.

First of all, I'm not slam'in no one for having expensive tackle, but I must sincerely ask; Whats the big deal? I've used cheap @$$ Shimano rod & reels all my life, catch fish, have fun, etc. Why do you need, er, want to spend big bucks on high end stuff? Now, I'll be the first to admit, I've never even held a $100.00+ rod, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing. Could that be it?

And I know this sounds hypicritical coming from someone who spent way too much $$ on a bass boat when something 1/10th of it will do fine for our lake.

I myself have a range I will spend depending on what it is..I prefer things to last. I have been fishing most of my life, and with a father who was active on the tournament trails I spent a lot of time in the boat testing and trying things to get an edge. A cheap rod doesn't have the sensitivity or reaction that a higher end rod does. The same goes for a reel, quality can't be substituted...I won't own a $400 reel but I'll buy Curado's anyday (if i could only have one reel that would be it).

I think for lake wilson...super high end stuff may be overkill but I don't think I'll be here forever (not realistic for many young people wanting good careers in certain industries). I still enjoy fishing on the mainland and plan to travel back for a few tournaments this year as a co-angler...and in those settings I want better equipment... Thats just my $0.02 though.

I did see a Ranger trailer in the lot, I had to laugh for the size of the lake vs the cost of that boat but in the end if you have the money and want the best.. why not!

[roadwarriorsvt]

The Ranger owner had that boat when he fished in CA and shipped it over here when he moved, so that makes sense. I doubt anyone would buy that nice of a boat and pay big bucks to have it shipped here for our modest lake. I scored my boat from a military member who had it shipped here on Uncle Sam's dime. I'm open to trying a high(er) end rod/reel. Who knows? I might get bit by the tackle bug! Haha!

[grl0218]

Nothing wrong with wanting to drive around the lake with Style
I've been looking at bait casting reels for a while. they seem cool, but i have bad exp with a salt water big one and just nothing but burned thumb and backlash. But i am willing to try out a nice rod and reel anyday. maybe i will get one and let tommy try it out(to show him what hes missing)

[Joel]

The Ranger owner had that boat when he fished in CA and shipped it over here when he moved, so that makes sense. I doubt anyone would buy that nice of a boat and pay big bucks to have it shipped here for our modest lake. I scored my boat from a military member who had it shipped here on Uncle Sam's dime. I'm open to trying a high(er) end rod/reel. Who knows? I might get bit by the tackle bug! Haha!

Haha well that always works...I wasn't knocking it. Rangers are great boats... I had a Champion 181, then a ProCraft but couldn't justify the cost of shipping it. I only saw the trailer, I'm sure it is a slick rig!

Nothing wrong with wanting to drive around the lake with Style
I've been looking at bait casting reels for a while. they seem cool, but i have bad exp with a salt water big one and just nothing but burned thumb and backlash. But i am willing to try out a nice rod and reel anyday. maybe i will get one and let tommy try it out(to show him what hes missing)

You should try a good one, not some junk brand. I'd say to use cheap fishing line at first because you will have to get past the backlashes...

[BASSTRACKER]

if you cant be with the one you love, love the one your with hahahahah. i started out with cheap stuff been steadily uppin my arsenal, got a w&m skeet reese crankin stick, its ok but i got a kvd one at the same time and its much better. i fairly recently got some carrot stix rods and man they are soooooo light had to learn to cast em all over again. i agree with ca and i got a prodigy/curado rig myself great all around rod reel combo. ive got some higher end quantum reels and shimano has em beat hands down! its nice to fish with nicer rods for sure but at 500$ for a g-loomis i think id be too worried about the rod to fish, now if someone wants to sponser me then ya no problem!! hahahaha i get most of my higher end stuff when cabelas or bps have there bargain cave deals goin. bottom line is the fisherman is the key not the gear!

[Ca_Bass]

I personally prefer team daiwa, their high end stuff I feel is unmatched I guess their stuff made for the Japanese market it even better..but I've never used it. I do think reel wise, the mid level stuff shimano makes is far superior to any other companies for $200 bucks you get a curado that is very versitle..can be used in saltwater and not far off in performance from their chronarchs. I haven't used any high end quantum stuff I've always kinda looked at them like a junk company. Wheather that is justified or not I can't really say .

Anyone use the team diawa td-x dropshot/finesse casting rod. It's $189 and is awesome for a lot of the common lake wilson lures. If I could bring only one rod in my baot..that would be it. You can fish mid range and lipless cranks, dropshots, texas rigs, small to mid size jerkbaits(soft and hard) and topwater. They don't sell it on BPS or cabellas but tacklewarehouse has em...I highly recomend them. I curently have a abu garcia revo on it but I'm probably gonna switch to a team daiwa zillion. When I first got it I didn't ever want to put it down..even though I had a whole mess of technique specific rods..a little too light for jigs and spinnerbsits though.

grl0128

and anyone else who is interested..as far as burned thumb goes..get some ardent line butter. It's a conditioner for mono, flouro and braids..its awesome..brings old braids back to life and softens older mono and flouro and acts as a lubricant when
casting. I applied it for the first time Saturday on my reels and was very impressed Sunday. I saw denny brower advertising it on tv and saw some at sports authority and figured..why not. My old trick for when I would get hot thumb was to reel in that cast with the rof tip under water so all of the line would get wet. But I would need to do that quite frequently. I also got much less backlash using the line butter. You get more consistent friction which helps..for the most part I like my bait casters to have the least amount of resistance set to them the reel butter makes it easier to do that. Not sure about the long term effects it will have one my reels though. Hope it doesn't gunk em up.


Roadwarrior

I probably wouldn't have never been willing to shell out big bucks for rods and reels if I hadn't used them prior to purchase but when I was 14 my dad had a guy at his work take me fishing in his champion..he's is a hardcore bass fisherman who'd been fishing tournaments for about 25 years. I had a few cheap rods and reels when he took me out that first time but he told me to leave them at the house when he picked me up and he had plenty of stuff. So the first nice rod I used was a fenwick and team diawa reel. We started fishing tournaments a lot and he would hand me down his older gear. He had a lot of high end tackle and and it really does make a difference especially if you are fishing tournaments where every bite could be the difference and the quicker you get the hook set the better..it might only give you 10ths of a second better reaction but in only takes a split second for those bass to spit your bait. I think a high quality rod is far more important than a high quality reel. We did a lot of finesse fishing for those california florida strain bass and having super sensitive rods that where light enough to fish all day were a must. We would pre-fish the Saturday and Sunday a week out and would spend 12hours on the water a day. From sun up to sun down.

[nuki]

The Cabellas Prodigy rods are nice for $99 as well..just checked them out they are on sale for $60 at the moment! Pretty sure most of the Cabellas brand gear is made by Diawa. I think BPS is made by pflueger or pinnacle..I'm not big fans of either of those companies, but to each their own

For quality rods that aren't going to break the bank, All Star rods are probably my favorite. But the Cabellas Prodigy rods are a close second. Fairly light for $99. For reels...You can't go wrong with a Curado.

Can't wait till every rod in my box is a gloomis or team daiwa. I just got my first loomis a few weeks ago and all I can say is OH MY GOD! It might be the most amazing thing I've ever held in my hands. I can't wait to go to bass pro or cabellas and hold a Steez. I wont purchase a $400-500 rod without touching it first.

I love gloomis rod and it is very good for worms.
Try daiwa steez rod and reel. You will be amazed again.

[Ca_Bass]

Was cruising tacklewarehouse last night and saw they had the team daiwa vientos for sale...89 BUCKS!!! Can't beat that I had to pull the trigger. Anytime I can save over a hundred bucks on a reel I'm happy.