sal669

Gamakatsu EWG 1/0 to 4/0 for 90% of my soft plastics, sometimes I will use jigs, rarely regular worm or ofset hooks (gamakatsu)

I don't whanna ruffle any feathers here, I just whant to point out some issues: 1- the high price of a high end rod doesn't derive only from the quality; a LOT of that money goes to advertising, company profits and customer satisfaction ( design, warranty, 24 hour customer service, and so on).Yes, there is extra quality too, but the proportion is not lineal : for 3x the price you will get 10-20% more quality (for example) 2-You have to compare rods designed for the same tipe of application (or multiple applications) I bet a Loomis drop shot rod would suck for carolina rigging, even though it's a high quality rod. 3-You have to ballance out the outfit. For example lets take drop shotting at 40-60 feet depth: there is no reaso spending $350 on a Loomis rod and pair it with an averege reel spooled with 6# trileneXL (soft line with a lot of strech).You would have a lot more sensitivity using an average rod paired with braided line on a very good reel ( you need excellent drag with braids, if you don't whanna ripp the hook out of the fishes mouth when getting close to the boat) 4- Look for the bargains( sales, model close-outs, year end clearance, etc.)You could end up with a quality tacke at moderate price. Finaly, "high quality" will NOT get my money. When I'm going fishing, I'm not going to show off my tackle, I'm going to catch fish and I can accomplish that without going bankrupt. Did you ever wander if all those pro's on the tour are using top of the line rods and reels?They don't !!! And if by any chanse they do , the manufacturer is sponsoring the fisherman and gave him the product free. Just watch the tourney shows, not the shows where the pro gets paid to advertise, telling you how great a certain rod /reel/bait/etc. is. Just my 2 cents

DAIWA. I own quite a couple, spinning & bitcasters, and never had any problem with them. I tryied Quantum, ABU, Shakespeare, pinnacle but they didn't feel so "smooth". Now, I have to give it to Shimano that they make darn good reels ( Symetre is a great value for the money, and yes, I own one). But I started out wiyh Daiwa and have no reason to change

Excellent post !! LURE: I'd say Generalist. I'm confortable with spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits,tubes, jigs/pigs, top water stuff but my "go to" is T-rigged 6-8" plastic worm WATER: somewhat specialist: I fish out of a canoe with a trolling motor on it, so i'm limited to smaller bodies of water on good weather.I'm looking for them from shore to 12-15 feet of water ANGLER: Finess. My baitcasters have 10 & 12 lb line on them, the spinning reels 6-8lb.I have to mention that the lakes I'm fishing don't have too much of wood or rock , mostly weeds and the water is clear.