Help with first casting rod

[Eades]

Pro qualifier reels are pretty good value at right around $100, i've had mine for 4 or 5 years now and its still holding up well. I really like the veritas rods, sportsmans has them 10 bucks cheaper than everywhere else at $89, and the vendetta are pretty nice too. i had a vendetta i used for jigs and it was a pretty good rod until i crunched it in the back window of my explorer and then got a veritas.
A great all around baitcaster rod is 7' medium heavy fast. It's ideal for your jigs and texas rigs and will work pretty well with spinnerbaits and small swimbaits. Although a slower action would be better to use on your cranks, because it wont pull the bait out of their mouth when they strike, if you only can take 1 rod it should be the 7' mhf.

[GreenGhostMan]

Thanks Eades. I'm pumped to start practicing on the pro qualifier. The dual braking system and just the total number of reviews on it sold me.

You're probably right on keeping cranks off a MHF rod... Never had anything over medium on my spinning rods. Everything ranging from UL to M. Just this season I've started experimenting with jigging and more finesse plastics and I feel like I'm missing a lot of fish. Main reason I'm wanting to give baitcasting a go... For all I know, it could just be due to slow reaction by me.

Also never have had anything over 6'6", I guess because I fish from a kayak and sometimes in smaller rivers the trees or branches can get in the way so I'm afraid of going longer than 6'6", but i feel like 7' is the standard for most people. Does 6 inches make that big of a difference in casting distance, hook sets, etc.?

[GreenGhostMan]

JKelley1487... mind reading powers. Was typing out that previous post not knowing you had just answered it basically. Thanks.
I'll have to give that rod a look. Hoping to swing by BPS tonight and get a feel for some of them.

[nitro929]

Amazon has them on sale with free shipping .I have 4 so far and love them .

[kevinb2035]

I'm not a fan of abu rods, they all feel so stiff to me. I'd say look at 13 omen, powell diesel or inferno, duckett ghost, lews tp-1, or falcon bucoo. The 13 omen is my favorite of the group though. As for length, I am much more accurate with a 6'6 rod than I am with a 7 footer but I only use under 7ft when I'm throwing topwater or spinnerbait. All that said, just get what feels comfortable