What Is A Good Rod?

[Steele88]

Hey im just trying to find out some info on good fishing rods before i buy one, and whats a good length?

[roadwarrior]

In order for the guys to reply, you need to give us a pricing point.

For length, I recommend 6 1/2' - 7'.

[new2BC4bass]

  On 7/10/2012 at 6:40 PM, roadwarrior said:

In order for the guys to reply, you need to give us a pricing point.

For length, I recommend 6 1/2' - 7'.

And what you plan on using the rod for wouldn't hurt either. An all-around rod is a good place to start.

[cfout4050]

SHIMANO Cumara,

[new2BC4bass]

  On 7/11/2012 at 4:03 PM, cfout4050 said:

SHIMANO Cumara,

Like my 7'2" MHF a lot. Suppose to be a Senko/Fat Ika rod, but I've caught my bass using 1/2 oz. spinnerbaits on it. Plenty sensitive rod. Would make a great first rod imo.

[Capt.Bob]

To me a good rod would be one that is sensitive durable and light, and warranted for LIFE. For a general purpose rod I would agree, with RW, something 6'6" or 7', in the MH category, or med. for a one rod arsenal. I myself feel for an affordable premium rod, with good bang for the buck, hard to beat a St. Croix Avid, ether length in med. fast, or med. heavy fast. all depends on where and what you mainly fish. Ask RW about there upgrade policy if you ever want to trade up to the very best, you can trade it in on the Legend Elite! and not loose your initial investment.

[SirSnookalot]

With all due respect if you are asking that question, you are probably a novice, most people with even limited experience would have a good basic idea. If this were my one and only rod, I'd opt for a 7', med or mh is going to vary from mfg to mfg, so I would pay close attention to recommended lure weight of the rod. I would not overspend on my first rod, plenty of decent rods around $75 (or less) to get you started, if fishing catches on with you, you may decide to upgrade you equipment at a later time.

[new2BC4bass]

  On 7/12/2012 at 5:58 AM, SirSnookalot said:

With all due respect if you are asking that question, you are probably a novice, most people with even limited experience would have a good basic idea. If this were my one and only rod, I'd opt for a 7', med or mh is going to vary from mfg to mfg, so I would pay close attention to recommended lure weight of the rod. I would not overspend on my first rod, plenty of decent rods around $75 (or less) to get you started, if fishing catches on with you, you may decide to upgrade you equipment at a later time.

You might be 100% correct in your assumtion....then maybe not. I made that assumtion when a poster asked about his first low profile reel. Turns out he had been using a baitcaster (one only) for 10 years, and didn't need any of my advice on learning to cast.

I could have asked this same question when I got back into fishing a few years ago. Had no idea what made a good rod. The thing is, that although I had quit fishing for 23 years, I had done a lot of fishing the previous 36 years before that. However, I didn't know anyone that used good gear. (Mine came from K-Mart.) Didn't know of (or think to ask about) any stictly fishing stores in my area when growing up. Wasn't aware of the Internet. Possible it didn't exist back then. I did know that I wanted better gear than I had previously used.

Having said all that I agree that $75 or less can buy a pretty decent rod today. Especially if you are willing to buy used. I've got a couple Falcon Originals that I bought in a Florida Mom-and-Pop fishing store for $35 apiece. These rods have good sensitivity, cast well, and I know for a fact that the MH in this series is plenty strong when it comes to hauling a bass out of the slop.

[SirSnookalot]

You're right about pulling a fish out of slop, sometimes it takes more backbone than landing a bigger fish. I landed

(in heavy current) a tarpon this morning on a med spinning 7'6 8/17 with 15# line, just glad I had enough line and it wasn't a jack crevelle, that I would not have landed.

[new2BC4bass]

  On 7/12/2012 at 4:21 PM, SirSnookalot said:

You're right about pulling a fish out of slop, sometimes it takes more backbone than landing a bigger fish. I landed

(in heavy current) a tarpon this morning on a med spinning 7'6 8/17 with 15# line, just glad I had enough line and it wasn't a jack crevelle, that I would not have landed.

I still say you are one of my heroes.

I would have loved to watch you do that. Would probably have gotten more pleasure from watching you than you got from catching it.

My biggest fish to date was a 35 lb. carp caught many years ago on 8 lb. Trilene XL that had been on the reel for a few years. I believe it took 30-35 minutes to land it. None of the 2-3 rods I had back then could be considered Medium. I fished Light/Ultralight gear. That same outfit wouldn't have landed my PB bass that weighed about 1/5 of the carp's weight because of the slop it was caught in.

[SirSnookalot]

  On 7/13/2012 at 2:53 AM, new2BC4bass said:

I still say you are one of my heroes.

I would have loved to watch you do that. Would probably have gotten more pleasure from watching you than you got from catching it.

My biggest fish to date was a 35 lb. carp caught many years ago on 8 lb. Trilene XL that had been on the reel for a few years. I believe it took 30-35 minutes to land it. None of the 2-3 rods I had back then could be considered Medium. I fished Light/Ultralight gear. That same outfit wouldn't have landed my PB bass that weighed about 1/5 of the carp's weight because of the slop it was caught in.

Don't give me too much credit, it wasn't that difficult, probably only took 5-7minutes or so (not that I time them), fish was only 15-20#. IMO a jumping fish is easier to land than a deep diving fish if you can keep it buttoned. Every time a fish jumps, it has no strength in mid air. I've had 25# fish that had to be run down with the boat because they were divers, and that's with conventional gear too. Your carp on 8# is a great feat, the key is patience and never horsing it in.

It goes back to the question in the original post, "what's a good rod". I use inshore rods for my freshwater fishing, I don't think there is any difference in them except for maybe the way they are rated. A good rod for me is one that has backbone to pull fish out of cover and can handle some larger fish too, fatigue for some is also a factor.. I like 7' as an all around size, I can do just about anything I want with it, what I can't do with it are techniques that I have no interest in anyway. I do not care to use longer rods when it's very windy, 7' or less is much easier to handle for me. With the exception of some of the phone poles, I do not feel sensitivity is near as important as the rod and reel being comfortable, even when using mono lines I believe I feel just about everything. Today $75- $100 buys a nice rod, I haven't found the need spend more.

[LgMouthGambler]

A nice MH Abu Veritas or Vendetta will do you just fine for just about anything.

[tallen316]

My suggestion is a Duckett micro magic 7'3"mh. I absolutely love this rod. To me this is an all purpose rod and you can throw about anything on it. It is in the $160 range but has a 20 yr warranty. This rod is extremely light and the sensitivity is awesome. It is an investment but it would last you a long time if you really get bit by the bass bug!!