I am going to be honest with everyone here. I have never in my life given a crap about the type of rod I purchased. I never cared about the action, size, or anything except for price. By reading different articles and post on this site and others I now realize that I am missing a very important piece to the successful fishing puzzel(so to speak). In my readings I have come to the assumption that a good starting point would be a medium heavy rod 6'6" to 7'0". At some point I hope to expand my collection to include a rod and reel set-up for every application but, I have to crawl before I can walk. So is this rod a good starting point?

I'm hardly a rod expert, as I'm just a casual fisherman who uses general-purpose rods.

But your starting rod ought to be keyed to the kind of fishing you do. I would think your medium heavy might be good if most of your fishing is with worms, jigs, or single-hook lures where a strong hookset is done.

On the other hand, if you do most of your fishing with crankbaits and other treble-hook lures, than a lighter action rod would be a better choice.

Or if you'd like a multi-purpose rod, I have good results with a 6'6" fast tip, medium power spinning rod, used with 10# line.

You can probably get a better answer if you state what type of fishing you do the most.

Good luck.

Most of the time when I fish I'm either using a jig or some type of soft plastics or spinnerbaits.  I rarely use crankbaits.

                     Thanks,

                                             Kajun

I believe a med-heavy 6'6" is the best one for you to start.  You can use that rod for almost all applications.  If you do a bunch of flipping or pitching, then the 7' might not be a bad choice.  Either one is an excellent choice in a med-heavy, fast tip.

No argument with everyones reply, but here's my two cents worth. For an all around rod: 7ft, medium power, fast action spinning rod and 8 lb. Yo-Zuri Hybrid. 7 ft because you can cast if further and since you don't already have a preference for a 6 1/2, you will always like this length. Medium power because you can another site when you have the opportunity and still have some fun with smaller fish. Fast action because you need it for quick hook sets and you probably won't notice it's not perfect in applications where medium or slow action would be better. Yo-Zuri because it's strong, supple and virtually invisible.

i was the same way as kajun, i didnt think the rod mattered at all but in the past weeks i have realized it does, i just got a new abu garcia revo s reel and i was wondering what would be a good all around rod to go with it, any suggestions would be helpfull

if you like throwing jigs and spinnerbaits (1/4 oz +) you want a 7' med-heavy rod so you can get a good hookset on a jig and worm. go to 15-20 pound braid ( it has diameter of 4-6 lbs. test). so you can throw these baits around laydowns and in nasty areas (laydowns, brush piles, around or in grass and lily's) and not have to worry about getting the fish out. Plus if you fish areas like this, abrasion resistance comes into play big time, and anyone who fishes with braid, will tell you the stuff is hard to destroy unless you are fishing rocks.

now if your fishing lighter baits that 1/4 like finesse jigs, plastics with an 1/8 oz weight, or light spinnerbaits, go medium action, i would stick to the braid though for fishing these types of baits.

I have come to the assumption that a good starting point would be a medium heavy rod 6'6" to 7'0"

IMPO Very good place to start, for T-rigs, Jigs, C-rigs.  

Good Luck & Tight Lines!!!!    

the bionic blade was part of the combo i bought, i want to upgrade and stay around the 100$ dollar mark. is it worth upgrading only 40 more bucks or should i wait and get more money? and if so any suggestions? oh yea. baitcast and an all around rod