During my canoe/fishing trip back in July I remembered how much I loved to fish. I fished a lot as a kid but hadn't been out in at least a decade before the trip. I was using borrowed equipment, but now I am looking to buy my own. Any recommendations on a decent spinning rod and reel under $150 for both? Or, at the very least, which brands of rods and reels should I be looking at?

This will be easy for you.

Go to : Bass Pro Shops.

Find the Shimano section of spinning reels. Purchase whatever size Sahara series you're interested in. approx. $75.00 bucks.

Find the spinning rods and get a Bionic Blade by Bass Pro Shops.

Something without a prefix I'd recommend

salto;1650230 wrote:This will be easy for you.

Go to : Bass Pro Shops.

Find the Shimano section of spinning reels. Purchase whatever size Sahara series you're interested in. approx. $75.00 bucks.

Find the spinning rods and get a Bionic Blade by Bass Pro Shops.

Thanks for the reco. I was planning on going to Bass Pro on Saturday anyway.

I really like the Abu Garcia Cardinal reals, and rods but it all depends on what You are wanting to fish for, and Okuma is making a good line if products .. Before Tou buy at Bass Pro, I would get prices of things You want then come home and check Ebay, I always save a lot of money that way

I used a Quatum reel and a St Croix rod on my trip, they both seemed nice.

Are rods/reels rated by the size of the fish you will be fishing for?

Can't go wrong with a Pflueger President reel with 8:1 gear ratio and Daiwa Steelz graphite rod. Any rod with mini-eyes will increase your casting distance.

Size of fish target does have some impact on reel size but usually any freshwater reel with 12lb line capacity will handle virtually any freshwater fish you might go for. Saltwater reels are clearly identified in any store or web-site and will run you easily $100+.

justincredible;1650256 wrote:
Are rods/reels rated by the size of the fish you will be fishing for?

Pretty much. I also believe it has to do with the type of fishing. A smaller reel is usually easier to cast accurate.
imo- get the medium size. The small reels are for crappie/bluegill and large usually are for lunker large mouth/cat fish. Medium size reel with 6-8 pound test is plenty.

I caught a 14 pound striper a few years ago on 6 pound test with no problems other than taking close to 45 minutes to finally get it to shore.
Most important is not storing your rod/reel anyplace close to sunlight. Sunlight weakens your line very quickly.

Stay away from bait caster reels.

While at Bass Pro, also blow $30 or so bucks on RATL Traps. Different benefits for the color lures depending on the fishing conditions.
Awesome lures and fun as hell to cast.

[video=youtube;H_3Bt3URnkI][/video]

justincredible;1650229 wrote:During my canoe/fishing trip back in July I remembered how much I loved to fish. I fished a lot as a kid but hadn't been out in at least a decade before the trip. I was using borrowed equipment, but now I am looking to buy my own. Any recommendations on a decent spinning rod and reel under $150 for both? Or, at the very least, which brands of rods and reels should I be looking at?

For a city slicker like you?
Think my niece still has her princess pocket fisherman

What kind of fish are you targeting?

thavoice;1650392 wrote:For a city slicker like you?
Think my niece still has her princess pocket fisherman

I may live in the city, but I am far from a city slicker.

BR1986FB;1650397 wrote:What kind of fish are you targeting?

Not sure I'll be targeting anything in particular, but I would guess that bass would be the most common fish I will be catching. We caught some northern pike on our canoe trip, which I plan on doing the same trip again next year.

Aren't you from Newark or Zanesville orginally? Yeah that aint any city slicker.

You fishing from a canoe or shore? Catch an release or you cooking them up?
Can't go wrong fishing for Bluegills with wax worms.

justincredible;1650443 wrote:Not sure I'll be targeting anything in particular, but I would guess that bass would be the most common fish I will be catching. We caught some northern pike on our canoe trip, which I plan on doing the same trip again next year.

Kind of old school, and I'm not sure whether they still make this lure, but I used to have a ton of success with Rooster Tails for largemouth.

1/8 oz Horse head under spin jig with twister tail only way to go for large & smallmouth.

Tiernan;1650527 wrote:1/8 oz Horse head under spin jig with twister tail only way to go for large & smallmouth.

Definatly not the only way to go for Snallmouth, I catch 100s of the year and I've never heard of that lure

Tiernan;1650466 wrote:Aren't you from Newark or Zanesville orginally? Yeah that aint any city slicker.

I grew up in a rural town of less than 300 that just happened to have a Newark zip code. So, again, no. I'm not a city slicker.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Toboso,+Hanover,+OH+43056/@40.0564556,-82.2182002,2864m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x88382006481bb3c3:0x82978f52b1ab9b03

salto;1650476 wrote:You fishing from a canoe or shore? Catch an release or you cooking them up?

Yes.

On our canoe trip we basically just used this combo and it worked out pretty well. We caught northern pike, small mouth, and large mouth bass. We took some live bait (leeches) as well but didn't do as well with them.

Anyone ever use a Bass Pro reel? This one has really good reviews.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Extreme-Spinning-Reels/product/11092105011328/

Daiwa rod, Shimano reel.