trying to go cheap! what to do?

[Jacob C.]

ok, so i need a new set up but i dont want to spend a bunch of money. they have good cheap stuff at wal mart, mostly shakespere. is shakespeare any good? reel or rod?

[Vinny Chase]

Fishing equipment is something you do not want to be stingy about....With that being said go to Cabelas and purchase a setup that is a package deal. You will not be getting the best setup in the world but it wil stay in your price range and will get the job done for the most part.

This setup is on sale on the cabelas website and its a descent setup but good for the price.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0066762124204a&navCount=1&podId=0066762&parentId=cat20285&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat20166-cat20285_TGP&catalogCode=9IS&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20285&hasJS=true

[Incheon Basser]

ok, so i need a new set up but i dont want to spend a bunch of money. they have good cheap stuff at wal mart, mostly shakespere. is shakespeare any good? reel or rod?

7' med UglyStick Lite Pro Graphite can not be beat for less than 100 bucks in a moving bait rod... if they would have put a good ecs reel seat on that blank I would easily pay 100 bucks for it... thats they only thing I don't like about that rod. but cant be beat 36$ it's only at walmart

[Jacob C.]

cool! eventually i do wanna spend some coin on something really nice, but i just went to wal mart about 5 mins ago and go a 7' ugly stick combo! it was about 34 bucks. thanks for the input. i'll keep you all posted on how i do this weekend on the creek in ohio. thanks again

[burleytog]

Don't.

[Grey Wolf]

Well you accomplished your goal.

[tyrius.]

Buy whatever fits into your budget.  You'll still have fun fishing and you'll still catch fish.

[Incheon Basser]

Don't.

Have you used an Ugly stick lite pro? not talking the lite... the lite pro walmart exclusive... don't knock it

till you've thrown it

[steezy]

Always buy the best you can afford.  It will serve you well and make fishing a pleasant experience.

[Senkoman12]

i went cheap and now im paying for it because after 2 years its all falling apart

[backpain...]

There are two series of rods I would buy from a local Walmart.

One is the Berkley lightning series. They are certainly decent rods for the $30ish price tag. The guides could be better, but meh... it is $30.

The other would be the Quantum tournament grade IM8 rods. I have one and still use it to this day for flukes and unweighted plastics. It has SIC guides and a nice tight reel seat, and it is pretty sensitive to boot. These are normally 45$ish around here.

[acmaul13]

Look out for the Bait Monkey,imo save up and spend the extra bucks it'll be worth it.

ac

[Incheon Basser]

There are two series of rods I would buy from a local Walmart.

One is the Berkley lightning series. They are certainly decent rods for the $30ish price tag. The guides could be better, but meh... it is $30.

The other would be the Quantum tournament grade IM8 rods. I have one and still use it to this day for flukes and unweighted plastics. It has SIC guides and a nice tight reel seat, and it is pretty sensitive to boot. These are normally 45$ish around here.

I had one of those TG IM8 in less than a year the nut on the reel seat cracked straight through and it was unusable... now I use it as a pointer while teaching.

[northern basser]

There are two series of rods I would buy from a local Walmart.

One is the Berkley lightning series. They are certainly decent rods for the $30ish price tag. The guides could be better, but meh... it is $30.

The other would be the Quantum tournament grade IM8 rods. I have one and still use it to this day for flukes and unweighted plastics. It has SIC guides and a nice tight reel seat, and it is pretty sensitive to boot. These are normally 45$ish around here.

The lightning rods at my local w.m. are more in the $40 range.  Either way still a good "bang for the buck" deal.

[bigfruits]

ive never used, but have heard good things about the lightning rod.

[Senkoman12]

There are two series of rods I would buy from a local Walmart.

One is the Berkley lightning series. They are certainly decent rods for the $30ish price tag. The guides could be better, but meh... it is $30.

The other would be the Quantum tournament grade IM8 rods. I have one and still use it to this day for flukes and unweighted plastics. It has SIC guides and a nice tight reel seat, and it is pretty sensitive to boot. These are normally 45$ish around here.

i have one of those quantums and i got it on sale for $10 and i love it

[MyKeyBe]

Don't.

Would you like to expand on that?

[burleytog]

Don't.

Would you like to expand on that?

There is absolutely no reason to buy cheap junk.  It will end up costing you more money in the long run.

[SirSnookalot]

I have owned a few inexpensive outfits that perform as well today as they did when I first bought them.  IMO it's how often and where you fish that equipment, open water and average fish of  1-4# you are not taxing your equipment too hard.  Pulling fish constantly out of the slop and  targeting larger prey I would definitely upgrade to better equipment.  Boils down to how often and how hard you fish.

[D4u2s0t]

I have some nice daiwa and fenwick rods, and believe it or not 2 of my favorite poles to use are my 18 dollar combo, and my fiance's 30 dollar ul combo. I'm on the water 3-4 times a week on average, so these things get some usage. I use these light poles more than any of my pricier light poles, and when my fiance comes out fishing I get a lil upset that I can't use her "crappy" pole lol. The second she puts it down, I make a grab at it. My dad's coming up to hit the lake today, and this is the first pole I made sure was rigged up and ready to go.

Will all cheap poles last and hold up to lots of abuse? Probably not. But doesn't mean you can't find a nice cheap combo that will last a long time and performs well. I've had one of these poles for a few years, and my fiance's probably a year and a half. These things have seen tons of use. I would be willing to bet I would put more fish in the boat with these cheap poles than many anglers using setups 10 times the cost. Like many things, it's the person using the equipment, not the equipment.

You should still buy the best you can afford, if you have $200 to spend on a pole, I would absolutely not recommend buying the 30 dollar combo. But, if that's all you can afford, don't let anyone tell you that you can't buy one and still go out and have a good time and put fish in the boat with it.

[sal669]

I still have 2 Daiwa Triforce  Z (6 & 6-6 med-light) wich I bought for $19.99 at K-Mart 15 years ago, and I have no hesitation of using them when a ML rod  gets the nod (light line, finess techniques). Most of my rods are Fenwick and St Croix.

[tyrius.]

Don't.

Would you like to expand on that?

There is absolutely no reason to buy cheap junk. It will end up costing you more money in the long run.

Still have the Shimano/Ugly Stick combo that I got when I was in 6th grade (22 years ago).  Rod and reel worked fine until I replaced them 2 years ago.  Will likely clean/grease it up and give it to my son in a year or two (he's 5 now).

Just because something is cheap doesn't mean that it's junk.

[NateFollmer]

How much do you want to spend?

I have a Shakespeare Catfish rod that I use for saltwater and Musky. I think it was like $40 dollars and the thing is still working great (just make sure you take good care of it by lubing it up once in awhile).

All of my baitcasters are Quantum's and my favorite one is the Bill Dance Select model I got at BPS for $49.99. It gets mixed reviews but I freakin' love the thing. My buddy who I just got into fishing got a Quantum Tenacity combo from Dicks and I'm thinking of getting one myself. Again, keep your gear lubed and clean and you shouldn't have any issues at all!

I have also used the Diawa Strikeforce combos from BPS that are around 50 to 60 dollars and they were just as good too.

[fish-fighting-illini]

    For the most part I agree with those saying low end is often junk. The blister pack reels often fit that bill.

   For some reason though I just get the feeling that things have changed in the last several years. Back then I would have said no way to Shakesphere but since they have hooked up with Pflueger I think they've changed.  The Dimension spinning reel seems very similar to the last series of Pflueger Medalist. I also think the Abu Cardinals have come quite a ways.

  For only a few dollars more ( if any ) though you can buy a Pflueger President spinning reel.

For a rod if you strictly want to go low price I've used the Shakesphere Excursion and it works fine. I think it is $14 @ Wallyworld. Slightly higher on the rod price scale are the Shimano Convergence & Clarus. Very good rods at a budget price.

  For a baitcaster on the low end you can't beat the BPS Extreme espcially the rod and reel combo.

   Good luck and let us know what you pickout and how it goes.

FFI - AKA Matt Crum