I'd get two good combos in the $200-250 range per combo. You'll enjoy your time more with better gear and it will last longer. Take care of them, give the level-wind gear a drop of oil every few months, always be mindful of not stepping on or banging your rods on windshields or ceiling fans and you should have several years of happy service. Buy one or two good combo's each year, keeping an eye out for good sales/deals, and before long you'll have a nice arrangement.

You can get daiwa feugos on eBay for $50-$60, and h20 ethos rods for $70 (i have bought the for $20 when they have a sale). It’s a great combo for the money.

Are you fishing from the bank or on boats? If boats definitely 3-4 combos, from the bank one cheap combo and save the rest towards boat money.

Cheap but reliable enough to fish would be H2O mettles on the cheap all star classic rod. Nothing about that equipment would inhibit your fishing.

I agree...a $100 "combo" rod and reel is not decent quality. $50 rod and $50 reel....not that good.


Ugly stick with a Garcia black max, probably $100 or less. I would not own either.

Jarrett -- I agree with you 100%
the fact that ezbassin would not own either (Black Max or Ugly Stick) does not make them NOT a good value …..
all I own in reels are Black Max reels --- some I have on St Croix Premiers some I have on St Croix Legends
They did preety dang good in Mexico catching 150 fish a day & had no problem landing bass in the 6-9 lb range on Falcon
3 of my 6 reels are 3 years old and they get fished every week. For $39 at Academy or Wal-Mart I can just throw them away instead of repairing or cleaning them.

Chevrolet -- Cadillac //// both get you where you want to go !!!!

Keep an eye on the classifieds section here.

I scored some amazing deals, especially on rods.

I do fish exclusively with Curados and Citicas, both mid-priced, but I did recently spring for an SLX for $75 (had an $25 Academy reward card) and a Daiwa Fuego, both highly rated for their price point of $100. Not bad little reels, no lie. I prefer the SLX to the Fuego, but they're both certainly able to be put on a good quality rod.

I tried the Fuego casting reel because I like the Fuego spinning reel, also at $100. The Fuego spinner competes with the Shimano Nasci, and I actually like it better than the Nasci.

My experience from fishing over 40 years is that, all things being equal, the rod is more important than the reel. The rod is how you feel the fish to begin with, and how you present the lure to the fish. The reel comes into play when the fish bites, and the $100 reels do the job well. I recently tried an SLX rod/reel combo, and for $200 is one of the best deals out there for build quality/price. Three great combos for $600 would be a fine start to a gear arsenal. An SLX on a Dobyns Fury series rod would be about $220 retail and even better.

Just sayin' "IMHO," y'all's mileage may vary.

Lots of decent reels for $50. You can get a decent rod for $50 at academy. No, they aren't gloomis or shimano DC's but starting out that's all you need. Reels and rods have come along way. Especially when academy runs the rod riot. Some nice rods for cheap.

[quote=Jarrett Latta]Lots of decent reels for $50. You can get a decent rod for $50 at academy. No, they aren't gloomis or shimano DC's but starting out that's all you need. Reels and rods have come along way. Especially when academy runs the rod riot. Some nice rods for cheap. [/quot

I just went to academy's website. Plenty to choose from in that price range. Probably 6-10 reels from $49-$59 just as many rods from different brands too, not just h2o.

I bought 6 of these a few years ago as saltwater reels thinking if the salt killed them, no big deal, just buy a few more. They are all still in action and have been excellent reels. I sent a few of them off to be cleaned and from the responses I received, they guy couldn't believe I was fishing these "cheap" reels. On the flip side, RT over at Lake Fork told me he could polish them up a bit and they would be almost as good as any of the higher end reels.

This model Caenan was around $89 when I bought them.

I just walked over to our pond. Had a Black Max spinning reel and an Ugly Stick. Chunked a 2 hook Rapala and caught two bass quickly. Just wanted to be sure the cheap stuff would work.

Depends how much you fish, my H20 mettles are going just good as my old shimano curados but I don't fish 5 days a week and put them through the abuse some might.

I think it depends on how you are fishing. If you're not fishing heavy structure or thick grass won't matter as much. When I started catching larger bass pulling them out of reeds/stems/grass having a rod that's sensitive to to touch but also has some backbone makes a huge difference. Pulling them out of the reeds before they get that exposed hook on the roots, you need a rod that you can force them where you want them to go. There's a huge difference in strength in rods within the same classification. As to reels, find a brand you like and buy in the brand. Sure makes it easier setting them up and maintenance if they work the same.

I would pick up 2 berkley lighten rods or lews hank parker rods. One med heavy for soft plastics and one medium for moving baits. Pair each with a lews laser mg or abu Silvermax. Then get a lews mach 7.5:1 and a Daiwa DX Type-LT Frog Casting Rod for frogs and jigs. Throw braid in the mach reel and mccoys mean green on the other 2.