Where Do You Put The Money - Rod or Reel?

I too concur with Dan and Craig. The difference in my success when I
stepped up to a Loomis rod and Power Pro was astounding because I suddenly
learned to feel everything the bait was going through. Since then I now use
mono mostly but I have a sense for the bait that I never had. Want to
improve finesse fishing, go with a good rod and no stretch line for a while.
An excellent low cost rod IMO is the Rapala Long Cast HM-35 series. They
run about $40 a piece and I find them to be very light and comfortable with
a nice taper and lots of sensitivity and backbone at the same time. For me
the rod is more important than the reel so far, but I can tell that some of
my reels, although they performed well out of the box, are starting to
degrade in just a few years. I hope I will get better mileage out of higher
quality reels as I upgrade my tackle.
Nice posts, this was a good thread.

Rich P

"Rich Pierro" wrote in
:

I too concur with Dan and Craig. The difference in my success
when I
stepped up to a Loomis rod and Power Pro was astounding because I
suddenly learned to feel everything the bait was going through. Since
then I now use mono mostly but I have a sense for the bait that I
never had. Want to improve finesse fishing, go with a good rod and no
stretch line for a while. An excellent low cost rod IMO is the Rapala
Long Cast HM-35 series. They run about $40 a piece and I find them to
be very light and comfortable with a nice taper and lots of
sensitivity and backbone at the same time. For me the rod is more
important than the reel so far, but I can tell that some of my reels,
although they performed well out of the box, are starting to degrade
in just a few years. I hope I will get better mileage out of higher
quality reels as I upgrade my tackle.
Nice posts, this was a good thread.

Rich P



Some of this added success has to do, believe it or not, with how you feel
about yourself as a fisherman. Sure, some of it is your gear, but the
better confidence you have in your abilities, the better you fish.

With fly gear, in particular, I just catch more with flies I have the most
confidence in, even if they don't match the hatch. Damned if I know why a
Catskill dry fly I tie with real wood duck will outfish the same fly tied
with mallard dyed to look like wood duck. If I give a fly to someone else
to fish, it doesn't seem to make a difference.

A fly I have confidence in outfishes a fly I don't, probably for no other
reason than I fish them slightly differently.

Scott