<$100 Spinning Rod Combo

[AlecFish]

Beating a dead horse here. 

 

I'm in the process of looking for a good all around spinning rod combo. 

I'm not really in the mood of spending $200+ on multiple rods and reels. Although they may be better optimized for different fishing styles, with the amount of fishing I do, and money I think one or two rods is enough for me.

 

I'm looking for a rod/reel combo to target bass, in a variety of of conditions and hope to be fishing with weightless senkos and rubber worms. bass jigs, chatterbaits and topwater and maybe a lightweight crankbait. I want something that's sensitive yet, has a good backbone. 

Any suggestions? 

[new2BC4bass]

Can't help much with the rod portion, but I would suggest a Pflueger Trion for the reel.  I'd be looking at house brand rods from Academy Sports, Cabela's, BPS, etc. to see what rod would finish the combo within your budget.  Cabela's Fish Eagle 50 (a $90 rod) is on sale for $54.  Afraid I know nothing about $40 rods other than I like my old 6' Berkley Lightning.  However, mine isn't powerful enough to be an only rod for bass fishing.

Also check out the links in the sticky on best rods for $100 or less in here.

 

[smalljaw67]

12 hours ago, AlecFish said:

Beating a dead horse here. 

 

I'm in the process of looking for a good all around spinning rod combo. 

I'm not really in the mood of spending $200+ on multiple rods and reels. Although they may be better optimized for different fishing styles, with the amount of fishing I do, and money I think one or two rods is enough for me.

 

I'm looking for a rod/reel combo to target bass, in a variety of of conditions and hope to be fishing with weightless senkos and rubber worms. bass jigs, chatterbaits and topwater and maybe a lightweight crankbait. I want something that's sensitive yet, has a good backbone. 

Any suggestions? 

What is your budget for your rod and reel, the total of both of them together. That will help narrow down your selection a little.

[Wprich]

You could go with a pflueger president and perhaps one of the newer ugly stik elites, I like them better than regular ugly stiks or the gx2 models.

[Yudo1]

I like the president a lot more than my trion.  Worth the extra $20 IMO.  As far as rod, maybe a Fenwick silver hawk that goes on sale often for about $50.  Last summer I caught a 4' hammerhead on mine.  I thought the rod would snap at any moment but the medium powered rod handled the 40 minutes battle like a champ.  Pretty sensitive too.

[AlecFish]

9 hours ago, smalljaw67 said:

What is your budget for your rod and reel, the total of both of them together. That will help narrow down your selection a little.

Altogether I'd be willing to spend $100 on a rod and reel. 

6 hours ago, Wprich said:

You could go with a pflueger president and perhaps one of the newer ugly stik elites, I like them better than regular ugly stiks or the gx2 models.

Yeah the Pflueger's are pretty nice, I've got a buddy who runs with one of those. 

Are there any cheaper options out there that compare to the pflueger's? The KastKing's on amazon with a good price, don't know how people think about them on here though. 

 

How is the backbone on the elites? All the ugly stiks I've had have had little to no backbone, curious to see if they changed

4 hours ago, Yudo1 said:

I like the president a lot more than my trion.  Worth the extra $20 IMO.  As far as rod, maybe a Fenwick silver hawk that goes on sale often for about $50.  Last summer I caught a 4' hammerhead on mine.  I thought the rod would snap at any moment but the medium powered rod handled the 40 minutes battle like a champ.  Pretty sensitive too.

Cabela's and Dicks sporting goods are the only semi-close fishing stores around me.  Any idea on times when they tend to go on sale? I've heard a lot of good things about Fenwick's in my research, especially with the HMG's and HMX's. 

 

I've been researching other cheaper rods and I have a few ideas. And I'd hopefully like to learn more on them

-Berkley lightning rods, I hear these are good beater rods. What's the difference, if any between the lightning rod shock and the regular?

-BPS bionic blade, on sale on the website for $70. There are various options, available, not sure what the differences are.

-Abu Garcia Vengence combos at dicks are $50 with a rebate. 

 

From the type of fishing I'll be doing what type of action and power should I be looking for?

[Yudo1]

Pflueger trion is a good reel that is cheaper than the president.  I'll bet cabelas will have a memorial day sale so maybe check out the Fenwick then.

[AlecFish]

1 hour ago, Yudo1 said:

Pflueger trion is a good reel that is cheaper than the president.  I'll bet cabelas will have a memorial day sale so maybe check out the Fenwick then.

Gotcha, I actually live near a bass pro, not a cabela's, if that changes anything.

[Allen Der]

I'd just go to your bass pro and get this combo for $80 with the 30 sized reel and a medium rod in 6'6 or 7'.  the rod is OK and if you want you can always go back in the spring and trade it in towards a better rod during the spring classic.

http://www.basspro.com/Pflueger-President-Spinning-Reel/Bass-Pro-Shops-Graphite-Series-Rod-Spinning-Combo/product/2253985/

[blckshirt98]

St. Croix has their prior generation Triumph X spinning rods paired up with a free reel for $90 with free shipping right now.  The reel they throw in is a Daiwa Laguna ($40 MSRP, though on sale for $20 at Cabela's right now).

P.S. the Triumph X casting rods are also being paired up with a free reel/shipping for $100 and they're throwing in a Daiwa Exceler ($100 MSRP) which is a pretty sweet deal.

[AlecFish]

6 hours ago, blckshirt98 said:

St. Croix has their prior generation Triumph X spinning rods paired up with a free reel for $90 with free shipping right now.  The reel they throw in is a Daiwa Laguna ($40 MSRP, though on sale for $20 at Cabela's right now).

P.S. the Triumph X casting rods are also being paired up with a free reel/shipping for $100 and they're throwing in a Daiwa Exceler ($100 MSRP) which is a pretty sweet deal.

Wow, those do seem like some good deals. 

I have no idea how to use a baitcaster, but if it's the better deal, it might be worth it to learn. 

Do you know which action I should go for? I don't quite understand how their labeled on the website

22 hours ago, Allen Der said:

I'd just go to your bass pro and get this combo for $80 with the 30 sized reel and a medium rod in 6'6 or 7'.  the rod is OK and if you want you can always go back in the spring and trade it in towards a better rod during the spring classic.

http://www.basspro.com/Pflueger-President-Spinning-Reel/Bass-Pro-Shops-Graphite-Series-Rod-Spinning-Combo/product/2253985/

You can trade rods in? Didn't know that. 

Again, what action do you recommend? Medium, or medium heavy? Also, does it make an impact on performance if the rod is 1 or 2 pieces?

 

[blckshirt98]

 

9 minutes ago, AlecFish said:

Wow, those do seem like some good deals. 

I have no idea how to use a baitcaster, but if it's the better deal, it might be worth it to learn. 

Do you know which action I should go for? I don't quite understand how their labeled on the website

You can trade rods in? Didn't know that. 

Again, what action do you recommend? Medium, or medium heavy? Also, does it make an impact on performance if the rod is 1 or 2 pieces?

 

St. Croix labels their rods to show which line of rods/casting vs spinning/length/power/action/pieces.

So TXC66MHF means it's Triumph X (TX), Casting (C), 6'6" long (66), Medium Heavy power (MH), Fast action(F).

if you see a (2) at the end of the model number it means it comes in 2 pieces, so TXS70MF2 means it's a Triumph X (TX), Spinnning (S), 7'0" long (70), Medium power (M), Fast action (F), 2 pieces (2).

If you're just starting out I'd actually go with a spinning rod since it's much easier to learn and fish lighter/finesse techniques with a spinning setup.  If you could only pick one combo from the deals listed I would probably go with a 7'0" Medium Fast rod, but other people might want to chime in here.

[new2BC4bass]

On 05/16/2016 at 6:08 PM, AlecFish said:

-Berkley lightning rods, I hear these are good beater rods. What's the difference, if any between the lightning rod shock and the regular?

The Shock was designed to be used with braid.  They say the action is softer.  Personally I can't past their colors.  I've had a 6' Lightning spinning rod for 35-40 years that still gets used on occasion.  Definitely a good value.  I don't know anything about guides and seat differences.

EDIT:  Bought a 6' MH Lightning and Daiwa Procaster for my oldest grandson.  He won't try baitcast so I got another set-up.    Spooled it with 15# mono and use it as a dedicated spinnerbait rod.  Normally has a 1/2 oz. black spinnerbait with tandem Colorado blades on it.  Whole rod shakes on the retrieve.

[Allen Der]

medium power and fast action is your best bet for an all around spinning rod.  I forgot about the Triumph X deal, I'd probably go for that.  Yes during spring BPS has a classic event where you can trade in old rods and reels for a coupon towards a new one.

[AlecFish]

Alright, I've narrowed down to the Berkley lightning rod shock and the St. Croix Triumph X combo. 

From what I can tell both rods perform similarly, and I can't find much info on the Triumph X in general.

Does the 50$ lightning rod even compare to the 100$ triumph x? 

If I go with the lightning rod, I could probably splurge a little bit and go for the pflueger president which would be nice. But then again, I don't know if I'd be missing out on the Triumph X deal.

[AlecFish]

Update: 

I decided to go with the 6'6 Pflueger President medium combo as it is the most practical and economical choice for me. I plan on upgrading to the Fenwick HMG once they start to go on sale or other similar rods.  

 

Thanks for all the help!

[lecisnith]

21 minutes ago, AlecFish said:

Update: 

I decided to go with the 6'6 Pflueger President medium combo as it is the most practical and economical choice for me. I plan on upgrading to the Fenwick HMG once they start to go on sale or other similar rods.  

 

Thanks for all the help!

I have the same combo.  It has caught 4lb largemouth, 4lb smallmouth , 40" pike, giant perch, and giant crappie.  Have used everything from 1/2oz spinnerbaits to 5/16oz shad raps to tubes.  It is now my dedicated tube setup with an occasional light jerkbait.  You won't be disappointed.