G Loomis, baitcasters

St Croix, spinning

I buy mostly Daiwa Tatula rods, it's just hard to beat them for the price point. I do like St. Croix, and G Loomis rods as well.

GLoomis and Shimano for fresh and Batson and Calstar for salt.

I like, in no particular order:

 

Abu Garcia

Powell

St Croix

Denali

Fenwick

 One three fishing

I have switched a majority of my rods to Kistler and will finishing switching this year. Great rods and they have actions and powers I have never heard of or knew that I needed. lol

G. Loomis

Shimano

Megabass

Dobyns

 

Falcon: casting

St Croix, Dobyns: spinning

15 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

Aside from the custom rods I had built to the specs I wanted them built to, my current favorite off the shelf rods are:

 

Daiwa

Abu Garcia

Berkley

 

I find those brands offer a good "bang for the buck" ratio. While not as finely built and crafted with top notch components, or as "nice" as Loomis, St Croix, etc....the performance of "budget" rods now-a-days is closing the gap on some of the premium rods. That's a huge plus for someone like me, who, for reasons only known to god, is very rough on rods. Sure, the warranties on the high end stuff is usually great, but breaking a couple $200+ rods a year is a tuff pill to swallow, breaking a few $75 rods a year is still not desirable, but easier to stomach.

I can't thank you enough for pointing me to Daiwa Aird X rods.  I had a enough of 'quality rod companies' last year.  Dobyns refused to back a Champion rod that broke during a forward cast and made me pay $90 replacement (on top of $30 to ship the rod to them for 'inspection').  I was responsible for breaking a Powell endurance and had it replaced with a 3D Max that was horribly unbalanced.  I requested an exchange and the owner of the company got so offended which ended in the most disrespectful email I've ever received. 

 

I was fed up with these companies and knew there was something better.  A week later I came across a post of yours praising the Aird X.  $55?  I'll give them a try.  these rods are a-m-a-z-i-n-g.  they are light as a feather and as balanced as a St croix LTB or Champion Extreme....at only a fraction of the cost.  I agree the gap is closing and nothing could make me happier. I'm done with the primadonna niche brands.

 

fyi:

Daiwa Aird has a 1 yr warranty. 

For a few dollars more you can get a 5 yr warranty with the Tatula XT and S Casting.

 

25 minutes ago, ClackerBuzz said:

I can't thank you enough for pointing me to Daiwa Aird X rods.  I had a enough of 'quality rod companies' last year.  Dobyns refused to back a Champion rod that broke during a forward cast and made me pay $90 replacement (on top of $30 to ship the rod to them for 'inspection').  I was responsible for breaking a Powell endurance and had it replaced with a 3D Max that was horribly unbalanced.  I requested an exchange and the owner of the company got so offended which ended in the most disrespectful email I've ever received. 

 

I was fed up with these companies and knew there was something better.  A week later I came across a post of yours praising the Aird X.  $55?  I'll give them a try.  these rods are a-m-a-z-i-n-g.  they are light as a feather and as balanced as a St croix LTB or Champion Extreme....at only a fraction of the cost.  I agree the gap is closing and nothing could make me happier. I'm done with the primadonna niche brands.

 

fyi:

Daiwa Aird has a 1 yr warranty. 

For a few dollars more you can get a 5 yr warranty with the Tatula XT and S Casting.

 

You could’ve sold me on this one. I might have to go pick one up to see for myself.

my top 3:

 

1. G. Loomis

2. Loomis

3. 1 and 2

44 minutes ago, SoFloSully said:

You could’ve sold me on this one. I might have to go pick one up to see for myself.

I haven't pushed them to their limits yet (yanking on a snagged lure with braid mainline like an idiot; too much drag set with braid etc) but i'm pretty sure ww2farmer middle name is torture test so I'm confident they will fair well.

Megabass, Loomis, St. Croix.

 

Would love to try a Kistler

St Croix hands down. Daiwa has served me well too.

I like Loomis, Megabass and Kistler not in any particular order. I would be happy fishing exclusively with any one of these brands.

Abu Garcia and Kistler.  

I have slowly migrated pretty much 100% to Fenwick.  For the price I have a hard time justifying anything else.  I use several Aetos rods and they are awesome.  I have never fished with one of the 400-500 dollar rods, but for what I do I don't know if I ever will.

12 hours ago, bigfruits said:

Megabass, Loomis, St. Croix.

 

Would love to try a Kistler

Sign up for Kistler’s newletter. They’ll send you discounts/coupons.

 

Their current incentive is 20% off your order.

There's just WAY too many quality rod brands these days. It's really difficult as a consumer to pick something. 

3 hours ago, ZebcoZak said:

I have slowly migrated pretty much 100% to Fenwick.  For the price I have a hard time justifying anything else.  I use several Aetos rods and they are awesome.  I have never fished with one of the 400-500 dollar rods, but for what I do I don't know if I ever will.

My only complaint about Fenwick is IF you send back a warranty rod.. they make you ship the busted rod to Canada. Shipping a tube to Canada is expensive. 

 

22 minutes ago, punch said:

There's just WAY too many quality rod brands these days. It's really difficult as a consumer to pick something. 

My only complaint about Fenwick is IF you send back a warranty rod.. they make you ship the busted rod to Canada. Shipping a tube to Canada is expensive. 

 

Interesting.  I actually haven't ever had the need but that is a bit of an annoyance....

4 minutes ago, ZebcoZak said:

Interesting.  I actually haven't ever had the need but that is a bit of an annoyance....

Yeah, it REALLY sucks. You get a "free" replacement on an Aetos but gotta spend like 50-60 bucks sending the old rod to them. They will not reimburse you either. Pure fishing has offices in the USA, but their warranty program is run out of Canada. This is literally the reason I'm not buying anymore Fenwick in the future. 

 

There are many really good rods out there across all brands and price ranges.

For the money - Fenwick

Fenwick

Powell 

1.  St Croix

2. Rodgeeks

3. Batson