Berkley Lightning Rod Shock...honest opinions! 2024
Brett's_daddy reply :
Hi all,
Last year I got 3 of the Berkley Lightning Rod Shock casting rods on clearance at Walmart for $9 each. I never did put a reel on any of them and I'm wondering if they're good enough to put in the everyday arsenal or if I should look to unload them for $20 a pop and make a profit? These are the last gen models with the cork grips, not the new ones with the plastic reel seat (which looks like a design flaw to me...that plastic reel seat practically says "break me"...at least IMO). I have a 7ft. MH/F, 7ft. M/F and a 6'6" MH/F. If you'd keep them would you put a nice reel on them or something you don't really care about? Thanks for any opinions!!!
J Francho reply :
Selling items for profit here is forbidden.
On 3/29/2019 at 2:55 AM, Brett's_daddy said:Hi all,
Last year I got 3 of the Berkley Lightning Rod Shock casting rods on clearance at Walmart for $9 each. I never did put a reel on any of them and I'm wondering if they're good enough to put in the everyday arsenal or if I should look to unload them for $20 a pop and make a profit? These are the last gen models with the cork grips, not the new ones with the plastic reel seat (which looks like a design flaw to me...that plastic reel seat practically says "break me"...at least IMO). I have a 7ft. MH/F, 7ft. M/F and a 6'6" MH/F. If you'd keep them would you put a nice reel on them or something you don't really care about? Thanks for any opinions!!!
Brett's_daddy reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 3:01 AM, J Francho said:Selling items for profit here is forbidden.
I wouldn't sell them on here, I'd sell them locally!
NYWayfarer reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 2:55 AM, Brett's_daddy said:These are the last gen models with the cork grips, not the new ones with the plastic reel seat (which looks like a design flaw to me...that plastic reel seat practically says "break me"...at least IMO).
Clear plastic or black plastic what's the difference? Plastic is plastic. The new seats shouldn't be anymore fragile than the black plastic reel seats on lots of rods out there.
I prefer reel seats with the stainless steel band around them
Brett's_daddy reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 3:09 AM, NYWayfarer said:Clear plastic or black plastic what's the difference? Plastic is plastic. The new seats shouldn't be anymore fragile than the black plastic reel seats on lots of rods out there.
I prefer reel seats with the stainless steel band around them
Thanks but I was more or less just letting people know which models i had, not really debating the worthiness of the newest generation 
.
NYWayfarer reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 3:24 AM, Brett's_daddy said:Thanks but I was more or less just letting people know which models i had, not really debating the worthiness of the newest generation
.
Sorry, let me answer your question then. The Shock's claim to fame is they are designed specifically for use with braided line. I would keep the 7' MH and pair it with my Kastking Speed Demon. That's my dedicated braid reel.
NittyGrittyBoy reply :
I have a 7' MH and have countless bass with it. Great rod for the price. Only issue I had was I broke the tip off. Attached a new eye and back Fishing.
Side note, that's the only rod my grandfather likes to redfish with. He's caught several nice bulls on em, he uses 7' MH as well.
Again you'll hear nothing but Positive from me on that rod
Brett's_daddy reply :
What do you think about the 6'6" MH for a jerkbait and spook rod?
NittyGrittyBoy reply :
Im one of the few I believe that still use 6'6 rods haha. I mainly river fish, and don't need to bomb cast anything a mile, most if my targets are small and prefer accurate casts the 6'6 helps with.
I have the old style 6'6 MH/F lightning rod(not shock) and I used it for topwater for a long time. Great rod, I don't see why the shock would be any different. Throwed alot of poppers and propbaits with it. Fluke fished too
Only reason I upgraded was I got a Duckett Terex 6'6 MH/F at a steal. Just a little better quality rod. I still have that rod and have been tempted lately to put a reel on it
J Francho reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 4:00 AM, NittyGrittyBoy said:Im one of the few I believe that still use 6'6 rods haha.
Short rods definitely have a place in my fishing, too. I have four DS rods that are 6'3" and a 6'2: casting rod for topwater and jerkbaits. That combo is actually one I can cast most things the farthest, though they are pretty aerodynamic baits.
Glaucus reply :
They're good value rods as long as you get one (some) with guides that are lined up properly and a tip that doesn't hook to one side or the other. Common in those rods.
Jcj90 reply :
When I used one the 7’ MH was a good spinnerbait rod. And the 6’6” M was a good squarebill rod.
ww2farmer reply :
I probably have more time on the water with a Lightning Rod Shock in my hand than anyone else on this forum combined.
They have been my #1 budget rod since they came out.
I have had multiples of each of the following:
7' MH casting
6'6" MH casting
6'6" M casting
7' M spinning
6'6" M spinning
I liked each of those rods a lot.
I also had the 7'6" H casting, the 6' M spinning and a 7'ML spinning...I didn't care for those.
Here is what I used each of the ones I liked for:
7MH casting: Pretty much everything. It was as much of a "do-all" rod as I have ever had. It excelled at frogging in all but the nastiest of cover, was an excellent swim jig, chatterbait, spinnerbait, buzzbait, and for a $49 rod I NEVER had a problem feeling bites on them when I used them for jigs, t-rigs, etc... To this day it's still my favorite all around frog rod I have ever had.
6'6" MH casting: skipping jigs and plastics under docks, and every thing I used the 7" MH for when I needed a shorter rod.
6'6" M casting: shallow cranks, topwaters, jerkbaits. Much like the 7' MH w/frogs, this is still my favorite jerkbait rod I have ever owned.
7' M Spinning...drop shot, neko, wacky, tubes, grubs, the list goes on. It's just as good of a "do-all" spinning rod as the 7' MH is a casting rod.
6'6" M Spinning...this is a excellent rod for skipping weightless plastics under overhead cover like docks, trees, etc...it loads up great, and really zings stuff under the cover.
The slight con with these rods.....with hard use day in and day over 6-7 years, they all broke or fell apart. Guides would break, reel seats came lose, handles fell apart. BUT you have to remember, I was using them 100+ days a year for 6+ years, so is that a con? I'd say NO. For $39-$49 you cold do much worse.
When my last one broke this past spring, I replaced it with my new favorite at the moment budget rod, the Daiwa Aird X.....well let me tell you this. After 6-7 years of using LR Shocks, and 1.5 using Aird-X's....I am going back to Shocks. I just like them better. I have a bunch of the new generation ones, and like what I see so far, I can't wait to get on the water with them. They will be put to work right along side my Dobyns Fury's and custom made rods.
Spankey reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 2:55 AM, Brett's_daddy said:Hi all,
Last year I got 3 of the Berkley Lightning Rod Shock casting rods on clearance at Walmart for $9 each. I never did put a reel on any of them and I'm wondering if they're good enough to put in the everyday arsenal or if I should look to unload them for $20 a pop and make a profit? These are the last gen models with the cork grips, not the new ones with the plastic reel seat (which looks like a design flaw to me...that plastic reel seat practically says "break me"...at least IMO). I have a 7ft. MH/F, 7ft. M/F and a 6'6" MH/F. If you'd keep them would you put a nice reel on them or something you don't really care about? Thanks for any opinions!!!
I hear what you are saying. I went it to buy my grandsons a few things for trout fishing and found that sale again also. I have a 6’6”and a 7’ MH casting versions. Have not used them yet. Rods are immaculate condition and straight as an arrow. Something you never see from Wally World. Sure the price was right. $9.00. I’m not sure how I’m going to fit them in yet either. I’ll probably test them out by putting my existing reels on them. But I really did not need them. Keep them stowed till grandsons are a bit bigger and older? Put a $100 reel on a $9.00 rod? Can’t see doing that right now. But in all honesty without fishing them yet I think they will be a half decent rod. $9.00 I can give it away and make someone’s day.
Spankey reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 3:01 AM, J Francho said:Selling items for profit here is forbidden.
You got to be kidding posting that BS. The guy is only giving a Hypothetical situation revolving around a few rods he got on the cheap. And if he did sell them for $20 each he still wouldn’t be ripping anyone off. Your splitting hairs here man. That wasn’t even being implied in this post. You should retract your post and what you are implying. Let’s keep it real dude. Throw me off if you don’t like it. The guy isn’t running a business. Just a fishing dude who impulsed bought something like myself and many others have done in the past.
J Francho reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 7:34 PM, Spankey said:Your
*you're
If you have a problem with the rules, take it up with Glenn. I like conversations with @Brett's_daddy and it was a friendly reminder. Pretty sure he knows that. No matter what you think, selling items for profit is forbidden here. Any more off topic replies will be removed.
Brett's_daddy reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 9:04 PM, J Francho said:*you're
If you have a problem with the rules, take it up with Glenn. I like conversations with @Brett's_daddy and it was a friendly reminder. Pretty sure he knows that. No matter what you think, selling items for profit is forbidden here. Any more off topic replies will be removed.
Yup, I figured. Honestly, I probably could have worded it differently in my original post...I was just spitballin' ideas of what to do with the rods :).
J Francho reply :
Yeah, I get it. Personally, I'd keep them. String 'em up with braid, except the 6'6". For that, I'd use it as topwater/jerKbait rod and use 30# Supercast. That stuff is great for this. Floats, acts like mono, zero stretch, twice as strong by diameter.
ResoKP reply :
Give them to Brett
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Then buy yourself some NRX
No, but srsly, they're nice. Just keep it simple for those. MH for bottom contact, M for moving baits, and the 6'6" for top/jerk. Or even as backups
Glaucus reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 9:25 AM, ww2farmer said:I probably have more time on the water with a Lightning Rod Shock in my hand than anyone else on this forum combined.
They have been my #1 budget rod since they came out.
I have had multiples of each of the following:
7' MH casting
6'6" MH casting
6'6" M casting
7' M spinning
6'6" M spinning
I liked each of those rods a lot.
I also had the 7'6" H casting, the 6' M spinning and a 7'ML spinning...I didn't care for those.
Here is what I used each of the ones I liked for:
7MH casting: Pretty much everything. It was as much of a "do-all" rod as I have ever had. It excelled at frogging in all but the nastiest of cover, was an excellent swim jig, chatterbait, spinnerbait, buzzbait, and for a $49 rod I NEVER had a problem feeling bites on them when I used them for jigs, t-rigs, etc... To this day it's still my favorite all around frog rod I have ever had.
6'6" MH casting: skipping jigs and plastics under docks, and every thing I used the 7" MH for when I needed a shorter rod.
6'6" M casting: shallow cranks, topwaters, jerkbaits. Much like the 7' MH w/frogs, this is still my favorite jerkbait rod I have ever owned.
7' M Spinning...drop shot, neko, wacky, tubes, grubs, the list goes on. It's just as good of a "do-all" spinning rod as the 7' MH is a casting rod.
6'6" M Spinning...this is a excellent rod for skipping weightless plastics under overhead cover like docks, trees, etc...it loads up great, and really zings stuff under the cover.
The slight con with these rods.....with hard use day in and day over 6-7 years, they all broke or fell apart. Guides would break, reel seats came lose, handles fell apart. BUT you have to remember, I was using them 100+ days a year for 6+ years, so is that a con? I'd say NO. For $39-$49 you cold do much worse.
When my last one broke this past spring, I replaced it with my new favorite at the moment budget rod, the Daiwa Aird X.....well let me tell you this. After 6-7 years of using LR Shocks, and 1.5 using Aird-X's....I am going back to Shocks. I just like them better. I have a bunch of the new generation ones, and like what I see so far, I can't wait to get on the water with them. They will be put to work right along side my Dobyns Fury's and custom made rods.
How do you feel about the original Lightning rod? I've got 4 of the 6'6" M/MF Lightning rods right now, paired with Abu Garcia Silver Max reels, and I don't even like Abu products for the most part. But for whatever reason those original Lightning rods with that Abu reel are absolutely perfect for how I like to fish 1.5 sized squarebills as well as 1/4oz lipless crankbaits. They bomb them, keep fish pinned, and the IPT is on point. I tried the Shock rods for this a couple years ago but it wasn't the same.
BaitFinesse reply :
I had the 6'6" old model. I thought that it was a very nice rod for the money. I appreciate that they took the time and effort to make it a split grip, apply winding checks on the split grip portion, a reel seat with generous access to the blank, use a decorative butt cap and a painted two tone blank with graphics. That's a lot of nice touches for a budget rod. There are a lot of rods that cost much more that are not nearly as nice looking.
The rod also felt good in hand and balanced out well. I used mine as a square bill rod but found it too stiff for my liking. I prefered it as a bank beater rod for roll casting moving single hook baits. For those who like a stiffer squarebill rod then it would be a good budget choice. The new ones are some wonky bright matte orange rods with clear plastic peices. I can see the plastics peices yellowing over time. It reminds me the Brass Eagle Talon Ghost paintball guns.
12poundbass reply :
You can’t have too many rods! Keep ‘em and put them too work!
Glaucus reply :
On 3/30/2019 at 4:04 AM, BaitFinesse said:I had the 6'6" old model. I thought that it was a very nice rod for the money. I appreciate that they took the time and effort to make it a split grip, apply winding checks on the split grip portion, a reel seat with generous access to the blank, use a decorative butt cap and a painted two tone blank with graphics. That's a lot of nice touches for a budget rod. There are a lot of rods that cost much more that are not nearly as nice looking.
The rod also felt good in hand and balanced out well. I used mine as a square bill rod but found it too stiff for my liking. I prefered it as a bank beater rod for roll casting moving single hook baits. For those who like a stiffer squarebill rod then it would be a good budget choice. The new ones are some wonky bright matte orange rods with clear plastic peices. I can see the plastics peices yellowing over time. It reminds me the Brass Eagle Talon Ghost paintball guns.
Did you use the M or the MH? The MH is stiff. The M has a really good MF tip.
BaitFinesse reply :
On 3/30/2019 at 4:41 AM, Glaucus said:Did you use the M or the MH? The MH is stiff. The M has a really good MF tip.
Medium. It had a moderate action but was overall stiffer than I like for a crankbait rod.
lo n slo reply :
the 7’ MH Shock is my favorite ????
Brett's_daddy reply :
Update!!! After checking my rods I have two 6'6"...one is MH and the other is M. I also have the one 7' MH.
1201vilbig reply :
THe 7' MH is a fantastic crankbait rod. The parabolic bend designed into the rod for braid use is perfect for CB's and bladed jigs. I have to admit that my PB came on a regular Lightning Rod, 7' MH on Lake Fork in the early 90's. Over the years I have owned or fished with some very nice rods (expensive). I caught more bass on that Lightning Rod than all other rods combined. It even survived many trips to Guerrero back in it's hey day. I say keep them & use them!
NittyGrittyBoy reply :
On 3/29/2019 at 10:10 PM, J Francho said:Yeah, I get it. Personally, I'd keep them. String 'em up with braid, except the 6'6". For that, I'd use it as topwater/jerKbait rod and use 30# Supercast. That stuff is great for this. Floats, acts like mono, zero stretch, twice as strong by diameter.
Best idea. Purchase couple Shimano SLX for em, and you have a strong Combo
Me personally, the 6'6 M would be a bit light for my style fishing. But the other 2 MH, keep em bro, and rip lips with em
ww2farmer reply :
On 3/30/2019 at 2:57 AM, Glaucus said:How do you feel about the original Lightning rod? I've got 4 of the 6'6" M/MF Lightning rods right now, paired with Abu Garcia Silver Max reels, and I don't even like Abu products for the most part. But for whatever reason those original Lightning rods with that Abu reel are absolutely perfect for how I like to fish 1.5 sized squarebills as well as 1/4oz lipless crankbaits. They bomb them, keep fish pinned, and the IPT is on point. I tried the Shock rods for this a couple years ago but it wasn't the same.
I like the original/regular lightning rods just fine. In fact they are the rods I have in the back of my truck for pond/shore fishing when I don't feel like going out on the boat. The current generation of them with the same style reel seats as the Fenwick HMG's might be the best ones they have had in a long long time. For a while I didn't care for them. I am trying to think back how many gen's I first started using Lightning rods, but it was in the late 80's. My favorite version of them up to this point, were the early 90's "Pro" series with black EVA grips. Those rods were stupid light and sensitive for the money. I didn't like them very much between those and probably the gen. before the current ones, but the last series of lightning rods have returned them to another high bang for the buck rod. The only reason I fish Shocks more than the regulars is the fact the Shock are designed around braid, and I'm a braid guy. The regulars handle braid just fine, but in the late 90's early 2000's I had guides on the regular ones groove with braid, and that's always left a bad taste in my mouth. But I think that's a thing of the past. Those early braids were known to chew up guides.
BassWhole! reply :
On 3/30/2019 at 4:02 PM, NittyGrittyBoy said:Best idea. Purchase couple Shimano SLX for em, and you have a strong Combo
I have a NIB 6.3 rightie I could let go for a slight profit... 
Nice reel, too small for my liking.
Bluebasser86 reply :
I have 3 casting and 2 spinning, excellent rods for the money. I keep a couple in my car, one with braid and one with copolymer. There isn't much I can't do with those 2 rods.
Josh Gann reply :
They're an excellent budget bass rod in my opinion .
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