Looking to upgrade some and need some advice. What should you invest more money in between a reel or rod?

I guess this could go both ways depending in how you like to fish but for my style and comfort zone hands down would be the rod. I prefer fineness over power.

The Rod.

That's my thinking since I fish more soft plastics.

Rod

The rod.....no doubt.....great rod, great flouro.....ridiculous what I feel these days

Rod

If your throwing worms a lot, you can pick up several good worm rods at a reasonable
price. Mine not the higher range, but have a Powell, cast a way, an allstar worm rods.
I believe they have great sensibility and really enjoy them.
Wanted a g Lewis but couldn't see spending that much for one rod, not nocking it at all,
that's just my two cents.
And with my rods, could still put some decent reels on them.

If your just looking for that one "ultimate" worm rod, be a lot better to fish a friends rod and get a good
feel of it. Like a g Lewis or something along that line. Buddy of mine has one, can tell the difference
When dragging a worm on bottom and when you get bit.
Sure they have some out there that will put all mine to shame, but I love fishing them, ha
Good luck deciding, getting new fishing gear, ya can't go wrong!!

Y'all have a great day!

I need to add some more equipment over time on a limited budget. I'll put the money towards a better rod for now, knowing that it will help me immediately and I can upgrade reels later.

no matter which you feel is more important buy quality now and keep them maintained they will last a lifetime. I am still using shimano crucials I bought in the early 90's and curados from that same period.

Some of the rods I have had new guides put on and the reels are professionally cleaned every now and then. Yes I have added more to them over the years but it still the same story buy quailty.

I would rather have h20 express mettles on an army of quality rods over a curado on a cherry wood or some cheap rods any day of the week.

Happy medium of both... I use h20 express ethos paired with lews reels. I get the rods on sale at 40 bucks and the reels are around 100. I do have a bb1 on one of my rods, you can tell one has the bb1 though. I look for online rebates through lews and they have great promotional offers also. I believe there is a mail in rebate right now? I could be wrong though

Rod is the money, what ya have left over goes into the line holding mechanism...

The rod is the key to the system. Everything else compliments it's action.

Right off the bat I would say the rod is more important, unless im throwing a moving bait, then I think a quality reel is more important. If you are on a budget I would look for quality used equipment and upgrade both rod and reel.