What are Ugly Stiks good for?

[greentrout]

Fish with a gentleman in his jon boat on his 30 acre subdivision lake who uses an Ugly Stik. He is very good at line watching with plastic worms. On occasion, the fish is gut hooked. Happens to us all. He doesn't miss a beat and, once a big one is hooked, she's toast with that Ugly Stik. She's going nowhere.

 

 

[nameiztaken]

I've never searched "ugly stik" on youtube in my life, but look what ironically was just recommended in my feed:

 

[soflabasser]

5 hours ago, dopey said:

I have a couple of the Ugly Stick Pro Lite spinning rods and I really like them.  They're balanced and well made.  I match them with several different Shimano reels and they make a great combo. 

 

How many remember the Zebco Indestructable rods???  I have one I use with a shimano symetre and it's a really nice combo.

 

I'm starting to believe that freshwater fisherman are starting to get like some of the flyfisherman "SNOBS"!!LOL  If you don't use a $1000 rod, and at least a $500 fly reel you're not a real flyfisherman.  I found a St. Croix Imperial fly rod at the flea market last summer and got it for $10!!  Looks like it was never used.  They go for $250 and a used one depending on condition $150 and up.  Put my fly reel on it and I hate to say it but my cheap Courtland Fairplay fly rod casts better. 

 

Fishing is for relaxing - use what you like and can afford and go catch some fish!!!

 

Well said. The most important thing in bass fishing is to have fun when you are fishing and second is catching lots of big bass. Both of these can be done with a Ugly Stik or any decent quality rod, which there are many that cost less than $80.

[Blueboy]

New to fishing, don't know much, but I was running two hooks on my ugly stick with an old (1980's ambassadeur) anahuac TX catching sand trout to fill up a cooler, live mullet and a 1oz weight. I accidentally hooked two reds, one being 34in, my personal best and the other about an 18, fight of my life, probably should have known the first was on but hey, that combo is now my favorite thing in the world for everything. Same rod I had when I was probably 12 pond fishing.

[blongfishing]

A popular guide that I watch on youtube on lake okeechobee uses them on his live shiner trips. He says they are the best rod for the shiner fishing. Not paid to say that, just his honest opinion.

[jr231]

6 hours ago, snake95 said:

Yeah there are lots of guys I know who DO think they are gold, like my father-in-law.  I found a few extras for a deal and put them aside in my collection for those guys.

 

Another great point.  My two top PBs and the only two bass I've caught over 5 lb (so far) were both on ugly sticks with Trilene mono and 1/2 oz DSG banshee buzzbaits.  This is since I acquired some gear more consistent with the enthusiast equipment discussed on the board.  In both cases, the key was I had the Ugly Stik in the trunk, the night was warm and I found 15 minutes to fish, so I used what I had.  As they say, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take and the having gear to use at hand is essential.

 

 

 

Lol then you know EXACTLY what an ugly stik is good for. 

[BassThumb]

Guests who are very, very drunk.

[SmallmouthBoss]

11 hours ago, dopey said:

I have a couple of the Ugly Stick Pro Lite spinning rods and I really like them.  They're balanced and well made.  I match them with several different Shimano reels and they make a great combo. 

 

How many remember the Zebco Indestructable rods???  I have one I use with a shimano symetre and it's a really nice combo.

 

I'm starting to believe that freshwater fisherman are starting to get like some of the flyfisherman "SNOBS"!!LOL  If you don't use a $1000 rod, and at least a $500 fly reel you're not a real flyfisherman.  I found a St. Croix Imperial fly rod at the flea market last summer and got it for $10!!  Looks like it was never used.  They go for $250 and a used one depending on condition $150 and up.  Put my fly reel on it and I hate to say it but my cheap Courtland Fairplay fly rod casts better. 

 

Fishing is for relaxing - use what you like and can afford and go catch some fish!!!

My fly rod is a $100 Temple Forks Outfitters rod i caught from the lake while trolling for trout. Lol. Cleaned up very well and works like new.

[Crestliner2008]

They are certainly quite a step up from the solid steel, tubular steel and fiberglass rods I grew up with. And no rod ever caught a fish. Only fishermen do.

[Jaderose]

I'm considering one for a froggin rod.  Froggin (at least the way I do it) is about as far from finesse as you can get and is mostly based on sight and is rough as heck on equipment.  I found a 7" something Heavy Ugly Stick at Walmart the other day and I'm thinking about getting it for this.  If that happens it will wind up being one my heaviest use rods in the summer

[the reel ess]

18 hours ago, dopey said:

 

 

I'm starting to believe that freshwater fisherman are starting to get like some of the flyfisherman "SNOBS"!!LOL 

Starting to? We are every bit as snobby as fly fishermen. We want all the shiniest and newest equipment and can't catch fish without a $50K boat and 3 graphs, PowerPoles and 24V trollong motors.

[AC870]

When I was just getting back into pretty regular fishing few years ago, I bought a 6-0 medium heavy spinning Ugly Stik Lite.  Caught some on it with shallow running cranks. I upgraded slightly, not a lot, and gave the Ugly Stik to my nephew. He was tickled to get it and promptly went to a pond and caught several on weightless worms with his dad. My next bluegill rod will likely be an Ugly Stik Ultralight if something ever happens to my little Abu Vigilante.

[Subaqua Adinterim]

As stated very well by others here - these are durable, workhorse rods that someone will enjoy fishing with.  They are not the most sensitive rods (as there is a trade off for the durability), but for some things they are sensitive enough and work well.

I have a 9' light action big water downrigger Ugly Stik that I originally purchased over 30 years ago when I was a kid for use trolling for trout and salmon on Lake Ontario.  Since I no longer troll on the big lake, I have used this in Florida on the surf and regularly use it for salmon fishing.  I love it for salmon fishing, it's stout enough and sensitive enough for this application and gets the job done.  Here's a picture my wife snapped of me with my Ugly Stik hooked up to a 28# salmon. 

[snake95]

9 minutes ago, RichPenNY said:

Here's a picture my wife snapped of me with my Ugly Stik hooked up to a 28# salmon.

Man, that's an awesome shot.

 

Glad this thread wound up generating so many positive responses.  Its great to be on a forum where the responses from anglers with such a broad range of backgrounds focus in on the main objective - catching fish and having a good time.   

[.ghoti.]

NICE pic, Rich. 

[Jeff H]

On 3/11/2017 at 3:32 PM, dopey said:

I'm starting to believe that freshwater fisherman are starting to get like some of the flyfisherman "SNOBS"!!LOL 

 

As anglers, they consider themselves Purists of ethics and skill, not snobs.  

[jdz197]

They're average rods for average prices. The price point should be 5-10 dollars lower MSRP and they would be a better value as you can get a better rod for $40. They don't really excel at anything aside from durability. The lite pro model on sale for 30 is acceptable.

 

I have a 6' MH ugly stick for catfish which is the best application I can think of for one.

[roadwarrior]

32 minutes ago, jdz197 said:

They're average rods for average prices...They don't really excel at anything aside from durability.

 

Very popular for saltwater fishing, too.

 

 

[ohihunter2014]

I used to use nothing but ugly stick medium with the Shakespeare reel for the last 10yrs or so. I've caught several fish Ohio channel cats float fishing in the river with that combo, probably 50 bass, a fresh water drum AKA sheep head that weighed probably 20lbs and measured about 3ft. Even caught my personal best largemouth probably 6lbs on a original float rapala. Bass jumped out of the water to hit a dragon fly or something and threw that lure in the spot a couple times and he hit it.

 

I recently upgraded to a graphite IM8 rod so we will see how that performs. I switched over cause i began throwing worms and more crank baits and sometimes couldn't feel the bites. Ill still use that ugly stick for some things.

[bigfruits]

life is too short to fish artificial baits for bass on an ugly stick IMO. so many good values out there these days. i have nothing against these rods but time on the water is valuable so treat yourself to something a little more alive. your not going to necessarily catch more fish on a more sensitive and crisp rod but the experience will be different. keep in mind the last time i fished an ugly stick was probably 15 yrs ago. they might be different now.

 

for catfish or other game it sounds perfect.

 

 

[kickerfish1]

They are good for:

1. Catfisherman

2. Cheapskates

3. People that abuse their gear

4. And for people that refer to fishing rods as "poles"

[Choporoz]

Just this past weekend, I was watching Bob Izumi on a Lake St. Clair charter, trolling for muskies.  All the rods on that boat were Ugly Sticks.  They seemed to handle some massive fish perfectly.

 

 

[ThatZX14Fella]

It's good for fishing. Everyone gets too caught up in thinking good gear makes them an elite fisherman, but KVD could outfish us all with a Barbie setup. I can understand being a gear junkie, but don't look down upon those that can't afford Stella's and NRX's.

[Darren.]

On 3/11/2017 at 9:42 PM, Blueboy said:

New to fishing, don't know much, but I was running two hooks on my ugly stick with an old (1980's ambassadeur) anahuac TX catching sand trout to fill up a cooler, live mullet and a 1oz weight. I accidentally hooked two reds, one being 34in, my personal best and the other about an 18, fight of my life, probably should have known the first was on but hey, that combo is now my favorite thing in the world for everything. Same rod I had when I was probably 12 pond fishing.

 

Welcome aboard!

[soflabasser]

6 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Just this past weekend, I was watching Bob Izumi on a Lake St. Clair charter, trolling for muskies.  All the rods on that boat were Ugly Sticks.  They seemed to handle some massive fish perfectly.

 

 

 

Nice Muskie fishing video thank for you posting it.I caught my first Muskie(couple months ago on vacation) on a Ugly Stik and I can tell you from experience that these rods handle Muskies quite well.