The wife and I are going to visit my parents in Pensacola in 2 weeks and Dad wants to take us out on the boat for a day of bay fishing for Reds and Tarpon. The only problem is that he doesn't own any tackle! My thought is to buy a few inexpensive combos and have them shipped or makeshift with some extra gear I have and just leave it there for him and us when we go back.

I was thinking about getting two of the Okuma baitrunner 4000 spinning reels and pairing them with 2, 7' ugly sticks OR one of the spinning setups and pairing an Abu 3700 Ambassador with a 7' ugly stick. The only concern I have about theAbu is it's lack of saltwater rating but I'm sure a good cleaning and lube will keep it safe.

Anybody have any experience with Okuma or Ugly Stick?

ugly sticks are strong durable and ugly, they are also very tough to beat for the money, you will never wear one out , but they are on the heavy side.the Okuma reels are in my opinion ok but not as good as a shimanoI have 2 okuma's and 4 shimano spinning reels. and i just hapen to have a shimano Saros 4000 F for sale for 100 that i paid 129 + tax it has never been on a rod, brand new in the box with spare spool, i would suggest using good quality 30 lb. braid on it .or any spinning reel that you get

I have a ugly stick that I use in saltwater I use it on the pier and also walking out in the surf a throw spoons, jigs etc, I have had it for three yrs now and it is still like new just clean them after every trip, I use 30lb braid so I can get a good 250yrds of line on it that way, as far as okuma I would stay away I purchased two surf rod combos for like 50 bucks each and the reel crapped out on one and the other two eyes fell off the rod and that was within one season I'm sure them being cheap had to do with them being junk but not even a whole season

Ugly sticks for sure, might consider a Penn spinning reel and /or Ambassadeur casting reel. Had excellent luck w/ all the above.