I had been looking to fill a particular niche in my arsenal for quite some time and found that there was one rod in the Compre line up fit the bill.  Something that had to have the following traits:

1)      Be a Two-Piece rod

2)      A medium heavy action to better set the hook with single hook baits (particularly medium to smaller soft plastics)

3)      A spinning rod

I found one back in July at my local Sportsman's Warehouse and decided I'd come back and buy it the next day.  That was a foolish mistake, because it was gone!  At least I didn't blow the $89 on it.

Fast forward to yesterday. I drop by the store on a gut feeling that it might be there after low and behold, it was.  I was a bit surprised at looking at the price tag.  It read, Fenwick $54.95.  I thought it was mis-priced so I flagged down an employee and he confirmed the price. It was correctly marked.

The cashier rang it up and when I saw $54.95 rung up, I did a mental, Tiger Woods double fist pump, YES!

Yeah, I know, it is not best rod out there and I have other rods that are more sensitive but it is more than sufficiently sensitive for the role I have for it in my arsenal.

I am sure glad that I waited.  Spending $54.95 is much easier on the wallet than $89.99.  I suppose they might have been clearing them out to make way for the new Shimano Cumarra rod series.  

I feel like I really scored.  The two-piece requirement was a necessity so that I can pack in the trunk sight unseen, something I can't do with my one-piece rods during the week.

I feel so lucky to have scored a $90 rod for nearly 50% off. And just a little over a year ago, I scored a Crucial for $59.00.  I feel like a lucky guy.  I guess patience pays off for me once again.

The specs of the rod are:

Lure Weight: 3/16 7/8 oz

Action: Medium Heavy

Length: 6'6

Line: 8-17 lb

Ahh Is that a Fenwick Eagle GT you bought?

No, it was a Shimano Compre. The price tag had fenwick printings on it. I thought the people made a mistake. I got an $89 rod for $54.95.

I am all about a deal.  The last thing that happened to me like that was a diawa spinning combo I got, it was marked as $8.  I asked an associate about it and he sid it was right.  I took it to the counter and got it.  Looked it up when I got home on the net and it was reg about $30.  I saved money and didn't feel to bad, because it went to diapers for the kids later in the week.  Love that combo to death too.

10-4  NICE BUY

Nice deal.

I've heard only good things about Shimano rods and I'm honestly not being a jerk.  I just want your perspective on this.  If, as you said:

2)      A medium heavy action to better set the hook with single hook baits (particularly medium to smaller soft plastics)

and

Yeah, I know, it is not best rod out there and I have other rods that are more sensitive but it is more than sufficiently sensitive for the role I have for it in my arsenal.

If you don't need the most sensitive rod for this application (i.e. soft plastics), what techniques you you find in need of the most sensitive rod?  I find small plastics to entice the most subtle of all bites more often than not.

Nice deal.

I've heard only good things about Shimano rods and I'm honestly not being a jerk. I just want your perspective on this. If, as you said:

2)      A medium heavy action to better set the hook with single hook baits (particularly medium to smaller soft plastics)

and

Yeah, I know, it is not best rod out there and I have other rods that are more sensitive but it is more than sufficiently sensitive for the role I have for it in my arsenal.

If you don't need the most sensitive rod for this application (i.e. soft plastics), what techniques you you find in need of the most sensitive rod? I find small plastics to entice the most subtle of all bites more often than not.

You make a good point. After reading my post over, I can see that I made it sound like like the compre lacks in sensitivity. I agree with you that worming is where sensitivity is a must and the more a rod possesses, the merrier. I guess that when I wrote that, I was thinking that some might think of this as a lesser rod.

Fortunately, this rod does not suffer nor is it lacking in the sensitivity department, and I have found it more than capable of detecting the subtle bites that can be experienced when drop shotting. As I mentioned, it is sufficiently sensitive for soft plastics. I had the chance to fish with this rod and landed over 20 bass one day drop shotting and wormin' and even throwing inline spinners with it and never failed to land the bass or lose on the hook set.

I do have rods in my arsenal to handle the worming and the jigging but most are baitcasters and I have one excellent drop shot spinning rod. In addition, they are one-piece rods that I cannot fit into my vehicle for a quick run to the lake for a quick outing on the way home.

However, I wanted a spinning rod to supplement my drop shot rod that had to be a two piece so that I could also use it as my trunk rod that wasn't so costly that if my car got broken into and had stuff stolen, the loss would be easier to swallow.

You know as well as I do, there are not many bass rods "off the shelf" that are two piece to begin with, let alone fit the bill to suit my needs. So this compre fits well.

-ib

Thanks  

If you don't need the most sensitive rod for this application (i.e. soft plastics), what techniques you you find in need of the most sensitive rod? I find small plastics to entice the most subtle of all bites more often than not.

I have learned to read the line more than the rod when having to use a stiffer rod.  The stiffer rod poses no problem if you give your full attention to line movement where the line enters the water. If I am working plastics I leave some arch in the line from the raised rod tip to the water after moving the plasic.  A bite usually takes up the slack in that arch with a tug and I know that the fish is there checking out the plastic.  At night when you can't see the line, then the rod comes into play more.

Just my 2 cents.