Rod shopping on a budget is a nightmare

[CrankFate]

1 hour ago, billmac said:

These things have tiny guides.  I had planned to use braid with a fluoro and/or mono leader.  Will the tiny guides hurt my casting?

Tiny guides are waste. Especially on any rod that’s not tiny. You are in luck, though. Lower priced rods usually have bigger guides. Tiny guides will destroy casting with almost all braid to leader applications. 

[billmac]

All the specs I can find on the Carbon Fire don't mention microguides.  They seem small to me, but they might be fine.

[Dcbassfishing76]

I use lews rods almost exclusively and have 3 carbon fire rods. I love them and have no problems with the micro guides. I have 2 of them with carbon fire reals and 1 with a Mach 2 reel. However I do not use a leader, I’m either tied straight to braid or mono. I don’t care for fluorocarbon.

[NYWayfarer]

On 6/6/2019 at 9:34 PM, greentrout said:

shakespeare ugly stik elite...bps tourney special...berkley lighting rod...kastking perigee II ...

 

good fishing ...

 

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Sports-Outdoors-Fishing-Rods/zgbs/sporting-goods/3409871

 

 

 

Hard to beat those Carbon Fire rods when they go on sale for half price. I have a ML spinning rod for three seasons that’s seen it’s fair share of action and is still going strong.

[billmac]

FYI dodgeguy, it was the Dick's in Poughkeepsie where I bought the rods.  I don't live near here but I'm down for a training class.

 

I'm going to give the leaders a try and see what happens.  I'm normally a uni-knot guy but I've been looking up Alberto knots and I'll see how it goes.   My M/F was meant for crankbaits anyway, so maybe I'll spool that one up with mono.

 

What size mono is typical for crankbaits?  I'm kind of an "8lb mono fits all" guy but that might be a little light for a crankbait setup.

 

[greentrout]

3 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

Hard to beat those Carbon Fire rods when they go on sale for half price. I have a ML spinning rod for three seasons that’s seen it’s fair share of action and is still going strong.

he did good ... dick's exclusive ... if they have micro guides .... would be a deal breaker for me ... bps tried that on their bionic blade and it did not go over well ... the blade in the past was once boss ... 

 

good fishing ...

[Shimano_1]

I'm pretty sure dicks has the skeet reese rods on sale for like 39 bucks. I wouldn't order one but if I could go put my hands on em and needed a cple sticks on a budget I'd be all over those. Some people dont like em but I'm a fan of their actions especially for that price.

[billmac]

I saw the skeet reese rods but they didn't have the action listed, and the color was pretty awful.  Good price though.

[Hook2Jaw]

As a budget rod guy myself, I use the 13 Fishing Defy Black series for jerkbaits, topwater, small paddletail swimbaits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and squarebills.  Basically, anything that's a tight line presentation with either treble hooks or excessive feedback.  They're not the most sensitive rod I've ever thrown, but they're sensitive enough.  They're also budget friendly and in my opinion, attractive.

 

As far as bottom contact goes, I step up to the *** line, and they're light, sensitive, and strong.  I also plan to get two more, one for frogging and the other for pitching jigs.  I've seen some of these sticks go for 60 bucks on Amazon and eBay.

 

I still haven't decided which line to go with for crankbaiting, but I think the devil is in the details with that technique so I might opt for more sensitivity.