Hey guys!! just signed up and thought this would be a great place for some pointers on purchasing a rod and reel combo.  Ive outgrown the ugly stick and figured its time to buy a baitcast reel although ive never used one ive got all summer to practice. But i just dont know where to begin. Im not tall 5'7 and i usually fish with a texas rigged plastic worm and grubs.  But have only used my ugly stick which is great but i want better results especially for bass.  Another question i have is these combos im looking for are primarily for bass would they be ok for walleye and other types of fish that are in the finger lakes region where i live.  I'm going to bass pro shops in a week or two to make a purchase so any advice is greatly appreciated.  Trout season starts tomorrow!!! THanks

Hey neighbor........I too am from the finger lakes region, welcome to the forum. How much are you willing to spend?? Bass Pro Shops out in Auburn has some great combos. I would personaly recomend the Daiwa Procaster 100H/BPS Binoic Blade combo for $119, or the BPS Extreme baitcasting reel/BPS Extreme rod combo also for $119, a 7' MH rod is a good rod for most bass fishing aplications. Not much of a Walleye/Trout fisherman, but would think that would be too heavy of a combo for trout, and might be OK for walleye.

thanks for the advice ill defintely check them out.  

Welcome aboard!

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A really good value for a beginning baitcast combo is the Shimano Citica/XPS Extreme from BPS.  These are usualy $160 but can be had on sale occasionally for $140.  Make sure you choose the rod based on the baits you plane on throwing.  I like a 7' MH for an all purpose rod.  You may prefer a 7' M since you also target other species.  good luck.

I got a Shimano Sahara and Bionic Blade combo for around $100 and BPS.  Its a terrific finesse or worm combo for its price.  

Just wanted to say thanks for all the welcomes and greetings this site is awesome and im so glad i stumbled upon it.  Kudos to the people who take the time and effort to make this a great site theres so much information.  I made my purchase last night(i know i said two weeks but who's counting)lol.  i bought the daiwa procaster 6+1 with a 7'mh bionic blade 109$$ not a bad find in my opinion.  my only question is which line to buy for it??  any suggestions.  my only worry is since im primarily and avid pond fisherman (id like to get out on some lakes) is this practical for what i want to achieve.  either way im pumped about getting out there.  

I second the vote for Trilene XL, 12-14lb should be a good match for that combo. If this is your first time with a baitcaster I would advise against spoolong it up with expensive braid or flurocarbon, you might just get one of those backlashes where you need to start cutting................better to learn with mono.

I don't have as much experience probably as the other posters but I do know that when I switched from mono to braid on my first baitcaster that the number of my backlashes dropped probably by 80%.

Not much I do is ever the "normal" way so take it for what it is worth!