My wife let me pick out a reel for my gift and I chose a Pflueger President PressP20.  I’m gonna set it up for finesse such as rooster tails, beetle spins and maybe a smaller shaky head. What rod would you recommend and what length? $100ish budget and I will use braid.

Fenwick HMG med spin

13 makes some good rods for the money, the 36T blanks have really good actions.  Check out the Fate Black, Fate V3 and the Omen Black.  The reel you have is pretty light, unless your going to counterbalance the rod a ML is probably the way to go.

I havent been able to get my hands on 1, but if what my buddy said is true the MajorCraft Nanoace rods may be the best deal on the market.

14 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

13 makes some good rods for the money, the 36T blanks have really good actions.  Check out the Fate Black, Fate V3 and the Omen Black.  The reel you have is pretty light, unless your going to counterbalance the rod a ML is probably the way to go.

I havent been able to get my hands on 1, but if what my buddy said is true the MajorCraft Nanoace rods may be the best deal on the market.

I’m eyeballing some 13 rods as we speak actually just trying to get a feel for what I would like. Thank you!

32 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

The reel you have is pretty light, unless your going to counterbalance the rod a ML is probably the way to go.

Ya - the Pflueger 20s are equivalent to other brand's 500 size. A ML is probably the heaviest rod I'd use with that.

 

I had a Pres-20 on a UL rod for panfish, but sold it last fall as it was too light for bass and my L/F Ned rod works great...have a 1000 on that (Pflueger 25 size)

1 hour ago, NavyVet1204 said:

I’m eyeballing some 13 rods as we speak actually just trying to get a feel for what I would like. Thank you!

 

I have two 13Fishing ML's - spinning and casting.  

The spinning rod will fish 1/16 oz, super light in hand Toray graphite, nice components, and fast everywhere except the tip.  

I use the smaller size spinning reels for bass all the time.  I generally use 20 lb braid or 14 lb Fireline.   I just crank the drag down some and dare the fish to break it.  I've lost a few fish because of operator error and I've lost a few fish because of knot failure between the braid & fluorocarbon leader.   Never lost a fish because I thought the reel was too small for the fish.

17 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

I have two 13Fishing ML's - spinning and casting.  

The spinning rod will fish 1/16 oz, super light in hand Toray graphite, nice components, and fast everywhere except the tip.  

which ones?

19 hours ago, NavyVet1204 said:

I’m eyeballing some 13 rods as we speak actually just trying to get a feel for what I would like. Thank you!

I would recommend checking them out in person if its possible.  The action and feel is a little different from line to line.

6 hours ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

which ones?

I would recommend checking them out in person if its possible.  The action and feel is a little different from line to line.

Mine are both Omen Green, 7'1" bait and 7'7" spinner

Note the 7'2" ML spinner has the exact same rating

1 hour ago, bulldog1935 said:

Mine are both Omen Green, 7'1" bait and 7'7" spinner

It seems like the Green rods have a different power and action rating compared to the freshwater lines.  Im pretty sure they still use that 30t PVG in the Fate Black and there MLs arent as soft.

You're going to want the 25 size. Trust me. Anything less is L to UL territory for panfish. It will handle bass but so will a Barbie spincast reel. You'll be much happier with a 25. Most opt for a size 30.