All my rods and reels are cheap. But i suck at fishing.

In my opinion it depends on what you are looking for.
You can find modestly priced rods that will fish great.
What I have noticed is that better quality rods and the component that go into them will maintain top performance longer.
Cheaper guides will rust or bend or get worn out or the inserts fall out.
Cheaper grips will fall apart.
Cheaper resin or cheaper epoxy on the guide wraps will fail.

The benefits of better equipment may not mean that it will be more sensitive or catch more fish. It means that you will have reliable equipment day in and day out.
If you fish casually once a month or less you can get plenty of life and use from modestly priced equipment. If you fish more often in harsh conditions go for better quality.

The same applies to reels. Most reels feel great when new. Fish them hard and you can feel the difference pretty quick between the $50 reel and the $200 reel. I have rebuilt $50 reels into better reels by changing bearings and gears and the results are very noticeable.

nope

I started fishing again after a 10-15 years away. Bought a $120 dollar setup at Bass Pro, and used two of my older rods and reels. I restrung them all with mono, I could definitely tell a difference in the newer vs older rods. Then started fishing with an old friend who never stopped fishing, he has all the good stuff. One day while fishing he was helping me rig my bait and told me to fish with his rod for a minute while he finished rigging mine. I made about 3 casts and was like man! I can feel everything on the bottom! It was unreal! Turned out it was a G Loomis rod with flouro. He had a mix of different rods and reels, so after I told him how nice it felt he let me use one of his nicer Dobyns rods the rest of the day which was still much better than my rod but not as sensitive as the G. Loomis. That was last year, I now use my 3 cheap rods for friends to use and have purchased 6 new Dobyns rods with Abu Garcia reels. I could not justify spending the money on the G Loomis and Shimano setup he had, but could definitely justify spending the money on a nice higher end setup! As for the line, I agree it makes a huge difference when coupled with a high end rod and reel. Now I have several really nice setups for all types of fishing. Most have flouro, 1 has mono and two have braid. I still plan on buying 1 G Loomis for soft bait trig and crig, but for the most part, I'm happy with what I have.

If you think they are then they are. Personally I feel bad enough when I break a $50 rod so I'm not going to spend the money on one that cost much more than that. I've used several high end rods and always end up coming back to my so called cheap rods. I still catch fish and I'm competitive, so I'll save my money for gas and entry fees.

My two favorite rods are a Berkeley series one and a Power Tackle. One was $80 at Walmart several years ago and the other was considerably more last year. They each have their place. Open water bottom contact applications I go with the Berkeley. When it comes to flipping nothing compares to the Power Tackle, it's made a believer out of me.

Best post so far lol!

Yes they are worth it if the bite is light and you want to catch more fish, but it depends on what price point you call expensive.
I no longer spend over $250 for a rod. You can find good enough quality for any technique in a $150-$200 range.

Exactly

good morning,

i really like the BPS bionic blade.........got a bunch of them......price point $100....micro eyes....

caught fish all over TEXAS, louisiana and mexico.........the old one are white, new ones are red........

just saying.........

good luck,
PURA VIDA,
bluebonnet2

Most subjective question ever and tons of great responses in this thread already, but completely depends on the type of person you are (quality over quantity) Broke as shiiiiii at the moment and not satisfied with anything other than a dobyns extreme. Nothing like the feel of a high end rod end your hands. With that said a $50 walmart combo will still catch em just fine all day every day. Point being its a slippery slope that you and only you have to decide if you're ready to dive into the deep end.

$150 is my max. To me I cant justify paying more than that on a stick.

For top waters and moving baits. Not so much for bottom baits yes. Nrx 873 crr/ ci4 chronarch combo is a pure joy for t rigs. Got both second hand for about half cost. Or else I wouldn't know

Kind of where I stand as well...not knockin anybody that spends more...another question for the custom rod makers on here: how little can one spend to get a decent "knock off" of an NRX?...