I know it should be heavy power, but what are your preferences on action and length? I got smoked in a tournament this past weekend by a guy flipping, I decided I need a flipping rod!

I'd be really happy if we could keep it $150ish, less than would be awesome.

Thanks in advance guys.

Powell makes some good flipping rods around that price. check out tacklewarehouse.

A new rod isn't going to help you if you let someones winning technigues get in your head. Next thing you know you'll have a boat full of unnecessary stuff and still not winning or catching anything.
Pay your dues, practice, research, and work on improving the technigues that you know catch fish with the tools you have and gain some confidence in your style of fishing. Then in time you might be cashing checks.

Afterall it's you vs the fish. You have no control over what anyone else is doing.
Next month someone might win cranking. Then what? You'll be looking for the best cranking rod.

Duckett rods are great for flippin.

lots of good rods, falcon, the abu garcia rods, duckett rods, skeet rods, all good sticks

Point taken texan4liberty, but isn't flipping something that every competent bass fisherman should be able to do?

I learned how to flip and pich with a 20 dollar mh rod. Its not the rod its time on water and practice.

Look at the Powell max very good rod for the money

+1

Competent??? It's a Hobby,man! Forget,competent,and go have some fun!

Flipping and pitching should be learned by everyone IMO, you will sure miss out on alot of good fishing if you dont learn the technique.

I have several x-heavy/heavy flipping sticks that I use depending on bait size and or weight, Veritas, Duckett and Castaway are worth looking into and in your price range.

I'm 5'-10" and prefer a shorter pithing rod between 7' and 7'-6", exspecialy in tighter cover.

I would get to flipping first so that you know what you want from a flipping rod when you buy one. At least get in a day or two of flipping all day. Feel, weight, balance, will become important. Some people prefer one piece, some dont mind two, etc. I personally have a weight in the butt of mine for balance. I also typically use a extra heavy flipping stick because of the need to get some big fish out of some nasty trees as fast as possible.

All of those things as well as length and action are more dependent on what you will use it for more than a general preference of a mass group of people.

I could build you one, but for $150 the components wouldnt be great. Same way with any company.

Duckett!!!

Falcon makes a good one.

Well I would suggest at least a 7ft 6in. rod for flipping. Since you are placing the bait with your hand and the amount of line you have out, a longer rod will enable you to make a longer flip. It will also give you plenty of leverage for getting the fish out of heavy cover.
For "pitching" I like a shorter rod 7ft to 7ft 3in. I am more accurate "pitching" with the shorter rod.

You will want a rod with good backbone and I like a fast tip on a pitching rod. Tip action is not as important on a "flipping" rod.