I strongly suggest the Ugly Stick cat rod but the cheaper Berkley rod is trash. However if you don't want to spend $40 on a rod, Academy has a house brand called "Tournament Choice" that puts out a 6'6" rod that does pretty good. Its really stiff, but thats good for big cats. Of course all of the baitcaster Abu Garcia Ambassadeurs are good, maybe the best. They last forever. Cajun Red Line is good but it doesn't have any play. Its very stiff. Berkley Big Game might be better. As far as rigging, tie a large weight (like 1 oz) about six inches above your number four treble hook, dip some Danny King's Punch Bait and cast. Good luck.

if you prefer spinning tackle as I do, an okuma avenger baitfeeder reel on an ugly stick catfish rod is a pretty good combo for bigger cats, the baitrunner feature allows you to set a second drag to pay out line when you get a bite, then you just turn the handle or flip the switch and hookem.

for fishing punch bait for eaters I like a lighter pflueger president rod and reel combo.

for line, I am a braid lover...cant stand mono since I made the switch a few years back. I highly recommend sufix performance braid, 10lb for light setup, 30lb for heavier setup.

I have 4 Catfish Safari rods that I was using but have switched to 3/4 ton Team Catfish rods. For reels I use ABU 6500 spooled with 65 lb Power Pro Yellow or Red.

hey dartman u wanna sell ur Catfish Safari rods?

Sorry FishHauler I guess I will hang on to them. Even though I use the Team Catfish rods I will also use the Catfish Safari rods when I have several people fishing. Both are excellent rods I like the backbone of the Team Catfish rods but I like the color of the Safari

i am going to have to chech out these Team Catfish rods. My complaint about the Catfish Safari rods is that the tip is a little to stiff for me. I like its back bone, i have picked a 20lb stump all the way to the boat with this rod.

Our tips are softer then the Safari rods. Some anglers like them that way and some like a harder tip.

Our tips designed to show you the smallest of bites without sacrificing any strength.

FishHauler I have two of the Team Catfish 3/4 ton rods. All I can say is sweet!

SO does everyone agree that the Cabelas Cat Combo is Junk? I almost bought this,.

its good to hear that someone finally makes a good stout rod with a softer tip. I saw the videos from Tawakini. WOW, they handled those 20-40lb blues beautifully. I wanna see a vid with a 50+ blue on there. I know it will be more of the same but it will be cool to see.
The parabolic bend is a MUST for a big fish rod, that was my favorite thing about the CS rod, but all were too short 7'3"-7'6" that i have, and too stiff at the end. I have talked to the guy who designed them, Steve Brown, and they are designed for his style of fishing. I found that my style is different and the hard tip lost some fish on the bite w/ circle hooks.
In the vid i saw how these rods will load and "Down she goes" perfect for the Double Action hook.

I dont know about other people , but I have 2 King Kat rods the 8 footers and I like them alot! they have a soft tip and a lot of backbone.. I have caught multipul fish in the 20 and 30 pound range and they handle great.. I think they are a solid rod for the price $20.. I team them up with abu garcia 6000s and it is a solid combo for a great price JMO..

The King Kat rod might be OK. The KingKat reel ain't so good.

Get a big fish on there & that sucker is liable to lock up on you.

YES junk. If you need a combo for 20 bucks---- ya can't beat it--but i wouldn't want to have that with that big fish you hooked onto.For just a few more $$$ , you can do much better.

with that said , Cabela's has a very good return policy so if you DID buy it & didn't like it, you can return it, no questions ask.

I dunno about the king Kat reels so much but the rods work just fine..
You can also try Jarvis Walker Tuff Tip rods , they are also a solid rod for a good price 20$ as well 7ft. MH pulled in plenty of nice cats with that as well.. I always use abu garcias either 6000 or 6500 with 20 -30- lb berkley big game solar green .. IMO cant go wrong with that set up ..

I would go with 14 lb line this time of year the big blue bite hard. Most of the time I fish 12 lb