Thread: Recommended rods for catfishing

Originally Posted by cray

Get you a Shakespear ugly stick. Won't have to worry about breaking it.

I have tw0 of the ugly stick catfish (white) rods with abu -garcia reels . great setup .jmo.

Originally Posted by eagle 1

I have tw0 of the ugly stick catfish (white) rods with abu -garcia reels . great setup .jmo.

yep.....hard to beat

Originally Posted by BillyB

Ugly Stick Tiger rods

I also use a pair of Shakspeare Tiger rods, each 7 foot long medium/medium-heavy. I bought the rods as a combo with the Shakspeare Tiger spinning reels. The reels I have spools up with Berkley Big Cat 40 lb line. The line is mono but I'm considering possibly switching to a braid line this next summer.

My favorite is a 13ft Meat Hunter with an Ambassadeur 7000 spooled with 30# pink Andy. Always after the big cats!

ugly stick catfish ,will get the job done .

Originally Posted by eagle 1

I have tw0 of the ugly stick catfish (white) rods with abu -garcia reels . great setup .jmo.

Yessir, that's what I use too

I love my meat hunter, light weight and sensitive but still E-glass so its really strong. have an okuma pro XS in it with 120lb tug of war braid. I use this pole mostly for drift fishing the missouri and mississippi rivers. I also have 4 10ft berkley glow sticks and use them several times a week for the past 7 years and love them, too. you can lean all your weight on a glowstick and not break them, but they are less sensitive and weigh more. have shakespear tide waters on the glow sticks and 50lb berkley big game. I use these rods for anchor fishing in hard current. they have been very good rod/reel combo's. also have a couple of berkley big game spinning rods with shimano reels on them, great for medium duty catfishing. my next rods will either be War rods or Surge elite's. both have aluminum reel seats and rings and stainless guides. great rods!
I know most of you are asking why these super heavy set-ups for fish mostly under 30lbs.... well the current I deal with requires really heavy weights and it takes a serious rod to cast 2lbs of lead+ 1lb of bait. on top of that, I fish waters where I might catch a fish over 100lbs and I want to have a fighting chance when that pig eats my skipjack.

I really like the white Ugly Stik Catfish rods. You can get the 1 piece 7' MH model in casting or spinning or the 2 piece 8' MH model in casting or spinning. I'd rather have the 7 footer, but the 8 footers break down for storage, so I got one of the 8' in spinning and another 8' in casting. Okuma ABF Avenger 50 on the spinner and Abu 6000 on the spinner.