Baitcasting Recommendations 2025

Chrismissbass reply :

Hi, Ive been looking for a good baitcasting rod and reel, and I just cant decide on one. Ive looked at mostly Lews reels and a cheap st. Croix rod.

I mostly do weightless worm fishing (senkos) and I need one that doesn't exceed $220. Thanks.

Alan Reed reply :

I recently got a Lews Tournament MB LFS and I absolutely love it. I paired it with a *** *** Black 7'1" medium fast action. Total package came it at $240.

Chrismissbass reply :

Im pretty short (5'4) so id like a bit smaller of a rod. and what brand of rod would be best. Id like to stay u der $220 but if i have to go over a little its fine.

Chrismissbass reply :

Im new to baitcasters an im in desperate need of some recomendations for Baitcasting rods. I cant find one i like! And with the hollidays coming up i need to find something. Any recomendations!? I mostly use weightless worms and occasionally use a lipless crank or crankbaits in general. Im quite short so Id perfer anything from 6'6 to 6'10. Thanks. Also please dont go over $120 since im on a pretty tight budget.

"hamma" reply :

Best baitcasting rods for your price range? I know you will get many different replies. But, I also noticed that berkley re-did their series one rods, and they were great before, the new? I dont know, but I did see them online for about $100 and im sure they are well worth it.

Im not "in" the market for rods, so I havent been checking any out lately, I did buy a st croix mojo bass rod this spring for dropshotting, it was around your price range as well. And st croix makes some good rods too.

Chrismissbass reply :

Thanks, i will make sure to check out the berkley line of rods.

roadwarrior reply :

Oklahoma Mike reply :

In your price range I would suggest the Avid X. I would also suggest taking a look at Hammer Rods.

Chrismissbass reply :

I was thinking of the St.Croix Bass X. Its cheap and it looks great. Just another question though. For light lures like weightless worms. Which action would be better, Fast or Extra Fast?

Oklahoma Mike reply :

Yes, the Bass X is cheaper, but you get what you pay for. I've pasted the details from their website below for easy comparison. Lots of differences, the most natable being a SCII versus SCIII blank.

Bass X:

Premium-quality SCII graphite.

Designed and built for bass anglers.

Hard aluminum-oxide guides with black frames.

Fuji® ECS reel seat with black hood on casting models.

Fuji® DPS reel seat with black hoods on spinning models.

Split-grip/premium-grade cork handle with EVA trim.

Two coats of Flex Coat slow-cure finish.

5-year warranty backed by St. Croix Superstar Service.

Avid X:

Integrated Poly Curve® (IPC®) tooling technology.

Premium, high-modulus SCIII graphite.

Incredibly light, super sensitive and durable.

Slim-profile ferrules.

Kigan Z micro-guide platform reduces weight while maintaining proper stripper guide ring height for optimum line flow efficiency. Z guides feature slim, strong aluminum-oxide rings with gunsmoke frames.

Fuji® reel seat with gunsmoke hood(s).

Split-grip/select-grade cork handle.

Kigan hook-keeper.

Two coats of Flex Coat slow-cure finish.

15-year transferable warranty backed by St. Croix Superstar Service.

My preference for weightless worms is XF.

new2BC4bass reply :

Type good casting rod for senkos in your favorite search engine and have fun reading.

My daughter fishes Senkos....I don't. However, any rod that is used for bottom techniques should be as sensitive as you can afford. You can get a Tatula or Tatula CT for $95. These are great reels for the price. The rest I would spend on the rod. The 7'1" MH-XF Tatula at Sportsman's Outfitters would bring you in under budget. So would a Fury. No experience with the Fury, but fishnkamp claims they feel like a $200 rod.

Chrismissbass reply :

Thanks everyone

Chrismissbass reply :

I would love to get the Avid X but its a bit out of my price range. Plus this would be my first baitcasting setup, so i dont want anything too expensive. But thank you very much for the awesome recomendations.

Onvacation reply :

Senkos run a bit heavy, but personally, I think you are setting yourself up for a giant learning curve and a ton of frustration using your first baitcaster to throw weightless plastics. If you already have spinning gear, I think you would get a lot more enjoyment out of upgrading it and using that for your purposes. Then when you start tossing some other baits, pick up a BPS Pro Qualifier/Carbonlite combo on the cheap at one of their sales. Fantastic first reel and a rod that will last you through several reel upgrades. But even when you upgrade reels, you will still be surprised at how well the Pro Qualifier stacks up.

Chrismissbass reply :

What power rod? I was thinking Medium, Fast action. But Im not sure. Thank you so much for all the replies

Yeah, I have some spinning gear. But I wanted to experiment with some baitcasting. Im just kind of trying everything out. The spinning gear I have is pretty awful but I will deffinetly look at Bass Pro. (If i can get there) Thank You!

Oklahoma Mike reply :

On 11/27/2016 at 7:56 PM, Chrismissbass said:

I would love to get the Avid X but its a bit out of my price range. Plus this would be my first baitcasting setup, so i dont want anything too expensive. But thank you very much for the awesome recomendations.

Sorry, I misread your post as $220 being your budget for just the rod. In that case I'd probably look at a $100 rod like the Tatula and pair it with a Lews speed spool.

Chrismissbass reply :

Awesome, Thanks.

ING reply :

You several times tells that it is yours first bait casting setup.

From my experience: don't buy cheap staff! Later, when you accumulate it, cream whole space without any chances to sell it for decent price.

Better to have one good setup for each kind of species: salmon, striped bass, large mouth bass, trout or crappy etc.

They will serve you for long time flawlessly.

WIGuide reply :

I'd look at the St. Croix Mojo Bass 6'8" M/F rod for what you're wanting it to do. You can get it for $120 at TW right now, and you could pair it up with a Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier reel. It'll make a really nice setup and will handle what you want it to do.

Chrismissbass reply :

On 11/30/2016 at 4:19 AM, WIGuide said:

I'd look at the St. Croix Mojo Bass 6'8" M/F rod for what you're wanting it to do. You can get it for $120 at TW right now, and you could pair it up with a Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier reel. It'll make a really nice setup and will handle what you want it to do.

Thank you so much, This was so helpful

BigGame0892 reply :

I don't really think you can go wrong with any rod offerings from St. Croix, Falcon or Powell - these rods have been some of my favorites the last few years. All have models in the $100 range. As for a reel, I'm a Shimano guy for the most part. So, anything starting at the Citica and up I would look at - you can find bargains on eBay and the like. Everyone says the Daiwa Tatula reels are awesome as well, so look at those. As someone else mentioned - don't go crazy cheap on your first baitcast setup. I know from experience. I almost gave up learning to cast a baitcaster until someone finally put a Shimano in my hands.

bigfruits reply :

Id look at the st croix mojo. check out st croix warranty. Med Power XF action for senkos and other plastics/small jigs, F action for versatility.

Just something to think about, might not be the right advice for you - senkos are not light but they are fun and easty to fish on spinning rods. For moving baits over 1/8oz and heavier jigs/plastics, baitcasters are king. For a first baitcaster I would recommend a MH/F rod for every bait other than very light, very heavy baits and deep diving cranks. A MH/F with a tip that is not too stiff will work just fine with 5" senkos.

12poundbass reply :

On 11/27/2016 at 11:14 PM, Chrismissbass said:

What power rod? I was thinking Medium, Fast action. But Im not sure. Thank you so much for all the replies

Yeah, I have some spinning gear. But I wanted to experiment with some baitcasting. Im just kind of trying everything out. The spinning gear I have is pretty awful but I will deffinetly look at Bass Pro. (If i can get there) Thank You!

I think what onvacation was saying is for your first time with a baitcaster you might want to try a lure a little heavier until you get used to it and get everything dialed in, using a Senko from the start could lead to many many backlashes and steer you away from baitcasters.

22hertz reply :

I bought my first baitcaster 2 years ago wanting to try something new from the spinning gear I used my entire life.

I never picked up my spinning gear after that. Actually I did take out my spinning rod a couple months ago, made a few casts and it just felt weird. I couldn't cast anywhere near where I wanted so I put it down and went back to the caster.

I was skeptical how something known to have backlashing problems and needing constant adjustment could be any better, but for me it has been the single best decision I have made for fishing.

I ended up buying a Cabela's Tournament ZX rod and Shimano Curado 200i

I got both on sale and don't remember exactly what I paid but I think the rod was around $70 and the reel around $140

I have been happy with the performance of both. The rod is light and sensitive and the reel casts great in all conditions. Even when I first went out with the reel as a noob I didn't have any backlashes.

I also liked the Falcon Bucoo (My budget for a rod was $100 so I looked in that price range). The Duckett Ghost also felt great.

All three of these rods has some bad reviews. I haven't had any problems out of the Cabela's rod so maybe I got lucky. The warranty and sale price was good and the rod felt amazing to me for the price so I took the chance.

If I were looking today for a reel I would strongly consider the Diawa Tatula CT and Shimano Curado 70

Go put your hands on as many rods as you can. Look for any flaws. I saw a good bit of rods with flaws. Wait for sales before buying if youre on a budget. Sales will always come up so wait it out.

I didn't like some popular recommended rods so I think its important to handle as many as possible before you buy. Eventually you will connect with a couple and that should be what you buy.

mc6524 reply :

It might be a little late to reply, but take a look at the St. Croix Premier. I started out with thes rods when they were about the only St Croix line they had. Now I use their Tournament series. The Lews Tournament MB you can get on Amazon for about $120.00 and the Premier rod will run you about $100.00

Chrismissbass reply :

On 12/2/2016 at 10:28 AM, mc6524 said:

It might be a little late to reply, but take a look at the St. Croix Premier. I started out with thes rods when they were about the only St Croix line they had. Now I use their Tournament series. The Lews Tournament MB you can get on Amazon for about $120.00 and the Premier rod will run you about $100.00

Thanks. Its certainly not too late, Im still looking at so many ideas. Christmas is coming so i will try to get one for the hollidays. :santa-107:

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Baitcasting Recommendations 2025

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