soft plastic rod. WHICH ONE???

[shaneomack05]

I'm looking to purcgase a new rod for sp work on flatties,bream etc. but there are so many to choose from these days. does anyone have any suggestions for me?
any price as well.
cheers
shane

[basskid]

Hey Mate,
My first ever plastic rod was a Shimano T-Curve rod it was 6foot 6 inch and 2kg to 5kg and it was a 1 peice rod. That rod could great Bream awsome Flathead Trevally even a Queenfish and dont forget to mention Bass.The rod is very sensitive in the tip but has so much pulling power.Also its pretty cheap these days. i Bought mine over a year and a half ago for 249 but can be picked up for around 199.
Its a good strong durable rod of corse there is better but for its money its worth it.
cheers mate

[Leighton]

If you're going top end, the g Loomis GLX BSR 852 will handle most situations you come up against. Its also a good rod for shallow reef work ( life time waranty too ). Only trouble is its rated for 1/8th jig heads and you may be fishing lighter than that. I am currently looking at the Bear S4, Im a bit of a tight a** so a rod for me needs to serve a few applications

[Flattie Assassin]

I'm with basskid on this. The Tcurve 2-5kg has heaps of grunt and is a good plastics rod. That's why i still have mine.

I also love the action of the xl model 2-4kg, which i've said before has a medium action that makes the fish inhale the bait, before the rod even creates any pressure on it. The XL is hard to go past.

[Tim_N]

Check out the Egrell range. In fact go to the Offshore section and check out the post by Orbyroo, he has an awesome Jew landed on a SP, Egrell, Certate combo. Top shelf rod, but definately not the dearest either.
Tim

[TheSaint]

The Shimano 6'8' rack raider is solid rod with a heap power in the butt section but has a nice soft tip so you can put action into your SP's. You can pick one up at half the price of T-curve if you on a budget or looking to put more into a decent reel..

[breamnut]

dont go a t,curve go the extra $100 and get a loomis gl2 dsr820 or 822.
or a burkley pro tactic.
if you only want o go the $100 mark go with simons (thesaints) advice and go the rack raider.
just my own opinion but i dont think t,curves are worth there money and i would rather a raider over them!

[Horse]

Mate
If your not obsessed by labels and brand names check out the Berkley Dropshots, Shimano Raiders, Starlo Sticks or ATC's. Pick the rods up and get a feel for what you want. The choice is yours

[revs57]

G'day Shano,

The Penn Pro Guide 2-4 in 7' could be worth checking out too. Hi-modulus graphite, nice balance, bit short in the butt but still a very nice rod to use. I've got mine matched to a 360 Slammer loaded with 10 kg braid...stopped some nice 8kg kingies off m'bah the other week with it. Reasonably prices, comes with Rod tube for $199.

I've also got an affinity 2000 loaded with 6kg for estuary use

Plenty to choose from

Cheers

Rhys

[breamnut]

Mate
If your not obsessed by labels and brand names check out the Berkley Dropshots, Shimano Raiders, Starlo Sticks or ATC's. Pick the rods up and get a feel for what you want. The choice is yours

the ATC's are good rods too but the starlo sticks and dropshots are not as tough as the raider.
lots of people were i used to work broke there starlo sticks and dropshots.
1 because they dont seem to understand graphite rods but the raiders always seemed to last longer.

[Flattie Assassin]

Seen you in fishing monthly nsw breamnut. Great stuff.

[bass-pirate]

I bought a t-curve yesterday for bream cause i was finding my g.loomis dsr820s imx was a tad heavy for the bream and flathead i have been chasing. I wanted to replace it with something cheap for the time being as i cant afford a g.loomis bream rod at the moment. so i decided to go the 6'6 2 piece XL spin. Tested it yesterday afternoon on some low to mid 30 bream and a small flathead and it handled them perfectly. I particularly like the action as it is a bit slower then most of the other rods and it casted 1/20oz tt jigheads with ease. It also has awsome guides (fuji sic) which are much better then the alconites on my $510 g.loomis. I got mine for 165 because of my work discount, but you should be able to pick one up for around the $200 mark and at that price i dont think you can go past it. I find it much better then my brothers rack raider (even though i also think the rack raider is a great value for money rod) anyway.... i guess it mainly comes down to the price your willing to spend... all of the rods mentioned here are good rods.

No offence breamnut..... but dont waste your money on a g.loomis gl2... they are no better then a rack raider and are more then double the price. I love g.loomis rods, but they are only worthwile if you spend the money and get a good one like a imx or a glx.... the gl2s are cheapo and while they may be well made, the components like the blank and guides are no better then you would get off say a berkly dropshot or a rack raider..... i dont mind gl3s however they are no better then your average im8 graphite rod either which you can pick up for cheap $$ these days too.......

[Tetsuo]

T-curves are a good value rod for that price range and have plenty of power for bream and average flatties. I wouild try and get your hands on a 1-3 model although the compromise is they only come in 6'6". If you have a few dollars to spend and wanna go ultra light I would recommend a smith bayliner 7" ($475) or the bright yellow zannaq for around the same dollars. They may be a little too light for your larger lizards. If you would prefer a bit more grunt try the Egrell S1 or the bear S1 if you are dollar concious