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Hello, I just recently went fishing. I have gone fishing before, but never had as much fun as I did my previous time going. I caught a decent (at least from my perspective) catfish for the first time and it made me want to fish more often.
I don't have a pole though, I was using one of my dads really old ones. I would like to get my own pole but I don't want to spend TOO much money, because i am no serious fisherman, just every now and then. I would like a brand of pole/reel that will tell people that I went out of my way to buy it, and didn't just make a trip to walmart. I'm not sure what the prices are of these things, but I want a decent pole and I was hoping to not spend over $150.
Let me know if I'm even being reasonable. I will look at all suggestions! and links to purchasing them would be appreciated.
Not sure if it matters, but I'm really only looking to catch decently sized freshwater fish.
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Welcome to BFT! You have come to the right place for help. I would recommend a medium spinning rod. This is a good all around rod for multiple species. When you go to look at rods right above the handle is usually some writing printed on the rod. This will give you the specs, what the weight of the rod is (light, medium, heavy, etc..) and what line it can handle. Match a good spinning reel with it. Most rods come as combos and are quite decent. You can purchase separate as well.
Where are you located? This will help us as well to help you.[cool]
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You need to consider exactly what kind of catfish you'll be targeting, before you buy equipment. With out getting too technical, some catfish don't get much larger than a pound or two, and some catfish average well over 15 pounds, which is big enough to destroy your average walmart special spinning rig.
With that said, you can get a quality set up for 150 bucks, no problem. Shakespeare came out with a Tiger Jigging rod, which is an exceptionally strong and lightweight rig. I use the 120 class version of this as a back up bottom fishing rod for offshore fishing for grouper and snapper. The rod retails for around 75 bucks. Penn makes a Sargus spinning reel which is all steel and braid ready in a 5000 size range for about 80 bucks. that puts you just a tad over 150 with tax, and you'll have a multi use outfit capable of handling the largest of freshwater species. I also use mine for targeting larger blue and flathead catfish with live and fresh cut bait.
I wouldn't settle for any less.
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I live in Ohio, thank you for your input!
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I will check those out, thank you!
My only plans are to go to local ponds, I think all that is around here are channel catfish, but then again I don't know much about fishing.
I cought my first catfish the other day as stated in the original post, and I would say it was 5+ lbs
I am looking for a rod that is going to stick out, and serve it's purpose while fishing local ponds with my friends.
Can someone explain the difference between spinning rods and reels and casting rods and reels and what not?
thank you!
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Spinning reels can produce almost double the drag (resistance) as a typical bait casting reel. Spinning rods have the larger first few eyelets, while bait casting rods have small eyelets all the way down.
Bait casting reels can leave a bad taste in your mouth if you don't have someone experianced to help you learn to throw them.
I'll be honest, i've been fishing for many years, and the spinning reels of today are much stronger on average than they were in the past. Full steel bodies, strong drags, and easy to cast. I personally moved away from conventional/ bait casting reels and almost exclusively use spinning equipment.
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That is a good point, the spinning reels of today in no way compare to older ones. I was fishing by a guy at one of our local community ponds here in Utah. The guy was throwing a clear casting bubble with a fly, he easily was casting it 50 yds and me with my older spinning reel was only able to get the same setup out less than half that distance. The other thing that was different in our setups was that he was using braid for line, instead of mono.
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