Any Abu Garcia fans out there?

[Hopslam]

Just curious if anyone uses Abu rods or reels. I have never used their products but the rods feel great at the tackle shop. The price point seems to go from $30-$270+ so I'm curious about the quality, and sensitivity. I would hate to throw $200 at a rod, knowing I could buy a st croix and be satisfied with the purchase. Any input is appreciated! Thank you.

[Bpett2552]

About a year ago I bought an Abu Garcia Black Max combo. Its a 6"9 medium heavy baitcasting rod with a baitcasting reel. The whole package cost me 80 dollars. The rod is very sensitive. When fishing a chatterbait I can feel every vibration the lure puts out. It handles fish well and I feel that it gives me a lot of control over my lures. The reel is the true highlight though. The inexpensive black max reel has, in my opinion,a fairly smooth drag and good line capacity. It is EXTREMELY easy to cast. I can send my lures a long way and still have excellent accuracy. Since I got all this quality from such a cheap combo I would assume that you would get an excellent product from abu garcia if you spent a little bit more. Hope that helps

[fishnkamp]

Hopslam I fish two original series Abu Garcia Veritas. One is a 7 foot MH and one is a 7 foot Hvy baitcasters.  I use the MH for frogs and the HVY for deep jigs. I like the blanks on these rods a lot. I have never had any problems with their components, but several of my friends have had to replace a few guides. Sometimes the ring in the guides can come out. The new Veritas rods retail for $100, but can be found on sale for $75 often. The 7 foot medium Veritas makes a real good rod for crankbaits and rattle traps.  I love the " Ike series" .  These are the rods Mike Iaconelli designed and I think the line is terrific. I purchased a 6'4: jerkbait rod and it fishes great. Think of this as a 6'8 rod with a shorter handle which allows you to make the cadence or jerks that work the bait without the typical handle beating up your arm.  I think the Ike series are worth more than their $129 price.  From my own experience the Veritas are very serviceable rods for their price. I think the Ike series are a much higher quality rod than most rods available from anyone in their price range.  There are 15 different Ike rods each designed to do something special and do it really well. I have never touched any of their top line rods say $200 and above.  If I am dumping that much money (and I have as my wife and I own 6 G Loomis rods that cost for more than $275 each)  I would look at several rod companies that I trust more.  I have owned several  ST Croix and just am not thrilled by them for the money.  Check out these rod companies. Dobyns rods,  Irod,  and Powell, 

Let's go about this a little differently.  What rods do you have now?  What brand and what model?  What technique do you use it for?  Now if money didn't matter and you wanted to add two new rods what technique would you use them for.  For example I have 12 baitcasters and 4 spinning rods in my rod locker right now. All are tools to do certain jobs. If I could only have three to  begin with what would i start with,  My first rod would be a 6'10" to 7' spinning rod like the Dobyns Sierra 693. WIth it I could throw tubes, light jigs, shakey heads, drop shot and even throw ned rids. it would also handle small texas rigged worms and Sencos. My next rod would be a rod like the Powell Max3d 723CEF. This would handle larger plastics,bigger jigs, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits (I own a Powell Max 683 and it is my most versatile rod I own) My last rod would be a crankbait rod like the Powell Max3D 6104cb, or the Dobyns DC704cb glass rod. Another rod I own and love for crankbaits is the Irod Genesis II Gabes Rip Rap Special. With these rods I would be able to fish effectively, but boy it would feel weird not to have my whole arsenal available! LOL

I hope I got you thinking in terms of tools. Now if you tell us what you have and where you would be heading much more informed suggestions can be made. Today most companies make decent rods but it is more about the particular model doing what you want it to do. 

[Caliyak]

4 hours ago, Bpett2552 said:

About a year ago I bought an Abu Garcia Black Max combo. Its a 6"9 medium heavy baitcasting rod with a baitcasting reel. The whole package cost me 80 dollars. The rod is very sensitive. When fishing a chatterbait I can feel every vibration the lure puts out. It handles fish well and I feel that it gives me a lot of control over my lures. The reel is the true highlight though. The inexpensive black max reel has, in my opinion,a fairly smooth drag and good line capacity. It is EXTREMELY easy to cast. I can send my lures a long way and still have excellent accuracy. Since I got all this quality from such a cheap combo I would assume that you would get an excellent product from abu garcia if you spent a little bit more. Hope that helps

I agree, get the black max. 

[fishballer06]

I'm a big fan of the Ike series and Veracity series (both use the same blank). They're very good rods for the money and I own two of each. 

 

I've tried the Veritas series and I'm not overly impressed with them, but they are a $100 rod, so I guess you can't expect a whole lot from them. I've heard mixed reviews from others on them. 

If you're debating between a SC Avid and a Veracity, I'd take the Avid. 

[crypt]

all my casing reels are abu,promax,blackmax. orra's revo's etc. have some older abu's as well, pro max 1600's 4600c3-c4s also. have used lews,daiwa,shimano. and just keep coming back to abu's. don't have anything bad to say about other brands but abu's seem to fit me better.

[JROD_fishing]

My rod lineup consist of all MHX rods that I build but as of this year I have tried other reels on my rods, okuma, lews, daiwa, and out of those 3 lews is the one I like closest to my abu's. I have used Abu Garcia reels for several years now. The Revo STX is a great reel and comes in multiple gear ratios. I have my stx's in a 8.0:1. I have 2, one on a 7'3" MH fast action MHX for worm/jig fishing, and a 6'6" MH fast action MHX for docks/tight cover. I have other abu Garcia's but my favorite so far for the money are the STX reels.

[Rick Howard]

I like the Ora reels I have.  Also have a veritas 7'6" Rod for flipping that I like.  I will buy more in the future.

[RafaelM]

I own an Abu Garcia Black-Max and Pro-Max baitcast rod and reel combo. Great for the price. I like their products. 

[Largemouth21]

I have a Abu Garcia pro Max I love it it's really smooth

[WPCfishing]

I have IKE rods that are super sweet to cast and I just bought a Viliian 2.0 for toads and jigs.

I was using there Patriarch reels which are very nice buy a bit larger than I like. I switched to Lews a few years ago and I'm not looking back.