ThatZX14Fella

Can't beat it, man. $40 for a do-it-all heavy bait rod is a go for me.

You can't beat that combo in the price range. The Black Max reels are nearly indestructible, and the Air-D X performs like rods in the $80 range.

This is actually the most rods I have had at the same time. I have a Black Max on a Daiwa Air-D X MH that I use for pretty much everything. I have a spinning reel on a small rod for finesse and bream. Lastly is the rod that that I've mentioned that I bought for catfish, but is now a multi-purpose setup. I always end up buying nice gear when I have a job, and then whenever I lose the job, I sell my nice gear off. I always keep a cheap rod and reel, though. That way I always have at least one setup I can fish with.

Especially Wait and Bleed. By far my favorite song by them. Although, I've gravitated to country music now. Benjamin Tod, Arlo McKinley, Tyler Childers, etc.

The Ned rig is probably my favorite presentation to fish. I need to buy more jigheads and Finesse TRD worms, though. I've been out for quite a while.

I figured that, since it's labeled for 1-3 ounces, the swimbait I have would be fine for it. I'll probably take it to the river the next time it warms up and see if I can catch something. I've never gotten a fish on a swimbait, and I've been wanting to get more into them.

So, this is for the broke guys (like myself) that don't have the money to spend on multiple combos. If you have a catfish specific setup, you can use it for swimbaits to get you by until you have the funds to get a designated swimbait rig. I've been curious as to if I could use my Ugly Stik Catfish rod and Abu Ambassadeur reel for my one and only swimbait. It seems to work pretty well. I'd imagine the action isn't the best for the task, but I didn't catch a fish to verify. I do know that a catfish rod is built to be rugged, so you don't have to worry about snapping one of your smaller rods by throwing too large of a bait. I don't know if anyone will find this information useful, and most people are probably reading this with a dumbfounded look, but hopefully it will help someone out.

I hate fishing around other people, unless they're friends or family. I feel like I can't concentrate on actually fishing because I have to watch my gear, my nephew's gear, worry about which way I cast, have to conversate with them if they keep asking questions, etc. I also hate trash, boaters that have the entire river that they can run up and down, yet come 20ft from the bank I'm fishing, bugs, and so on.

I like Power Pro Super Slick V2. I haven't used it in a long time because I had a spinning reel with 20lbs Power Pro that I put on my baitcaster and I bought 8lbs Berkley X-9 to try on my spinning reel. I haven't used it enough to give an honest opinion.

Because they're more plentiful. I've never even seen a smallie caught around here. Largemouth are common. Why would I fish for smallies when there's little chance that they're even at the location I'm fishing? I wouldn't go into an auto parts store looking for vegetables.

This was long ago, because I typically don't have the money for not gear. I usually get reels that people don't know how to work on and fix them themselves. However, I bought an Abu Cardinal about nine years ago and hated it. I couldn't get it to cast more than 15ft. Granted, that was long before I got into learning more about fishing, so I was probably using too heavy of a line. I have avoided Abu spinning reels ever since. Rods, I'd have to say the Shimano Curado I bought for my 200K. For the money I spend, it felt like it had less sensitivity than my AirD-X that I can buy for $100 less. I have come to find that the AirD-X is my sweet spot for rods. Super cheap, yet sensitive for the price.

I love fishing. I don't love it as much as riding motorcycles, but it's a close second.

I enjoyed the Concept A I had until it got stolen. It was smooth and casted well. I've heard too many variances in reviews to justify buying one again. It seems that their quality control is pretty shotty.

Spinning is typically what I use, but only because I'm mainly a finesse fisherman. The baitcaster is for everything else. Power fishing, heavy cover, and catfishing.

Schematics will be your best friend when starting out, if you don't have very good memory. If you're memory is good and you're very detail oriented, the schematics won't be needed, but definitely still recommended.

The first bait caster I fell in love with was an Abu Ambassadeur 5000. I love it so much that I completely rebuilt it. Do they have an advantage over low profile reels? Not really, but I enjoy them.

I've become as much of a catfisherman as I am a bass fisherman. Although, not a good one. I have no pictures because I never catch anything. Lol

I finally bought some braid suitable for a spinning reel. 8lbs Berkley X9. Also bought a chatterbait. I'm broke, so I just buy something occasionally.

It was a Pflueger, but I can't remember the model. I know it was orange and silver. I didn't get much use out of it before the line guide started sticking. I didn't know anything about fixing reels at that time, so I went back to spincasters for a while.

The only one I can correctly tie is the Uni-Uni. However, if shy away from it. It has been causing more issues than it's worth for me. I've tried to tie the FG, but I'm not coordinated enough for it. I'm going to look up some different leader knots and try to find something a little smaller that's fairly simple to tie. I shake like I have Parkinson's, so that makes things a little more difficult.

How much are you looking to spend? You can buy a Black Max, buy a shallow spool off of eBay, and get some decent bearings and it may be ok for the price. On the other end of the spectrum, you can buy an Aldebaran or Steez and have a really good BFS reel, but have an empty wallet.

I guess I'm the odd man out. I enjoy finesse presentations more than power fishing. Which, to be fair, I only began to enjoy fishing slow about a year ago.

I'd like to fish some, but it just isn't worth the effort or cost for me. I fish to relax. Not to try and be the best. I'm not the best at fishing, and I never will be.

What I have come to enjoy fishing the most here recently is a 500-1000 sized spinning reel on a small, MF rod. It fits my style well and it makes a small fish feel like a giant. Also does well on the creeks where you don't have much room.

I usually don't say anything. If I do, I say, "ope."