Fishing Forum

I need suggestions on getting my first baitcasting reel and rod around 200$. Thanks
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Go down to your local WallyMart and look at an Abu Garcia "Hank Parker Special" rod and reel combo. They run a good deal less than a hundred dollars, and aren't a junk outfit by any means. I have one of the reels I bought elsewhere, and it casts smoothly, has a decent drag, and even has a "flipping" function. You probably don't need to worry about that, but it's there when you need it.
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i like ugly stick rods and abu garcia does make affordable reels. think about what kind of fishing you plan to do and get the right size of rod and a reel to match. shop around on some web sites and you might find a nice affordable combo this time of year.
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I use the bass pro shop rods and Pinnacle reels... Try to get a pinnacle with at least 6 ball bearings. You can get a good one for 50-100 bucks for the reel. The rods are much cheaper to buy but the quality is great now days if you buy a graphite rod. Some are only 30 bucks and better than any rod made only a few years ago.

Spend most of your money on the REEL. With 200 bucks to spend you could even get two rigs with decent reels and lower priced rods and have two very good rigs. Ugly Stick if you don't want to go with bass pro shop rods..

Paulpro bought me a 20 dollar Bass Pro Shop Power Plus last year when I broke my Skeet Reese and the rod has proven reliable and sensitive.

Just spend the majority of your money on a QUALITY REEL. You don't need to spend that much on the rod as I said.

Good luck.


EDIT: just wanted to clarify ... I won a Skeet Reese flipping rod in the 2010 bass contest here at this site (over a 100$ rod) and a large bass ( might be the state record broke it) I have had the 20$ dollar one Paulpro bought me and used it all 2012 and had no problems. I want to say I might have got a defective rod though and that might be why it broke but the cheaper 20 dollar one is working as good as that skeet reese rod worked. Spend your money on QUALITY REELS.
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Just wanted to add .. rods are a dime a dozen now and you can get a quality one for 20-40 bucks. Make sure you get two good reels.. spend most of your bucks on that ... you can get two really good pinnacle reels with 6 bearing and good drag for around 120-140 bucks.

then buy two rods. Get a good light-medium action for your soft plastics and small lures. And get a good 7 foot on medium-heavy for your flipping, jigs and crank baits.

With 200 bucks to spend you should be able to get two good very quality rigs then be more versatile Than spending that whole 200 bucks on one high priced rig.

Just saying bro. Get two rigs with that much money to spend. Only the pro's spend 200 bucks on just ONE rod and reel. Hope I'm giving you good advice and I think I am ... I catch some of the best bass on this site other than my Nemesis Paul-pro, lol.

I think I have given you good advice on your first bait casters.

Unless you mean for SALT WATER... but this is the fresh water fishing thread.
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Eric, I stumbled across a video by Hank Parker himself promoing the very outfit I recommended.

Here ya go:

[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rim8ChWMQJo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rim8ChWMQJo[/url]
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