For the AVERAGE Guy - Rods and Reels

[Long Mike]

With all due respect to the moderators and multi-star posters to this site, who seem to carry around rods and reels each costing a Minimun of $100 each, I would like to pose a question to this site's 7000 members.  How much money does the average successful bass fisherman spend on his rod - and for that mater his reel?  The definition of "successful bass fisherman" is up to you.

[Michael H]

I have one baitcaster right now and i plan on buying 1 more this spring and another one in the summer. It costed me $169($120US)for a shimano citica 200d and $192(160US) for a st. croix avid.

[BucketmouthAngler13]

Well, considering the places i fish i consider myself a fairly successful fisherman. I have 2 combos that i use, then some other reels and rods that are broken or just cheap peices of plastic. My one spinning combo is a Okuma Stingson ($50) and a Fenwick Venture (Worth $50, but i got it free from the muddyman. Thanks again muddy!)

The rod is great and the reel is very good for the price, and I've cought hundreds of bass on them and never had a problem. The Stingson has a very nice drag, and its very strong considering its a graphite frame. I've thrown this reel around quite alot, and it pulls in bass like the day i bought it. I highly reccomend Okuma and their Stingson for the price range of $40-$60. Fenwick makes top of line rods for their price IMHO.

For baitcasting i have a Browning Six Rivers on a low end Quantum rod, not sure what model it is. The Six Rivers is a heavy duty aluminum reel that is ment for steelhead but works just fine for bass. Got a good drag and all alum parts, i got it for $100. The rod isnt that great (i need to upgrade. I've got a much better rod but its top guide got damaged and i cant use i intill i can get it repaired) and is worth $30.

I very happy with Fenwick rods, Okuma spinning reels, and browning BC reels.

If you want a $100 spinning combo, i highly recomend the Okuma Stingson with the Fenwick Eagle GT. Great reel and great rod for a low price.

Browning doesnt make very good reels for the low price range, but if want some more expensive stuff the Midas looks great for baitcasting.

I cant give very good advice about lower priced casting reels, becuase I haven't had many. But anything with Fenwick on it is a great rod. If you want a $50 casting rod, I say the Eagle GT is your best bet.

And cheaper priced combos still catch fish. If your really on a budjet then the Berkly Lightning Rod is the best for the $30 range. As for a cheaper reel try something big brand, like Shimano.

To answer your question my rods and reels are in the $50-$100 dollar range. I want to upgrade here and there, but i bet i would catch just as many fish if i spent $50 on each combo.

[The_Natural]

I fished with Shimano Compre's for a while before I discovered Loomis, and I still think the Compre's are a great rod.  Available for under a $100, and fish like a more expensive rod.  Combine that with a Daiwa Advantage, Shimano Citica, Scorpion ($119, Ginrinpeche), etc., you will have a nice setup for around $200.  If you are wanting to spend less, I would go with an XML/Citica Combo from Cabelas, which is on sale right now for $159.  Less than that, I would go with the BPS extreme combo.  A lot of anglers have fished for a long time, and still use cheaper equipment, and that is fine.  The great thing about this hobby is that you don't need to spend a lot of money to be successful.  I just happen to find that as I got better, I wanted better equipment.  

[fishinyank]

What ever amount the ole lady will let him pay!

Honestly though, what ever amount a fisherman can afford or feel comfortable paying  for a combo.

Like most things, you pay for what you get, then the law of diminishing returns sets in.

[Alpster]

to the moderators and multi-star posters to this site, who seem to carry around rods and reels each costing a Minimun of $100 each, I would like to pose a question to this site's 7000 members.  How much money does the average successful bass fisherman spend on his rod - and for that mater his reel?

I still have the 30 year old shimano Bantam Mag 10X that I fished with when I couldn't afford to pay attention. LOL. If successful fishing means catching fish, then that old reel and the several rods it occupied over the years, all together cost less than $100. That reel has caught more fish for me than several thousand $ worth of rods & reels I have bought since then. I don't catch any more or bigger fish than I did 30 years ago. My PB was caught in 1982. The difference is the journey. For the guys who dream of fishing with G-Loomis and Megabass rods and high end Shimano & Diawa reels, I say "keep on keeping on". Work hard, keep your nose clean and excell at everything you do. If you are catching a pile of fish on a 30 year old Bantam Mag on a Lightning rod, God bless you, "keep on keeping on". Fishing is a fun game, a sport, a past time. Make it what you will. Have as much fun with it as you can. Some guys have so much fun, they spend obscene amounts of money. Other have so much fun, they carefully budget every penny to enjoy it. Fish however you fish, and spend whatever you spend, but don't ever let money, or lack of it, spoil your fishing. JMHE

Ronnie

[Daniel My Brother]

Very well said Ronnie!  

[Guest avid]

Don't think that everyone who buys high end tackle has money.

It all comes down to your priorities.

If you want to pay the mortgage and feed your kids instead of buying that new steez, than hey that's your choice.  

[MALTESE FALCON]

VERY NICELY PUT RONNIE.

[justfishin]

Well, I was thinking of how to reply to this post but, Ronnie's answer is hard to beat. Good job Ronnie. I think you pretty much covered it.

[castaway]

I am a sucker for a good deal, your basic bargain tackle scavenger ;D.I buy used reels, crankbaits,rods if they are what I think I want.I just bought 2 flippin sticks from a local builder.I have 9 flipping sticks now, but I simply can't pass up a deal of a lifetime as my wife sarcastically phrases. : If you want good tackle on a limited budget, scour the the forum sites, and surf through Ebay.My best find was a new in box Daiwa CVZ 253A millionaire reel.I got it for $71.50 shipped. When looking on Ebay, vary your search selection for those who didn't spell correctly, for example when looking for Daiwa reels, I also type in Diawa and so forth. ;)Happy hunting, Ivan

[roadwarrior]

I still have the 30 year old shimano Bantam Mag 10X that I fished with when I couldn't afford to pay attention. LOL. If successful fishing means catching fish, then that old reel and the several rods it occupied over the years, all together cost less than $100. That reel has caught more fish for me than several thousand $ worth of rods & reels I have bought since then. I don't catch any more or bigger fish than I did 30 years ago. My PB was caught in 1982. The difference is the journey. For the guys who dream of fishing with G-Loomis and Megabass rods and high end Shimano & Diawa reels, I say "keep on keeping on". Work hard, keep your nose clean and excell at everything you do. If you are catching a pile of fish on a 30 year old Bantam Mag on a Lightning rod, God bless you, "keep on keeping on". Fishing is a fun game, a sport, a past time. Make it what you will. Have as much fun with it as you can. Some guys have so much fun, they spend obscene amounts of money. Other have so much fun, they carefully budget every penny to enjoy it. Fish however you fish, and spend whatever you spend, but don't ever let money, or lack of it, spoil your fishing. JMHE

Ronnie

Well said. Ronnie speaks for me, too.

[jdw174]

Quite frankly, when it comes to cost......I had some help.  I used to managed the fishing dept. in a Dick's store.  Good prices to begin with, and I got the "employee's discount" off of that.  Many times we'd get a list of things that were to be "liquidated" to make room for new items, and I'd grab whatever I could (PLUS the discount).  Picked up a couple of Castaics, two Browning Midas 6's, and a Curado from another employee that just "didn't like it".

[Bud]

Good answer Ronnie

[Grey Wolf]

Ronnie hit it right on the head.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Spinning The Pflueger Medalist combo with thier IM 8 Rod is on sale at Cabelas I loved mine

I just got a BPS Exteme Baicasting Combo for 99 and I cant wait to use it

[.ghoti.]

Once again, Alpster has said what was in my mind. He just said it better than I would have.

I'll just try to answer one of your questions. I consider myself an average fisherman. In looking at the rod/reel combos I use the most, my best guesstimate is 250-300 bucks each. At this point in time, that seems to be about the max I can justify to myself. I know there are high end rods and reels, with better specs and performance, costing much more that what I currently use. I can afford them, I just can't convince myself that I really need them. But, that's just me.

I have some cheaper combos that do not see as much use. That, in itself, tells a story.

As fas as successful goes, any day I'm not working and can get out of the house and go fishing, is a success.

Cheers,

GK

[Top]

hell I freely admit I SUCK at fishing... nothing average about me! but I sure do have a passion for it...

I am lucky my wife allows me to spend a portion of my paycheck every now and again on fishing stuff so I am VERY lucky... I have picked up some nice stuff over the past year... so I guess the best advice I can give is buy the best you can logically afford... any less than that and your going to wish you had just given in and bought it... any more and the better half will "get ya" hahahaha..

AL

[flechero]

With all due respect to the moderators and multi-star posters to this site, who seem to carry around rods and reels each costing a Minimun of $100 each, I would like to pose a question to this site's 7000 members. How much money does the average successful bass fisherman spend on his rod - and for that mater his reel? The definition of "successful bass fisherman" is up to you.

Mike,

While I probably don't fit your definition of average anymore, I would like to respond. A person's budget, rate of success are very often independent of their income.

I started out tourney fishing back in the late 80's using berkley rods and buying rebuilt Abu 4600's from a service center. Paid $20-$35 each for them... I still use 4-5 of those reels on a regular basis. With the exception of finesse casting, they work almost as well as my 50MG's and TD-Z's. Does the fact that now I can now afford nicer rods and reels change anything? Yes and no... I can still fish and keep up with most guys while using an old Abu and an All Star classic ($40) or a lightning rod but I do notice that I catch more big fish with better equipment. The reason is simple- lighter and more sensitive rods and reels allow me to feel more subtle bites, which big fish are often guilty of giving. I still caught some big fish back then, just seems like my % went way up with good rods.

I bought my first IMX worm rod in 1992... I saved lunch money for almost a month straight. I paid $215 for that 1st Loomis (it was an MBR784C IMX) and I was making $6/hr at the time. Not so coincidently, I immediately started catching more big fish and was catching many more while deep worm and jig fishing. To me the difference was huge and any extra chance of catching a big fish was worth the cost!! So I never looked back, started skipping lunch for the next year and loaded up on IMX rods. I fished those rods until I sold them this year.

I guess my point is that you may or may not reap the benefits of the high dollar gear. For some people they fish lots of crankbaits and spinnerbaits and don't get the added advantage of a real sensitive rod. Some people, like me, fish mostly soft plastics and other feel baits so the better rods really add to the number and quality of catches. I also started buying nicer reels this past year... and have no plans to buy any more 4600's. ...lol not because they aren't good or a great value but I am loving the 5.9 oz MG 50.

I still keep a handful of inexpensive rods and reels around (under $50 each) I still use them sometimes. There is nothing wrong with sub $50 reels or rods... they just don't offer me the same experience as some others.  Rods make a much bigger difference than reels, IMO.

Trying to define average and successful in this place will be tough!!

[Hillbilly_Hooker]

I don't really know that I can add anything to Ronnie's reply, but I'll try...  I don't think spending big bucks will do anything, per se, to improve how many fish you catch.  It might, however, improve the experience you have while catching whatever number of fish you catch.  If you are fishing with someone that has more expensive equipment, ask if you can try it out for a few casts and judge for yourself.   I couldn't imagine what a difference a slow ratio reel could make when cranking, until FiveBassLimit let me try one of his slow ratio reels during a local outing this summer.  It made a HUGE difference.  My very next purchase was a slow ratio reel... thanks Five Bass!!!  My new reel wasn't necessarily more expensive, but the experience of trying different equipment was priceless

[Catt]

Would this be considered successful

My records for 2006 revealed the following

Total Bass Caught: 1056

Total days on the water: 66

Average daily catch: 16

Bass under 14: 275

Bass over 14: 781

Bass over 5 lbs: 57

Bass over 6 lbs: 31

Bass over 7 lbs: 9

Bass over 8 lbs: 3

Bass over 9 lbs: 1

Double Digits: 0

My tackle

3 ea. Shimano Calcutta's; paid $169.99 for each

1 ea. Shimano Cardiff; paid $99.99

2 ea. CastAway rods; paid $69.95 for each

1 ea. Daiwa rod; paid $79.95

1 ea. BPS rod; paid $49.95

"People in life who are the happiest don't have the best of everything; they make the best of everything they have"

[Top]

Catt,

  I want to go fishing with YOU! WOW those are some stats you have there!

AL

[Catt]

That's actually a slow year with only 66 days on the water; I normally log over 100 days on the water. I know everyone's first reaction Why don't you fish tournaments? I pick & choose my days on the water; tournaments aint always on the days I fish.

I think that's proof positive it aint the tackle it's the angler   ;D

80% of those fish were caught on a Texas Rig or Jig-N-Craw  8-)

[Long Mike]

Guys, many thanks for the responses.  In particular, thanks to Ronnie and Flechero, and now, Catt.

The reason I posted the original question is that I was greatly confused about what equipment was required to be able to go out and catch bass on a regular basis.  After a thirty year hiatus, and entering semi-retirement, I decided to jump into bass fishing with both feet.  My initial Jump took me to Academy Sports and the purchase of an Ugly Stick to replace my thirty-year-old four piece spinning/fly rod.  I paired the Stick with my equallly ancient Mitchell 300 spinning reel.  I promptly went out and started bank fishing, with only moderate success.  During my first couple of months at this endeavor (I started in early September) I was able to land a couple of two pounders and a number of dinks fishing plastics.

Then I discovered this site.  The first question I asked was about my Ugly Stick.  I was told to throw or give it away, because it was not sensitive enough for finesse fishing.  One respondent urged me to spend $300+ for a GLoomis.  I must confess that I was floored.  I thought that my Ugly Stick was a damned good rod.  Little did I know.  So, wanting to be a "successful" bass fisherman, I went out and bought a $100 St. Criox and paired it with a Pflueger President.  I've fished with it only twice and didn't get a nibble, but the difference in the sensitivity is truely amazing.  Because of the experience, I recently bought a combo from BPS with a comparable (I think) rod with another President.

The upshot of the whole deal is that I want to now go out and have average or better-than-average equipment to pursue my goal of becoming a "successful" but by no means "professional" bass fisherman.  I want to start with the right tools - but within my financial resources.  If I can start with the right tools, the skill will come with time, practice and mentoring.  This Spring I'll be looking for a mentor in the Tulsa area.

Thanks again for the input.  As a newbie I'll keep learning from you folks.  Hopefully, one of these days, I'll be able to offer meaningful advice.

Mike

[Catt]

All the tackle in world will not make you a "successful" bass fisherman

It takes time on the water learning how to locate fish holding structure be it shallow or deep; from the shore or from a boat.

My stats come after 35 years of fishing Toledo Bend in every conceivable situation and every season of the year.

Ask Ronnie, roadwarriow, avid, George Welcome or even Doug Hannon there is no substitute for time on the water.