My second bonehead tackle rod finally bit the dust this weekend and broke. I went online to buy 2 more and I can not find them anywhere. Does anyone have any insight in to this or a recommendation to which rods are just as sensitive and nice as these were?

Several threads about whats the best rod. I've never used a bonehead rod, but my favorite rod is the 8' Proangler rods. Links in my sig

Without question lightest, most sensitive, and strongest backbone available is the G-Rod.

For the money pro angler is hard it beat. It�s all I use.

Look into Waterloo Rods. They have made saltwater and bass rods for years. I finally got them to making and 8'ft crappie rod. They can wrap it with your choice of colors since they hand wrap these rods. Had mine wrapped in maroon and gold (SWT Grad). They are currently making one for my daughter and it is being wrapped in sea foam and coral along with her name on it. Hopefully it will be finished later this week. They are a little softer tip than the Pro Anglers I have but are also lighter by .05 of a pound. As soon as, they are finished with my daughters' I am going to have them make me another one with two inches cut off the tip. Mainly doing this so that I have two different actions and for horsing fish out of heavy cover.

>E

I don�t do Facebook, but Bonehead does, as I understand it...also, there is a bait shop in Chandler that handles them. I recently purchased an 11foot rearseat G-rod from Todd at Thermocline....they seem like good rods, but I can�t say a lot about them, as I have only caught a couple hundred fish with it, so far (which means I am still putting it through its paces...GRods will set you back a couple hundred...my current Boneheads all have well over 1,000 fish each behind them, except for the 2 little short red dock shooters, which I seldom have occasion to use. I still prefer the Black Boneheads, and consider them be best deal in a rod by far.
If you need to contact Josh for help, send me a PM, I believe I still have his phone number handy.

Proangler and basspro sell some decent 50 dollar rods...I have a couple of each...they both will work, for most crappie applications, except heavy brush and tangles. I favor the bass pro versions, due to better balance of the rod (accordingly I don�t get wrist/elbow/shoulder fatigue as quickly with them).

As far as ACC, I have only fished with an 11 foot rear seat model. It was unimpressive to me and after fishing it regularity for a year, I went and bought a G-rod, then promptly gave the ACC away.

If you want only the best, money can buy, I suggest you look into a custom rod maker...and figure out the best blank for your primary fishing style, and have it built with the guides and in the colors you prefer, engraving...then go get a knockout kind of reel to put on it.

Hope my perspective helps...

Pro Angler. Have six 8' rods and one 10' rod. I keep a spare tip for each as well. Need one more 10'.

Thanks for the insight will look into some of these choices. If I could I'd like to get some more bonehead rods, just didn't see any available on their website. More or less was looking for a comparison through experience of what is most similar to them.

G-Rod is the closest you are going to get, the tip is not as fast but the backbone and overall fishability are very similar. I did use a shorter Salmon/steelhead version G-Rod, that was highly similar to the Bonehead, but it will set you back around $300...about the price of a really good custom rod.

Someone told me Loomis makes one very similar, but no one has shown me a Loomis that even comes close.

The Bass Pro brand and the Pro angler aren�t gonna touch it, in my extensive experience with all three...but at half the cost they shouldn�t, either.

That bait store in Chandler has some of the red/ green versions on the shelf...I like the black versions, myself...if I am ever unable to get anymore of the black versions, I will go to G-rods, or find a comparable blank and have someone make me some...but I still have 8 Boneheads, so hopefully I am good for a while...

Want to get rid of 1 or 2 of those 8.... I cant find the blacks anywhere

AHEM....NO...and that is as POLITE, as I can put it....

Sometimes you can find some available on the trading post section...or from some of the guys that don�t know what they got...

Without considering $ to burn, I think rods are over thought. Just get a rod you're comfortable with. Rods have been around a long time and anglers caught fish no matter what stick was in their hands. Electronics and TM improvements have made the largest impact on crappie IMO. I fully understand some anglers have a particular fondness for a rod and have one for just about any condition nature can throw at us, but really any rod would do, even a cane pole. And for locally, then add the crappie knowledge/techniques shared by Paty, O'Bier, Sims, Skinner, Hancock, Belcher, Carter, Reeve, Gaby, Rains, Schwieterman, and more recently Palmer, Ezell, Standridge, Box and too many others to list who have made multiple contributions to Crappie Anglers of Texas' members over the years. The knowledge and techniques all contributors have made to CAT will have put more crappie in the boat than a rod, including some TFF contributors who openly share information on this forum.

I ain't worried about a rod, I'll take what I've learned and apply it. Heck, I even know what a parabolic rod is now thanks to a CAT seminar.

I probably will get slammed for the above. 'I apply the how many more to my purchases'. As in, how many more crappie I'm going to catch if I have rod x vs. rod y or rod z... In other words, you're not going to get my $300 or $100 for a crappie rod.

I like many others am fortunate enough to be able put more emphasis on what I �want� and will enjoy using/owning more than the price.

well, guess it doesnt matter what rod you fish with? Fishing is fishing? However how many times have i heard, how come so and so catches so many fish and i only well dont!!!! If you cant feel it you cant catch it!!!!! Gene L.Rods are cane pole both will work, but rather catch 100 than 6, if you know what i mean. Some rods are called the best for a reason. Just its not always about the money, if you dont have it save it tel you do, better to have one best thab 10 cane poles, just saying.

Paul O'Bier and his partners over the years on the CAT trail have won 9 of the 10 years Angler of the Year using Pro Angler. Enough said. Like I said, it's your money to use as fit. To each his/her own. My preference is electronics and TM.

G-rod, b&m, bonehead, pro angler , ozark rods are good rods I have all of them I like the bonehead and b&m long rods and g-rod and pro angler and sharp shooter for dock shooting and ozark all around for any pond hoping in a 10 ft it's all about preference. any of these rods will do the job. Spend the extra money and you get a better product imo. But all above will get the job done

Pro Angler.

I agree Jimmy...AHEM...ask Troy what rod his son was using to win the Junior anglers division with...

I am assuming they give them those rods to use for sponsorship purposes, eh Jimmy?

Personally, I agree, the electronics are cool, the rods and their relative price are personal choice, just as the boat, line and hook are...but when someone spends their hard earned dollars and tries them all extensively enough to provide honest input, just to be able to share their experiences and give an honest opinion (as I do)...well I suppose some folks appreciate that and some don�t...and fortunately, I have no allegiances to anyone for my comments...my allegiances lie with the products themselves...because there was a time when a spool line was a big expense, and I needed honest advice before I spent my money...although admittedly, that was many decades ago...and yes, I do understand all the sponsorship money that gets spread around by the sellers of various products for tournaments (remember I have a degree in finance, and a PHD equivalent in banking) and sponsorship on this forum and various groups within this forum...but, just because, someone doesn�t care for my opinions, is no reason to bully pulpit my comments...of all people Jimmy, you should know better than to call me out...just saying, tell your people (sponsors) to improve their products, I will purchase and test them and I will comment based on my experienced opinion of their quality...relative to other offerings.

Wrong crapicat about ProAngler giving away rods to pro staff. There are no freebies from ProAngler.

I think Jimmy's point is, learn how to fish and use different techniques, and you'll be a better fisherman. A $400 rod won't make me catch more fish same as a $6,000 gun won't make me a better shooter.

Understand Ken, so why don�t you fully enlighten all the viewers of how the prostaff sponsorship works with say Proangler, since you brought them up. I am sure the readers would like to know the truth, as would I...since you mentioned it, I suppose you might enlighten the readers how they provide monetary and non monetary support to CAT, as well as other local, and crappiemasters tourneys...just asking you to tell the total truth and not partial truth...

Gee crapicat, you make sponsorship sound like some sinister plot from Wash D C.

ProAngler definitely supports CAT and has since the inception of CAT. CAT has many sponsors; just take a look at the sponsor page on the web site. All these companies provide product or funds to support CAT. Some also contribute directly to the CAT junior angler program and CAT scholarship fund. Sponsorship from companies to various organizations has been the American way since before I was born. How do you think CAT is able to give away over $28,000 at Crappiefest? Nothing wrong with any of it. CAT is very honored to have valued sponsors supporting the organization.

Well what I want is for you and your bunch to quit trying to bully me into silence just because my experience/opinion on products I like or do not like, (or others opinions on products) does not agree with one of your primary sponsors, or belittle the fact that I have an opinion that differs from yours or your sponsors...Ganging up on an honest man with an honest opinion, that has purchased, tested, and formed an intelligent opinion for the sake of continued sponsorship is somewhat sinister, IMO. In fact, all I am trying to do is provide a straight forward answer to a question that was posed to a poster that asked a question seeking a truthful answer...and if my answer does not agree with that of your sponsors, is no reason to bully me or anyone else.

Gee Dale, I reread my post and I don't see where I was calling anyone out much less you. You gave your honest opinion as you do on many products. I did the same, gave my opinion from my experience. Why is my opinion calling someone out? You should know me better than that. I didn't have any one poster in mind when I posted. It was from the general conversation the thread was going or so I thought. Ken's point using the gun analogy is what I was trying to say - he said it better than I.

I don't expect anyone to tell me about their sponsorship agreement. I might ask them but they have every right to simply tell me they don't want to share. That's fine with me. Just like asking someone where they caught their fish, etc. I'd rather hear they don't want to share it without giving any reason as to why, than for them to lie to me.

Good night my friend; let's go fishing sometime.

Dale, no ganging up on anybody. I didn't comment on this thread till there was an assumption posted about free stuff from ProAngler that I wanted to dispel.

Your opinion about rods is read by me as an honest opinion about your experiences. Everybody has likes and dislikes about their favorite rods. I only commented about sponsorship stuff. I'm not picking on anybody here.

Let's just go
Hope you catch a bunch your next trip.

Jimmy, if you look at the thread, it asks about finding/replacing some Bonehead rods and the best rods to replace them...I have extensive personal experience with all the available rods (except G-rods) that are comparable to the Boneheads....and Proangler is way down that list and not even on the shortlist, honestly, for numerous reasons, which I shall not reiterate here. So, if you have never purchased and seriously tried/used a Bonehead or G-rod, or custom rod, how can you or Ken (or anyone else) possibly understand what the poster is asking?

That said, this exchange has devolved enough from its original question, which I answered, as did others. So y�all like Proangler rods because besides being decent rods, they support CAT and other good causes, I get that. Some of us prefer to find the best rod we can, for various reasons....and my reasons are many...

Jimmy, Ken, we all know each other, and like each other. We should keep it at that. So, yes, we can go fishing whenever, and fuss over electronics, rods, lines, hooks, or sodas, or the best color in the universe, just like the cantankerous old opinionated rascals we are. Later Tiger...