My first "Good" stuff, how good was it?

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Bob Ellis
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My first "Good" stuff, how good was it?

Post by Bob Ellis » Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:15 pm

About fifteen years ago I stopped getting KMart or Fleet Farm rods from my dad and went out and spent my own money on what I felt was pretty nice stuff. We had just had a Gander Mountain store come to my side of town and it was like the products my Bass Pro and Cabela's catalogs were now come to life. It was the first time I bought rods and reels that were not combo'd together.

It was all Daiwa stuff and like I said, it was the bee's knees as far as I was concerned. What I'd like to know now in hindsight is, just how "good" was the gear I set up with? My only reference then were fiberglass rods and plastic reels. The stuff eventually got stolen out of my dad's garage when I was not living at home but not yet settled myself, or fishing (gaw!), so I can't look at it now and compare to what is still out there either. Maybe someone here can help me get an idea of where this stuff ranked relative in the marketplace at the time?

Rod and Reel #1, main rod (was my pride and joy)
Daiwa Jupiter-Z reel, complete with the one-finger bail-flip thingy and one whopping bearing
Daiwa Triforce-Z rod, 6'6" ML 2pc. I was in heaven becuase it was "graphite"! No specific type or rating, just "graphite"

Rod and Reel #2, Ultralight (everyone I knew had two or three rods, a regular bass/pike/walleye spinner, an ultralight, and sometimes an Abu round reel on something for trolling. That was a complete setup around here then.)
Daiwa Jupiter-X reel on a Daiwa Apollo 2pc "graphite" rod.

I think I paid like $60 total for the bass rod and $40 for the UL, sound right? I'm sure even a $20 rod and $40 reel would blow this stuff out of the water now, but at the time was it considered middle-echelon, lower middle, upper middle?

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slipperybob
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Re: My first "Good" stuff, how good was it?

Post by slipperybob » Tue Mar 15, 2011 6:07 pm

My first good stuff came in peices. It was really the first trip away from Walmart, Kmart, and Fleet Farm. Local Sporting goods store call Joe's. I had bought a Stradic. It totally changed the Ugly Stick performance, however I was still not able to obtain the full benefit of the reel. Then I had to try out a St.Croix rods because I just couldn't get comfortable with any of the G.Loomis rod handles. Eventually I settled on the St.Croix Premiere, still percieve spend anymore money than that. So that's kind of how I got started. That first St.Croix Premeire rod is still my all time favorite rod.
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Bob Ellis
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Re: My first "Good" stuff, how good was it?

Post by Bob Ellis » Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:26 am

My first St. Croix came from Joe's just before they moved from the Dale Street store. It was a Premier Ultralight. I broke in the hatch of the car two years ago and bought an exact replacement from their new bigger location. I bought my Cardiff from them as well.

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slipperybob
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Re: My first "Good" stuff, how good was it?

Post by slipperybob » Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:34 am

The old Joe's Sporting Goods location was a real cozy store. Terrible parking and crazy 5 street corner something.
slip bobbing is the laziest way to fish

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Buck2thPerch
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Re: My first "Good" stuff, how good was it?

Post by Buck2thPerch » Thu Mar 17, 2011 1:27 am

Same here with the old Joes Sporting Goods. My first high end rod - Avid 3 peice 9WT 8'6 rod, for north shore salmon/trout came from Joes. My first $100 casting reel was a Browning in 95? also came from Joes. Eventually I started switching from cheap Berkley's to St. Croix's. I didn't really get into baitcasters until my late teens early 20's. By then I think Joes moved to thier new location. Nothing beats my $20 Abu Garcia spinning reel and $19 Berkley 6'0 rod back at that age!!!

As far as your fishing equipment goes, I can't comment on how good those items were. I think I was trying to figure out what and where hair will grow next on my body and why do I keep getting woody's around my hot 25yrs old highschool teacher. :mrgreen:
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cst
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Re: My first "Good" stuff, how good was it?

Post by cst » Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:45 am

My first high end setup came in 2 pieces as well. The tackle shop I would end up working in a few years later tried to sell me a Calcutta 400 but I just couldn't justify spending that much money on an reel and settled for what I still considered way too expensive, a Catalla. I don't really know what I did with it back then but I soon bought a G-Loomis GL2 Backbounce rod. I couldn't stand the reel though. 3 or 4 pound fish would cause it to flex and screws to come loose. At the end of the season, I ended up going back and buying a Calcutta 400S. I still have the Calcutta and GLoomis rod today. They've been around for 6 years now and are my two oldest pieces of fishing equipment. Everything I've had since then has managed to get sold, traded or trashed.

Calcuttas and GL2s aren't even expensive!

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bass806
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Re: My first "Good" stuff, how good was it?

Post by bass806 » Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:20 pm

Chronarch 100A and a Loomis GL2. Still have them all today. I've since purchased many other reels and rods that have surpassed my first step into the good stuff.

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