That's the bottom line Kenneth. The best you can afford without taking out
a second mortgage.

I've always advocated using a quality reel, the advantages are obvious once
you get one in your hands. Team Daiwa X's fit the bill for me, they run
around $200 each. I have ones that I've used in 40 tournaments a year for 8
years now. They look like crud, but still work great.

For years I used cheap, $35 rods with these TD-X's, and faired pretty well
with them. Then the eyes start breaking off, the ceramic in them started
cracking & chipping, and I'd break a rod or two per year. So I moved up to
the cheaper St Croix's which run in the $100 range. These rods were great &
I highly recommend them to the weekend fishermen here, they're reasonable to
buy & are tough as nails.

Once you get into several serious techniques you find that specific rod
qualities are beneficial to your success, you take another step. I'm
currently switching over to my sponsor's rods, which you can view at
http://www.furnacebayrods.com .

I'll never spend more than $200 on a reel because I know that the quality I
get with my TD-X's is sufficient for my purposes. Same goes with rods, you
can have your $200+ GLoomis' & customs, I'm not going there regardless of
how much money I have to spend. I see no point to it, my rods do me just
fine.

I work too hard for my money.

Warren
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http://www.warrenwolk.com