This is a topic that comes up often, and sometimes turns ugly. :-? I believe you should fish what makes you happy and can afford. I have health issues that cause money to be very tight, and because of that I fish with BassPro Extreme rods and baitcast reels, and I have Pflueger President (1) and Shimano Spyrex (1) spinning reels on Extreme rods. They all work well and give me a lot pleasure, but I have used higher end eqipment and appreciate the difference. I recently fished with a friend and used a Shimano Castiac/G-Loomis 844 IMX combo for jig fishing and would recommend this combo to anyone. I love fishing a jig, and my BP outfit does a fine job, but there is a world difference. Sometimes spending a few extra bucks on rods, reels, crankbaits, plastics, jigs-you name it-makes perfect sense, other times maybe not so much. The real fun is finding what works best for you. 8-)

BTW I'm saving my pennies for a new jig fishing rig.

Keep an eye on the BassResource.com "Flea Market".

There are great deals that pop up occasionally.

8-)

The only good thing that about cheap gear is that when you get the good stuff, you appreciate it more. I personally believe that you get what you pay for.

cheap stuff is hardly ever a good deal.

I took my mom out fishing for the first time and bought her a license for mother's day and she brought with her some cheap spincast outfit, not even a zebco, something worse. She could barely cast it at all, and had so much weight on worm just to get it out 10 feet. I gave her a shimano set up I had to use and she couldn't believe the difference.

First time out and she caught 2 nice keepers. Not bad i'd say

Cheap stuff has it's place, I'm sure.   Don;t know where though...

In the trash.

Cheep rods and reels, no.

Lures, well that depends on what you mean by cheap.  I have a stock pile of $18-$30 cranks but I still throw Fat Free Shads and Normans instead.  In this case, the cheap stuff is my favorite.  Same goes for Jerkbaits.  HJ-10 husky jerk is my hands down favorite and that bait is cheap comapred to the Vision 110's I have in my box.

Daiwa, Fish with what ever YOUR happy with.  Don't matter what others fish with.  What does matter on a forum like this, which is for learning and a little socializing, is to take everyones feedback and digest it.  I have found that alot of times the opinions and advice of others that I don't agree with some times open me up to new ideas and ways of thinking.  You like your Daiwa Shock and that's cool.  I wish you the best of luck with it.  Hopefully your pb!  

Brian

Diawa, Sometimes this can be a pretty tough crowd, don't let all the nay sayers change your opinion. If your Shock is your favorite then good for you and no one else has to like it.

Sometimes people have more money than sence!!!!

It's not like it's golf or something important, it's only fishing!!!!!! ;D ;D