gonna start buying my gear what brand of poles to stay away from?

[diesel]

i have been slowly aquring gear over the past year mostly baits to date, but i do have 6 rod/reel set ups 4 are cablea's 2 are eagle claw. just rigged with leadcore.

i want to buy the better set-up gear so i know it will last.

what length and action rod for high lines.

what are good rods for wire dipsies.

what action rod do i want for downriggers.

electronics ways i am lean towards hummingbird for the fishfinder/chart plotter

fish hawk for the downspeed probe.

any info would be great cause next year will be here before we know it and i want to have DILLIGAF ready to fish

[bluedevil]

Only rod's that I have used that I suggest stay away from are Travers Bay Slammers. Not sure if they are still in production but I got them about 7-8 years ago at Gander Mt. They were Identical to eagle claw rods but about $10 cheaper. 3 out 4 broke within a months use.

As far as rigger rods and high line rods I like 8'6" Eagle Claws or Shakespere Ugly Sticks in Med/Light action. I use both and never had any problems with either.

I have no experience with wire but I use medium action on my fireline dipsy's.

[Yankee Troller]

I am biased because I am a Daiwa Pro-Staffer, but I have used Daiwa gear since I can remember. Their reels and rods are bulletproof for Great Lakes fishing. They have a reel and a rod that will fit everyone's budget. On my boat I have the Accudepth set-ups for my Brown Trout gear. Saltis/Heartland on my riggers, wires, and short coppers, and Sealines for my short cores.

[1mainiac]

I like the Diawa rods I am not a big fan of their reels but not because there is anything wrong with them. For rigger rods I tend to run 8ft 6in medium light and medium rods for the action. My fav rigger rods are Diawa Firewolf ML 8ft 6in rods which is about the same as the Heartland rod but was a few bucks cheaper. For a inexpensive rod to run core it is hard to beat the Diawa Wilderness rods. For wire and copper Shimano or Okuma depending on your budget. I was hoping Diawa would come out with a copper rod this year but I have not seen one yet.

[Yankee Troller]

No copper rod. We have the 9'6" diver rods on ALL our coppers. We can't even get them to make a copper reel for more than 300' of copper.

FYI.....the Firewolf and Wilderness rods are a Graphite rod. The Heartlands are a graphite/Fiberglass composite. My recommendation would be that if you are going to use a rod for wire or braid divers use the Heartland. Fiberglass makes it a little more forgiving. With no stretch in those types of lines that can be the difference between landing one and not landing one.

[Pioneer]

Yankee troller, What knot do you use to get 45lb copper through a 57 accudepth line guide? Thanks, Chris

[Yankee Troller]

I never ran copper on my 57 Accudepths. I just had 10 colors on them.

I currently have 300' of copper on my 50 Saltist. Albright knot went through without an issue. However, the spro swivels will fit through it too. Google animated knots. Its an east knot.

[Adam Bomb]

I use the 8'6" Wolverine Charter Special Rods from Shakespeare for our rigger rods. I also run quite a few of them on my lead core set ups. My dispey rods are Daiwa Heartland 8'6" w/AFTCO roller guides for my wires divers and 9'6" Daiwa Heartland dipsey rods for my braid divers.

[salmonquest]

I've had two eagle claw's break and I don't fish that often. only ones to break under pressure

[Pioneer]

Shimano TDR's have faired well. Jr's tackle rods with hardend guides are great for steel line. Penn GTO's for rigger reels have been great, Diawa Sealines for steel and anything with a high retrieve for copper/core that fits your segments you run.

[pulpfishin]

I have had great luck with the pink Barbie rods paired with a Zebco reel for the riggers and my son's Spiderman rod also with a Zebco for the high lines. DO NOT run wire divers on these, though. I'd go with a Superman model for the wire. No need for rollers or a twili-tip, 'cause Superman is bad!

Run what you brung, man!

[diesel]

I have had great luck with the pink Barbie rods paired with a Zebco reel for the riggers and my son's Spiderman rod also with a Zebco for the high lines. DO NOT run wire divers on these, though. I'd go with a Superman model for the wire. No need for rollers or a twili-tip, 'cause Superman is bad!

Run what you brung, man!

:thumb:buddy you so need to stop loggin on after drinkin and gettin well you know get some work done so we can get out and get some fish this week

[5 for Fight'n]

I've been fishing for 8 years, 3 of them pretty hard (for a weekender/5 week vacation guy) out of Ludington. I have a mixed bag of gear (penn, okuma, gold cup (bass pro), mitchell, diawa, eagle claw) and it's all good. We catch a lot of fish and only had issues with very old, damaged or no name brand rods that came free with reels (Penn 209s for 33 bucks). But that's the fun of it. Give'n **** to the person who broke a rod and how we still brought in that 18 pound king with our hands and ball of leadcore wrapped around a cleat. If you don't have a lot of money to spend, don't. If you do, generally speaking, do and you'll have better gear. Go to a reputable sport's shop like Capt Chuck, Capt Gary or I hear D&R is good too. Unless you plan to charter, any gear will last years, just keep it out of the sun. Tight Lines...

[pulpfishin]

you know you want to see Robert's Spiderman rod and reel combo loaded up on a rigger! We'll try it next year when we can get on that "new to you" boat!