Boomstick

My catfish rod is a Berkley Tec Cat Hunter 8' MH rod paired with a Daiwa Regal Bri 4000, which is a Bite n run reel with a massive amount of drag that is ideal for catfish that is not too expensive (Luke from the catsandcarp youtube channel uses them frequently and said he has had great luck with them which was why I picked it to be honest). It's pretty new to me and I've hardly got a chance to try it out, but the rod has a great overall feel and is fairly light which is why I bought it. I used it bass fishing a few times after I broke two rods and it worked decently other than the tip being super fast. Another rod I considered is the Rippin' Lips Super Cat 7'6" medium heavy, which is an affordable S-glass rod. I definitely prefer 7'6" or 8' rods because they are not too excessively long but I don't own a boat so I spend most of my time shore fishing, so it helps me cast that extra distance which can be important for catching cats. Since I usually fish with my kids, I'll need to add at least one more catfish rod. My oldest kid has an Ugly Stick gx2 that should at least be fine for at least the typical sized channel cats that we have in the northeast, but I was going to gift my youngest son a catfish rod for his birthday at the end of the month. I was thinking of getting a Cabela's King Kat spinning combo, they seem to be good for the money, and I liked the King Kat a lot better than several more expensive combos I've seen. EDIT: I just realized I brought back an ancient thread, sorry

I have never used fluro as a mainline, but an overspooled reel certainly is not going to help matters, so I would suggest taking the extra line off. Also this is just preference but I definitely prefer a sidearm cast with a bait caster, this way I don't even have to feather the line and can throw it out there, feather as the lure nearly hits the water and then stop when it does. If I backlash this way then something is majorly wrong with the reel or the line because I setup the reel for minimum tension on the tension knob, and the brake around halfway. For overhand casting, I will set both more aggressively and feather the line the entire cast.

Okay thank you for the quick response. I just bought it, should have it for the weekend along with the SV reel as well as the Mitchell Pro combo I've had my eye on for a while now. Should be able to throw the lighter ones with the Mitchell just fine as well.

How does the 6'10" MH/F cast smaller spinnerbaits, like a 1/4 and maybe even a 3/16 oz? I could also use my spinning rod for those as well though. I gather it's great for 3/8 oz and especially 1/2 oz. I found the 6'10" for a little cheaper than the 7'1" or 7'2" and it would fit in my car better, so I'm about to snag it. I also found the SV tatula reel for around $25 more than the CT or type R so that's a done deal.

I try to largely follow what he said as a general rule, and if I end up cutting a little off to change my rig around a little, I don't generally worry about it. For some techniques like a Carolina rig, as little as 2' may be adequate, but if you are drop shotting in deep water, it's possible you'd want a whole lot more. The one thing I will throw out there is certain types of mono, Trilene XL for example tend to break before they stretch. Now if that was original Stren, Berkley Big Game or XT, this is 100% true.

I haven't fished the CT either (yet) but plan to try the Oxbow in Northampton as soon as I can get the chance.

I almost always use braid on my spinning reels because line twist is rather minimal with braid, then I tie on a leader, either mono or fluro. 15lb is largely appropriate in strength, but I would suggest using 20lb braid as it is less likely to dig into itself since it's a little bit fatter. I recommend using Daiwa J-Braid if you can find it, it's a high quality braid and seems to fray less easily than others I've used. If not, Spiderwire or PowerPro will do just fine as well. I could recommend avoiding budget brands of braid however, because a lot of cheap braid will really dig into itself horribly. I use 8-12lb mono as backing. If the reel will hold around 150 yards of braid, then I just give it a solid two layers in mono so the entire reel is solidly covered and use the rest braid, but if it holds around 200-220 yards of line, then I would use more mono backing so I only have to buy 150 yards of braid. Hope that helps

I run braid on my spinning reels because it is far less prone to line twist. I don't see any disadvantages in terms of spinning reels with braid for a beginner other than knots, and the palomar is easy to tie and works well with braid. With a bait casting reel, it's a little different. Braid can bird's nest worse than mono, and is more difficult to get the knots out. I actually run mono on my bait caster as someone who's just getting into fishing myself. I learned to cast like a pro in no time at all in open areas, but I run into scenarios where I'm trying to cast and my line snags something unintended time to time and that can leave a nasty bird's nest when you have the tensionizer all the way down and the brake in the middle, but with mono, I can usually get it out.

Penn's spinning reels do have some serious drag no question, although I'm sold on the Mitchell myself. The abuse the ugly stik's can take does make them a good pairing with Penn reels imo

Have you tried the Mitchell 300 Pro? My friend bought one so I got a chance to use it, cranks moderately fast (5.8 gear ratio) and incredibly smooth. I'm actually going to get a Daiwa Tatula, but I also considered a Mojo Bass. I like the feel of the Mojo Bass a lot and you certainly can't go wrong with one

I just started fishing this year, along with my boys. Since I've been buying so much gear at once, money was obviously an issue. We will upgrade over time. In fact this weekend, I'm going to buy myself a spinning rod (going to try the Mitchell combo, if I don't like the rod it doesn't matter because it's the same price as the reel at Cabela's currently and I know I like the reel) and a higher end bait caster for bass, and maybe another Cabela's Whuppin' Stick combo since they're on sale for $30 because an extra rod never hurt. I tend to buy what I like the feel of.

Okay the 7'1" MHR it is. Gonna see if I can find a deal on a Tatula SV reel, but otherwise it'll be the Type R.

You guys have pretty much sold me on an original Tatula. Right now It's either the 7'1 MH (regular tip) rod or the 7'2" MH glass cranking rod... I think I'd likely large either so it's a tough call.

I haven't been able to find it under $197 anywhere. I'll keep looking.

Well you would have me sold on the SV if it wasn't $100 more and double the price I can get the Type R for (and a little out of of my price range).

How do you think glass does with lighter weights? Like it be slightly inferior or do you think it'd be pretty useless and I'd be using the spinning rod? Got me strongly considering the glass rod now... Excellent! I've had plenty of exposure to the Mojo Bass as they're in every decent store in the area pretty much, but the Tatula's are much harder to get my hands on. I know I would definitely be happy with the Mojo Bass so if I end up liking the Tatula better than that's awesome.

Good question. Well we only have channel cats in New England, and I have to drive 90 minutes east or west to fish for them, so I spend most of my time bass fishing, so buying bass rod's are my priority. My oldest kid's ugly stik can also manage a typical channel as well, although isn't near a king kat.

Nice! I will likely add a King Kat (maybe baitrunner, haven't yet decided) for one of the kids, great cheaper catfishing rods for the price. My setup is a Berkley Tec Cat Hunter, 8' MH and a Daiwa Regal 4000 BRI. Pretty fast action, but the rod has a great feel and is very light compared to most other cat rods (similar to a St. Croix Mojo Cat I'd say). I have 30# braid spooled on one reel currently that I've been using for heavier cover when bass fishing and for the normal heavier cover I run into, it's enough where I always get my line back. It's also adequate for the channel cats around here, I get a chance to fish larger catfish roughly once a year. It comes with a second spool and I will load that up with 65# braid when I get around to it -- I just got it a couple of weeks ago.

Part of me was considering the 7'2" glass cranking rod as well. I could use my spinning rod for anything lighter. I don't have a boat and spend a lot of time shore fishing though, so I will often use a 3/16 or 1/4 oz spinnerbait as well depending what kind of depth I'm working on, which is why I'm not considering it higher. Of course, if the water ever warms up, I'll be fishing the 3/8 oz all day!

In theory, they should be the same in terms of strength and action. I guess if this is actually true or not falls into the design and manufacturing process. On the other hand, a longer rod technically has a longer tip too, so they very well may stiffen it up or shorten the area that moves.

Would you say the regular is closer to fast than moderate?

I too am looking to pick up another bait caster and the Tatula Type R or perhaps a SV are definitely options I'm considering, so I will be interested to see what people have to say here as well.

That is definitely another advantage as well. My youngest kid uses a Cabela's Whuppin Stick which is a moderate action rod and his favorite lure to fish with is the crankbait so the braid counters the moderate action tip. And he often catches more fish than the rest of the group too.

Hey guys, I was going to pick up another bait casting rod and was considering a Daiwa Tatula or a St. Croix Mojo Bass. Looking for something that will serve as a solid all-around bass rod, you know 7', medium heavy, fast action tip but I notice the Tatula comes in 7'1" extra fast or 7'1" or 7'2" regular, which I guess is moderate fast since they have a rating for fast? I was wondering if anyone had any insight how fast the "regular" actually is or would I be better off with the extra fast? I will likely use this rod for a variety of uses, but likely a lot of spinnerbaits and swim jigs more often than not and sometimes crankbaits or top water lures and other baits that are constantly retrieved and recast. I have a 7' medium spinning reel to compliment it (and my catfish reel if I need to throw into heavy weeds).

I should add that if I'm fishing in really heavy cover I will usually get out my catfish rod which has heavy braid, which is part of the reason I threw mono on the bait caster.