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re: True value: high end reels vs $100 combos
Posted on 4/22/20 at 10:06 am to CharlesLSU
Posted on 4/22/20 at 10:06 am to CharlesLSU
A few years ago I got tires of not being able to hand off rods to kids without working about a rat nest.
Bought a bunch of zebcos.
Still catch fish
Bought a bunch of zebcos.
Still catch fish
1
Posted on 4/22/20 at 10:42 am to CharlesLSU
quote:
are the high end rods/reels really THAT much better?
I've gotten to the point in my life where I have more money to spend on fishing than time to do it, so when I get the time I never want my gear to be something that affects my experience in a negative way. So if I miss a bite, lose a fish during a fight, or can't make the cast I need to, I want to be sure it is a me problem, not a gear problem.
Spending the extra coin on higher end tackle gives me the confidence to know what I need to improve upon. On top of that, it is lighter weight which makes a difference at the end of the day from an enjoyment and fatigue standpoint. Plus, I can promise you the better rods will help you feel more bites. Yes you can catch plenty of fish on $20 rods/reels, and if that's what you're comfortable spending then awesome. Nothing wrong with that. But in situations where bites a hard to come by, or you're throwing light baits in windy conditions, or the fish are just sluggish, the $250 rod will help you pick up more bites than the $100 in most cases.
I love, love, love to fish small rivers for spotted, smallmouth, and Guadalupe bass from a kayak so I am usually space limited to 4 rod/reels. I'd much rather have $2000 invested in those 4 setups than $2000 invested in 10 setups.
Posted on 4/22/20 at 10:42 am to CharlesLSU
Thought the Penn Battle was a high end reel? That's about the most I'm willing to spend on a spinning reel.
Posted on 4/22/20 at 10:58 am to CharlesLSU
Like most things, there's a much steeper curve at the cheaper and and it starts to level off at a certain point. There's more difference between a $50 reel and a $100 reel than there is a $100 reel and a $150 reel.
Most of it comes down to how much you like to fish and how much disposable income you have. I've been fishing for decades and my preference is $500-ish for an inshore or bass combo. I've caught a lot of fish on cheaper gear, and if I had Bill Gates money I'd probably catch a lot of fish on more expensive gear.
Most of it comes down to how much you like to fish and how much disposable income you have. I've been fishing for decades and my preference is $500-ish for an inshore or bass combo. I've caught a lot of fish on cheaper gear, and if I had Bill Gates money I'd probably catch a lot of fish on more expensive gear.
Posted on 4/22/20 at 2:00 pm to The Last Coco
Perfectly said Coco.
I love to fish. Been bass fishing now for over 25 years.
Can I tell the difference between a entry level gear and a $6 tungsten jig head that's been specifically molded to skip on a premium reel that has a much better inertial spool control system and on a better balanced rod that allows me to skip a jig perfectly in a narrow opening where a fish might be? Yes, I can.
Is it worth the extra money? For me, yes.
I love to fish. Been bass fishing now for over 25 years.
Can I tell the difference between a entry level gear and a $6 tungsten jig head that's been specifically molded to skip on a premium reel that has a much better inertial spool control system and on a better balanced rod that allows me to skip a jig perfectly in a narrow opening where a fish might be? Yes, I can.
Is it worth the extra money? For me, yes.
Posted on 4/22/20 at 4:33 pm to CharlesLSU
y, to each his own, but are the high end rods/reels really THAT much better?
No
I get a good laugh at the idiots that over pay for rods and reels.
Your Duckett rod won’t help detect a bite any better than an old Berkeley lightning rod
I doubt your $200+ reel will outlast and out perform my 30 year old Abu Garcia
As far as string goes, I’ll stuck with 17lb mono
Remember, everything in fishing is marketed to catch YOU and your money, not fish
No
I get a good laugh at the idiots that over pay for rods and reels.
Your Duckett rod won’t help detect a bite any better than an old Berkeley lightning rod
I doubt your $200+ reel will outlast and out perform my 30 year old Abu Garcia
As far as string goes, I’ll stuck with 17lb mono
Remember, everything in fishing is marketed to catch YOU and your money, not fish
This post was edited on 4/22/20 at 4:40 pm
Posted on 4/22/20 at 5:39 pm to elprez00
quote:
Having just gotten into trying throwing a fly rod, I can understand why the quality of the rod makes a difference. But for 99.9% of your average recreational fishermen, a $300 rod to throw a spinner bait is a little absurd.
Spot on...a high quality fly rod makes a world of difference but they don't have to be pricey.....blanks are blanks, they ain't a lot of them being made....the finish is what costs and the finish can be less quality and still cast like a dream.
Plastics require a lot of feel. I can remember fishing 11 inch Tom Mann Grape Jelly Worms with a fiberglass blank about a 1/4 inch thick at the butt....and thought it was the cats arse until I fished a graphite blank...HUGE difference....
Reels are another matter, especially for any kind of fish that can actually strip line. I do a lot of offshore fishing for pelagics and you don't want a $100 drag in that situation long....cause its going to cause you to lose fish. A $300 one will do as well as a $1000 one unless you are fishing everyday and catching fish everyday...then the $1000 one is probably a bargain. A Shimano TLD will stand up to even a lucky fisherman fishing 150 days a year.....as well as a Tiagra or Penn International. I had a boat in Stuart for years and I used a lot of offshore angler branded reels from BPS and I think they were merely TLDs in a BPS box....I know they worked well and were about 75% of the TLDs and we caught a BUNCH of fish on them....
Spinning reels are my weakness....I like me a costly spinning reel....between the complexity of a spinning reel and the simplicity of a revolving spool reel the quality of a spinning reel makes much larger difference....just the fact that the spinning reel is involved with casting while the revolving spool reel generally is merely a means of holding and retrieving line makes a world of difference. That being said I have fished off Pangas with shakespear spinning reels that sounded like rock tumblers and caught sails, marlin, rooster fish and wahoo without a hitch....
Posted on 4/22/20 at 5:47 pm to HotKoolaid
quote:
As for the prepreg, I have my doubts. I've built and repaired enough rods at this point in my life to have the opinion that most rods are relatively close in raw material quality. I have some 8wt and 10wt rods built on IM7 blanks that were $45/each and they cast every bit as well as some of the trendy thousand dollar sticks.
This absolutely the truth. There ain't a lot of blank manufacturers in the world....the odds are pretty good that the $100 rod is the same blank made to the same specs in the same plant as the $1000 one....when a name goes on it can make a big impact on the price. The various components are the same way....and then the level of finish adds up.....I bet that most people who have ever rolled a rod of their own can go to MudHole and buy the components of a $1000 rod for $300 and do as good a job with some effort at assembling it....and walk away with a product he more or less built himself and the pride that goes along with. Reels are another story....but most fly reels are wayyyyy overbuilt and overpriced....
Posted on 4/22/20 at 5:50 pm to joeleblanc
quote:
I get a good laugh at the idiots that over pay for rods and reels.
Your Duckett rod won’t help detect a bite any better than an old Berkeley lightning rod
No offense Joe, but you’re a dumbass. If this is a troll, then well done.
Posted on 4/22/20 at 5:53 pm to X123F45
quote:
A few years ago I got tires of not being able to hand off rods to kids without working about a rat nest. Bought a bunch of zebcos. Still catch fish
I have wad of 1970s era Zebco 33s that still catch fish! I even have the first one that was MINE...not my dad's. Still on the original pistol grip ugly stick...still works. Of course the biggest thing any of them ever caught would be a 10 pound striper or catfish so the drag wasn't ever much of an issue. Most of them have been used in saltwater also and who thought about rinsing a fishing reel in the 1970's???? It is amazing that they ain't corroded into a hunk of rust....
Posted on 4/22/20 at 6:16 pm to TheDrunkenTigah
quote:
I get a good laugh at the idiots that over pay for rods and reels.
Your Duckett rod won’t help detect a bite any better than an old Berkeley lightning rod
No offense Joe, but you’re a dumbass. If this is a troll, then well done.
Hes right about Duckett rods at least, lol. They're awful.
But a g loomis nrx, megabass destroyer, kistler z bone.... man I'd love to have enough coin to roll with those.
Posted on 4/22/20 at 7:08 pm to The Last Coco
That’s what made me think it was a troll haha, since when is a made in china duckett high end?
Posted on 4/22/20 at 7:48 pm to TheDrunkenTigah
Your a dumbass for not believing it
Posted on 4/22/20 at 7:49 pm to joeleblanc
quote:
Your a dumbass
frickin nailed the landing
Posted on 4/22/20 at 8:25 pm to Flats
4 to 5 hundred is a sweet spot per combo.
Posted on 4/22/20 at 8:41 pm to CharlesLSU
What I have found is that among "cheap" reels there are some very good ones but not all of them are.
I have also found that private label reels like Bass sells are the same. I think they use different manufacturers for different reels and change manufacturers over time. Sometime you get a great reel (or rod) and sometimes you get a dud.
I do like Okuma spinning reels. I have 6 or 8 and they were when I bought them significantly cheaper than Shimano or Daiwa. They may not be now.
I have an old Curado and a Calcutta that I love. I have an Abassador 5000 that is 30 years old that I still grab ever once in a while!
I have also found that private label reels like Bass sells are the same. I think they use different manufacturers for different reels and change manufacturers over time. Sometime you get a great reel (or rod) and sometimes you get a dud.
I do like Okuma spinning reels. I have 6 or 8 and they were when I bought them significantly cheaper than Shimano or Daiwa. They may not be now.
I have an old Curado and a Calcutta that I love. I have an Abassador 5000 that is 30 years old that I still grab ever once in a while!
Posted on 4/22/20 at 8:55 pm to I B Freeman
CNC manufacturing has made plenty of good cheaper reels over the last few years. A shimano SLX at a hundred bucks is every bit as good as the best reel they made a decade ago, because they can reliably employ tighter tolerances.
What hasn’t caught up is rods. Components that don’t add weight down the length of the blank, and lighter thinner blanks, are still cost prohibitive for a lot of manufacturers. You’re gonna pay out the arse for premium guides and hand wrapping on a premium blank built in modern material. The average angler will never care or know the difference but someone who makes the same cast for 8 hrs a day will notice.
What hasn’t caught up is rods. Components that don’t add weight down the length of the blank, and lighter thinner blanks, are still cost prohibitive for a lot of manufacturers. You’re gonna pay out the arse for premium guides and hand wrapping on a premium blank built in modern material. The average angler will never care or know the difference but someone who makes the same cast for 8 hrs a day will notice.
Posted on 4/22/20 at 9:11 pm to TheDrunkenTigah
If you mainly throw artificials for trout, a nice M/ML rod with a fast tip will help, but most people dont need that.
Posted on 4/22/20 at 9:55 pm to lion
quote:
If you mainly throw artificials for trout, a nice M/ML rod with a fast tip will help, but most people dont need that.
ML for me. I’ve casually fished bays my whole life, but about 10 years ago I started targeting reds and specs, and started off using rods that would haul a bass out of thick cover. It was like using a boat wench. I’ve gone medium light now, it’s a lot more fun and I lose fewer specs because the rod always keeps the tension on but also gives when they start thrashing.
Posted on 4/23/20 at 7:07 am to Ingeniero
quote:
never even blinked swiping my card for an Orvis fly rod
Soon to be on my shopping list as well!
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