Looking for a new rod for my son.

[skekoam]

Ok, long story short.  My son was golfing over the weekend and he had a putt for birdie on the first hole of approximately 80 ft.  He asks how much he gets if he makes it.  I say, 'New rod.'  

 

Now I need to pay up.  My son is 9.  I just bought him the Abu Garcia pro max combo about 4 months ago.  I like the reel, but the rod is super heavy and boardy.  I'd like to get him something better and ideally in the <$100 range.  

[Bluebasser86]

I bought my son a new combo this year and the rod a went with is a Daiwa Aird X rod. He's only 5 but it's light enough and the handle is thin enough he can handle it easily but it looks and feels nice and is right around $50.

[Hammer 4]

The Diawa Tatula XT rods are very light, IIRC most are 99.99 to 119.00, if you wait for black Friday at TW, you can get them for much less. I have 3 of them, very nice rods.

[Fishes in trees]

I'd go look in the pawn shops in your neighborhood.  This year I've found several very cool bait casting rods in pawn shops.

[thunderblack]

Daiwa Tatula or St. Croix Mojo would be a great rod in that price range.

[Hook2Jaw]

5 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

The Diawa Tatula XT rods are very light, IIRC most are 99.99 to 119.00, if you wait for black Friday at TW, you can get them for much less. I have 3 of them, very nice rods.

How sensitive are these sticks?  I believe you've told me before, but would they make decent bottom contact rods with straight fluoro or are the guides large enough for easy braid to leader?

 

18 hours ago, skekoam said:

Ok, long story short.  My son was golfing over the weekend and he had a putt for birdie on the first hole of approximately 80 ft.  He asks how much he gets if he makes it.  I say, 'New rod.'  

 

Now I need to pay up.  My son is 9.  I just bought him the Abu Garcia pro max combo about 4 months ago.  I like the reel, but the rod is super heavy and boardy.  I'd like to get him something better and ideally in the <$100 range.  

I caught by PB on that combo.  If he's throwing moving baits, a Daiwa Aird-X makes a good stick for that purpose.  If he has the patience and feel for jigging and worming, I would grab him a MHF in the 6'6"-7' range and I would choose a Tatula Bass, Dobyn's Fury, St. Croix Mojo Bass, or 13 Omen Black 2.  BPS also has a sale on their Pro Qualifier 2s on Black Friday for 69.99 and I really miss mine.  It was stolen off my carport.

[WRB]

Contact Gary Dobyns and ask him what 3 power casting rods he has in his discount store selection suitable for your 9 year old son. 

The Colt series is Dobyns entry lever rod and Fury a step above.

Tom

[Dangerfield]

I concur on a number of the recos, if it was my kid (she can be a lil clumsy), I would go with Fenwick HMG solely on their limited lifetime warranty.

 

I think you can get these for $99 at TW. 

[Hammer 4]

OP, yes, they will toss braid, and yes, for the $$$ they are pretty sensitive..I also have a Shimano slx rod, same size and power rating as one of my XT's, the slx feels heavy and not as sensitive as the XT imho.

[browne762]

5 hours ago, skekoam said:

Is that the slx xt?  Looks like a winner. I may pick the combo up for my son if i can find a black friday deal.  

No, it is the standard SLX reel. The combo is 35% less then what the normal price would be to buy a normal SLX reel and SLX rod. Hard to find a better deal and this isn't even a Black Friday deal for them, they often (maybe even always) have it for this price.

[Boomstick]

The St. Croix Mojo Bass's are pretty light and should run $104 on Tackle Warehouse's 20% off Black Friday sale, can't go wrong there.

[skekoam]

On 11/18/2019 at 11:24 PM, Hammer 4 said:

The Diawa Tatula XT rods are very light, IIRC most are 99.99 to 119.00, if you wait for black Friday at TW, you can get them for much less. I have 3 of them, very nice rods.

I want to buy something today.  I was about to pull the trigger on a Daiwa tatula xt and shimano slx reel, but only issue is the tatula rods only come in 7ft.  My son is only 4ft 5 so I was thinking a rod in the 6ft 6 area would be a better option so he can handle it better.  Thoughts?

[MN Fisher]

6 minutes ago, skekoam said:

I want to buy something today.  I was about to pull the trigger on a Daiwa tatula xt and shimano slx reel, but only issue is the tatula rods only come in 7ft.  My son is only 4ft 5 so I was thinking a rod in the 6ft 6 area would be a better option so he can handle it better.  Thoughts?

For not much more, you can get a Dobyns Fury - they have the 663C and 664C

http://dobynsrods.com/rods/fury/

[skekoam]

39 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

For not much more, you can get a Dobyns Fury - they have the 663C and 664C

http://dobynsrods.com/rods/fury/

Thanks for that @MN Fisher.  I researched them and seems to be really good for the price.  Found a deal and ordered the fury to pair up with the slx xt.  My son should be one happy camper.  Now we just need to find some decent places to fish. haha

[Dangerfield]

2 minutes ago, skekoam said:

Thanks for that @MN Fisher.  I researched them and seems to be really good for the price.  Found a deal and ordered the fury to pair up with the slx xt.  My son should be one happy camper.  Now we just need to find some decent places to fish. haha

AMF had their cyber monday sale and you could scoop up a Dobyns Fury's for $95.99. It was still live yesterday.

[MN Fisher]

51 minutes ago, skekoam said:

Thanks for that @MN Fisher.  I researched them and seems to be really good for the price.  Found a deal and ordered the fury to pair up with the slx xt.  My son should be one happy camper.  Now we just need to find some decent places to fish. haha

Ya, after looking at things, I picked the Fury crankbait rod over the Tatula XT. With the TW sale, I got it for that same $95.99...gets delivered today unless UPS screws up.

[skekoam]

On 12/10/2019 at 11:11 AM, MN Fisher said:

Ya, after looking at things, I picked the Fury crankbait rod over the Tatula XT. With the TW sale, I got it for that same $95.99...gets delivered today unless UPS screws up.

Did you get the rod?  Mine was supposed to ship a few days ago, but got a call saying the last one they had was damaged and now its on backorder

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, skekoam said:

Did you get the rod?  Mine was supposed to ship a few days ago, but got a call saying the last one they had was damaged and now its on backorder

Three days in a row, UPS has had it 'Out for Delivery' - maybe today is the lucky day.

[galyonj]

6 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Three days in a row, UPS has had it 'Out for Delivery' - maybe today is the lucky day.

I had the same issue with my BF order from Tackle Warehouse. One box came, but my rod rode around in a truck for 3 days before I gave up and had them hold it at the distribution center. Went and got it myself instead of waiting for it to get sent back or lost or whatever.

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, galyonj said:

I had the same issue with my BF order from Tackle Warehouse. One box came, but my rod rode around in a truck for 3 days before I gave up and had them hold it at the distribution center. Went and got it myself instead of waiting for it to get sent back or lost or whatever.

Whelp - went back again today. My problem is that my truck is undergoing repairs...new leaf springs. The 'local' distribution center is 25 miles away. I've sent an e-mail to their Customer Service asking about this issue...see what they say.

[Bird]

On 11/18/2019 at 1:41 PM, roadwarrior said:

https://www.kastking.com/kastking-speed-demon-pro-tournament-series-fishing-rods_p0208.html

 

+1

[skekoam]

Thanks for all the recs guys. My son is one happy campers. Shimano xt and dobyns fury

 

[Derek1]

8 hours ago, skekoam said:

Thanks for all the recs guys. My son is one happy campers. Shimano xt and dobyns fury

 

That’s cool, hope he has allot of fun for many years with it.