Rod suggestions?

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by William Novotny

Look into the uglystick tigers. They are reasonably priced and have a variety of sizes. I go by feel more then line rating since most rods are rated for mono and I use mostly braid. Tug on the rod tip and look for where the bend is. Look for one that most of the bend is at the end, that has sturdy backbone to wrench on fish and with a sensitive tip. You want that so you can detect bites and for halibut head shakes so they don't throw the hook. With that said there is no one tool for any job.

I have an ugly that I bought back in 2003, it still catches the big ones.

[ful-rac]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

I have an ugly that I bought back in 2003, it still catches the big ones.

Yeah but my calstars catch'em with style

[Hunters Pa]

Get three decent setups tailored to different uses.

You can use a Swiss Army knife to do a lot of things, but you can do them a lot better with a semi-decent screwdriver, fork and hammer.

[pbb]

Thanks for everybody's feedback.

I realized that what I felt was lacking was a heavier pole for jigging.

Being cheap and prone to buy old used but solid stuff, and given what eveyone said in praise of Calstar, My research turned up info that pre-Penn Sabre/California Tackle rods were made by Leon Todd before he founded Calstar.

So I just bought used a 50lb class Sabre GS6550 rod with a Daiwa 350H reel at a local pawn shop for $80. Might be a bit too stiff, but I'll give it a try.