Spinning setup ideas

[Justin Roberts]

I'm looking into getting a decent spinning setup.  I've been eyeballing the shimano sedonas or saharas.  I like the feel of them from what I've seen at academy.  I want to stay in the price range below $80 for the reel and around the same for the rod.  I like medium action rods, and light tackle.  Thoughts?

[Joshua van Wyk]

Pflueger has great bang for buck, I recommend you get a pflueger president ($60) and put the extra $20 into your rod and get a Dobyns Fury ($100) 

[Justin Roberts]

8 minutes ago, Joshua van Wyk said:

Pflueger has great bang for buck, I recommend you get a pflueger president ($60) and put the extra $20 into your rod and get a Dobyns Fury ($100) 

How does the President hold up to the Shimanos I mentioned?  I've heard great things about the Dobyns rods.  Right now I'm focusing on finesse setups (drop shot, ned rigs, etc.) and that's why I'm wanting the spinning setup.

[greentrout]

take a look at KastKing ... affordable innovation ...

 

good fishing ...

[WRB]

Shimano spinning reels are good quality and fit rods with Fuji reels seats like Dobyns and most rod makes use. 

Tom

[tbone1993]

In that price point I would go with the Diawa Regal ,Legalis, or an Exceler in a 3000 size. You could go down to a 2500 if you prefer a smaller reel.  The Shimano Sedona series never impressed me and this new model is the same. Have a 500 Sahara and it is a pretty decent reel. Haven't felt a larger one in hand to compare to the Diawas. That being said all of those Diawa reels are an ounce lighter than the comparable Shimano and Pflueger reels. 

[BigAngus752]

7 hours ago, Justin Roberts said:

Right now I'm focusing on finesse setups

I, also, suggest you take a hard look at KastKing.  A 2000 size Sharky would serve you well and leave you money ahead to afford a better rod.  I am just as pleased with my KastKing Sharky as I am with my  Daiwa Fuego and Pflueger XT.  

[Pikeman12]

The shimano sahara and sedona are great reels. I only both, 2 of the sahara in 4000 series and love them. They are realiable and last a long time. Other people mentioned the Kastking. I have the Kastking Sharky III 3000 and I use it on a live bait setup for cats and it has lasted me a while. The sharky III will be the cheapest, and it really depends if you like the feeling of a graphite or an aluminum frame. They are all good choices, personally, I'd go with the Sahara, but I am bias towards it because of all of the good fishing it has given me. 

[TBAG]

Like others mentioned, stick with Shimano or Daiwa for the reel. I've upgraded to more expensive Shimanos but still have a few Saharas in my backup arsenal that I've had for years and still work as well as the day I bought them.

 

Oh, and stay away from KastKing IMO.

[Joshua van Wyk]

Just now, TBAG said:

Like others mentioned, stick with Shimano or Daiwa for the reel. I've upgraded to more expensive Shimanos but still have a few Saharas in my backup arsenal that I've had for years and still work as well as the day I bought them.

 

Oh, and stay away from KastKing IMO.

I still use my dad's Sahara which is around 10 years old and it still works flawlessly. 

[ResoKP]

Can't go wrong with Sahara. Daiwa Fuego LT is another good option and can be found sub $80 new

[Fishing_FF]

51 minutes ago, TBAG said:

Like others mentioned, stick with Shimano or Daiwa for the reel. I've upgraded to more expensive Shimanos but still have a few Saharas in my backup arsenal that I've had for years and still work as well as the day I bought them.

 

Oh, and stay away from KastKing IMO.

 

My mainline rods all have Shimano CI4+ or Ultegras on them, but on a pair of my 2-piece travel rods I have a pair of Shimano Sahara FBs that I got back in 2006. They are solid, and I really enjoy fishing them. When my father-in-law decided to get his own rod instead of constantly borrowing mine, he bought a Shimano Sahara FI. 

 

I have had good luck with a couple KastKing BCs on their 2 piece rods, so when I was looking to add another 2-piece spinning rod,  I gave the KK Sharky III a try. Sadly, the Sharky hasn't stood the test of time. I got it back in March 2018, so got a year of fishing before becoming rough, very geary, and quite noisy. I'm going to fully clean it to see if it returns to the operation condition when I bought it a year ago, but at this time it will be my last KK spinning reel. 

 

[SMITTY0045]

I have one of the previous generation Sahara (2500 FE) and it has held up great, still smooth. It’ll be one that stays in my arsenal until it goes out, whenever that is.

 

As far as rod recommendations go, I would check out the Fenwick HMX. It’s a great rod at $80.

 

Honestly speaking, if you open up your price range for the rod to $100, you get a lot more options of rods. You can get a nice rod for $80 though

[WSOzzie]

Fuego LT paired with Dobyns Colt series.

[Scuba Steve]

My vote is also for the sahara. Honestly, quite hard to beat at that price point. I’ve also heard good things about that new $70 abu garcia reel (forget what its called). The duckett ghost, st croix bass x, or the dobyns would be great choices for rods. 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

I find myself leaning more toward ML power spinning rods. 2500 size reel is plenty, 1000 would actually work. Pflueger is probably still best bang for the buck spinning reels but the competition is closing in. 

[MickD]

I have a Pfluger Patriarch that is very smooth, and many have commented that all of them are very smooth, but the thing I don't like about the Patriarch is that the distance from the stem to the spool lip is different than my other reels.  Significantly, so it's not as comfortable.  Other reels are Daiwas and Shimanos.

[blckshirt98]

The Sedona is a great reel.  If you closed your eyes you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Sedona or a Sahara.

[Justin Roberts]

5 hours ago, blckshirt98 said:

The Sedona is a great reel.  If you closed your eyes you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Sedona or a Sahara.

I was wondering about the difference between the two.  I'm work right now so I can't research into it. 

 

As for rod, the duckett ghost looks appealing in a 6'10" medium.  Would this be good for drop shotting?

[SMITTY0045]

11 hours ago, Justin Roberts said:

 

 

As for rod, the duckett ghost looks appealing in a 6'10" medium.  Would this be good for drop shotting?

That would make a great all around spinning rod, you’d be able to do all of your spinning applications with that rod

[Allen Der]

How much do the sahara and sedona weigh that you're looking at?  for me I prefer a sub 8oz reel for a medium spinning rod.  I use the 30 size Pflueger supreme and president XT.  they have a faster gear ratio and are lighter than the normal Presidents.

[Justin Roberts]

4 hours ago, Allen Der said:

How much do the sahara and sedona weigh that you're looking at?  for me I prefer a sub 8oz reel for a medium spinning rod.  I use the 30 size Pflueger supreme and president XT.  they have a faster gear ratio and are lighter than the normal Presidents.

I was gonna go with a 2500 model 

[Shimano_1]

Everyone has their opinions and several nice reels for that money. I use 2 pflueger presidents that I've used for several years. They're cheap, smooth and do the job.  Any rod in the 80 to 100 range should work and I also prefer med light for spinning rod duties. Good luck 

[Mbirdsley]

You can get a plunger president combo for 80 bucks.  I have 2 president reels a size 20 and 30.  I just bought a light action 6ft6 president combo for river/creek smallies.  I was very impressed with quality of the rod.  However, I think they run lower in power than what the say.  IE a medium is more of a light action rod  

[Bankbeater]

I had a sahara and a sedona and got rid of both of them when I got my presidents.  That was back in 2011 and I've never had any issues with them.  I bought my 3rd president back in 2016 when my ML reel finally died.