quality vs cost

[deathb4disco]

There's a well-known fly fishing author named John Gierach. He likes bamboo fly rods, which tend to be expensive. You can easily spend $2,000 - $3,000 on a rod from a good builder.

In one book, Gierach joked that his friends couldn't understand how he could afford these expensive rods, yet he drove an old, beaten up truck. He thought that made perfect sense.

Moral of the story? Spend your money on what's important to you.

[Blackhawk19]

I use high end reels on rods that I build with MHX blanks from Mudhole.

[Hanr3]

I have seen just about every type of rod, reel combo catch Crappie, Cane pole to muskie rod/reels. If crappie were your only species of fish, buy what you like. If you plan on fishing for other species of fish, buy something that will work for both. I hate to spend money twice. My current preferred rod reel combo is Shimano reels, Sedona or Sahara and I prefer St. Criox rods. St. Croix has two factories, Mexico and Wisconsin. I buy rods made at the Wisconsin plant, Premier series. Last week I was in Canada and caught Northern Pike and Small-mouth bass on the same rod/reels combos, Shimano/St. Croix. I also only use mono line. Lost one northern, we couldn't get it in the net. My net was too small, it finally snapped the line and disappeared into the deep blue...

I have about $200 in my rod/reel combos. I have two ultra-lite set ups for pan fish, and two medium weight wet-ups for mid sized game, walleye, northern, bass, catfish etc. Maybe one day I will have a couple for larger game fish, like muskie...

[TGIII]

I don't fish for money, I fish for food, we average one fishing day a week so the gear I bought needs to be up to the challenge, that being said, I didn't need the best that money could buy just the best that I could afford.