Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

Going to use this rod and reel for jigging, lure, and live baiting for macks, jacks, and pompano.

Got myself a Shimano Sienna 1000FD with 10lbs braid.

What cheap rod do you guys think I should pair with this?
I am thinking a 6' light rod. Starlite?

Get something 6'6" with a whippy tip and a stout bottom end, just don't spend more than $30 on it.

If you think you want a good rod, don't do it. Spend the money on a better reel, one with a larger line capacity and higher drag. Penn Battle 2 would be the ideal reel in my opinion, the 2500 size. It'll hold a good 3x the braid your current reel will and with significantly better drag, which is a major consideration when fishing undersized reels with live bait. You never know what's gonna hit that thing and you don't wanna get spooled ever other day or wrecked under the pier.

Thanks for the tip cvstrat!

I have a 2500 shimano symetre reel with a rodbone 7'6 rod. I love this thing but want to go lighter this upcoming season and see how I do. Caught so many different kind of fish with this set up.
Cobia, Permit, Pompano, Macks, Jacks, Bonita, and etc....

Guess I'll go take a look at ugly stik 6'6 for now.

whats the budget? yard sales and flea markets always gets moneys worth

cvstrat wrote:Get something 6'6" with a whippy tip and a stout bottom end, just don't spend more than $30 on it.

If you think you want a good rod, don't do it. Spend the money on a better reel, one with a larger line capacity and higher drag. Penn Battle 2 would be the ideal reel in my opinion, the 2500 size. It'll hold a good 3x the braid your current reel will and with significantly better drag, which is a major consideration when fishing undersized reels with live bait. You never know what's gonna hit that thing and you don't wanna get spooled ever other day or wrecked under the pier.

I have to disagree. What is the point of putting a better reel on a crappy rod ? With 300 yards of braid it is tough to get spooled at all. With braid overtesting high drag and cheap rods don't mix. Get a decent rod in the $100-150 range the Star plasmas are a great deal for the money and made for braid. A good rod lasts you a lifetime. Look for reels with smooth drags and ones that offer spare spools. I have landed bonito up to 20 lbs and tippers to 60 lbs off Anglins and kings to 25 lbs on driftboats on reels packed with 10-20 lb braid and never had an issue. I had the perfect star rod but tink I sold the last of my spare rods but can check if you're intrested.

price range up to $100

I went through the same thing not too long ago. Ended up with a st croix mojo bass, the lightest model they make. I use a daiwa 2000 with 6lb braid, and rarely use my 2500 sized spinner anymore. There is deff a chance of a king/bonita smacking your jig and spooling you, but thats part of the fun.

Get a star stellar lite for 120. Or ur best bet is go to t and r tackle in ft laud and they have used or refurbished star rods u can get one for 80 bucks something good. But then ud still need to throw that crappy reel away. Imo

If the reel fail on me... ooo well. I'll have another 2500k reel that I can use to pair it with the rod.

I live in Tampa, kind of hard to go down there for just a rod. Maybe I'll try the oldmars flea market for a cheap rod for now and see how I like it. If I love it, then I'll get another good set and save this for catching bait.

I heard pawn shops around bass pro shops are good. People steal the rods and sell em at the closest place. Just a rumor though

Checkout calico jack rod by hurricane. Theyre about 60bucks. Cheap and worth it. Since ive upgraded to star seagis, theyve been sitting around. If you were in the area I wouldn't mind selling them.

fishnfool73 wrote:

cvstrat wrote:Get something 6'6" with a whippy tip and a stout bottom end, just don't spend more than $30 on it.

If you think you want a good rod, don't do it. Spend the money on a better reel, one with a larger line capacity and higher drag. Penn Battle 2 would be the ideal reel in my opinion, the 2500 size. It'll hold a good 3x the braid your current reel will and with significantly better drag, which is a major consideration when fishing undersized reels with live bait. You never know what's gonna hit that thing and you don't wanna get spooled ever other day or wrecked under the pier.

I have to disagree. What is the point of putting a better reel on a crappy rod ? With 300 yards of braid it is tough to get spooled at all. With braid overtesting high drag and cheap rods don't mix. Get a decent rod in the $100-150 range the Star plasmas are a great deal for the money and made for braid. A good rod lasts you a lifetime. Look for reels with smooth drags and ones that offer spare spools. I have landed bonito up to 20 lbs and tippers to 60 lbs off Anglins and kings to 25 lbs on driftboats on reels packed with 10-20 lb braid and never had an issue. I had the perfect star rod but tink I sold the last of my spare rods but can check if you're intrested.

You are right without a doubt. In fact, all I own are high end rods. If I could only choose one of my combos it would be my 4000 FJ on my 7'10" loomis pro green rod. That thing has 15lbs pp super slick on it and I've landed bonita, amerjack, big snook, big jacks, etc on it. It's my favorite combo for sure. With gear in that general vicinity it becomes more about your handling of the fight than anything. I learned the hard way how to manage a decent fish on lighter gear, and so can anyone else. But you obviously didn't look up the stats on a sienna 1000fd.

His reel cost 29 dollars and has a capacity of 95 yards of 10lbs braid with 7lbs of drag. Pairing it with a $150 plasma results in a $180 combo that's not suited for saltwater fishing.

A penn battle 2 2500 will not only handle the braid better in general, it holds 220 yards of 15lbs with 12lbs of drag. That's a reel that's capable of handling a decent fish for $99. Pair the penn with any rod and it's automatically better than his current combo.

My entire point wasn't not to buy a good rod, it was not to pair that reel with a good rod. If he has a limited budget, the bulk of his money should go into a better reel, and use whatever is left to get the best rod you can.

For gods sake the braid probably cost more than the reel, and respooling it every time he inevitably gets wrecked by a decent fish is going to end up costing even more.

I know what you mean by braid costing more than the reel, I seen plenty of people have done that. I am guilty of it as well but not with this setup. I was able to score some spool of around 10# braid for $4-7 for about 125yards spool.

I don't think I need drag more than 5 lbs... to be honest with 10# line. I usually set it around 1/4-1/3 line # strength and just increase drag by feeling the spools. Burns my finger plenty of time LOL.

I think I'll use my other cheap rods and see how I like the setup before buying more rods...

fishnfool73 wrote: I had the perfect star rod but tink I sold the last of my spare rods but can check if you're intrested.

I bought that rod from you...lol

Hey tears143

Do you want Fishfool's star rod? I could sell you... I used couple of times and very good rod indeed.
PM me.

Regrading rod and reel, I agree with Mr Fishfool after breaking many carbon fiber rods... As a return, I learned that I need to set my drag based on the strength of the rod blank... And if I had to set more drag, then I will pay attention on rod bending and try not to hold the rod more than 45 degree...

I live in Tampa and it's a long distance drive to pick it up.

dude...ugly stick inshore select ($50). not the most delicate finessy rod...but its a horse and will never break unless you slam a car door on it or something.....ive had mine for 2 years and its landed me fish from snapper to 30lb tarpon and small sharks...its not fancy but i love it

agonzalez0 wrote:dude...ugly stick inshore select ($50). not the most delicate finessy rod...but its a horse and will never break unless you slam a car door on it or something.....ive had mine for 2 years and its landed me fish from snapper to 30lb tarpon and small sharks...its not fancy but i love it

I'll look at it. Thanks

I have one and it's great

The gear in the reel is grinding already and sometime is very sticky too! >.< anyways I wonder if I can return it...