Fishing rod suggestion

jmccracken1214

jmccracken1214

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Haven't fished in a few years, always had cheaper rods for small lakes/shore fishing. But my family is planning a beach trip in September and it like to get a decent "budget" rod. For pier fishing and something I could use here for when we go to my aunt's house at badin lake.

I'm sure rods and reels can get like an AR. But just an every once in a while fisher. Not looking to break the bank.
 
three things:
1. get a 7-foot-long rod.
2. get a two-piece, not one-piece, or three-piece.
3. get what's "on special" or discounted.

in my experience, this is why.....
since i fish a lot and have good equipment, i'm the "fishing guy" in my family.
once a year, i bring several adult relatives to the beach pier to fish. that's the ONLY time they fish.
if we're just talking about rods (not reels, not line, not bait) the 7-footers provide enough leverage.
a 6.5 rod is ok, but the AARP crowd can't get a "good enough" cast with that length. the reason i say
two-piece is that it breaks down for easy transport. 3-piece ones usually are more expensive. and the
on sale recommendation is just the cost factor. usually, just about anything will last at least one week.
of course, every bit of the above changes if we're talking about children in the mix.
 
I use 11’ from the beach and 6-7 from the pier. Too much longer and it’s hard to keep the less experienced family members from hurting others.

Bass Pro is closing out some Shimano saltwater spinning reels. Pretty much bottom of their line, and they don’t have sealed bearings so remember to give them a shower at the end of each day, but still work well for my family. $64 for any size, I have the 6,000 and 8,000.

I’ve also given up on teaching the family members about the joys of fighting a fish, they just want 100% certainty in the catching, so 40-65lb braid on just about everything...it’ll land anything you want to land. Circle hooks also help.
 
A rod that will be good for pier fishing won’t serve much of a purpose fishing at a lake other than cat fishing, maybe trolling. Like you said with ARs if someone tells you it’s works for multiple things it’s probably good for neither.
 
Can't go wrong with an ugly stick.
Uve never broken in. But i have snapped nor expensive rods.
Also, learn the pendulum cast. It is the most effective carrying method and the smoothest. Pure technique. Doesn't require strength. But it will require athletic tape wrap in the index finger you hold the string with unless you have a mechanics callous.
This method loads energy very well. And needs a 40# shock leader for break margin.

I only get to the beach once every several years. Got a 10' Ugly for launching off the end of nags head pier, 6-7 light action for the sides.
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
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y'all are experts, and have obviously done this thing before:
1."..I use 11’ from the beach and 6-7 from the pier. Too much longer and it’s hard to keep the less experienced family members from hurting others..."
2. "the pendulum cast. It is the most effective carrying method and the smoothest. Pure technique. Doesn't require strength." PURE gold here.
3. i give up. y'all win. i wish i had more. fishing is simple. catching is not.
 
For someone that doesn’t fish much buy a $20-25 starter kit at Walmart or somewhere. That’s about how muh a 7 footer should cost. The one I bought on clearance for $15 7 years ago the rod lasted 6 years and the reel lasted 5. Maintenance is the key, especially if you don’t go very often. I caught a decent number of fish on the generic spoon that came with it as well.
 
You need a 13’ 8oz to 12oz rated CPS rod with an Akios 757 conventional reel. Spool it with 30lb braid and go to town!



That’s a joke. I don’t know diddly about fishing from a pier. I do however wish you the best of luck.
 
It seems that most people that fish here in N. Myrtle Beach, SC while on vacation, buy what ever is on sale at Wal Mart. That being said, the rods and reels I see most people fishing using here in the creeks and off the pier are a rod and reel combo that is capable of easily landing a 100 pound fish but are catching a 1 pound whiting or a 4 oz. pinfish. The majority of the fishermen and women don't catch anything that is edible but they seem to enjoy themselves just being off work and at the beach. That is great...
 
I like Berkley stuff - the Lightnin Rod in a 1-piece 7ft or 6.5 medium action will do just about anything you need up until you go offshore or in the surf. They're cheap, responsive, and take light salt water use pretty darn well. I can't same the same for Shakespeare anything......

I caught the Lightnin Rod blowouts on clearance a few years ago when the switched to the newer style rods without the solid cork handles. I think the Cherrywood rods are similar now, for similar money.

As far as a reel goes......go with whatever you like that has at least 3 roller bearings. I don't like cheap baitcasters so a Shimano or Daiwa openface reel with rear drag for around $50-80 is perfect.

Other than that, you're buying names (that are mostly consolidated under 2 or 3 companies now) for more money. Esp when you start going into Bass Pro shops and plunking down a credit card.


One saltwater rod that is underrated is Cabela's Salt Striker series. They are excellent for surf and offshore use.
 
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I was guilty for years and most still do over think the beach fishing, throwing the 8-12' hatteras heavers when only trying to fish for flounder, puppy drum, spot, croaker, pompano. These large surf rods are OVERKILL for the species listed unless you are going for Old Drum, sharks, or chopper blues.

For the pier and even in the surf most of your smaller species (flounder, puppy drum, spot, croaker, pompano) are going to be right in the breakers, the wash so to speak. They're where the bait is which is right against the beach so you don't have to cast 100+yds to get to them.

You're looking for what people around here call a "trout rod". A 7' rod with a fast tip in the 3/8-1/2oz or 1/2-3/4oz size with a 2500-3000 series reel, 15lb braid tipped with 2-3' of fluro is what I recommend. For the price I'd look into the Diawa brand. I had several fresh water rods/reels (I think they were "sweepfire" combos) last a few years on my boat as back up and "poles for a friend" before they corroded out and I think I only paid $30 for the combo before line.

In Sept the Spanish and blues will be back so this will work fine for casting stingsilvers, diamond jigs, epoxy jigs, glass minnow jigs, but if you're really want something drop down to a 7-7.5' 1/8-3/8oz with a extra fast tip to really chunk it out there.

To prove this point about small rods, 10+ years back I ran my old scout troop when I was fresh out of college, we took the guys to Core Banks for a weekend to stay in the cabins north of Cape Lookout in September. The fathers had the big 10-12' chunkers and the guys had the small 6-7' rods and a couple "snoopy poles". Most of the dads throwing for Africa didn't catch much but the scouts who could only throw into the breakers, hauled in flounder, drum, and some Spanish left and right. I didn't fish much as I was unhooking fish most of the time. Heck one kid with his "snoopy pole" caught a 27" drum. No one saw him fight it but we just looked up and he had it on the beach. We ended up with one heck of a fish fry.

Tackle-

You can if you want to use the "double bottom rigs" but get the mono ones vs metal. You can also buy a spool of 25lb fluro ($6-8) and with a Loop knot tie your own and save money vs the $2 a piece bottom rigs from the tackle store. Put a small loop at top with a 8" tag line to the top hook and drop down 10" and tie a larger loop (to attach weight) at the bottom with a 8" tag line to hook. On the same topic I see a lot of people using pyramid sinkers. Ditch them. For fishing in the breakers you want to keep your bait moving (unless the current is horrible). Cast and slowly retrieve, move around, find the holes, slews, and cuts. I recommend a "bank sinker".

For the pier and the surf I'd say go with a Carolina rig unless the current is real bad. 1 or 1.5oz egg or pancake weight. For hooks a small long shank hook with shrimp/squid or if fishing with live minnows in the surf a #1 or #2 gold khale hook.

In the surf, you can also go with a 3/8-1/2oz Blue Water Candy jig head and 3" berkely gulp in white or new penny. If you have a lot of trash around go for the ones with the green tails that are harder for trash fish to nip off. This can catch you larger mullet, puppy drum, and flounder.

My personal stuff is Penn Battle 2s in 2500-4000s on star rods, but I fish every other weekend and they get used.

Good Luck,
 
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I go to the coast a couple times a summer, last year decided to fish. Went to Hatteras Jack's told guy I'll almost never use it and asked what I need. Out the door tackle, bait, rod and reel for like $60. Daiwa, 7' 6" or maybe 8' if I was home I'd know. Worked fine for me from the beach. Something that could chuck more weight would be nice some days.
 
FatboyFlash said:
You need a 13’ 8oz to 12oz rated CPS rod with an Akios 757 conventional reel. Spool it with 30lb braid and go to town!



That’s a joke. I don’t know diddly about fishing from a pier. I do however wish you the best of luck.
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I have exactly that combo and have yet to wet a line with it.

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk
 
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I've found some reasonable deals at Bass Pro, nothing special but enough to keep me happy. It's been a few years ago, but I got a decent Bill Dance open face rod/reel combo for $50. The ugly stick combo posted above is great!
 
SilvrSRT10 said:
I think a real good bang for the $$ is the Ugly Stik. Here's a combo from Amazon.

http://a.co/5B75lw2
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I was looking at this thread because I just got invited to stay on the beach in Daytona for a couple of days. Did I miss where it says what the action is on that Ugly Stik? Looks like a fairly good deal. My pier rod broke last year.
 
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