Help Me With My 2010 Rod Shopping

[Jon in VA]

I'm going to list the things I want to buy, and in your own opinion, if you could only pick ONE of each item, tell me what you'd pick up. I'm a rookie, and I want to get serious this year. Thanks in advance, guys!

This is a list of what I want to pick up for this season, equipment-wise:

2010 Baitcasting reel + 2-3 rods

2010 Spinning reel + 2 rods

[cyph3r]

stuff that comes to mind, i think in the 100 dollar range, the falcon bucoos, abu garcia vendettas, and shimano compres are a good buy, you may also like the st. croix mojo.

a little higher end, the st. croix avids, and shimano crucials are great.

as im sure others will say, you will have to go to the store and figure what works for you, but those are my top picks in terms of rods.

[Nine Miler]

I would go with...

Reels:

Baitcasting- Shimano Citica: This is a great value.

Spinning- Shimano Sahara: Another great value.

Rods:

Baitcasting-

Shimano Compre 7' Med Hvy/Fast Action CPC-70MH

Shimano Crucial 7' Med Hvy CRC-70MH

St. Croix Premiere 7' Med Hvy/Fast Action PC70MHF

St. Croix Avid 7' Medium Heavy AVC70MHF

Spinning-

Shimano Compre 6'6" Med Xfast CPS-X66MB

Shimano Crucial 6'8" Medium CRS-X68M

St. Croix Premiere 6' M Fast PST66MF

St. Croix Avid 6' 8" Med. X-Fast AVS68MXF or 6' 3" Med. X-Fast AVS63MXF

I put a few different series' of rods in there because the prices are a bit different.  These are my opinions, but there is a lot of great stuff out there, it is hard to go wrong.

[trevor]

If you have the money, the shimano SAROS reel is amazing. You can get them delivered to your door priority mail, new in box from ebay for $99. They are lightweight and built on a small frame with plenty of power. Go to the online/ebay store "Lakeside Reels". Its a small family owned buisness and they have GREAT service and prices on many reels (many SIGNIFICANTLY lower than msrp). In my opinion, you cannot tell the difference from the Saros to the $180 Stradic FI, except that the Saros is smaller framed. But the Saros has power -  almost 15 lbs of drag in 3000 size! Look it up on Shimano's website. I think that the Citica or again if you have the extra a Daiwa Advantage, but thats getting a little pricey. Although you could probably find a great deal for it at Lakeside. I don't have any rods in the $100 dollar price range for Bass fishing, so I can't really recomend any. I do mostly saltwater fishing, where reels are more important than super sensitive rods. But most true bass fisherman say that a sensitive rod is very important, and the little bass fishing experience I have, I find that to be true. I hear nothing but good about the Falcon Bucoos and Originals (the originals are even cheaper than the bucoos!). Plus, they are made in the USA! Good luck, I hope you have a good season! 

[steezy]

I'm going to list the things I want to buy, and in your own opinion, if you could only pick ONE of each item, tell me what you'd pick up. I'm a rookie, and I want to get serious this year. Thanks in advance, guys!

This is a list of what I want to pick up for this season, equipment-wise:

2010 Baitcasting reel + 2-3 rods

2010 Spinning reel + 2 rods

If I could only pick 1 of each then it would be:

baitcast - steez 6:1 100HA reel & steez 7' MH rod

spinning - shimano stella reel & looms sjr782s glx rod

8-) 8-) 8-)

Seriously, you should look at BPS or Cabelas for their mid priced combos.  You can catch them on sale and pickup some good gear.

I would pick a good 6:1 baitcast reel + 7' MH fast rod and a good spinning reel + 6'6" M fast rod.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

What's your budget?

[Jon in VA]

What's your budget?

Don't really have one. My job is treating me good enough and I have some fishing stash.

Right now, I have a Abu Garcia Revo SX with a 6'6" Conolan medium action rod. I definitely want to expand.