New Spinning rod & reel

[n3cw4rr10r]

Hey guys,

 

                I am in the market for a versatile, spinning rod & reel. I do have a few spinning & casting rods & reels most of which were bought cheap when I started fishing. I would like to get one good spinning rod & reel. I would like the rod to be 7' -7'3" max so it will fit in my explorer. Also, I don't have a boat, but I do plan to buy one next year (hopefully). Right now fish lakes and rivers in central California off the shore. Here are my spinning rods & reels:

 

Shakespeare Ugly Stik GX2 combo 6' 6" medium rod, with 12lb mono.

Ugly Stik Elite 6' 6" medium with Pflueger Trion wound with 6lb mono.

 

I fish for anything lol. Have caught some decent stripers, bass, catfish and panfish. Biggest I would say is a 6-7lb striper.

 

I have been looking @ the penn fierce ii, penn battle ii & daiwa bg series reels. As for rods, I am looking @ fenwick hmg (my casting rods are hmgs), dobyns fury, daiwa fuego, etc etc.  Open to suggestions. 

 

Also plan on switching to braid on my spinning setups. Suggestions on line size appreciated.

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard!

 

For reels, I'd opt for Diawa, or Shimano (my pref). Just have

had very good experiences with those two. You can also look

at the Pflueger President as it is a solid reel for the price and

has quite a following.

 

As for rods, there are so many in the $ range you are looking

at. My best advice is to go to a local sporting goods store like

Bass Pro, Cabelas, etc., and ask to put the reel of choice on

different rods to get a feel for the balance. You might like a 

tip heavy setup, or equal balance, or tip light. I'm in the latter

category.

 

Point is, get your hands on combos (if you can) and make your

decision. If it were me, I'd likely opt for a Shimano reel and a

shorter rod. That's how I roll. Longer rods are not my thing.

To each his/her own  

 

As for braid - I use 10# and 15# along with a leader sized anywhere

from 4 to 15# test, either copoly or fluorocarbon. Braid makes life

a lot easier to manage on a spinning setup. 

[n3cw4rr10r]

Closest dick's is 45 mins away and bp is 1 1/2 hrs away. No cabelas in california.

[Fishin' Fool]

Go to the DSG and check out the St Croix Mojo in either ML or M and the Abu Garcia Veritas. See which one you prefer. Second buy the best Shimano reel that you can afford in the 2500 size.

I internet ordered like 10 rods last year without touching them and I ended up returning about half of them.  Best bet to put the rod in your hands first.

[n3cw4rr10r]

I have been to the dsg here and its crap. The only two decent rods they had were st.croix triumph and duckett ghost. Anything besides Shimano, not really a fan of the brand.

[Fishin' Fool]

Pfluger for $50 reels. Shimano/Daiwa for $100+ reels. Good luck with your search.

[Chance_Taker4]

I have a couple Veritas 2.0 spinning rods I'd sell to ya. Message me if your interested. For the reel I'd opt for either the Ardent Arrow (just released) or Ardent Finesse. I use the finesse for all three of my spinning setups and love it.

[PatrickKnight]

For a 100 dollar reel you will not do better than the Daiwa BG. I had a previous gen HMG and felt it was a good value at $100 but you can find it for less than that new if you shop around. Amazon if your friend on both of those btw.

[fishnkamp]

If you live in California you have lots of manufacturers local you can order directly from. Another option is to order one from Tackle Warehouse. Both options work well.  There are plenty of Cali dealers for Powell, Dobyns and Irod.

For a nice all around spinning setup look at a Powell Inferno 6103 MEF.  It is a 6'10 Medium extra fast.

It runs $100

An Irod Genesis II IRG 713S is a nice all around rod also. It runs around $149.

A Daiwa Tatula XT in medium action might be a good choice. I have hard good things about them, I have fished Powell rods and Irods so I know more about some of them.   

The Dobyns Fury rods are nice also. The Fury FR 703SF would be the the best option there.

For a dependable modest priced reel I would consider a Pflueger President but a step up is the Pflueger Supreme. My wife and I fish some of each.  We use 14 pound Berkley FireLine on our spinning reels. I use a 5 foot leader made of 8 pound P Line CXX. I also spool the reel half way up with Stren 12 or 14 pound test mono as backing.

[gall]

I right now run a mojo 6'8 mxf the shorter rod cause I wade skinny waters still great multipurpose rod  b u out thinking about jumping to dobyns due to fishankamp hard goos things about the fury as for reels ive tried multiple brands except daiwa and always went back to shimano but can't go wrong with either on my opinion as of now I run 15# suffix 832 with pline fluro clear leader which I usually put abouy 5-6' that way I'm not constantly retying a leader 

[n3cw4rr10r]

What size reel should I be looking @? 2500 OR 3000. Also should the rod be a medium or medium heavy? The reason being I see some rods rated 8-17lbs in medium while some are 8-17 in medium heavy.

 

P.S: I see Shimano is highly regarded here lol. IF (and that's a big IF), I were to look at Shimano what would be comparable to the Daiwa BG? Also while looking at Daiwa website, I see the Fuego series in the same price range. Any thoughts on it?

 

@Chance_Taker4 I had a Veritas before I bought the HMGs.It seemed heavier and stiffer than other brands.

[fishnkamp]

SIze depends on manufacturer and preference.  I run mostly Pfluegers for my spinning reels. They have been extremely reliable for me over the last 10 years. 

 

I did purchased my wife a Shimano Symetre spinning reel about 1 1/2 years ago.  It works fine, but I am concerned because Shimano discontinued it. That reel had developed a bad reputation.  Apparently the reel's internal parts developed an issue where they no longer rotated without sticking. The reports I have seen suggested the factory replaced parts but never fixed the issue! It was then discontinued and nothing really was done for its owners.  I am hoping ours does not develop that issue or I am going to have to throw a very expensive reel away.

 

Up till then our Pfluegers were Presidents. For her latest setup we went with a Pflueger Supreme in a 35 size. I like a Pflueger size 30 reels for light finesse bass setups and a 35 sized reel for most of our medium and medium heavy bass setups. Most anglers that I have met on these boards tend to use the 30 size reel for bass.  A Shimano Nasci 2500 is close to my 6930 President in line capacity. I have even seen some members say they fish with the 1000 sized Shimanos for bass. I suspect it is on their finesse bait rods.

 

I also run nothing but 14 pound  Berkley FireLine braid and a 5 foot leader on my spinning setups.  That means I fill the reel up half way with Stren 12 or 14 pound mono to cut cost  The braid is equal to 6 pound mono so the reel would take a boat load of braid to fill properly otherwise.

 

I have only played with one new Daiwa and it was a BG 2500. That reel is also very close in physical size and line capacity to my 6935 reels that I like the best.  The BG is a great reel. It is not a super light reel though.

I really liked it, but I do tend to prefer a metal housing to all the graphite/ whatever composite bodied reels they are building today.  You asked about the Fuego LT reels. They are brand new and in most cases not in stock yet. Tackle Warehouse is not expecting any till December.  They were just released at ICAST.  This will be one of those lighter composite bodied reels.  If it were available I would still prefer a BG. 

 

I recommend you try and play with a few reels in person.  Go play with a Daiwa BG 2500, a Pflueger Supreme 35, a Shimano Nasci, these all retail for about the same amount of money.  

[MJinMN]

I would suggest you take a look at the Daiwa RG-AB which retails for $59.  It is an incredibly smooth reel and I think you could take the $40 you save to buy a nicer rod.  I returned a Daiwa BG because I liked the RG-AB better....  

[Boomstick]

If you want a good dependable mid priced reel, the Pflueger President is very good but the Mitchell Pro is even better as it is lighter, smoother and has a nice 5.8:1 gear ratio. Both are time tested and a great value.