TheBig1

Ok, well my wife and I are tired of not catching any fish when we go out. I've watched a couple of BassResourse's videos by Glenn about drop shotting and we are ready to give it a try and hopefully start putting some fish in the boat, if not I'll be blaming him for it. This coming Friday we're going to strip the boat of all but drop shot gear and hit the lake. It's a learn it or go home empty type deal. Don't ask about our setups, we're still in the upper echelons of the Wal-Mart phase. We'll be upgrading soon enough to something decent but for right now we're just going out to get some bites. I bought an Eagle Drop Shot kit from Wal-Mart since I've never done it before as well as some of those #1 size VMH swivel hooks. The only thing that I did not do, that I have read to be suggested, is to put 10-15lb braid on our rods. Unfortunately for this coming trip on Friday we'll be fishing with straight 8lb mono that's already on there because my one 6'6" spinning rod quadruples as my senko, shaky head, trout/shiner, and now my drop shotting rod. We'll just have to back off on the drag to fight any bigguns. To go on the hook I bought some Robo Worms as well as some 4" Gander Mountain finess worms all with straight tails. Does anyone have any advice for our upcoming trip?

Thanks again to everyone for your input. It's hard to tell by reading most of the threads contained in this forum but apparently there are others who use the lower end quality equipment. I appreciate all of the great ideas and product names that were thrown out there. Now it's just time for me to do a little more research on all of them as well as put them in my hands and educate myself on such quality rod feel. Now I think I should start a similar thread addressing quality reels up to and under $100 to be paired with these great rods.

I told the guy I had a budget at the time of $500 and he steered me toward the $250 pair of Bushnell Legends. They're the greatest set I've ever looked through. Now I'm trying to learn the same concept as far as quality and budgetary restraints to our, mine and my wife's, fishing gear.

It's actually comforting to know that. I compare it much like the first time I looked through some quality binoculars as opposed to some cheap Wal-Mart binos. The difference in quality and sensitivity was a true lesson in the difference of what a quality product can be. Of course I'm terrified to learn this lesson with fishing rods because of their price. Again, the "quality" rods that I have were bought when Wal-Mart sold off their line of Fenwick's and had a clearance sale on them for stupid low prices. I went in there and picked up a few rods which was nice at the time. Just looking to up the quality of my equipment since I'm going to buy a new rod or two anyway.

I really want to thank all who've replied. Apparently there are other quality choices out there for under or right around $100 without having to go slightly over. I guess there for a moment I got a case of tunnel vision so I appreciate you bringing some of these brands to my attention. I don't think rods between $50-$100 are discussed and compared enough. I am not versed enough on brand names to recognize the price of a rod by it's name. Again, I thank you. I'll be checking out the H2O's as well as the other rods mentioned. Also, I can't believe that I forgot about BPS, but I'm glad that I made someone validate them first. I love BPS for my fishing gear.

Please allow me to clarify also, I am open to other suggestions given that I am able to stay under $100 for the rods. I understand that this is a difficult question given the fact that this involves an opinion of the best of the bottom of the barrel rods as opposed to a medium grade or upper echelon rod. So again, any input would be greatly appreciated.

After having searched and read through many threads for answers as well as having searched reviews I have some questions for some of you bassers. Lets keep in mind that I am a family man who cannot afford the $150 and up rods that I've seen suggested on here to others. My arsenal consists of several Wal-Mart level Fenwick's as well as some Berkley Cherrywood's which have both served me quite well. The reels I've accompanied them to are some Cabela's Prodigy's, Bass Pro Extremes and Quantum Accurist's which have also served me quite well although I'm looking to try out some Lew's reels on my next reel purchase. So go ahead and get the chuckling out of the way so we can move on with some objective discussion. With that being said, after having read many threads on here I am beginning to realize that some of my rod/reel setups are not as they should be and need to be fixed. This could quite possibly explain why I lost the biggest fish I've ever seen on the end of my line right at the boat because the chatterbait that I caught it on was being fished on a crankbait rod, so thank you for that tidbit. So now onto my question about this line of rods. I've seen them around at Dick's and a local tackle shop, not having paid too much attention to them. Our immediately local Wal-Mart's do not carry such fishing tackle but just last night at a Wal-Mart 15 miles away I saw them and they were on sale for $70 which is $20 off from what Dick's wants. Now given the fact that I need to reconfigure some of my setups anyway and possibly purchase a few new rods, I thought that I might step up my game from the $30-$40 rods and purchase something such as the Skeet Reese line of rods. Given my budgetary constraints, what are your thoughts on this line of rods, if any?

I served 4yrs active duty in the infantry until getting injured and wouldn't change it for the world. If I am hearing things correctly, you're in the National Guard which changes things a little. At first I would tell most certainly tell you to move on to something more marketable. You've done your time, you've done more than enough to be proud of, you have nothing more to prove, get something technical for the rest of your life. But since you're limited in your choices, at least that's how it sounds, perhaps your best bet is to stay or to at least go into the aviation unit. I know you're staying regardless, but be warned, do not stay just because of the "We're going to promote you" game. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen this game played on good men only to have PLDC slots disappear due to cuts or some other BS. As for me, like someone else said, I had to go into law enforcement. Not that I don't enjoy it, but not that I enjoy it either. When I sat in front of my Ltc. and told him of my future plans of college which is why I was not reenlisting, which was funny because I was so screwed up only to have the VA completely denying my claim until this day while I pay for my own rehab, he simply stood up and shook my hand and wished me luck. Another offer of advice, if you do go into law enforcement, you don't have to spend thousands of dollars on a college education to do so. Civil service tests are free and entry level positions such as corrections officer do not require college degrees. If you want to be an officer, simply just get your ACT 120 and be done with it or be a CO and moonlight as a part time officer double dipping until you become a state trooper or something awesome like that. Anyways, I've rambled too much, good luck to you. You'll always have done your basic training at Ft. Benning, GA and will always have worn that blue cord. If you need to move on now, then you do so.

Good day Gentlemen, new user here but thought I'd add my two cents to the topic. About 10 years ago when Senkos came out, were pricey and since they're so soft and you could only catch between 1-4 fish total on them before they were destroyed, I searched for some type of idea to make it a better experience. I have used the same one, although I have dozens in my box, of these. Go to a pet store or some place which sells the clear air tubing, I think it's 3/8" round size. Sorry, it's literally been 10 years and I've used the same one ring since then. Once you've bought about 1' of it, take it home and cut it into small lengths approximately 1/4". Now just slip that over your Senko, slip the hook between the two and you're ready to go. Remember, BETWEEN the tubing and Senko. The hook does not penetrate either of them, it simply sits between the two. I've used the same 4", brown Senko and ring for the past 10 years. Of course with the different size Senkos, larger and smaller, you'd simply need to get more tubing in those sizes. I hope this helped. This spring I was at Cabela's and one of the associates let it out of his mouth that there was a Wacky rigging tool and I almost fell over laughing as I hadn't heard of it yet. I know, I must have been under a rock. But I almost fell over and then he told me the price and I couldn't believe it either. Well again, I hope this works gentlemen, save your money for other more important things like the gas to go fishing some more.