Medium action cheap casting rod advice.

[carsonnash]

Hello, I am new the the world of freshwater and Baitcasting. I have a reel on the way to my house and was trying to decide on a rod. I am looking for a medium/heavy rod preferably with a cork Handel. Price range around 30 dollars. Any advice? Whatever helps.

[ratherbfishin1]

Welcome to bass resource! I know if you are willing to pay an extra 10 dollars people really like Berkeley lightning rods.

[KDW96]

My preference for 35.00 is a berkley lightining rod.

[ohboyitsrobby]

Yep berkley lightning rod in that price range. 

[Bluebasser86]

Fisherman's Factory Outlet has Lightining Rod Shock 7' MY with a fork handle for $27.

[burrows]

For 49 you can get the abu vengeance rods at Walmart decent rods very light and surprisingly sensitive 66 mh is what I recommend very light rods can do it all.

[ww2farmer]

Do you live near a Runnings?

 

They have the regular Berkley Lightning Rods for $29.99 every day.

 

The newest generation of Lightning Rods feel and look awesome. They really upgraded the reel seats, handles, and are now using more, and better guides than previous generations. I have bought a bunch of them to play with this coming season. Performance/durability of Lightning Rods has never been an issue to me. They have always had outstanding durability, and fished like rods costing quite a bit more, I find them perfectly fine for fishing "feel" stuff like t-rigs, jigs, etc..... Weight/balance used to be iffy, but these new ones seem lighter and better balanced than older ones too.

 

25 years ago, all my rods were Lightning Rods, and I caught tons of fish.

10 years ago, all my rods were higher end St Croix's, Kistlers, etcs.....caught lots of fish, but with less money in my pocket

5 years ago, all my rods were various $80-$100 rods from Abu, Fenwick, Shimano, etc...still caught tons of fish, had more money in my pocket, and I replaced the higher end rods in my rotation with custom built rods.

The last 2-3 seasons, I have gone "extreme" on budget fishing (that happens when you have 2 kids, and second and third hobbies).....most of my rods are Berkley Lightning rods, Lightning rod shocks, $50-$80 Abu and Fenwick offerings, and $50-$70 Daiwa rods, the custom built rods are still in my rotation. The budget rods of the last few years have really closed the gap on rods costing more.

[Arlo Smithereen]

Ugly Stik Lite Pro $37 Walmart

[carsonnash]

3 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

Do you live near a Runnings?

 

They have the regular Berkley Lightning Rods for $29.99 every day.

 

The newest generation of Lightning Rods feel and look awesome. They really upgraded the reel seats, handles, and are now using more, and better guides than previous generations. I have bought a bunch of them to play with this coming season. Performance/durability of Lightning Rods has never been an issue to me. They have always had outstanding durability, and fished like rods costing quite a bit more, I find them perfectly fine for fishing "feel" stuff like t-rigs, jigs, etc..... Weight/balance used to be iffy, but these new ones seem lighter and better balanced than older ones too.

 

25 years ago, all my rods were Lightning Rods, and I caught tons of fish.

10 years ago, all my rods were higher end St Croix's, Kistlers, etcs.....caught lots of fish, but with less money in my pocket

5 years ago, all my rods were various $80-$100 rods from Abu, Fenwick, Shimano, etc...still caught tons of fish, had more money in my pocket, and I replaced the higher end rods in my rotation with custom built rods.

The last 2-3 seasons, I have gone "extreme" on budget fishing (that happens when you have 2 kids, and second and third hobbies).....most of my rods are Berkley Lightning rods, Lightning rod shocks, $50-$80 Abu and Fenwick offerings, and $50-$70 Daiwa rods, the custom built rods are still in my rotation. The budget rods of the last few years have really closed the gap on rods costing more.

Thanks for the help. I am going to look into the lightning shock. How do you feel about buying rods online, do they ship OK? I live in Maryland (sadly) and we don't have running's. I am looking into the pisficun torrent rod. only downside is the foam handle... 

[ratherbfishin1]

3 minutes ago, carsonnash said:

Thanks for the help. I am going to look into the lightning shock. How do you feel about buying rods online, do they ship ok?

I've never had a problem but i've heard other people say they have.  You can look into it because I know that some places will take back a rod if it breaks during shipping.  If you can I would get it in the store just to be safe but if you find a good deal online I've never had a problem with rods breaking and it might be worth the risk anyways.   Good Luck!

[RPreeb]

Walmart carries a number of lower priced rods.  Mine out here had a good stock of Shakespeare Ugly Stiks.  I haven't seen any Berkley's in the rack but I haven't looked that hard either.  I have one Ugly Stik with a Diawa Tatula CT 100 8.1:1 reel.  It caught my first LM bass in 50 years last spring, plus a few more during the summer with only a half dozen outings. 

 

I've added a St. Croix Premier rod with a Tatula CT 100 6.3:1 reel for this year, but I don't really expect that will result in any significant improvement in my fishing success, since it's still the same idiot at the controls. 

[Crankin4Bass]

Walmarts have Berkley Lighting Shock rods. Maybe you can check there. On the deal thread someone reported that their local Walmart had started their annual pre-spring clearance and picked one up for $9. They are normally $40.