Started to get into drifting a couple of years ago, and have been doing it with some of my bass gear.

Wanting to change it all out with some dedicated drifting rods, so im not putting wear and tear on my high end stuff.

What's everyone using? looking at 4 bait casting combo's right now.

Seems like everyone out there is making "catfish" rods but wanted to hear what's good and what isn't.

Leaning towards abu's 6500's, but am open to anything.

Pro angler mediums are hard to beat for price and durability!!!

The Pro Anglers are good rods I have some Pro Anglers,Whisker seekers and Warrior Cats they all get the job done . You are going to get a lot of different answers and it depends on what you can afford . I would look for something with stainless guides and no inserts . If I run across the older ABU'S at a pawn shop I will try to make a deal on them .

the ugly stick can't be beat for the money .....

This topic always ruffles a few feathers. I run Whisker Seekers and Warrior Cat rods in MH and they work good for me. I run Shimano Tekota 500 and 600 as well as Abu 6500c3 reels but I started moving away from Abu 3 yrs ago due to durability issues I was having. Repair cost for worm and pawl gears, drag, bearing replacements, clutch repairs, broken reel foot, etc etc etc...-Repairs at Southwest Parts ain’t cheap and the reel with the broken foot was a total loss. I’ve replaced 7 Abus over the last 3 yrs as they break down. The Abu is the standard in catfish reels and do a great job but the Tekota HGA are on a different level especially if you planer board. That’s where they really shine...

Haven’t taken the step to using planet boards yet but I can see how they would work into my drifting attack

What would any reel do better for boards that another couldn’t do?

First thing is cranking power. Reeling in planer boards is like trying to reel in a pair of heavy boots. Abu 6500 wasn’t designed to reel in such heavy loads. They do fine for fighting heavy fish but are undersized for reeling in heavy loads such as planer boards and big baits. The Tekota has a lot more cranking power because it was built to reel in heavier loads while trolling . You can’t just crank in planer boards fast with the Abu without the drag slipping. Guys who fish with planer boards know that reeling up 4 long planers on Abus takes time. The lower gear ratio of the Abu takes a lot longer to reel up long planer board lines. The Tekota cranks in boards fast and easy due to the higher gear ratio. Having a board attached pulls much harder than without one and the extra stress can break the tack welded reel foot on the Abu. The Tekotas frame is much stronger . The higher 6.3:1 gear ratio on the Tekota HGA makes reeling up long lines a lot quicker than the lower gear ratio of the Abu. Big time saver. The Tekotas were built for trolling and that is pretty much what I’m doing with planer boards. All you gotta do is fish with both reels side by side with planers and you’ll be a Tekota fan too.

I’ve only recently been noticing how long it takes to crank in my abu’s, while drifting. Gato. It can lead part-timers (like me) to delay pulling and resetting, because it just takes so long and so many cranks to get the rigs in. So, I drift too long and reset long after I should have.
Gato is sharing some good points there.

Thanks Ed. I used to wait out my drifts or drift way too long for the same reasons you said. I’d miss my drift lines and instead of reeling up and redeploying I would just keep drifting over unproductive water. It took forever to reel up 6 long lines with 4 planer boards, change spots, then get everything redeployed. I used to dread reeling up those boards to move spots but the Tekotas completely changed that. These days I don’t fish unproductive water for very long. Gaining experience and keeping an exact routine when reeling up and redeploying will speed you up a ton too and make it second nature. It’s like a symphony getting everything deployed quickly. My issues usually arise when I have fishing buddies on the boat that insists on “helping” get everything deployed which usually ends up with crossed lines, wasted time, and me on tilt...planer boarding is an art