I am fairly new to baitcast fishing, especially when fishing for smaller species like bass - I've really only fished bigger baitcast reels on the ocean. Now I got a Quantum Energy PT reel for Christmas, and am looking for a rod to match it as the only baitcast rod I have is too big for the reel. I saw an abu garcia vendetta rod in a store the other day and weight/proportion wise that looked a lot more appropriate. I'm on a limited budget so the max I'd want to spend on a rod is $100, but preferably below that. Of course the matching Quantum rod would be an option, but I've heard mixed things about it - may however not matter for someone not (yet) fishing baitcast setups too much. I am just looking for a decent, reasonably priced rod that would work with the reel and is fairly versatile (don't have the money currently to get a whole set of baitcast rods to match all applications). Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

Florian

I'd look for a rod around the 100 dollar mark. The Abu Garcia Veritas, Shimano Compre, BPS Carbonlite and *** *** would all be worth a look. Going under the 100 dollar mark, I'd suggest looking at the Powell Diesel. I have higher end Powell rods and I like them a lot and I have heard nothing but good things about the Diesel for the price point. Also keep your eyes on the flea market. You can find some smokin deals in there. I have some Vertias' I'm selling for 70 bucks and about to put up a St. Croix Mojo Bass for 70 bucks. PM me if you're interested. As far as the specifications of a rod, I'd look for a MH/F rod around 7'. This will allow you to cover just about every application well, aside from crankbait lures.

I just picked up an Abu Garcia Villain 7'1 MH at sportsmans warehouse for $120, I know its a little high but for that rod its a great price!! The Mojo rods are good, as well as the Veritas from Abu for that price...and I agree with keeper, something around 6'6 or 7' MH will be a good start for multiple techniques!

Daiwa ballistic can also be an option. They have an array of actions and are decent rods. If you dont mind having a rod that is half red. 100bucks

A 7' MH/F would be a good general purpose rod to get started with.  80% of most bass fishing can be done with this rod, and it's serviceable for the other 20%.  Once you learn new techniques, you'll discover what you want for the more specialized techniques/baits.  There are a lot of good options at the $100 price point out there right now. Bring your reel to a store, and mount it to several rods and see what feels good.