Rod selection advice

[CHOC]

One of my rods took a permanent swim in the Bay today.

My buddy turned to me and said, "You know you're a little bit happy cuz now you have an excuse to buy a nicer rod." I was annoyed that he was slightly right.

I'm looking for a 7' rod that I can use for trolling and jigging from a kayak. I plan to match it with a Shimano Catana 2500 or similar reel. I probably don't want to spend more than $100 on the rod.

[mweber02]

I'm a big fan of the bass pro graphite series for trolling. Considering the low price point I don't think they can be beat for trolling. I have them in both baitcasters and spinning as a backup to my st croix triumph for casting and jigging. While I think the st croix is definitely a nicer rod, I'm not sure the extra cost brings that much more in performance


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[Plastic Boat]

I would recommend bass pro shops Bionics or Pro Qualifier or Extreme they are all the same blank with different handles and guides and color options. they are all usually on sale this time of year. $50.00 to around $100.00+. I use a Medium heavy in a 6' one piece model. I would look for what's on sale. Another good rod from bass pro shops at a low price point is the Tourney special. on sale you can get it for around $20.00 The first three are IM-8. The tourney I believe is IM-7 that means it's a little heavier (thicker graphite). Also stay away from the gold colored guides, if it has gold guides don't buy it. They don't hold up (corrode up in a year or two) I had to replaced all the gold colored guides on mine and MOC's Bionic rods .
another good choice is an ugly stick but stay away from the GX-2 they cheapened that model up. bass pro has the Ugly stick in the striper model and cat-fish series.
Walmart has the ugly stick inshore model, that one is only available at Walmart. these 3 ugly sticks are tough and hold up well.

Oh and get them a life jack (float ) or a leash

[Mark]

I have a relatively inexpensive 6.5 foot one piece Bass Pro graphite series spinning rod that I use as one of a tandem for trolling. It has held up well after 3 full seasons of use. I believe it cost only $39.

Two years ago I purchased a 7 foot Bass Pro Bionic Blade spinning rod on sale for $69 (I think) that I primarily use for casting. My only complaint with that rod was that the handle was too long to comfortably cast in my kayak. That's something to remember when you hold a rod in your hand at the shop next to the rod rack. Think about how it will "fit" while you are seated in your kayak and/or how it will fit into your rod holders. In the Bionic Blade's case the handle was so long it got in my way while casting and also it was too long to fit safely into my rod tubes. I had a rod-maker cut the handle back by 4 inches and now it's very functional for casting and trolling.

As with all gear, I think it's important to rinse it with fresh water after use to prolong its life.

[baitball]

I have a relatively inexpensive 6.5 foot one piece Bass Pro graphite series spinning rod that I use as one of a tandem for trolling. It has held up well after 3 full seasons of use. I believe it cost only $39.

Two years ago I purchased a 7 foot Bass Pro Bionic Blade spinning rod on sale for $69 (I think) that I primarily use for casting. My only complaint with that rod was that the handle was too long to comfortably cast in my kayak. That's something to remember when you hold a rod in your hand at the shop next to the rod rack. Think about how it will "fit" while you are seated in your kayak and/or how it will fit into your rod holders. In the Bionic Blade's case the handle was so long it got in my way while casting and also it was too long to fit safely into my rod tubes. I had a rod-maker cut the handle back by 4 inches and now it's very functional for casting and trolling.

As with all gear, I think it's important to rinse it with fresh water after use to prolong its life.

+1.

Mark makes a good point about butt and rod length. Rather than hijacking this thread with this particular subject matter, check out this thread from last year:
http://www.snaggedline.com/showthrea...ght=rod+length

[yakscientist]

I like the 6'6 rod lengths and even 6', since my kayak (sit-in) has less space than most to lay a rod out if you need to unknot line at the tip or something. I recommend the ugly stik elite, it should be a perfect trolling rod for a 2500 class, I use a BG 2500. Jigging should be fine too, but I wouldn't go over 1 ounce, it's a lightweight/thin rod. It handled 25-27" blues with ease this past weekend, that amount of power would be hard to match from most species under 35" in the bay, besides maybe red drum.

[ronaultmtd]

About every two or three years we rehash this subject- and we all have our own points of view- mine are totally different from a lot of "go cheap" advice- I believe the rod is equal to or more important than the reel...like my other hobby groundhog hunting- a good rifle can cost over a thousand dollars yet I see folks sticking a $99 scope on it expecting performance- my rule of thumb is spend $600 on the rifle and $600 on the scope...then you might have a workable groundhog kit...