Rod & Reel advice needed

[klycklama]

I am new to fishing and I am looking to buy a quality steelhead rod and reel. I live in Washington and fish mainly on the Columbia River and some smaller tributaries. I have asked several people for their advice and I have narrowed my choices down to a lamiglass, G loomis, or St. Croix rod (Fast action, Medium-Heavy, 8-17lb test) and I am looking at a Shimano reel (Cardiff CDF 301 or Curado 201 BSF). What do you think of these choices? I am not dead set on these if someone has some better advice. Like I said, I am new to this sport (fishing for a little more than 1 year) and I am not all too familiar with what my best choices are, so any advice anybody can give would be very appreciated. Thanks all.<br><br>

[Gamakatsu]

Hello and welcome to BFT,<br>I live in Ridgefield, and use primarily Gloomis and Lamaglass rods. Since Shimano bought out Gloomis I have not liked the quality as much but they are still a great quality rod. I happened to come Across 2 Brand new Lamiglass 8' 6" rods today that are exactly what your lookin for. They are priced $79.00 each. These rods normally go for $119.00 each. Email me at d_richardson88@yahoo.com if your interested on where to get one of these fantastic rods. Also I would recommend an Ambasor 6000 if you plan on the lewis or kalama rivers from the bank. Silvers will be here middle of Aug. or Beginning of Sept. This would be an awesome combination for these Beauties. If a little more line capacity is needed bump up to the 6500.<br><br>Happy Hookin<br>Gamaktsu &lt;*(((&gt;{<br>

[davetclown]

I agree with Gamakatsu on this one, after wearing out my share of rods and reels fishing larger game fish with lightweight tackle al though it is a lot of fun trying to land them like that it is expensive.<br><br>I would strongly suggest that you choose something rated for 25 pounds.<br><br>True that many of the salmon you hook in to will be around the 15 - 20 pounds, you will hook in to your fair share of 25 - 35 pounders as well. <br><br>So this is where you will have to way what is most important to you, the action of light weight tackle and the expense of replacing your equipment is not important (if you are an avid fisherman, meaning you do a lot of fishing) - or gearing up for the long haul (in addition to being ready for some other heavy duty fishing like sturgeon and catfish and a light surf fishing) the action of this is still good enough for landing walleyes <br><br>I hope this info will help you make your choice<br><br><br><A HREF="http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/MESS6438/" target="_new">http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/MESS6438/</A> <br>For Kids Sake <br>Recycle your old Equipment<br>Dave