Advice on a cheap casting combo

[CanalStalkin]

Hey guys, Posted a while back with a few questions and have been fishing about every day since! My two poles I use are my cheapy walmart spinning combo which is a Shakespeare light pro reel on a 7 foot medium action ultra lite Shakespeare rod. I use that for trout and bass. The other reel I use for catfish and striper and it is a 7 ft medium action Ugly stick with a Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5000 reel. I feel confident enough with a baitcaster to replace the walmart combo with a casting combo and was considering the Whuppin' Stick Bait Casting Combo.(item number 9IS-121801 if you want to check it out) I know its not the BEST, But right now im fishin on a budget! If someone can give me some input on that combo or recommend me something else cheap that would be great. Id like an all around combo (I fish bass,catfish,striper,carp,bluegille etc) if that exists haha. Also if someone can recommend me a good oil and grease that would be awesome too!

EDIT: also I do all of my fishing from the bank. either canals or tree covered areas. I was wondering if I can step down to a 6 foot rod with no ill effects?

[War Party]

I wouldn't buy that combo. Keep fishing with what you have and save up your money. Save until you have enough to buy exactly what you want and need. Go buy some new line for your spinning setup and put the rest in the bank!

[DINK WHISPERER]

I agree with the above as well. But if you must buy now i would recommend the Berkley Lightning rod at Wal-Mart in MH/F paired with an Abu Garcia Black Max also found at Wal-Mart. Together they will run you about $90. You can get the reel on Ebay for a lot less though.

[vatech]

A six foot rod would be harder to cast as far but conversely should offer better accuracy.

[catchbig0bass]

I was on a budget myself this yr starting out and I bought the pinnacle platinum plus baitcaster reel and a quantim torsion. All together ran me 60$ and its truly a nice setup. I liked the reel so much I bought the next step up for 50$ the Solene and both reels are great. After a while bought my first good rod the St. Croix mojo- bass and I can def see why the expensiver rods are worth it. I can cast a mile with that thing. But the Pinnacle P+ and torsion is a great starter combo.

PS: I have had 5'6 - 6'6 and everything in between and I feel the 6'6 are perfect and I always am a shore fisherman. Its a really good compromise.  A 6' arnt bad but I like the 6'6 better for casting reasons.

[Grey Wolf]

Save your money and get yourself a good out-fit. Don't waste your money on cheaper out-fits , especially casting gear. JMHO

[catchbig0bass]

Save your money and get yourself a good out-fit. Don't waste your money on cheaper out-fits , especially casting gear. JMHO

Cheap doesn't always mean bad. If you are using really cheap equipment like a rod and reel combo for 20$ stepping up to the pinnacle setup that I described is a nice jump.

[KYntucky Warmouth]

I would suggest maybe a BPS combo, bionic blade or extreme.

[FishDontLikeMe1301600221]

I would suggest maybe a BPS combo, bionic blade or extreme.

x2...plus bps seems is always having sales on combos,my first bc that i learned on was a bps extreme,did me well back then and is still going strong today.but if you have a bps or cabelas near you id go check out what housebrand combos they have and tell the guys what type of fishing you do (senko,crankbait,jigs whatever) and what your willing to spend and they can point you in the right direction and set you up with something thats right for you.avoid walmart,bps will give you more helpful input and wil backup there product if something should go wrong later on down the road.if your just fishing banks then a shorter rod is ok a longer rod will get your bait more out there in the pond though (shorter rod= more accuracy,longer rod=more distance).and for an all around reel like your asking for id go with a med. speed reel like a 6.4  i wouldt go for a 7.1 fast one if your going to be using it for everything under the sun.and for a rod..if your targeting all those species id get a 6'6" or 6'10" mh rod,wont be the best for bluegill but for them big stripers,cats and carp it will be great.

[CanalStalkin]

wow thanks for the advice guys! And yes the setup im using right now is probably 20-30 bucks. I think any upgrade would be better than this thing. I will check out all of those rods/reels mentioned. Any more would be great too. Also not sure if this is the right spot but here we go. I took the side cover off that cheap spinning reel because someone dropped it in freshwater and I wanted to oil the bearings etc. Everything looked fine and when I snugged down the screws it was harder to reel until I backed the screws out a bit, is that normal?

[FishDontLikeMe1301600221]

wow thanks for the advice guys! And yes the setup im using right now is probably 20-30 bucks. I think any upgrade would be better than this thing. I will check out all of those rods/reels mentioned. Any more would be great too. Also not sure if this is the right spot but here we go. I took the side cover off that cheap spinning reel because someone dropped it in freshwater and I wanted to oil the bearings etc. Everything looked fine and when I snugged down the screws it was harder to reel until I backed the screws out a bit, is that normal?

not to bash your equipment but its probably cause its a junky reel,id would say its because the sideplate that you removed is plastic,eitther that or really really cheap graphite,and by you tightning all the screws down it probably flexed the sideplate and caused it to grind the gears or make the bearings stiff beacuse it was flexing and out of line,either that or when you opened it up and put it back together some of the gears wherent lined up properly.and on a cheap reel if you droped it in the water id leave it open for a day or so let it fully dry out then clean it (cause cheap reels dont use high quality bearings and things can start to rust and freeze up) then re grease and lube it up.also a trick for drying out reels besides a hairdryer is to throw some uncooked rice in there,the rice will soak up all mositure then simply dump it out wipe everything clean then relube,a good lube is the ardent reel butter stuff.

[CanalStalkin]

ya It definitely is a piece of crap and It WAS flexing the cheap plastic side plate and interfering with movement. Everything is lubed up well and spinning nicely (as nice as this thing spins) with the screws backed out a bit. Thanks.

[FishDontLikeMe1301600221]

yw...also you might want to check out the fleamarket section on here,you can sometimes find some really really nice tackle on here at a great price from the fellas on here.

[championmayday]

I would go with the pinnacle solene on a lightning rod. alot better than the black max and cheaper.

[CanalStalkin]

I was checking out the lightning rods on BPS and was curious as to what the difference between the casting model and the trigger model is? I saw a plastic "trigger" on both.

[FishDontLikeMe1301600221]

I was checking out the lightning rods on BPS and was curious as to what the difference between the casting model and the trigger model is? I saw a plastic "trigger" on both.

usually the difference is the handles(grips),some casting sticks have a "pistol" style cork grip,its shorter and ment for one handed casts,trigger sticks usually have your traditional long two hand cork handle that most everyone uses.

[CanalStalkin]

thanks a ton, this forum is very helpful. Now the hard part is just picking what I want within my budget! I used a friend of mines real this evening at this LMB spot and his rod is so much more sensitive than mine. Can feel bumps along the bottom and what not.