cheap gear vs top class

[conoflexman]

had a couple ov fishing trips in the last month corking for mackie great fun when your fishing and its packed was watching a guy casting near me now he could cast got talking to him both rod and reel 35 quid not sure ov the make seem to do every thing mine did infact he could out cast me with just a weight on no im not the best caster but can chuck over 100 yards easy enough u could get 10 ov these rod and reel combos for 1 ov mine got me thinking do u realy need 300 quid rods for fishing. casting may b. he had 6oz on his rod cast it easy and he had hammerd it for 2 years still going strong

 

[Davey1970]

a think you mite see the difference with a good fish on,

but like a keep telling people, not every1 has the money,
so people will use what they can afford.

 

[Davey-m]

Probably casts so well as he's at one with his rod if he's had if for years . Takes me a few casts to get into a different rod everytime when changing gear.

Also about what you can afford, how many hobbies you have and if you can justify the expensive gear. People who don't go fishing much laugh when you say £400 on a rod. I never tell our lass how much I pay for gear.

 

[conoflexman]

lol the mrs

lol the mrs

makes to ov us

 

[tinman]

last year i started out sea fishing, went into a local tackle shop and payed 27quid for a fladen beach caster and a daft fix spool, it lasted say 5-6month of beach fishing went in the sea, all the eyes started snapping off, it was cracked the lot, but i had some kanny fish on it, whiting, codling, flatties..

now ive moved on to century, and multi's, ive had less luck with fish and alot more stress with reels! hahaha, everything was easyer when i didnt have a clue! haha

so aye the fladen rod wasnt the best of rods but got me right into fishing again after a good few years of not...

 

[d-a]

cheap

cheap

more expensive rods-1-bite detection 2 -more stable in winds cheaper rods bounce about 3-most dear rods are stronger 4- most dearer rods are stronger = weight ratio 5- if used properly they are virturely unbreakable in 40yrs of fishing i have had only 1 rod snap and it was my missuse 6- most dearer rods are made for a spacific purpose not genral purpose 7-gives you somthing to talkabout (poser)

 

[codseeker]

2011 survey 90% of fish wernt bothered what set up they wud like to be captured on the other 10% were tackle tarts

 

[rocketman]

true coddy, the fish are not bothered what gear your using all their bothered about is the bait, yeah and too many tackle tarts faffing on scared to get their gear dirty and looking about to see whos watching them with their expensive gear

 

[david.northeast]

true coddy, the fish are not bothered what gear your using all their bothered about is the bait, yeah and too many tackle tarts faffing on scared to get their gear dirty and looking about to see whos watching them with their expensive gear

The thing with expensive gear is that its expensive and if you damage it its very hard to replace thats why people are bothered about stuff getting knocked about with scratches and things
You wouldnt want to damage any rings during your session to then find yourself winding a fish in and your line to snap loosing everything

 

[adam.d]

When the sea's away it would be neigh on impossible to fish with a cheap floppy rod. Some cheaper gear is good tho, take the RT Axcellerator for instance - crackin bit a kit for less than £100 brand new.
Reel's on the other hand are pants!

 

[micky-quayle]

The real cheapy gear is only good for the occassional angler but middle of the road gear is now great quality compared to a few years ago. The rods i use beach fishing in gambia are 3 piece ron thompson carbo sticks they were only £99 each but were on a special buy one get one free which made them less than £50 each even got a lighter tip to cast 2 / 3oz weights as well as the normal 5 / 6oz tip. Cant believe how good these rods were for the money, had them 5 years now and still going strong, had fish to over 24 lb on them. Reels wise you can now get a decent multiplier for 50 to £60 which is more than fit for purpose.
With rods a lot of the time anglers would be able to cast a LOT further using a less expensive softer rod. A lot of top end rods are capable of casting huge distances but only in the right hands, for mr average caster these rods will reduce distance since they will not be compressed properly when cast.
Find a rod and reel you're comfortable with and use it, don't be sucked into to the hype in certain magazines.

 

[codfather145]

The real cheapy gear is only good for the occassional angler but middle of the road gear is now great quality compared to a few years ago. The rods i use beach fishing in gambia are 3 piece ron thompson carbo sticks they were only £99 each but were on a special buy one get one free which made them less than £50 each even got a lighter tip to cast 2 / 3oz weights as well as the normal 5 / 6oz tip. Cant believe how good these rods were for the money, had them 5 years now and still going strong, had fish to over 24 lb on them. Reels wise you can now get a decent multiplier for 50 to £60 which is more than fit for purpose.
With rods a lot of the time anglers would be able to cast a LOT further using a less expensive softer rod. A lot of top end rods are capable of casting huge distances but only in the right hands, for mr average caster these rods will reduce distance since they will not be compressed properly when cast.
Find a rod and reel you're comfortable with and use it, don't be sucked into to the hype in certain magazines.

Never a better word said. If your happy with your rod and reel and it's not broke why change it. Just change your bait.

 

[bandit]

Some cheap rods might look strong but the walls of the blank are wafer thin on the other hand some of the more expencive rods are well over priced you pay more for the name than the actual performance. There's a lot of rods both sea and freshwater use the same blanks its just the name thats different and of course this price, a lot of them are imported cheap from china (suprise suprise)

 

[chris elliott]

hi lads,being landlocked in hertfordhire had itchy feet so went to my local park,to give my rods a bit of a cast and blow the cobwebs out,fence posts are 10 yards apart so i got a pretty good idea of distances
1)a scarboro reel and an ancient backcaster with 50lb line straight through 82 yards
2)an ancient abu 174c rod coupled with a 20 year old shimano11cfs 132 yards
3)my pride and joy a second hand century fireblade and a penn mag 25 158 yards
the old backcaster was done backcasting,the other two with a basic fishing pendulum,
for the kelp i use the backcaster,it bends like a banana but theres nowt like it for kelp cod on big baits,fishing a beach at night i go for the abu and shimano,its bomb proof and i trust it,day time the modern gear because its harder to control,my thinking is if it works use it,just trust your stuff,dont matter how much it costs,sometimes just cos its old dont mean it dont work

 

[chris elliott]

hi lads,being landlocked in hertfordhire had itchy feet so went to my local park,to give my rods a bit of a cast and blow the cobwebs out,fence posts are 10 yards apart so i got a pretty good idea of distances
1)a scarboro reel and an ancient backcaster with 50lb line straight through 82 yards
2)an ancient abu 174c rod coupled with a 20 year old shimano11cfs 132 yards
3)my pride and joy a second hand century fireblade and a penn mag 25 158 yards
the old backcaster was done backcasting,the other two with a basic fishing pendulum,
for the kelp i use the backcaster,it bends like a banana but theres nowt like it for kelp cod on big baits,fishing a beach at night i go for the abu and shimano,its bomb proof and i trust it,day time the modern gear because its harder to control,my thinking is if it works use it,just trust your stuff,dont matter how much it costs,sometimes just cos its old dont mean it dont work

 

[kayos]

I think really cheap is cheap for a reason - and I know because I have bought lots of it! Had cheap boat rods and Penn Commander reels. Reels lasted about 6 trips. We now have Penn Ugly Stix and a Penn GT2 and a Shimano 25tld. Bought second hand, paid around £200 for the lot, so pretty reasonable for two set ups and so much better.

We still have cheap spinning rods and they are just great. Also had cheap reels, but bail arms always seemed to go on them, clicking back during casting etc. Bought a Shimano 5000 Baitrunner, a fantastic reel, again second hand and the difference is incredible. Lynn has just ordered one off the web for herself. First time she has ever bought a new piece of fishing kit! :red:

So I think mid range is worth the bit extra, the £400 rods and £200 reels? Well no idea, as I could never justify spending that sort of money to the boss!
I do feel though, that it's the same for fishing gear as with other items, like bags, watches, clothes etc. At the top of the range you are paying for the name and "status" as well as the quality.

 

[fishingmark]

I treat buying fishing gear the same way I do when I buy tools for work. Buy cheap rubbish and it will not last. I don't buy the most expensive as most of the mid priced stuff is pretty good. Century rods and ABU/Daiwa reels are what I stick to, never had any trouble with either, last for years so no need to have the latest bling gear. Most of the gear I've got is well over 10 years old and most of the time when buying gear I tend to go for mint condition second hand stuff.
If people want to buy top of the range stuff and it makes them happy in their fishing then fair enough, but it seems crazy to me when people skint themselves for fishing gear, like has been said before, the fish don't care what tackle you have.

 

[conoflexman]

nice gear

nice gear

i like nice gear that wont let me down on a cold winters night and can take some stick and b just as good next time out but learnt some thing though id change rods from pokey rods to some thing a lot lighter mm bad idea when your used 2 powerfull rods and pick up a lighter rod wow what a diffrence suppose after 30 years useing them not easy to change

 

[fish fingers]

davey i want all your gear mate or i,m telling your lass how much it really cost :red:

 

[sless]

aye if the women only knew how much