Rods And Reels

[Roaring River Veteran]

well all I want to thank you all for your input. I have been looking at rods everyday and I am still planning of buying 1 good rod, but I haven't decided if it will be a st. croix, a gloomis or a shimano. I have however found a place on the internet that has the shimano compre 15% off with free shipping. I think I am going to order a couple of them until I make up my mind about a better rod. I also looked at the shimano clarus series. They are very reasonably priced and feel very nice. does anyone have experience with the clarus series? I may buy one just to try it.

Thanks

Good luck and good fishing

[mohogtrapper]

I bought a new rod this year, baitcasting. I ended up going with the new Shimano cumara. light weight and sensitive, I would put it up against loomis, st. croix, falcon, etc. I bought the 6'8", but wish I would have bought the 7'2". There is a gentleman on here who also makes custom rods, reasonably priced, but I cannot remember his name, maybe someone can help me out.

As far as reels, I am a Shimano man. All curados here.

[Fishin' Freak]

RR Vet,

I have a Clarus rod that is a 6'6 med. light baitcaster which I use for jerkbaits and spoons. It has a fast action tip and enough backbone for handling fish. I like it for those two baits. A nice rod and it was on sale when I bought it!!!

[flipper]

shimano 2500 series is a good reel for the money but love my phluger pres. i'm like trav .hard on rods ugly stick gets the job done but i like the falcon 6'6 with pres. the best. got an old garcia that has been through it but still works good. alot of it is clean/lubing for gettin the good outta gear.

[Bill Babler]

Extremely good information on the subject.

I have a couple of buddies that are on BP's national team. They recieve several thousand dollars in vouchers for new BP equipment every year when their new boat deals come in. The vouchers have to be used for the purchase of BP fishing equipment of current models, only.

These are professional fisherman, and I have fished tournaments with them and guided with them. For the most part, they sell the BP, either to their clients or on ebay, and buy Shimano. Yes, they will have some on hand, for clients and to keep up appearances, but when the cash is on the line, the BP is in the rodbox, and either Sustains, Stradics, or Chronarchs are in their hands.

When I first started I used entirely BP ie pfluger equipment. It was alright if I fished it myself, but putting it into the hands of clients that would bend the bail the wrong way, jerk the snot out of it and engage the reel while the lure was in the air, soon destroyed all the pfluger and BP stuff I had bought.

The clients do this everyday to the Shimano stuff, and I have reels that are 10 years old and as good as new. If guides are not getting a deal or money off on equipment, for the most part they are using Shimano. I can't speak for any of them, but I have lots of guys that help me, and most of them fish either diawa or shimano.

On one of the first trips I ever guided for Big Cedar, and this was in the day when a dozen guides were full time there. I pulled into the dock with all my BP equipment lined up on the deck and rigged. I had a smile on my face from ear to ear, thinking, I am now "One of the Boys".

Every guide boat parked at the dock other than mine, displayed a deck full of Chronarchs and Stadics. Nothing else.

Took me about 6 months to wear out the pflugers and my deck was full of Shimano, and has been ever since.

[Roaring River Veteran]

Hey all, I just wanted to take a minute and thank all of you for your input on this topic. It was very educational. Although several models and brands were listed it seemed that Shimano was a reoccuring theme throughout the thread.

So I wanted to let you all know that I have made my initial purchases. I have purchased a 7' Medium Heavy fast action Shimano Compre casting Rod and a 7' Medium fast action Shimano Compre spinning rod.

I also happened to find a place that was clearencing out their Shimano Curado's so I bought the last one they had. It is a 100 DSV. I have a new 5 bearing mitchell spinning reel that I got as a gift. I don't think it is a high priced reel but it is very smooth and very nice. It will go on the spinning rod.

I hope to purchase a couple of more rods and reels in the following months but hopefully this will be enough to get me started.

I guess I can still take my old rods too but I would guess they won't get much play time.

I am suppose to fish a Tourny with a friend Saturday night out of Shell Knob, so now I need fishing reports and ideas on what to fish and where.

Thanks again

RRV