22 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Maybe try a P5 Destroyer of your choosing?

 

THIS.

50 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

I still think I'd rather have a $500 reel than a $500 truck.  

 

I'm the exact opposite.   

23 hours ago, Micro Module Police said:

Please get yourself some Googan Squad rods and reels, and tell us your opinion about them😊

No Joke - spinning rods on sale at TW. 
 

I hate to admit that I had a GS casting rod once. It had an SLX (brand new - first outing) attached to it. It got hung on a tree branch and ripped out of my kayak. I wasn’t upset expect for the reel…

@Smirak - cost-effective quick-release rod leashes.  

Separate rod+reel harness, and leash.  You can get everything to make these on Amazon.  

Rod leash uses bungee and bungee-size toggles - swivel hook on short leash can glide on anchor trolley line, longer leash clips to deck eye.  Small paracord buckle connects the two sides.  You make up a separate rod-end harness for each rod.  

 

Rod-end harness uses coreless paracord, smaller paracord-size toggle, and some salty knot-seizing. Paracord knots are round turn and half hitch.  You can make the spinning size shorter.  

 

To wrap both rod and reel foot - loop harness over reel seat - insert the reel foot facing backwards on the seat - when you turn the reel forward, both rod and reel are wrapped together, and the reel can't fall off the rod.  

Any rod out of sight and out of mind gets leashed.  

3 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

I still think I'd rather have a $500 reel than a $500 truck.  

 

I have a $300 truck and it was one of the best purchases I have ever made.

That explains it.  The $500 truck came with a sense of humor.  

 

20 hours ago, king fisher said:

No matter how good I am, I don't get the same Santa Clause as others do.  

 

Love the Marx brothers. But I think you lost 75% of the membership with that one @herder haha

1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Love the Marx brothers. But I think you lost 75% of the membership with that one @herder haha

I’m definitely in the 25% camp @herder👍🏻

All kidding aside although I’m not drawn to high end gear I will say if I was I personally would only stick with Daiwa or Shimano, and with that said I would choose a Steez A or Bantam MGL for casting or only a Shimano Exscence if I was going high end spinning and in all honesty for me it would be spinning. If I could get both it would be a Zillion and Exscence from the JDM market which I think would qualify at the price point and worry about the rod another time but that’s just me. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Sounds like a good opportunity to look into a custom rod.

Well, what are you going to get?

 

I'm looking to spend some money as well.

 

I said I was done sports gambling but loaded the old DraftKings account up over the weekend and have done very well.  LOL

Kinda digging the Steez A II at roughly $300 US “pre tariff” from JLS. 

If you don't mind the warranty and a little tariff grab from jdm site. Japan lure shop have lot of p5 under 300 spinning and casting. Mid high end Daiwa and shimano reel 300 and under also.

Probably wouldn't want to throw any of those lures you mentioned on this one but IMHO the deal of the day is the poison ultima (open box) on sale at Midway for $659 so for just a $159 additional sacrifice to the bait monkey you could walk away with a god level spinning rod.


Aside from that if you actually want a casting rod and can wait might be worth keeping an eye on Dobyns rods on Amazon as I've seen several Xtasy models in the $300 range lately and that's actually a really nice rod for that price. Loomis GLXs also look like they are discounted at fish and field although I haven't bought from them before.
 

Either way my vote would be for a rod as I typically stay in the $200-$300 range for reels.

I get a pretty decent discount on both Dobyns and Phoenix, so I can grab a Dobyns anytime.

 

ill look at the P5s on JLS as well…

I have the G. Loomis IMX Pro MBR 903c 7'6 MH casting rod and its amazing

So is the IMX Pro SJR 901s 7'6 Light spinning rod that I also have. 

they are worth a look if you are in the market for a new rod. 

I would go with-

Daiwa Tatula SV TW100

Dobyns Champion Series

 

Those would be pretty close to your $500.

300$ for the reel make it a used 200 size shimano conquest  and a 200$  g loomis... 

On 12/13/2025 at 12:47 PM, Smirak said:

ill look at the P5s on JLS as well…

 

On 12/9/2025 at 10:55 AM, bulldog1935 said:

I still think I'd rather have a $500 reel than a $500 truck.  

 

 

I don't know if you are joking but I do want one of those trucks

@Falkus

It costs a lot less to make the reel run the way you want.  

(this was a used $200 '18 Ryoga - more proof there's no such thing as a $300 truck)

 

Well, I went with a zillion sv tw from digitaka. Really wanted to do a P5 Dark Sleeper as well, but honestly, by the time the surcharge for oversized item as well as the tariff “feeshare” from digitaka, it wouldn’t have been much cheaper than ordering one in the states. So, instead of a P5, I wound up grabing a Zodias 7’2 MH from TW. Merry Christmas is what the wife said. When the rod gets here Friday, I’m just going to put a ribbon on it and put it next to the tree. I told her I’d even wrap the free t shirt and sticker.

Just now, bulldog1935 said:

Yeah, that’d be me 😂😂