My current spinning arsenal consists of my relatively new M weight Dobyns Fury and a Shimano Sahara, which I am absolutely loving; the Lews Xfinity M combo that I upgraded from, which is now my son's rod; and an UL from Bass Pro. I am doing more and more small creek fishing for smallies. The Dobyns works okay there; for sure it is sensitive enough loaded with Sufix 832. But the fish in the creek I am mainly fishing these days are a little on the small size so for a little more sport in reeling them in I'd like something a little lighter than my current Fury. 

 

Thus I am thinking that a ML spinning setup would fall right in that sweet spot for these small creek smallies. I would love to get another Fury but the budget probably doesn't allow that right now. I probably need to come in total combo cost at the Fury's price point ($119). So I am thinking around $70 tops for the rod and then I will probably go with something by Daiwa or Shimano in the $40-45 range, probably in a 1000 size. 

 

To me, sensitivity is by far the biggest characteristic I look for in a spinning rod. So any ideas would be appreciated. Daiwa Aird has caught my eye so far. Shimano Sellus and H20 Xpress Ethos Nano would also be in the picture if they had a ML but I think they only go down to M.

Daiwa arid x is a nice rod for the money.

I bought one of these from dicks a few years ago and It worked great for wacky worms and ned rigs.  Doesn't look like they offer shipping anymore, but I was able to stack coupons on top of the sales price. Lew's Carbon Fire Spinning Rod 6'8" Medium Light I also bought a casting and Dislike the casting version but the spinning has been good.  I eventually upgraded to a handful of dobyns for each presentation but the rod still gets used as a ned/wacky worm buddy rod.  Looks like they have a new version of it thats shippable.

 

You might even try a light.  I bought a 2 piece 8' TFO off sierra.com for $70ish paired with a 30 president reel, 4# berkley line.  Its always in my truck.  Trout, Crappie, and small/large bass. Hasn't broke yet and its a lot of fun in open water.

Maybe dobyns colt 702? 

 

I haven't used it but have been using a sierra 692 for the last year and a half, and I quite like it for ned rigs and trout fishing. 

For under $70 - I'd go with the Aird-X myself. I splurged a bit, got a Fury for $87, but that kind of price is hard to get.

At that price point I like the Fenwick Eagle as well as the Shimano Convergence. The eagle is a classic and I think it’s worth more than what they sell for. 

Thanks everyone for the replies. Aird is still a contender. I had looked at the Dobyns Colt, based on such good experience with my Fury rods. I will also take a look at the others mentioned.

 

Anyone have experience with the Daiwa Revros combo? I've seen the whole combo selling for $59 or $69 which is really tempting given budgetary constraints.

10 minutes ago, plawren53202 said:

Anyone have experience with the Daiwa Revros combo? I've seen the whole combo selling for $59 or $69 which is really tempting given budgetary constraints.

Unless you get into the higher price ranges, combo 'deals' like this are something to bypass. One of the two parts is going to be sub-standard...usually the rod. Looking over the combo on the Diawa site - the rod looks to be a Crossfire. So $50 reel on a $30 rod - you're not saving that much. Also there's better reels for not much more. The Revros is a 4+1 bearing while the Pflueger Trion is a 6+1 bearing for less cost. I have a pair of Trions and they're actually really good reels in that price range.

No idea about the combo, but I got my fishing partner in Florida an older Revros a few years ago for a birthday present.  He is still using it.  No problems with it that I am aware of.  It has seen a fair amount of use.  Personally I am very leery of combos.  As MN Fisher said, they often skimp on the rod.  I would rather buy separately.  No experience with the Aird X, but quite a few people here give it a thumbs up for the money.  I personally would opt for an Aird X and one of 3 reels...Revros LT, Regal LT or Trion....in no particular order.

5 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

I personally would opt for an Aird X and one of 3 reels...Revros LT, Regal LT or Trion....in no particular order.

In my case, I have a Trion-30 on an Aird-X Medium/Fast. It's been a good combo for me and has done quite well. Last year it had Yo-Zuri Hybrid 10# on it and I used it for lighter crankbaits and it performed admirably. This year I swapped the line over to my Trion-35, put that reel on an Okuma Stratus VI Medium-Heavy/Moderate for the cranks and am using the Trion-30/Aird-X with 10# Stren for jerkbaits and lighter jigs/T-Rigs (under 3/8oz). Still doing a good job.

At this point I think I'm leaning toward the Aird paired with the Daiwa Regal LT. I haven't owned a Daiwa before so I might enjoy heading that direction for that reason as well. That was the same logic that led me to go with a Shimano Sahara for my Fury/Sahara recent purchase (had never owned a Shimano before) and that turned out to be a great purchase.

 

I'd love to wait and watch for sales but the creek smallies are calling and I don't know that I have the patience. For just a little over $100 total I think I can live with that and from the recommendations seems like I'd be getting a really solid combo.

 

I'm leaning toward the 1000 size reel but a little torn about that. With this being a ML for lighter weight applications, I would love for it to be as lightweight as possible. That has me leaning toward the 1000 size. Also I don't need to cast 100 yards so especially with braid on it I think the capacity will be plenty. I'm going to be putting either 10 or 15 lb. Sufix 832 on this one with a 6 lb. Sufix Advance leader. But please let me know if I'm not thinking of something obvious regarding going with a 1000 versus 2000 size.

The advantage to the Diawa 1000 size is that it has more line capacity than a similar sized Pflueger...160yds of 6#mono vs 145 yds. I run straight mono or hybrid on my spinning rigs, so I can't comment on the braid with leader setup but 15# 832 is the same diameter as 5# mono - so you'll have about the same capacity.

Well it's done, shipment from Tackle Warehouse went out today with scheduled arrival on Wednesday. Daiwa Aird ML spinning rod, Daiwa Regal LT in 1000 size, spool of Sufix 832 10 lb. braid and Sufix Advance 6 lb. for the leader. I'm really excited about this combo. I think it will really fill a niche for creek smallies, as well as the dink largemouth in my subdivision HOA pond; and I think it will also work nicely for some crappie fishing, a new effort for me since my dad just got a boat and a place at Kentucky Lake.

 

I'll report back once it comes in and I can give it a test drive. Thanks again to everyone for the input, the members on this site have really guided me well in my last couple of rod and reel purchases.

You're gonna love it, I've got 2 friends with the aird x and they both love it. Both are rocking Daiwa reels, One of them has a Regal and another has a Legalis on it. I have a revros lt myself and love that also.

On ‎6‎/‎16‎/‎2020 at 2:24 PM, wisconsin heat said:

You're gonna love it, I've got 2 friends with the aird x and they both love it. Both are rocking Daiwa reels, One of them has a Regal and another has a Legalis on it. I have a revros lt myself and love that also.

The rod and reel arrived, got it spooled up with the Sufix 832/Advance. Tonight I took my little guy out fishing. Most of it is pulling in bluegills on an ultralight (he's little), but I did take the new Aird X/Regal combo out with me and threw a weightless Yum Dinger for a few casts. I only caught one dinky bass, but my admittedly limited first impressions: (1) this combo casts a country mile. Even with the smaller 1000 size reel, it was really sending that weightless Dinger soaring; (2) the Aird X, especially loaded with 832 braid and in a 7'0" ML configuration, is an incredibly sensitive rod, especially for the money. I was actually having trouble because I was feeling every tiniest bluegill nibble and wanting to set the hook on everything. I would never have expected this level of sensitivity at this price point; (3) the Regal feels like a really solid reel, very smooth; (4) the grip and reel seat on the Aird are a little different than what I'm used to, in a way that's hard to describe, but I think once I get used to them, I feel more connected to the rod blank which should only help sensitivity.

 

All in all, based on one very short test drive I think this is an extremely impressive combo for just over the $100 price point total. I am predicting that I am going to really enjoy getting into a bunch of creek smallmouths on this setup. And, based on the high level of sensitivity I also think this is going to make a great crappie rod for when I'm out crappie fishing with my dad.

On 6/15/2020 at 12:54 AM, Finessegenics said:

At that price point I like the Fenwick Eagle as well as the Shimano Convergence. The eagle is a classic and I think it’s worth more than what they sell for. 

I agree that the Eagles are good for the price rods. I don't care much for any of the HMX or most of the HMG Fenwick I've had, But the cheaper Eagles I like so far.

 

I have an 8' UL  rated up to 6lb line and 1/4oz lures that I use for walleye with small curly tail jigs that would probably be a hoot throwing plastics for small mouth.

 

I'm not a fan any of the cheaper Daiwa rods I tried except for a Laguna MLXF 6'6" spinning rod I have. It feels sensitive  responsive. Most Daiwa rods feel way too rigid for my taste, but this one is just right.

 

 

On 6/15/2020 at 8:56 AM, MN Fisher said:

Unless you get into the higher price ranges, combo 'deals' like this are something to bypass. One of the two parts is going to be sub-standard...usually the rod. Looking over the combo on the Diawa site - the rod looks to be a Crossfire. So $50 reel on a $30 rod - you're not saving that much. Also there's better reels for not much more. The Revros is a 4+1 bearing while the Pflueger Trion is a 6+1 bearing for less cost. I have a pair of Trions and they're actually really good reels in that price range.

I had a Daiwas Crossfire 2-pc 6'6"MHF Bait cast rod that was surprisingly decent. I bought it in a lot of assorted gear and didn't expect it to be any good. It wasn't overly heavy, thick and stiff as I find most of Daiwa's rods to be. Can't speak to the Crossfire stuff in general though.

 

I have 4 Trions that I use on my Spider rigs for Crappie fishing. I like them and by no means am calling them bad reels. I agree that they are a good choice at the price. But I also have a couple of the Daiwa Revros reels too, and they are better reels than the Trions I think. But I think that they are about half again as expensive too. I have a bunch of Presidents, also decent reels, but I would choose the Revros over those as well and they are on the same price level.