Your Unbiased Placcie Rod Verdict?

[Scalem]

people where catching fish on cord and home made hooks long before any new age "thermo nuclear, triple black, chemicaly sharpened, double turned down eye" stuff was ever invented and it all worked and probably still would, it all comes down to money, advertising and enjoyment of your "sport" i have more gear than you could poke a stick at, but one of my favorite rods is a kind of cheapish Silstar 6 foot light action thing, that I use for bream from the boat, plastics wading and working the shore, Whiting with bait and a whole lot of other stuff, something YOU like and suits your needs is far better than anything some Celebrity is using on a fishing show but as with all sporting loves, you can never have enough equipment, and there is always something new out there that will hopefully make up for your lack of skill!

Hi Noel,

I guess what you are saying here is what I am thinking - I am reluctant to spend money just to keep up with the latest "fashion" and having the latest and greatest - but is it really? No doubt if I take up the offer to borrow one of these in one of my next excursions with a fishing buddy who has one, then I'll know and will probably never look back.
I don't mean to brag, and I am not being arrogant because I confess I still have a lot to learn about fishing - but in the skills department, I do OK

Scalem

[PinHead]

I agree with NoelM...fish were being caught on cane rods and alvey reels long before most of the names mentioned above were even thought of.

[finga]

I agree with NoelM...fish were being caught on cane rods and alvey reels long before most of the names mentioned above were even thought of.

When your going past one day call in and have a gander at my high tech. split cane and funny setup Alvey. You pull the stripper guide up to spin it for casting.
The split cane is Lenny Butterworths 15th rod he made.

[Crumbo]

I currently have a strudwick sic stick pro and abslouly love it. I also have a dropshot and it is also a great rod for the money. Just thought i'd chuck the struddy into the equation.

[t4topcat]

Scalem,
PM sent mate I hope it helps.

Cheers

Chris

[Horse]

I second Crumbo on the Struddie. I have used Raiders, StarloStix, Dropshots and Catanas but the Struddie is a class above. I got it at the Mart and got 40% off so it only cost about $60.00. Can't see the value in spending a bundle when a cheaper option seems to work pretty well. The Dropshot would be my second choice though some of the pflueger medalists look to be good value

Cheers

Neil

[Noelm]

I am not saying that new and custom rods are not great or maybe even necessary, ( I have custom rods and 'store bought" and indeed built rods for many years) I was just kind of saying that fish where being caught and landed on jigs and lures and plastics many years before a lot of the new "high tech" stuff was even thought of, but it is still good fun and "sometimes" more enjoyable with new gear, a classic example is the new "knife jigs" metal jigs have been used for over 30 years, and they had the hooks on the WRONG end, but they still caught boatloads of fish, both by pros and rec fisho's, I do not say that the hook on a "swinging" leader on the front of the jig is not better (or worse), it is just different, BUT it is NOT needed just because some TV presenter said so, because that's whar he/she use, the fish do not know what or who is attached to the other end of whatever it is that is pissing them off after having what they thought was a quick snack, get what I mean?

[username_taken]

There's been plenty of talk about rods, What about a reel to go with? I'd be really keen to see what reels people are teaming up with these rods ?

[Noelm]

hhmm my reels consist mainly of Shimano and some Penn in the smaller spinning reels, Penn only in the larger models, ABU exclusively for baitcasters now, Penn for game reels and a couple of TLD25, but they are only "light" game reels really

[username_taken]

I'm looking at a few Options.

Rods :
Berkley Dropshot 6'6" 2 pc 2-4 Kg $75
or
Shimano SP Starlo Stix 7'2" 2pc 2-4Kg $85

Reels:
Daiwa Regal 10xi - $99
or
Shimano Sedona - $99 ( with free Shimano Sonic Pro? rod )

Size options for the reel seem to be either 1500 or 2500, but I have no idea what that sizing refers to

I'd probably load it up with 4 or 6lbs Braid and 10lbs leader ( fluro or mono )

My rod length choices are based on the fact I'd rather have 2pc for portability, and will be mostly land based so longer rod to get a longer cast is correct ?

Thoughts ?

[Jeremy87]

Stay away from cheap daiwa spin reels the shimano at that price range is the better optain. Cheap daiwas are rust buckets and the drags go sticky pretty quick and stay that way. Wouldn't consider a daiwa spin reel until they have a tournerment drag system at which point the tend to take over as the better brand depending on size and application.

[username_taken]

wow really? From the specs I was reading I thought the Daiwa was going to be the better reel. more bearings, some sort of fancy 'digital gearing system'. Still I guess there's a big difference between specifications on paper and actual usage.

[Jeremy87]

I wouldn't really worry about the number of bearings as such as apposed to the quality. The sedona has 3 arb bearings, the same bearings you see the whole way through to there top shelf reels. The daiwa has 10 cheap stainless bearings to make it sound good. So lets look at it in terms of a expected value outcome.

You have shimano with its arb bearings that according to shimano last up to 10 times longer than ordinary bearings. Lets say they compared it to the cheapest sh!test bearings out there so the shimano arbs only last 3 times longer than daiwa standard bearing (not their crbb's which are good bearings).
So the shimano rate of failure due to rust is x
3 bearings times x gives you 3x
Daiwa has 10 bearings
10 bearings times 3x rate of failure is 30x
All off a sudden you have a conservative 10 times more likely bearing failure due to rust over a set period of time.

Small spinning reels do not require 10 bearings, there is not enough load bearing points in a reel to require this many bearings. 5-7 is optimal but 3 is enough to do the job.

As for the digital cut gears i don't think it makes much difference in the cheap models, the good reels are really well tuned but again its just to make the specks look better.

[ashh]

my bream spastic rod is from hanaconda, 'mojico' brand 2-4kg action fuji reel seat and guides and cork grips for $40,oh and its graphite too, the reel I got for it off ebay some small 'oscillate brand' spinning reel for $23inc postage.
Lost count of how many bream I've boated and flattys and a solid 46cm jack. Bout a year old and still going strong...
I do have a few 'nicer' outfits in my kit tho.

[cammac]

Well Ive only got 2 rods suitable for soft plastics.

!/ Berkley Dropshot 6'6" 2-4kg
2/ Silstar HG Graphite 1-3kg 6'6"

Both great value for money rods at under $100.

A lot of people turn their noses up at Silstar products and Im sure some of their products werent the greatest. but I must say the HG series of rods are lovely to use with crisp action and not too fast a taper. Fuji guides and winch and cork -couldnt be more pleased! Whether you can still buy this model Im not quite sure.

IMO any graphite would be a step up from a glass rod for SP ing - would be like going from a solid glass rod to a hollow glass one - what a revolution that was eh!
My 2 bobs worth!

Cam