Lightweight, Durable, Baitcast Rods Under $50?

[Brand0n]

My only luck is walmart specials on quantum im6 green rods for $21. They are so light and hold up to anything. Well balanced also. Im looking for another route. I got another reel on the way but want to try out another lightweight cheap priced rod....

[tholmes]

The next time your in Wal-Mart, try a Berkeley Lightning Rod. A little more than the Quantum, but IMHO, a better rod.

(Yes, I own both, so I'm speaking from experience)

Tom

[Brand0n]

every one ive picked up has the pistol grip i cant use them hardly unless im using an antique zebco 33 ive seen them with the split grip but nothing over 6' medium action

[Hi Salenity]

Shimano Sellus!

[BasskingKeith]

I hooked up to a couple Tarpon from a Miami bridge with one of those Quantum "green" torsion rods

[Ima Bass Ninja]

The Berkley bionix is a good wally world rod also. I own 2 in the crank bait model and they have served me well. But if you can go up $10 and have an Academy near ya try out the H2O ethos rod they sell. Just picked 3 of them up and I absolutley love these rods. I actually took back 2 vendettas so I could get em

[BradH]

Cabelas might still have some of those camo rods for 29 bucks. I handled one in the store and thought it would have been a great deal if I was in the market for a rod.

[Hooligan]

where's Red Earth? He'll extoll the benefit of the Ugly Stick for you.

[webertime]

My only luck is walmart specials on quantum im6 green rods for $21. They are so light and hold up to anything. Well balanced also. Im looking for another route. I got another reel on the way but want to try out another lightweight cheap priced rod....

I suspect you have a BPS fairly close to you, they have the new 2012 model Lightening Rods for $28!!! Take a look at those.

FFO has the 2011 models online for $20-$22 as well

[LgMouthGambler]

+1 for the Lightning Rods. Just about all my rods are Lightning Shock, since I use braid, and they are amazing!

[Hyrule Bass]

where's Red Earth? He'll extoll the benefit of the Ugly Stick for you.

HA! i was about to recommend the Ugly Stik Lite-Pro. i think mine costs $38 at wal-mart. mine is a spinning model though, paired with a pflueger trion gx-7. its a 5'6" Light rod. its light weight and certainly durable. i've caught a couple 4lbers on it, very fun...

[Brand0n]

my closest bps is over an hour away :/ but i have a new academy 30 minutes away

[A-Rob]

I purchased a daiwa procyon rod for $50 bones. I thouhgt for the price it was a great rod, so I got 2 now haha.

I use one for a worm rod and one for a frog rod (both MH 7'0).

They are a bit tip heavy but what rod isn't for $50.

I was crushing the hooksets on buried fish with 50# braid and the procyon held up great all season and in perfect condition for year 2.

[Ima Bass Ninja]

my closest bps is over an hour away :/ but i have a new academy 30 minutes away

That Academy will quickly become your best friend when it comes to gear. They have some great deals and great lookin stuff. I was all about the bps stuff till Academy came to town.

[eyedabassman]

If I were in your shoes I would pick the lighting rod every time over the Ulgy stick .I would fish a tree branch before a Ugly stick!!

[BrianMDTX]

1 hour ago, TonyLSmith said:

Really? 

Probably it was “really” in 2012!!

[Captain Phil]

We are fortunately enough to have a Bass Pro Shop in Orlando.  I haven't been down there in a while.  They sell a series of graphite rods for under $50. I buy them 3-4 at a time. You can walk down a whole aisle of rods and pick out the action you like best.   They're not fancy.  They won't impress your friends. You won't get a tingling feeling in your pants when you look at them. When you snap one off in your car door, you won't need therapy.  They just work.   The funny thing is, the fish don't care what rod you use.   :>)

[Captain Phil]

4 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

We are fortunate enough to have a Bass Pro Shop in Orlando.  I haven't been down there in a while.  They sell a series of graphite rods for under $50. I buy them 3-4 at a time. You can walk down a whole aisle of rods and pick out the action you like best.   They're not fancy.  They won't impress your friends. You won't get a tingling feeling in your pants when you look at them. When you snap one off in your car door, you won't need therapy.  They just work.   The funny thing is, the fish don't care what rod you use.   :>)

 

[NOC 1]

5 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

The funny thing is, the fish don't care what rod you use.   :>)

5 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

 

You know I hear this all the time from the guys who like cheap gear. I don't quite understand why people say this. As you know we are all free to do as we please with our fishing gear and money.

 

Speaking for myself, I don't buy gear for the fish, I buy it for myself based on what I like.

 

You are calling yourself Captain Phil so I'm assuming that maybe you are running a guide/charter service? If so, I totally understand why the cheapest functional gear is what you'd buy. But when it comes to your own pleasure why deny yourself the little perks?

 

Who cares what the fish like. People all over the world catch fish with a ball of twine wrapped around a stick and a hook. I go fishing for the pleasure of it and like it or not using great gear is more pleasurable to me (and many others) than is using the cheapest gear that still works.

[NYWayfarer]

1 hour ago, NOC 1 said:

You know I hear this all the time from the guys who like cheap gear. I don't quite understand why people say this. As you know we are all free to do as we please with our fishing gear and money.

 

Speaking for myself, I don't buy gear for the fish, I buy it for myself based on what I like.

 

You are calling yourself Captain Phil so I'm assuming that maybe you are running a guide/charter service? If so, I totally understand why the cheapest functional gear is what you'd buy. But when it comes to your own pleasure why deny yourself the little perks?

 

Who cares what the fish like. People all over the world catch fish with a ball of twine wrapped around a stick and a hook. I go fishing for the pleasure of it and like it or not using great gear is more pleasurable to me (and many others) than is using the cheapest gear that still works.

I couldn’t agree more. I fish with my father in law from time to time. He likes to bust my chops about how his cheap gear catches fish just like my expensive (to him, cheap to others in these forums) gear. 
 

I fish with what I like. And I can tell you I don’t like fishing with a cheap Shakespeare or Ugly Stick combo anymore.

 

Buy what you like, can afford and enjoy. Life’s too short not to.

[Captain Phil]

If you knew me, you would know how funny this is.   I have never been known as a cheap guy when it comes to anything.  I always had to have the best of everything.  I understand the pride of ownership.  I had dozens of boats.  I even had a custom bass boat built that was on the cover of a national magazine.  When I moved to Central Florida from Miami, I thought I was a better fisherman than the country boys who lived here.   That was a mistake.  They could catch more fish off the boat ramp parking lot than I could catch in my 80 mph Gambler. One of the best fisherman I have ever seen fished with an old red Ambassador 5000 and a rod with broken guides.  $300 rods and $500 reels are made to hook anglers, not fish.  There's nothing wrong with buying them.  They don't make you a better angler.

[Captain Phil]

It's not the rod or the reel that makes a great bass fisherman, it's what you do with them.  Many amateur fisherman believe pros use the high dollar tackle they see in commercials.  They want to be like them, so they believe the more money they pay for their boat and tackle, the better fisherman they will be.  Owning a wrapped boat with 300 HP, two power poles, $6,000 worth of electronics and a boat load of $800 rod and reel combos does not win tournaments all by itself.

 

Twenty years ago I operated a guide service on the Harris Chain.  Whenever a big tournament was coming up, I was booked for weeks at a time.  Those anglers did not need me to teach them to fish as many of them were much better than I was.  What they wanted was local knowledge of running the lakes, seasonal patterns, Etc.  Some of those angler's names you would recognize.  One was a Bass Master Classic winner.  I ran into him later at the boat ramp.  I was surprised to see he had a boat load of the cheapest Shimano Reels they made at the time.  He was the best bed sight fisherman I have ever fished with. 

 

As long as a reel is reliable and you can cast what you want where you want, it's a potential winner.  My $40 Bass Pro Rods will do everything a $300 rod will do.  If you wish to spend your money on things that make you feel good, I'm happy for you.  Don't make the mistake of looking down your nose at anglers who don't have the best tackle or the fanciest boat.  You may be surprised at the fish they catch.

 

 

[NOC 1]

11 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

If you knew me, you would know how funny this is.   I have never been known as a cheap guy when it comes to anything.  I always had to have the best of everything.  I understand the pride of ownership.  I had dozens of boats.  I even had a custom bass boat built that was on the cover of a national magazine.  When I moved to Central Florida from Miami, I thought I was a better fisherman than the country boys who lived here.   That was a mistake.  They could catch more fish off the boat ramp parking lot than I could catch in my 80 mph Gambler. One of the best fisherman I have ever seen fished with an old red Ambassador 5000 and a rod with broken guides.  $300 rods and $500 reels are made to hook anglers, not fish.  There's nothing wrong with buying them.  They don't make you a better angler.

I don't know you at all, and wasn't trying to insult you. it's just that the one phrase keeps coming up about the fish not caring what gear you use (you are not the only one who's said it).

 

Obviously there is way more to being a good fisherman than how nice your gear is and I'd bet that we all know an old hand or two who could catch more and bigger fish than we ever will with a beer tab and some baling twine. But see, that isn't the point either. If I waited until I could catch more fish than some old salt who knows more than I ever will, I'd be fishing with my old Johnson Century pistol grip combos the rest of my life. I hope you are seeing my point. There is no requirement to "deserve" better gear either.

 

The point is that I go fishing for the enjoyment I get from being out there and doing it. If I catch fish..then so much the better. Having nice gear to use while I'm doing it adds to that enjoyment. Why is it that this always seem to require some sort of justification? As if the only legitimate reasons one could have are things like catching more fish.

 

And the other side of the story is that the people who for some reason can't or won't afford better stuff don't need to justify their situation either it by saying that the fish don't notice or proving that one can be a great fisherman with cheap gear. I'm going to retire within a year or two and will be in that boat too. My goal is to buy the nice stuff before I do and then try to make it last as I spend way more time using it.

 

Like I said I do not know you, but if you are a Gambler man, I like you already. My son and I had a 95 Intimidator, then sold that and bought a 2006 (same color and everything) and still have it. That boat needed the trim tabs. Best hull on the water I think, I'm glad they are making them again. We never got to 80 quite but we have done 77-78 with an Evenrude 225. The old one we got to 74 (IIRC) with a 200Mec XS.

 

 

[Captain Phil]

Great points.  My purpose for posting on this forum is not to cause controversy.  The point I was making is boats and gear do not define the fisherman.  This is valuable information that took me a long time to learn.

 

I have been fishing organized bass tournaments since they started in the sixties.  Tournament bass fishing is not the same as recreational fishing.  You can't weigh the fish that got away.  There are no two pound bass that grow to six pounds with the telling.  When you are standing in line with your bag of fish, everyone can tell who the experts are without checking the price of their tackle or what brand of boat they fish out of.   

 

There is nothing wrong with quality tackle and expensive boats.  I have had my share of both.  As long as you don't size up anglers by the price of their equipment, you are good to go.  There was a time when bass were described as the poor man's game fish.  Somehow I find that comforting.  ?

 

I dug up an old photo of my Gambler.  Best bass boat I ever owned.

 

 

 

 

 

[NOC 1]

2 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

Great points.  My purpose for posting on this forum is not to cause controversy.  The point I was making is boats and gear do not define the fisherman.  This is valuable information that took me a long time to learn.

 

I have been fishing organized bass tournaments since they started in the sixties.  Tournament bass fishing is not the same as recreational fishing.  You can't weigh the fish that got away.  There are no two pound bass that grow to six pounds with the telling.  When you are standing in line with your bag of fish, everyone can tell who the experts are without checking the price of their tackle or what brand of boat they fish out of.   

 

There is nothing wrong with quality tackle and expensive boats.  I have had my share of both.  As long as you don't size up anglers by the price of their equipment, you are good to go.  There was a time when bass were described as the poor man's game fish.  Somehow I find that comforting.  ?

 

I dug up an old photo of my Gambler.  Best bass boat I ever owned.

 

 

 

 

 

I have never been a competitive Fisherman and never want to be. No one will ever accuse me of being a great fisherman and I really don't care much if I ever become one. Nothing wrong with either of those things, just not for me. I have spent my whole life in the Telecom field as an engineer and am fed up with striving to learn and competing to get better.

 

Now, I am just wanting to do things that let me relax my mind. I'm not choosing gear because of how I think it makes me look. I buy what ever strikes my fancy and if it feels good to me I use it. No more or less to it.

 

Your Gambler looks like it might be earlier than our 95. It's hard to tell though. I'm basing it pretty much on the squared off ends of the consoles. Yours look a little more square than our 95 which is a little more square than our 2006. Great Boats

 

I've attached a couple of pictures of our 95, can't find any of the 2006 on my computer.