young angler upgrading equipment

[jacksonjalovec]

hey guys i'm 17 years old and currently own 2 combos. my casting combo is a 30$ kast king reel on an 80$ gander mtn tourney rod. my spinning combo is an okuma combo i got on amazon for 30$. i have saved up 200$ cutting grass and baby sitting and i'm looking to upgrade my casting reel. i just got a job as well so every paycheck i will be upgrading a portion of my arsenal. right now after doing some extensive research my favorites are the shimano curado I, shimano casitas, *** concept series heard really good things but a tad expensive. Any thoughts? anything outside of that list? i will be upgrading my spinning reel next so any suggestions in the 100$ range would be greatly appreciated thanks so much!!!

[fishballer06]

For the price the Curado I is being clearanced out on right now, I would go with that. It's a solid reel even at it's original price, and at the clearance pricing, it's a steal. 

 

As for the spinning reel, the Shimano Nasci is a great choice. 

[CroakHunter]

If you look on ebay, the curado I can be had for under 100 dollars, meaning you could spend 100 dollars on a rod like the dobyns fury, lews tp1 speed stick, abu garcia veritas and have a super nice combo for the money you have saved up for just the reel. And then you would also have 2 baitcasting combos making you more versatile being able to have more than 1 lure tied on

[Finnz922]

Daiwa Tat CT, Tat CT SV, and a more economical offering is the Fuego CT. I have the Tat CT and the Fuego CT with the Tat CT SV on the way. I am very impressed with the Fuego so far. Best lightest reel with aluminum frame for the price.

[fishnkamp]

I would second the Daiwa Tatula CTs.  I fished with one a friend had ( one of the larger bodied original Tatulas). I fell in love with them. I sold of my Shimanos. I now own 7 total including 2 of the CTs. These are a little smaller body  but cast exactly the same.

 

As for rods the Dobyns Fury rods offer a rod that fishes like a $200 rod in other brands, but only costs $110.

The Fuego is a reel built on the CT body minus the TWS system. This is a nice system, but may not really be as important to someone like yourself that is upgrading equipment but on a budget.

The Fuego will be a major upgrade as is. That reel replaced a reel called an Exceler. I fish one of those as well. It casts just as good as my Tatulas.

Now for the "which Fury model" question. If you are looking for an all around multi purpose rod consider the Fury FR 734C.  It is a workhorse.

 

Now lets talk spinning reels. I have fished for 40 years and have tried plenty of reels and rods. If you NEED to spend $100 on a reel, then I would say a Pflueger Supreme would be my choice.  My wife fishes with one all the time. She loves it. However, in your position I would make a much different choice. Along with that Supreme she and I both fish a total of 5 or 6  Pflueger President reels. If I had you close your eyes and had you test cast each one you would have a hard time telling them apart.  We have size 30  reels on our G Loomis Medium Light action rods and size 35 on our heavier medium action rods. You may agree with lots of other anglers and prefer the smaller size reels. Just personal preference.

 

 Right now Dicks Sporting Goods has the Presidents on sale ( regularly $59.99) for $49.99. They have a $10 off rebate as well. It gets better.. If you stop in and purchase anything you can use that receipt to answer the online customer survey and print a $10 off anything coupon. That makes a $59.99 reel cost $30.  I really like using Berkley original FireLine Fused braid in 14 pound test and a 5 foot leader made up of 8 pound mono or copolymer line. The FireLine in 14 pound test is equal to 6 pound mono in diameter.  It casts well and has no memory so line twist is not an issue.  Always  remember to close the bail by hand with any spinning reel in order to reduce line twist issues. 

[bholtzinger14]

I have 3 *** *** reels, love them and would not hesitate to buy another. With that said I am going to buy a Tatula Ct soon to see how I like them. I expect good things. I have never fished the Fury rods, but I have heard great things about them. I really like the Diawa Tatula series rods, but there are so many $100ish rods out there that are great. I found 3-4 that had great reviews on here and waited until I found them on sale.  I ended up grabbing 4 Tatula rods for about $65 each (normally double that). If you can wait and find clearance sales you can double your money fast. Black Friday has been really good to me for fishing items. 

 

There are many people on this site that I love reading their replies b/c I know they base their replies on experience and @fishnkampis one of those people. I would follow his advice. 

[fishnkamp]

Thanks bholtzinger14. When you get your Tat make sure to run it with side play on the spool.  These reels like to be run much more loose compared to any other reel made out there.  The normal adjust the spool so the lure drops slowly has no place in the Tatula setup. Start with the brake dial set to 10 of 20.  Tighten up the drag star as you would normally do. Your reel should fly and the brakes should work great. You still want an educated thumb at the end but it should work great.

I have no idea if you are located near MD, but if you are and you would like to cast one I would be happy to give you a chance with my stuff.