Looking For A Spinning Rod In The $50-$100 Range For My

[new2BC4bass]

new-to-me Daiwa SS-II 2500C. Plan on using 8 lb. mono on it. Had hoped to get either a Clark Wendtland or Daiwa V.I.P., but TW sold out before I could get the funds. Reel weighs 10.4 oz, so I'm thinking a 7' minimum rod length to help balance it out.

I've come up with a fair number of choices. My first choice is the Fenwick Smallmouth ESMS74M based on the reviews I've read. Many of my other selections aren't what most of you would call mainstream. SirSnookalot might approve of some of them.

Here they are in no particular order. I don't care for the color, but the Okuma Concept C3 rods are on closeout at TW. Looking at the 7' and 7'4" MedLt. Anyone using these 2 rods care to give me an opinion or two on them?

Some other options are:

Redbone 7' ML

Star Stellar Lite 7' or 7'6" MedLt

Star Stellar Lite Fast Taper in the same lengths

Lew's Laser SL 7' MedLt

Lew's Tournament Speed Stick SG 7' MedLt

Danali Jadewood 7' Med

Airwave TSAWIS-701MF

Airwave Inshore 7'2" MF

Cabela's Prodigy 7' ML MF (when it goes on sale)

H2O Express Ethos 6'8" M (only if on sale, and near the bottom of my choices)

A couple mainstrean options are:

Shimano Clarus 7'2" Med Fast

Vendetta 7' and 7'4" MF

A rod that makes the cut mostly because it is a 2-piece rod is the Damiki Angel EX 6'6" MedLt, but admit this would be near the bottom of my choices because of its length.

There are a couple other Tsunami rod choices, but most are 6'6"....shorter than I'd like. The Southbend Calico Jack 7' ML is only $43.55, but not sure if it would have the quality I'm looking for. BTW, I'll have to buy it sight unseen which is why I'm trying to get as much feedback as possible on all the rods I listed.

Did I miss any other good choices in the $50-$100 range? Naturally I'll be keeping an eye on the classifieds.

Thanks guys.

[SirSnookalot]

Many of my other selections aren't what most of you would call mainstream. SirSnookalot might approve of some of them.

You might be over rating me a bit, but I do own some of these rods. First questions I would ask is what do you plan on catching with your new combo, average size of your target species, location boat or pond or high banked canal, is there a lot of vegetation. You want to put a 10.4 oz reel on a ml rod, I wouldn't do that, I'd go with a med 6/12 or med 8/17, probably 7', giving the nod to the 8/17. You can handle just about anything you're going to come across and employ a variety of techniques, in other words an all purpose outfit.

I wouldn't worry about warranty for a rod under a $100, hardly worth to send them back, but over the counter is ideal. As far as med rods on your list:

Redbone, I use mine ( have 6 of them) in salt, excellent, but I prefer a rod with a longer butt.

Star steller lite, good line of rods, I have a mh and heavy, have never looked at their mediums.

Tsunami airwave, mine is 8' but I have good friend that has a 7 med and uses it for sw as well as bass, I liked his so I bought mine and it's pretty good, great casting distance. It's split handle, unless you can see it in person as I did, I wouldn't buy it on line, in fact I wouldn't buy any rod on line.

I have a Calico Jack 8/17 which is my main bass rod, younger brother of the Redbone but with a longer butt, I love this rod.

I also have an older Clarus 6'6 6/12 rod that I use for ponds, fishes like a ml, I like it for what I use it for.

Wish I could be more help but I don't like to give recommendations, I would feel reel bad if you bought some thing on my recommendation and didn't like it.

[new2BC4bass]

I checked at my local Dick's Sporting Goods Store the last time there was a thread about some of these rods. I couldn't find one. I checked Sports Authority. Nothing there either. If I refused to buy a rod without first handling it, I'd only have 3 of my current rods...a Tec Spec and the 2 Cabela's XMLTis. I'll be in Deland last week of April and first week of May. Any stores in that area that carry some of the above mentioned rods?

I ocassionally river fish from shore. Main lake I fish (now from a small boat) is small, has lots of lily pads, and its fair share of weeds. It is a bass and trout management lake. Trout get stocked there 2-3 times a year, but I don't fish for them. They are put-take fish. Can't survive in this 14' max depth lake. There are pickeral, white perch, bluegills and sunnies. Basically I fish for largemouth bass here. I don't know of any ponds in this area. I'm not against eating a mess of bullheads on ocassion!

I know bass of 5 lbs and a bit more get caught here...just not be me......yet. I had a really nice sized pickeral miss a lure right at the boat last year. BIG.

An all around rod sounds best to me since I don't plan on getting any more spinning outfits. Currently have a Daiwa Advantage 2000A/30 lb. braid on a 6'6" MH Cielo Worm & Jig rod, and a Penn 430SS/4 lb. mono on an old 6' Berkley Lightning rated for 1/8-3/8 lures,

I was also researching the Airwave Inshore 8' MLF. This is rated for 6-12 and 1/8-1/2. I use baitcasting gear whenever possible. I'm not against stepping up to a medium power rod.8-17, but in that case wouldn't it be better to increase line weight to 10 lb?

Thanks for your reply. I'm not expecting many given the rods I listed.

[ChiCityBasser]

Found this one one ebay :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Okuma-Reflexions-70-1PC-Med-Lt-Spin-Rod-Rx-S-701ML-/170618743788?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b9ab6bec

I really don't know anything about the rod but for the price I thought it looked interesting. Does Dick's have a Tec Spec that might work?

[roadwarrior]

Just another thought:

If you are not in a hurry, keep an eye on our Flea Market and buy a MUCH better rod in your price range.

Specifically, for around $100 or maybe slightly less, you might find a gently used St. Croix Avid AVS66MLF,

AVS68MXF, G. Loomis SJR783S or SJR843S.

[new2BC4bass]

Thanks RW. I'm not in a hurry.

[deep]

There's a Powell on the flea market...

[Kelly J]

my vote would be the denali jadewood. you wont be dissepointed