What Is Your Favorite Rod/ Rod Compay?

[slonezp]

Fenwick

[Grantman83]

Are you saying that with a st croix shirt on?

Yes sir I am. I have shirts and hats from a ton of company's since I have owned most companies Rods/reels at least once since I got into fishing. Since I tried dobyns, they have all been switched over with the exception of one custom I bought off a member here.

Shirt wise, st croix makes an excellent shirt which fits me great. I own three of them lol

[Dwight Hottle]

I have had good luck with both loomis & st croix. Talk to the custom rod builders for their favorite blanks and you get a different perspective of who makes the best blanks at different price points. They have a pretty good experience level compared to the average fisherman. I for one respect their opinion more than average joe or mr bass pro. They don't have a dog in the fight unless they only deal with one manufacture exclusively. 

[War Eagle 44]

G Loomis, Shimano, and Powell. For the money Powell Max rods are great IMHO, but if I were on an unlimited budget I would have a mixture of Loomis and Shimano rods. I absolutely love the one Cumara A rod I have and would love to have a "complete set". Also I wouldn't mind having about 7 or 8 of the newest GLX series rods.  

[TrippyJai]

Probably Dobyns. Full handle cork, balance rods, quality, everything I want in a rod, except I'm not a big fan of the guides.

[bigbill]

Here we go my favorite rod was a Shakespeare black beauty for many decades. And some

Southbends, cheaper Wal-Mart quantums etc. That kept me happy, happy fishing for many years. Even today I'm happy happy with some of them. Then I been hearing rumors that I need to step up the quality of my rods. I admit I thought the guy's we're wrong at first but having problems with hook setting long before there were power options on some of my older discontinued rods I thinks it was an eye opener to look at the more expensive bass rods. My search began. I purchased a Berkley lightening rod heavy, vengenance rodmed, a quantum kvd med tour rod med/hvy, a Berkley shock rod, a lews xhvy/xfast, all crankbait rods. The vengeance, the shock rod and lews really feel great. The others are a different feel that I'm not use to yet but being new to a slight better in quality rods they felt ok too. I was interested in the lews spinning rods too after seeing and feeling there SG Graphite Speed Stick spinning rod. I just purchased four of them in different lengths and actions. These lews spinning rods list for $99 and they were half price on sale. So I upgraded at bargain prices. I believe I'll be very happy with the less rods. Now matching up the lews spinning rods with the US Reel super caster spinning reels. I'm trying the US Reel super caster baitcaster reels on some of my baitcasting rods too for cranks, spinnerbaits and jigs too. Life is good for now.

The only fishing shirt I have is a Wal-Mart FLW Tour shirt. I do wear my lucky panther Martin hat most of the time. Do you wear your proven lucky clothes most of the time? I know it's skill that catches fish but I am superstitious too.

[Mike L]

I own and fish with on every outing a Fenwick, Falcon, Allstar, custom on a St. Croix blank and recently Phenix.

I now have 3 Phenix rods, my next one will also be.

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[JTMONEY606]

doybins i have had the savy and a champion both awesome. i love G loomis too i just got a GL2 spinning rod and its very nice. i would love have some NRX models id almost bet there the best along with the champion and champion extreme. 

[olegs]

ST Croix rods. I have 3 Legend Tournament rods and one Premier. I plan to buy one more Legend ( Extreme or Tournament) 6'10" MLXF for drop shot.

[dodgeguy]

falcon

[SudburyBasser]

No love for Shimano? When it comes to baitcast/spinning rods I'm a Shimano guy. Fly rods it's St. Croix... for now. Once the budget for that expands I'll start experimenting there.

[NEjitterbugger]

Mine has changed over the years. For a while it was Fenwick, then it was St Croix, now it's Abu Garcia. Each rod has/had it's plus and minus's. The Fenwick's, at the time I was using them a lot, were lighter, and better than every thing else I had previously used. But local availability started getting really iffy with them, so I switched to something that was in just about every store I shopped in, and that was St Croix. After fishing for almost 5 years with mostly all St Croix's....I just got a little bored with them. The new stuff they are putting out keeps getting more and more expensive, and to be honest,  the Rage, and latest generation Legend Tournaments just don't do it for me. I gave Abu rods a try early this season, and liked them enough to start replacing my lower end St Croixs with them, and by the middle of the season, I found my self using them more and more. I decided to run a little "experiment", so I took all my better St Croix's out of the boat (legend tournaments, Avid's, Rage) and just used the Abu Vengeance, Vendetta's, and Veritas rods I had accumulated. My fishing has hardly suffered, and I like the fact I can do the same things with $50-$100 rods that I felt like I "needed" $150-$300 rods for in the past. I have had a big change in my tackle buying ways the last year and a half. With two kids, bills to pay, and NOTHING else in life getting any cheaper, I am all about the most bang for the buck now, and I feel I am getting that with my Abu rods. I have tried many other rods just out of curiosity, like Kistler, BPS, Shimano, Berkley, Gander Mtn., and more I can't remember, and with the exception of the Berkley Lightning rod Shocks, nothing from any of those has stuck with me. Again........that's a bang for the buck thing too. I can fish a frog or swim jig just as effectively on a $40 7' MH LR Shock as I could/have/did on a $200 7' MH Avid.

 

The vengeance is a great rod for the money, along with the vendetta!

[dam0007]

Was St. Croix, still is for Salt. But for bass tied Dobyns and 13.

[kickerfish1]

Would never get tied down to one rod brand or a favorite unless someone was paying me to use them. My top 4 would be shimano for warranty, dobyns for price to performance and the wide range of options within the rod lines, Loomis for sensitivity and performance, megabass for versatility, performance, and superb build quality and attention to detail. Too many "good" rods to limit yourself to one brand or line though I can't blame the guys that like their rods and reels to be one rod line and reel line.

[David P]

Dobyns, hands down.

[bmlum415]

Dobyns without a doubt

[PABASS]

I really want to try a Dobyns rod but they are just not popular here and no stores carry them.  With that being said I have a rod from 97 that's still in my Arsenal and that rod is a Premiere from St Croix and I use it as a jig/frog rod.  I have tried the Veritas and while I favor it over my St Croix newer premier and mojo bass its quality isn't on par with a St Croix.  I have this issue of what rod to get as I don't want to spend more than 175$ on a rod and I know St Croix is quality so its hard going outside that box.  At some point I will try a Dobyns and hope to own one soon..

[Raul]

I have Shimano, Berkley, GraphiteLeader and GLoomis, however, most of my rods are GLoomis.

[skeletor6]

Im going to have to go with Shimano especially since they've acquired Loomis. You got the cumaras, cumulus, nrx anx glx. What's not to like?

[David P]

I really want to try a Dobyns rod but they are just not popular here and no stores carry them.  With that being said I have a rod from 97 that's still in my Arsenal and that rod is a Premiere from St Croix and I use it as a jig/frog rod.  I have tried the Veritas and while I favor it over my St Croix newer premier and mojo bass its quality isn't on par with a St Croix.  I have this issue of what rod to get as I don't want to spend more than 175$ on a rod and I know St Croix is quality so its hard going outside that box.  At some point I will try a Dobyns and hope to own one soon..

You won't be disappointed. I know it's nice to hold the rod in your hands prior to ordering, but they have such detailed, accurate information on the rods that it's very easy to get the rod you're hoping to get. Ordering one form TW is free shipping and can always return it, but I'm almost certain that thought wouldn't cross your minds once it's in your hands! 

[kickerfish1]

I really want to try a Dobyns rod but they are just not popular here and no stores carry them. With that being said I have a rod from 97 that's still in my Arsenal and that rod is a Premiere from St Croix and I use it as a jig/frog rod. I have tried the Veritas and while I favor it over my St Croix newer premier and mojo bass its quality isn't on par with a St Croix. I have this issue of what rod to get as I don't want to spend more than 175$ on a rod and I know St Croix is quality so its hard going outside that box. At some point I will try a Dobyns and hope to own one soon..

A dobyns champion series rod would be just a touch out of your $175 during an online retailers 20% of sale. I bought all 5 of my dobyns by talking to pro staff members, Gary dobyns, and a few others that I know that fish them. I am confident that between the guys on here and a few emails with dobyns, you will be to track down the rod you need for whatever you may be intending to use it for. Should you decide to go the dobyns route just ask here and I am sure you will get enough input to get you going in the right direction.

[BradGuenette]

Dobyns rods hands down. Best customer service in the industry, rods for all different types of budgets, and endless different options to key in on the perfect rod for the variety of applications you can to use it for.

[Darren.]

Dobyns rods hands down. Best customer service in the industry, rods for all different types of budgets, and endless different options to key in on the perfect rod for the variety of applications you can to use it for.

 

Just checked Dobyns site and TW ... not so sure they've got "rods for all different types of budgets" as you describe   if the bottom is $159 MSRP, unless I'm missing rods in the sub-$100 range?

[BradGuenette]

Just checked Dobyns site and TW ... not so sure they've got "rods for all different types of budgets" as you describe if the bottom is $159 MSRP, unless I'm missing rods in the sub-$100 range?

You have your $300+ extremes, $250 champions and $150 savy. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

[Darren.]

You have your $300+ extremes, $250 champions and $150 savy. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

 

Not looking for a fight here, just pointing out they don't cover "all" budgets.