Thought this may make an interesting topic

What dose evllybloody prefer ?????????????

I'll add my preferences later din din nearry ready

Now sort of things to post are 1 or 2 piece, graphite/glass/composite etc

1 piece garphite is my favirorite

that depends on the intended use, what do u have in mind J.G.

for light fishing my carbon rods are the bee's knees for my heavier stuff I like the composites. I still own quite a few solid fibreglass rods also my grandfather gave to me these things are unbreakable but a tad heavy...

I dont have anything in mind poly

It's up to you guys to tell what are your favourites what you use them for more or less what mully has done.

Think it would be interesting to see what gear people do use & if someone wants to pop Q's on why certain rods a better/worse etc pretty sure the Q's can be answered

Jumpy, Shimano is the only brand to buy, all the rest are rubbish. I should know Rex Hunt told me so
Oh I miss read the question you were not asking about brands

I prefer 1 piece rods as 99% of my fishing is boat based.
All my rods are fibreglass. I fish baits and they are cheaper. That said I want to build a few light carbon stick in the 1-3kg range.
If I needed heavier rods I would say I would look at composite or glass.

o.k. i will give it a go
3kg graphite for general lure and sp casting
6to 10kg composite for trolling the bay
and i have a nice 2 peace i keep in the car so i can sneak down to the lake for a cast or 2 during lunch

if i may give a tip, on the base cork grip of the rods i use all the time i add electoral shrink rap to help protect them when pull out of rod holders

I fish from the rocks and so I use fiber glass. Very light in action and weight. 2 piece 12 foot.

When fishing with Majed on his boat I use 5.5 foot to 7 foot rods fibre glass.

only reason i pick garphite is because there not too dear ( well most of them ) and there perfect for the fishing i do inside hacking

Shimano & Daiwa dont manufacture rods Blind Freddy contraray to what anybody tells you.

They commision there quality rods out to a few co's in malaysia & those factories are hush hush.

As far as their cheaper rods go ??

Well China/Taiwon or from where ever they can get the best price

Who does the rod blank then?

Jumpy, I shattered, I won't believe anything Rex tells me now.
That also means Starlo has been telling porkies with his Shimano Starlo sticks.
Though you posted somewhere the major suppliers of rods and Shimano, Diawa, etc were not there. Different colours and brands and probably from the same factory. Really at the end of the day it does not matter what brand is on the rod if it has a good action, components and is priced right. I am not one to pay for marketing if I don't have to.

Off topic but funny, someone told me this idiot did a Rexxy and kissed a Leather Jacket before putting it back. Fish took a chunk of his lip off.

Depends Christos !

In the case of Daiwa's & Shimano's quality blanks ??

Well I dont know for certain but a very good guess is the Daiwa /Shimano team has alot of imput into their design

The Cheaper rods ???

Well I dont think they give a sh*t to be honest it's all about being competitive on the market so to answer your Q ??

Who ever is selling the cheapest.

Most of the graphite is made in Taiwon for most of the rod building factories then it either goes to China for the cheaper rods or Malaysia for your more quality blanks destination of graphite will determine quality of blank.

Good example is some of my rods I have various types cheaper Viva Graphites which are pretty good considering the money you pay for them now these rods are made cheaply winch's guides are a dead give away & no different to the same price range Daiwa's/Shimano's in fact the Viva are better value cause you're not paying for the name & who knows they may even come out of the same factory cause Viva dont build rods no different to the rest of the Reel Manufacturer's

Then there's my Browning Rods ! completly diffent class of rods, Supirior Blanks to the viva All have the Fuji guides/winch's etc but again they are much much dearer, you get what you pay for, these rods come from one off the higher class rod building factories & are quality.

Now all those Blanks you've seen me building up in the rod building threads ??

Well they're all whats called A RAP blacnk full graphite & those who've been out in my boats will vouch what a nice rod they are & one of the reasons I thought this thread would make for good reading.

I wanted to see how many are still using the old glass rods & how many have been converted to a nice ghaphite rods.

In my books there's no comparisment once you've used a graphite rod you'll never pick up a glass rod again & I'm not just refering to spin rods either I'm using graphite for all my bait rods as well

I always like to use graphite or graphite composites. As for certain brands making better products, it is true to an extent. Some barands put more research, input and quality into their products. High end Strudwicks, high end Shimano's and Black Diamonds are what I use, as with some of the high end Penns.

For me, Black Diamond Rods are right up there with the best, as with Millerrods and the high end Shimano's and Daiwa's. You get what you pay for.

I dont really care about the brand anymore...
i look at the quality first then the price tag...
i also rely on the tackle shop owners advice, he tells me what he thinks is the best in my budjet and most of the time its not the most expensive item...

It does come down to price and to buy a rod that is not going to last is not something that we as fishing person want. The last trip to Foster I purchased a $25.00 rod and reel knowing that this might not last but it was for a boat and so we needed one.

The knob on the reel handle came off after the second day.

The rod is still ok. We shall see how long it last.

It's called marketing Freddy with no i's

Co's like Shimano use high profile anglers to sell their goods no different to the squidgy's using stalo's/bushy's name to market them

some how i think Freddie knows that j.g.

tomy i take what the sales man tells me with a grain of salt, as a lot of them will try to sell u the outfit that will make them the most money, of course not all sales people are like that thank heavens.

Either do I Tom & over the years I've owned some pretty expensive tackle & still do, more so refering to my gamefishing gear.

I'm not one for running with the crowd & have to own this , that or the other just because an artickle in a magazine shows a whopper fish taken on that brand of tackle.



You can generally gauge quality by the hardware on a rod guides/winch's etc

For example you wont find Fuji on a crappy blank & it's the 1st thing to look for , quality can also be determined by the rods finish

Then you have your rods using a celebrity to sell their gear good example are the Miller Rods released by Shimano.

Now there is no way Ian Miller would put his name to crap , he dosen't build those rods in Q but he would've had alot to do with the designing.



Yes that is also a good start point & the key there is **rod to suit the budget**

You're only a Yung Fulla but in time & if you do enough fushing you'll get to decide for yourself which are the more appropriate blank for your style of fushing

Yer... Fuji components is one of the things i look for especcialy in the lighter rods....




Jump i normalley know what KG blank i need and what its going to be for so i walk in there and tell him what i think i need then ask hes opinion, he may give me 5 selections i ask what hed be buying and most of the time its the same rod i think.

Starlo Stix are good value for money. Starlo is a high profile angler and wouldn't put his name to anything that was utter sh*t, just like Ian Miller. Ian Miller has had a large impact and has put a lot of input into most of the Shimano range, hence why Shimano rods are now great quality, even the cheap ones are all right.

Well

Haven't really looked @ the Starlo Stix's so have no views on them.

I do however look @ one thing with these rods bearing the names of well known fishermen.

If the rods are sold in places like K-Mart , Woolly's etc they cant be to crash hot simply because those places buy for price not for quality



Dont agree with that comment @ all & dont be fooled by clever marketing when choosing a rod, Shimano sell some real crap as well as their better ones

The starlo stix aren't found in Kmart or sh*t like that. You'll find them in real tackle shops and are built on graphite blanks, cork grips ect ect. I have one of the jig sticks they released and it's very nice for the money I paid for it. There is also a Starlo Stix Pro range which is very very nice and great value. Unfortunately the range of the Pros isn't as large as the normal SS's.

By "cheap" from the Shimano range I was talking about the catanas and rods like that. I don't get fooled by marketting and when I want a rod I know exactly what I'm looking for in terms of rating, components, taper ect ect. For around $80 the catana comes with fuji components, cork grips and a graphite blank, well capable of chucking light lures around. Howver there are some sh*t rods like the technium plus' and eclipses but they are crap, like I said b4, by cheap I meant the catanas which can be bought around the $80 (I think).

I see you've been fooled by the catana's

I have one & they're a cheap rod & not of any quality

Big deal that they have Fuji Guides or should I say the lack of them.

The overhead sticks have line touch all the way through the guide spacings the one I have has hyperlon grips but I doubt very much the ones with cork grips are cork.

Technology has allowed cork to be ground down then bonded together over a hyperlon grip , now this cork dust is only a couple of millimeters thick & very easy to detect.

Because its ground down B4 being bonded it has a very smooth appearance & you wont see any glued joins on it @ all.

For $80 what did you expect ??????????????????

My comment to rod brands was put as a joke but see that you want to talk brands lets see.

Are you 100% certain that Shimano MAKE their own rods???
Not design them but physically make them including the blanks.
I say no way.
So Starlo designs the rod and Shimano gets someone else to manufacture them. Shimano markets them and Starlo gets something for his troubles.
If you were to look you will find a different brand with the same rod with minor differences for half to 2/3rds of the price if an Australian importer wanted that style of rod to sell.
SHIMANO does have some very nice gear but some of it is over priced because of the marketing budget and company overheads.

My fav rod is a loaded rod

At the moment its been a pfluger PTSP 4766 1m 6'6''1 piece graphite, medium action, 3-6kg line
Matched with a Penn Applause 4000
Loaded with 6lb braid and I change the leader to suit the style of fishing.

This is my all time favourite rod and reel combo. It is a handy 4ft long and really powerful. The reel is ultra modern, with one of them star dragging thingies on it. It is very versatile and I use it to fish for yellowtail, bream, flathead and of course, big snapper. I haven't caught anything on it yet, but I think that soon I will. I have a stainless steel #4/0 hook and 50lb line on the reel. You can just flick a lever and the 1lb lead will just race down to the bottom, or you can wind backwards and just lower it down. The rod is real strong and can lift the anchor. It is a beaut. It might be for sale if the right person comes along with the dollars.

Ill give you a goat for it!

I'd ask for change Tom

Thats one of kk's better outfits as well

Well I have to admit when I plan on taking the boat out into salt water
My first choice of weopens is always my 6'6" Sylstar Crystal tip and
Penn 6500 reel filled with 20 lb fireline.
2nd choice is smaller and finer sylstar power tip with shimano 3500 bait runner
and 14 lb fireline, or is that spider line ?.
If I am venturing to the sweet water, first choice is my custom graphite with 2500 daiwa
capricorn and 2nd is a shimano something combo I bought for $ 100 some years ago
loaded with 4 lb line.
Other then these rods and reels there is a great veriety of weopons to choose from which
will all catch fish.
Beach fishing is a 13' hollow glass blank I made up 30 years ago. ( due for overhall now )
OH and Tom, sterlo will put his name to anything that will get him some dollars.

And that Jarvis Walker and Alvey deck winch, would have seen some duty, have similar outfits myself, but they rarely see daylight these days.

Frank

Frank, i think you have got me and catch and release confused...
i learnt that with a rod that one of the more famous anglers had put there name to a few years back...
forget which one now though.

Did he speak like a Rabbit Tom ??

Yiperty Yapperta

Quite possibly...

The catanas are good for $80. Compared to what else is out there for $80 the catana is right up there (the light spin sticks). The grips ARE cork. I saw one with a split grip (why it split I dunno, but it looked used so probably the anglers fault) and there was no evidence of hyperlon grips and the guides ARE fuji (again talking about the light spin sticks). I have used the catanas before, even though I haven't owned one, and i would definitely buy it if my budget was around $80. Another contender would be the Berkley Dropshots.

You had no idea they even mixed cork ove hypolon till I told you so doubt very much you'd know the difference.

Cork is not a cheap material but the catana's are a cheap rod so logic tells me it's not cork all the way through.

But next time I'm in a tackle shop I'll have a look.

Personally I wouldn't waste my money on a Cantana the rods are built to budget not quality

i bought a catana about 12 years ago and it is still as good as the day i bought it ,and it has caught some bloody big fish

Im recently converted to graphites, however my heavy boat sticks are ugly's and silstars cause i dont think a graphite would last to well...

Fav Rod, ive got to many now and cant even decide which one to take out so i take 10

Wow looks like you got into this topic a little late. And now that you have posted I know why.

It takes you a little while to think of a reply.

Or you might not have been near a computer. Are your ears hot?

:o

KKW from reading Jumpy's rod building tips you need to shorten the butt by 6". At 3'6" it will be a big advantage because when you put it in your backpack, you can put an orange flag on it when you ride your scooter to your secret fishing spot. No one will guess you are fushin just think you are a dork being safety conscious.

BTW I very jealous, if I had a goat I'd swap you for it.

Was stuck in sydney christos, browsing over some local tackle, was VERY impressed with the quality of the graphite blanks i picked up a few new ones!