i got a rod for christmas its a shakespeare catera im-7 graphite spinning rod and a 5 ball bearing reel.  is this any good?

I own one my self and its a good reel for the money Ive never had any problems with it at all didnt care for the rod it came with not very sensitive so I swaped the rod out for a mh extreme from basspro shops. Just keep it cleaned and oiled and it should last a long time.

i agree with tony on the reel, cheap and good, but i dont know about the rod. i use the reel for pike with 8lb Trilene XL Smooth Casting and is great.

aaron

I bought one of these reels cheap at wal mart for like $25 to put on a berkley cherrywood rod that I use for bullheads/catfish and for loaning out to my neices/nephews when we walk the banks of my ponds for bass/panfish. I don't like to beat up my nice bass gear for that. This reel is 3 years old and has taken a surprsing amount of abuse with zero maintaince, and still works flawlessly. Good cheap reel IMHO for recreational fishing. I don't imagine it would last long with day in day out fishing with the zero maintanence I have given it, but they are cheap enough that if they break toss them out and buy another.

Great reel, especially for the price. It actually WON field and stream's tackle test about 3-4 years ago put up against reels in the $100-$150 range

Great reel, especially for the price. It actually WON field and stream's tackle test about 3-4 years ago put up against reels in the $100-$150 range

HA HA....there's a guy in my club that has some of those Catera's and he swears by 'em. He always told everybody about that F&S test but nobody ever believed him.  ;D  ....thats funny,I'll have to mention that the next time I see him.