I am a beginer and I need a cheep but good rod and reel.  I fish for brim (which i am not a beginer at) on lake gutersville in Alabama and want to start bass fishing.  I would not like a closed reel though.  

Thanks

Rods and reels are pretty much all the same as in the more you pay the better they get. A good place to start is wal-mart. They have some decent stuff at an afforable price. Look for a rod with a little bit of back bone, fairly stiff from the handle to about the middle of the rod. Then from the middle to the tip look for something that is not to flimsy. Start with the low priced rods and work your way up you will see what I am talking about. As for a reel I personaly like Qauntum and Shimano, look how many bearings are in each reel, the more the better. I hope this helps

I am a beginer and I need a cheep but good rod and reel. I fish for brim (which i am not a beginer at) on lake gutersville in Alabama and want to start bass fishing. I would not like a closed reel though.

Not being sure what you consider cheap Wal-Mart offers up some low end combo's that could work for you, or better yet if you have a Bass Pro Shop or Cabelas around you might want to watch their adds because they often have rod/reel combos on sale for excellent value.  BPS store brand combos are usually pretty solid for a good price.  Even better is a combination of a BPS rod with a name brand reel (Daiwa, Shimano, Pflueger).

Welcome aboard!

If you specify your pricing point, what you want to spend, that will help our members make appropriate suggestions.

I'd try a sporting goods store. I bought my first spinning reel/rod combo at a Sports Authority. It was a shimano sedona spinning reel with a shimano scimitar rod, plus it was 40% off at the time.

The salesman in the fishing department pointed it out to me because he knew that is was a good deal. All in all, I paid under $50 for a rod/reel combo that lasted me well over 2 years (then the bait monkey and his cousin gear monkey showed up). The two piece rod broke last summer, but my wife still uses the sedona reel among others.

Of course that was many years ago and many, many rods and reels ago. However, I still think that that was the best deal on a rod/reel I've ever gotten.

I agree with the previous posters though, brand names are better.

- Matt

Always remember............You get what you pay for............ ;D

Look at wal mart I picked up a abu garcia 7' mediam heavy bait caster for $27.00 I'm so happy with it I bought one more.. also they have some good deals on abu garcia reels. I beleve its all in the reel

cheap no name reels will leave you flustrated. Get a good name brand bait caster and have fun..  

the walmart here carries pinnacle baitcast reels, they are about 50 bucks, i bought mine online cuz i wanted left hand crank, but i like it so far..very smooth...i have also purchased abu spinning reels there, 33 bucks...i like them alot too....all my rods are from walmart...20 bucks tops...go shekespere!!

Cliff

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

How much do you want to spend ?

Thanks! I just went to a close sporting goods store near where i live and got a pflueger combo for about $40.  It will work great!