Rod advice...

[I3igcircle]

I have the Abu Garcia Cardinal C802 Spinning Reel which was paired with a 6.6' medium action colonol rod. Which was snapped by a reclining car seat, so I am looking for advice on the best rod to replace it with.

I usually use spinners, and wont to get into some raps etc. I was looking into the Berkley Lightning Rod SHOCK 6.6' medium light action rod. Any advice or experience with some products would be great.

Cheers,
Nic

[WayneChristie]

I bought an Ugly Stik Lite last year 7 foot medium action, super light but worked well on a 20 pound pike so Id recommend it to anyone.

[Cal]

I would suggest the ugly stick as well. I have a shakespear agility and its pretty nice, not sure what the price diff is with it an the ugly stick.

[WayneChristie]

cant remember what I paid for the new ugly. but it wasnt that bad. had one before it for more than 25 years, same size except ultralight, caught everything from chinook to minnows with it. even had something off the pier at Campbell River on for 45 minutes, was too big to get to the surface, but did get the fight on tape. It finally broke last summer when I was releasing a big pike and was dumb enough to step on it. That hurt believe me. still got enough of it left to make a short rod tho, but a lot of fish under the bridge on it, so Id recomend the ugly anytime to anyone.

[vandy]

I think you should use that type of rod for fishing in which you enjoy the most.

[camshaft]

Would probably help to know what ur budget is. $50? $100? $300+?
I'm a firm believer of u get what u pay for, that being said, I would recommend the Shimano Compre as probably the best mid priced rod.

These rods are well priced <$100. Are made with high end components, and most importantly have a lifetime warranty.

If u have a bit more money, spend it on a Shimano Crucial, St Croix Avid, or G Loomis product.

U will catch more fish with a higher end rod, simply due to the fact that u will detect more strikes, due to the higher quality of "blank" material.

[I3igcircle]

I was looking at the ugly sticks to actually. And as for price wise probably no more than $150ish, the wife and I just had a baby so can't justify to spend to much more right now :lol:.

How about action wise I have allways just used a medium action rod, and read one post that people recomend a light medium action for feel? I am going to bundle the little guy up today and head over to whole sale sports and then bass pro.

[Freedom55]

$42 for a mediun action Ugly Stick "Lite" paired with your reel and the style will do you better than fine until you have an absolute feel for what's happening to your lure/bait with your rod-tip. Then venture out to spend hundreds of dollars for overpriced named products if you still feel the need. Ultra-light is the way to go for spinner fishing. I'm convinced that "more expensive is better" is a marketing gimic as I still have a lot of success with an old fibre glass casting rod that doesn't know what graphite is ( I have those too). I have 17 rods,two ugly sticks, in total but I have been fishing for nearly fifty years in every situation and my collection is extensive.
Dave Si.

[I3igcircle]

Went to wholesale sports and and Bass proshops today. Looked at the ugly sticks and wasn't quite sure about the feel of the tips the seemed very "loose"?

After going up and down trying to figure out which action size etc. I had it down to the st croix triumph 6.6 or 7 medium and the last shimano compre I found that was 6.6 medium.

I like the weight of the compre and being the last one at 6.6 it made the dessicion for length aswell. It was $120 so below my max.

So my set up now is an abu garcia cardinal 802 and a shimano compre 6.6 medium rod with fast action. Any comments?

[Logan]

You know for $33 @ Bass Pro the 7ft Ugly Stick is pretty hard to beat in my opinion.

[Cal]

Med action is probably the most versitile in AB. if it were strictly a trout rod I'd go lite, strictly pike heavy. By price difference I meant that the agillity was probably a bit more. My wife has a Berkly Cherrywood which is an awesome rod for the price and I keep a Zebco ProStaff in my work truck for those unexpected oportunaties. I dont think I've used a $100 doller rod that caught fish much better than the $40 shakspear I now use.... they dont stand up to car doors much better either.

[I3igcircle]

Ya I hear what your saying, my wife has a berkley cherrywood rod to (her favorite colour is red lol ) But yeah I looked at the ugly sticks and didn't like the way the tip felt but liked the feel of the compre.

To be honest I wasn't looking at prices or names I was just picking up rods and feeling them out and the ones that I had narrowed down to just happend to be the shimano compre and st croix triumph.

I'm happy though so all the best this season.

[Waxy]

Went to wholesale sports and and Bass proshops today. Looked at the ugly sticks and wasn't quite sure about the feel of the tips the seemed very "loose"?

After going up and down trying to figure out which action size etc. I had it down to the st croix triumph 6.6 or 7 medium and the last shimano compre I found that was 6.6 medium.

I like the weight of the compre and being the last one at 6.6 it made the dessicion for length aswell. It was $120 so below my max.

So my set up now is an abu garcia cardinal 802 and a shimano compre 6.6 medium rod with fast action. Any comments?

I think you made a great choice, you'll be far happier with the Compre than you would have been with the UglyStik, it's a much higher quality rod with a better action and sensitivity. More importantly, you did it right, you went and picked up a bunch of rods and bought what felt best to you.

Waxy

[FisherPotch]

What the?

Been along time since I saw the ole Ugly's get this much support on this forum!! Good on the fella's that realized the dependability.

The compre is a good sensitive rod and the price isnt ridiculous. But for three times the price of an ugly or rhino indestructable thats what you should expect. There are cheaper rods that use the EXACT same rod blank! But I'm forbiden to share to the gen public. I'll just say identical rod for half the price just cause it doesn't say shimano. My only real advice is to be more cautious with this rod then your last. Being that it is graphite the blank will fracture just as easily as your last rod. I bet an ugly stick would have survived that incident. It all depends what your intending to use the rod for and in many applications that extra sensitivity outweighs durability. For my regular tumbles down the NSR river bank I always have atleast one graphite/fiberglass combo rod (EX. Ugly stick, Rhino industructable). Tight lines!

[I3igcircle]

Cheers everyone, thanks for all the input and advice.

Now I am going to try to fish the bow for the first time lol the wife and I went to fishcreek park just to look (I've never been there before) Was hoping to see some people out so I would know where I could go but no luck.

Anyways thanks again.

Nic