Expensive rods

So the under rated and over rated thread got me thinking. What is the price point for you would you consider a rod to be an expensive one or “worth it” and “not worth it”? How does a brand reputation, advertising, warranty… ect influence you to spend more money on a rod.

Open water $
Hard Water $

For me, I am a rod junkie sucker and believe it is worth paying money for good tools. When I was younger I would eat Ramon for every meal until I was able to save up enough money to buy what was said to be the best rod for a presentation. As I got older I figured out that you don’t need to buy the most expensive rod to be the best rod for a tactic. The blank just has to match up with what you are wanting and doing. You can get some very nice action rods for not that much money. Yes in most cases the more expensive rod will be lighter, more sensitive, better workmanship, and have better tip action. Is that small difference worth the % more? The problems I have with the cheap rods are the components and the way some of them are put together (comfort and balance). I personally don’t have a problem spending some money on rods. Just wondering what everyone else thought.

I found some cheaper priced rods have nice blanks but they use the cheapest guides and handles. These rods sell for less then $40. I can not even buy a custom blank for that price. So they must be paying $3 for that blank.
After building on a $200 1.3oz RX9 spinning blank with $150 worth of titanium guides Yes its worth it.

Rodwork wrote:

How does a brand reputation, advertising, warranty… ect influence you to spend more money on a rod.

Not much of any of these. I go into store and hold the rods for myself and never think about brand.

Should pay more attention to warranty bc I break almost everything but let’s me get something new as well everytime.

My favorite rod is a st.croix rage, got it free as a Xmas special years ago. Has held up since then, and always had a tip that veered to the left and guides a lil off on it. Could care less, catches fish like no other and shows as long as the craftsmanship is close, it’s good enough for me.

The only rod you need to spend money on is a jigging and pitching rod.

Sensitivity and lightweight make a huge difference there.

You can buy a $400 GLoomis bottom bouncing rod…..but I guarantee it won’t catch anymore fish than a $40 rod with the same power and action, given the presentation.

B-man wrote:

The only rod you need to spend money on is a jigging and pitching rod.

I’m a fan of HQ live bait rigging rods.

IMO, I feel there’s a huge difference in $40 to $100 rods but and a smaller difference from $100 to $200 rods…but that’s just me. Open water.

its not just about types of fishing for me its also about frequency of use.

if i’m pitching cranks in current with braid, i want quality guides. I have a cheaper gander rod I did this with. a few months later at a clearance sale a few years back i paired that with a nicer gander rod with good fuji guides on it. both have about the same amount of “casts” on them. The cheaper gander rod guide inserts are starting to look rough and i already replaced 1 guide on it. BUT this is after years and years of frequent use. the other rod with good guides are holding up really well.

If i was fishing just very occasionally, the cheaper rod would of sufficed just fine. There is no real noticable advantage to the nicer gander rod when actually fishing in that style (burning cranks through current)

If I’m rigging or vertical jigging or pitching plastics, i want the best i can afford and that sweet spot is about 150 tops. I think the legend series st croix are hands down the best i’ve used but for me i can’t justify the cost increase with the difference in results.

I thought if it wasn’t custom you don’t catch fish pretty sure Ido taught me that over the winter

B-man wrote:

The only rod you need to spend money on is a jigging and pitching rod.

Sensitivity and lightweight make a huge difference there.

You can buy a $400 GLoomis bottom bouncing rod…..but I guarantee it won’t catch anymore fish than a $40 rod with the same power and action, given the presentation.

Completely agree with this…..upgrading my pitching and jigging rods was a game changer for me. G Loomis GLX 6’3″ Mag Light XF jigging rod is spendy but worth every penny imho. I also like a good rod for pitching cranks but that’s personal preference.

Rodwork wrote:

So the under rated and over rated thread got me thinking. What is the price point for you would you consider a rod to be an expensive one or “worth it” and “not worth it”? How does a brand reputation, advertising, warranty… ect influence you to spend more money on a rod.
Open water $
Hard Water $

I’m pretty frugal when it comes to toys.

Open water $75-$100 is the max I’d consider spending, but I’ve caught plenty of fish on rods in the $30-$50 range.

Hard water, I’m approaching only my 2nd season on ice. So we’ll find out what my limit is I guess. I didn’t spend more than $35 on the 2 rods I bought to start out last year, and I doubt I’ll go higher than $50 this year.

Brand reputation, advertising, and warranty have almost no influence for me. Brand rep perhaps a little. Advertising? Nope. Warranties? Most warranties are written by lawyers with the goal of making it difficult for the consumer to make a successful warranty claim.

tangler wrote:

I’m pretty frugal when it comes to toys.

Open water $75-$100 is the max I’d consider spending, but I’ve caught plenty of fish on rods in the $30-$50 range.

Hard water, I’m approaching only my 2nd season on ice. So we’ll find out what my limit is I guess. I didn’t spend more than $35 on the 2 rods I bought to start out last year, and I doubt I’ll go higher than $50 this year.

Brand reputation, advertising, and warranty have almost no influence for me. Brand rep perhaps a little. Advertising? Nope. Warranties? Most warranties are written by lawyers with the goal of making it difficult for the consumer to make a successful warranty claim.

How many fish have you missed…..or worse, not even known they were on because you were fishing with a 2×4?

I think sensitivity is even more important on the river…I know I missed tons of fish because I couldn’t feel the bite or relate to different bottom structure because my rods were garbage.

Tangler, do yourself a favor and get a Limit Creek Smoothie for the river. At $100 you can’t get a better rod. Use it for pitching and live bait jigging. Gamechanger for me when I started using them.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I thought if it wasn’t custom you don’t catch fish pretty sure Ido taught me that over the winter

You only say that because of this winter and the rod I made you. To quote you “this rod is absolutely awesome. I am using it for eyes on red. They are finicky and this rod had out fished everyone 10 to 1 all weekend.”

You have to love it when you can feel the fish fart.

I dont have a brand preference, but I’m a bass fisherman all open water season. Most of my rods are between 150 to 250 depending on what I use them for. Plus I spend alot on casting reels. But for bass us bass guys we are almost always casting all day, day in and day out. If the rod isnt light weight and balanced it gets uncomforting.
No my walleye set ups are almost all st croixs and loomis but if I fish walleye I’m only pitching and jigging. I like the sensitivity.
My son caught his 58 inch sturgeon while walleye fishing the rainy. It was on a 30 dollar berkley lightning rod. I guarantee my st croixs wouldn’t have handled that fish like his 30 dollar rod did.

My favorite rod was a $40 scheel’s special, when that broke I’ve tried most of their new rod lines and hated them, so then I have traded up into some St. Croix Premier’s that seem good enough to me. Ice fishing I’d used some $30 Fenwick’s forever, and they are a great value. I have a few TUCR ice rods that are really nice, but I haven’t noticed an increase in my catch rate. Rods are a much smaller component in success than we think 90% of the time, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t tempted by the marketing of Granrud and a JT rod or two. Haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

Rodwork wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
I thought if it wasn’t custom you don’t catch fish pretty sure Ido taught me that over the winter

You only say that because of this winter and the rod I made you. To quote you “this rod is absolutely awesome. I am using it for eyes on red. They are finicky and this rod had out fished everyone 10 to 1 all weekend.”

You have to love it when you can feel the fish fart.

Heck yeah that was a good trip. And that noodle rod you built me for a sweet price outfished all the tucr rods put together. ( which was only 3 ).
Ice fishing I use mostly thorne bro rods but I try to buy them all second hand.

Matt Moen wrote:

How many fish have you missed…..or worse, not even known they were on because you were fishing with a 2×4?

I think sensitivity is even more important on the river…I know I missed tons of fish because I couldn’t feel the bite or relate to different bottom structure because my rods were garbage.

How many? No idea, but I’ve caught enough to keep it fun and interesting for me and that’s pretty much what I’m after.

I also spend a significant amount of time trolling on the river because A) I have serious ADHD and enjoy moving around, and B) The limitations of my boat are minimized when trolling. And we all know you don’t need anything fancy for trolling.

Anyway, I do get your point and have had my eye on a smoothie for live bait rigging — but my jigging and pitching rods are hardly 2x4s either.

I bought a GLX this spring while it was on sale, while I don’t expect it to catch me millions more fish I did expect it to be light weight, well balanced and comfortable to use all day long day after day on fishing trips. As much as catching extra fish is a bonus the ergonomics of the rod make the experience that much more better.

BigWerm wrote:

My favorite rod was a $40 scheel’s special, when that broke I’ve tried most of their new rod lines and hated them, so then I have traded up into some St. Croix Premier’s that seem good enough to me. Ice fishing I’d used some $30 Fenwick’s forever, and they are a great value. I have a few TUCR ice rods that are really nice, but I haven’t noticed an increase in my catch rate. Rods are a much smaller component in success than we think 90% of the time, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t tempted by the marketing of Granrud and a JT rod or two. Haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

I bought a JT Black Reign last fall…..frickin’ awesome rod. I have been using it to pitch small cranks or large plastics and it’s a beast. I’d highly recommend.

@tangler just giving you a bit of a hard time but the Smoothie is awesome. I’m with you on trolling. I use almost any rod I have for that. I also tend to go heavy on the river because you are dealing with snags and hooking into the occassional big pike or rough fish.

Have not ponied up for a rod over $100 myself, but would imagine if you needed a sensitive feel would make all the difference catching fish some times.

I feel like I’m living it up if I purchase a one piece rod versus a two piece.

Matt Moen wrote:

@tangler just giving you a bit of a hard time but the Smoothie is awesome. I’m with you on trolling. I use almost any rod I have for that. I also tend to go heavy on the river because you are dealing with snags and hooking into the occassional big pike or rough fish.

You really hurt my feelings with that 2×4 comment Matt. Don’t think I’ll ever get over it! Now every time I look down at my rod I’m going to think about this and probably need counseling to cope. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.

I think a nice rod is great for pitching jigs for walleye, and can make a difference. I like using nice stuff, so I have a decent vertical jigging rod, but honestly, put braid on just about any rod and you should be able to catch just as many fish if all you are doing is V-jigging. You’ll still feel just about anything on the braid, and the no stretch will get that hookset quickly.

I notice a much bigger difference in rod quality if I’m using mono.

the two most expensive open water rods i have are Fenwick HMX. I think i maybe paid $70 a piece for them. To answer one of your questions i would probably classify anything over $100 as expensive and anything under $40 to be inexpensive.

I could see where if you were doing certain types of finesse fishing the rod can matter a lot but as others have mentioned if I’m casting crank baits or trolling bottom bouncers just about any old stick will do IMO. I do find that i enjoy a higher end ice fishing rod however. I have a few Thorn Bro rods that i love as well as a TUCR and i definitely prefer them to some of the cheaper ice rods i own.

Expensive Rods

If I ever startup a gigolo service this will be my company name.

Most of my open water fishing (walleye or panfish) is jigging so sensitivity is huge for me. Next I look at the overall weight of the rod/reel combo. My thought is that if its heavier, that could translate to the fish feeling the bite quicker than a lighter setup.

Using braided line can help with adding sensitivity to a rod that may not be as sensitive, but then using braid can have downfalls if you are fishing areas known for snags in my opinion

I have used St Croix, Gloomis, TUCR and JT Custom open water rods and think that each can be better than the other based on the type of water you are fishing (lake or river) and also the style and type of jigging from vertical with the lightest jig you can get away with to pitching or casting and snap jigging plastics.

For ice fishing, for me it depends on the weight of the jig/spoon Im using. My experience of the last few years is TUCR and DH Customs, both make great noodle rods and jigging rods for walleye/perch. To me, it depends on the weight of the jig/spoon and how it matches with each rod.

so back to the original question about cost, for open water my limit is $250ish, ice fishing is $100ish. That said I wont keep buying more just to have, I am at my personal limit so I can have enough rods where I have 1 set up with each type or style I want to use on a given day

bigstorm wrote:

, I am at my personal limit so I can have enough rods where I have 1 set up with each type or style I want to use on a given day

That’s the problem tho, every 6 months I just keep getting a new style I need a new rod for!!

Hard water: You can buy the parts to make a pretty good rod for about $25 or $30. That’s what I did and I’m delighted with the performance.

Open Water: I’ve never spent more than $125 on an open water rod. Could I have maybe caught a few more fish with an expensive rod that offers slightly better feel? Maybe, but I’m willing to accept the trade off.

Fly Fishing: I’ve built most of the fly rods I use. Never spent more than $100 on components. The off-the-shelf rods don’t have some of the things I like. For example, try and find a 9 foot 5 weight that has a man sized full Wells grip on it. Or a 9 foot 8 weight with a switch rod grip, so I can use it two-handed if I want. Realistically, you can cast ANY fly rod. The difference is in the fly line, and that’s where I’ll spend money on a premium product.

I try and be as frugal as possible, because I’d rather have more money to spend on trips, gas, motel rooms, etc.

S.R.

I never understood expensive rods for sturgeon, cats, or downrigger/leadline…. anything in a rod holder, and I am mostly equipped with $30 or so rods.

Steve Root wrote:

I’d rather have more money to spend on […] motel rooms

S.R.

Thought you were married

I’ll echo the point many are making here; I’d rather invest in reel, line, fly line, other parts of the system than the rod unless sensitivity is paramount (vertical jigging). Btw I also love the Smoothie for said application.

I’m not loyal to any one brand but will admit that I subconsciously don’t give as much consideration to some as I do to, say, St. Croix…for better or worse

I’ve always had great luck with Scheels Rods. Buy them on sale at the end of the season when they’re half price and they have good warranties on them. I’ve broken 6 rods on different occasions because of different things and they have all been replaced with no questions asked. That’s not their motto but most of the guys in scheels know the actual cost of one of their rods so it doesn’t bother them to replace it.

To top it all off, there are enough options with their rods that I’ve managed to fill a rod locker with a rod rigged for just about everything you can do for walleye. No more time wasted switching a rod from one setup to another. Grab and go!

I really like using higher end fishing rods. A $300 rods isn’t going to catch 6x as many fish as a $50 rods, but it’ll catch a few more. A brand new $50k truck won’t get you to the lake any faster than one with rust falling off of it, but it has its benefits.

Crisp, light, well-balanced graphite rods result in longer, more accurate casts than with a whippy rod, and it’s a lot easier to feel bites, differentiate getting bites from bumping debris, feeling changes in bottom content, feeling line brushing against weeds as the bait drops, etc. Higher end rods sometimes have some very nice accidental breakage warranties, as well.

The biggest factor in just that they’re a lot more fun to use. People like using nice things. Why do you think those TUCRs and all these slick ice customs fly off the shelves like they do?