I fish about once a week from the shore. How much do I need to spend for a casting setup. The max I can spend is about 180, but am patient enough to wait for sales. Thanks!

You can get a pretty good rod on clearance right now if you look around. Dicks, Academy, ect will have some good deals, especially on house brands like the H20 rods at Academy. You should be able to pick up a decent rod for around $50.

As far as reels go, options abound. I wouldn't go below the $100 price point if you want something that will last you years and give you good performance.

My pick would be either a Citica I or Curado I. I own both and there's little to no difference between them, and you can get a Citica online for right around $100.

Others will say Lew's or Daiwa, but if you don't want a Shimano, I'd go with a Daiwa Tatula. They can be had for $100 as well.

26 minutes ago, bassbassontherange said:

You can get a pretty good rod on clearance right now if you look around. Dicks, Academy, ect will have some good deals, especially on house brands like the H20 rods at Academy. You should be able to pick up a decent rod for around $50.

As far as reels go, options abound. I wouldn't go below the $100 price point if you want something that will last you years and give you good performance.

My pick would be either a Citica I or Curado I. I own both and there's little to no difference between them, and you can get a Citica online for right around $100.

Others will say Lew's or Daiwa, but if you don't want a Shimano, I'd go with a Daiwa Tatula. They can be had for $100 as well.

Thanks, where do you see the citica for that price?

My recommendation for a casting reel would be the Lew's Tournament Pro Speed Spool which can be found online for $149.99 I believe. Awesome, awesome reel.

You can get a decent baitcaster for around 80 dollars lews makes some,  so does abu garcia ( black max, pro max, maybe an orra sx.)

As for rods I usually wait for cabelas or bps or dick sporting goods to have sales on their brands rods. Then I can get a rod for around 40 bucks.

lews speed spool is on sale at Cabelas for $90

Find a used Citica E on a certain site, then grab a St. Croix Rage or Mojo rod from their Bargain Bin (or if you call them on the phone I think someone said you can get 2 of those rods for $100?).  Should just be in your budget range!

42 minutes ago, blckshirt98 said:

Find a used Citica E on a certain site, then grab a St. Croix Rage or Mojo rod from their Bargain Bin (or if you call them on the phone I think someone said you can get 2 of those rods for $100?).  Should just be in your budget range!

What certain site is it, or can you not say it?

23 minutes ago, A fisher said:

What certain site is it, or can you not say it?

He is probably referring to the auction site that is named after the big river.

Since you said that you can wait, I would wait until the Bass Pro Spring Classic and pick up a Pro Qualifier. I think they were around $50 last year. Nothing better at that price.

If you live close to a Bass Pro they have a bunch of rods on clearance for 40% off right now.

Lews LFS on a Veritas 1.0.  

Prob set you back 150ish if you look hard. 

You can get much nicer gear on the used market.  You can find a daiwa Sol for about a hundred or less and pair it with a used avid 7' medium.  This is what I use and its a great pair.

Thanks,  have y'all seen the new bionic blade rods? Do they look good and will they be on sale during the classic?

For $180 i would look into a lews speed spool lfs($100) and a no.8 tackle ***($80). 

10 hours ago, Angry John said:

You can get much nicer gear on the used market.  You can find a daiwa Sol for about a hundred or less and pair it with a used avid 7' medium.  This is what I use and its a great pair.

This would be my advice as well. Unless you're dead set on buying new, your best bang for the buck is buying used gear. My process was to first figure out what I could afford (you did that already, nice!), then decide on which reel I wanted to buy, then figure out which rod I wanted to buy. Maybe look for a used Tatula or a used Curado (the green ones) then see how much you have left over for the rod. Or if the rod is more important to you, buy that first and see how much you have left over for the reel.

Buy the best you can afford. Don't go buy some cheap junk at WalMart, you will be sorry. Everybody has their own preference but look at a bunch of different ones. I don't like buying them sight unseen. Take the time to go and check out some stores that carry good equipment and see what u like best. There are a lot of good rods out there and everybody claims they are the best. All that matters is that it works for your application and is comfortable to use. I would say in the $100-200.00 range. I fish all Loomis/Shimano stuff but the prices are pretty high. I used to be hooked up with all St. Croix and they make some nice stuff. 

Spend as much as you like, or as little as you like.  Some people like really nice tackle and others don't really care. 

 

At the end of the day, fish don't care what you spent on your rod and reel.  

Barbie, Bat man, they are not going to last.

 

However, the jokes will be tremendous.

 

Use nothing heavier than 30# braid though!

 

 

Don't mind me!