Thread: Recommended rods for catfishing

I don't know about Nebraska, but here in Ohio, the best catfish gear is sold at paylakes that specialize in trophy sized blues and shovels. I use a couple of heavy 7' catfish rods with spinning reels. I bought my other half a 10' Diawa catfish/surf combo for his last birthday. The spinning reel has a bait clicker on it, which is nice when fishing in the dark. A lot of the serious cat fishermen we see prefer the 10' - 12' surf rods with baitcasting reels. We spool up with 30# Big Game mono since the lake we go to doesn't permit braid. If we're just out on our local state lake, we fish for channels with our bass gear and my husband has landed a 25" channel on pretty light gear.

Interesting, I have a baitcasting switch on my spinning reel as well. I use it regardless of it being night or day. I can just toss the bait out there, click it on, sit back and relax until spool starts clicking. Normally i have it on its lowest setting, so the most subtle hit will alert me and i don't have an issue with it spitting the bait back out because it is too tight. However i do believe i will change that sort of thinking from now on. As last summer, something, most likely a very large catfish, grabbed my bait and took off with it so fast the line ended up birdnesting and getting tangled in the first loop on the pole before i had time to even grab it. It broke the 10lb mono line, and that is when i opted to for heavier line and fine tuning the resistance on the baitcaster switch.

I might have found a rod. Shimano Talavera 7' MH Fast action rod with 14-30lb test. $90. Which is just about as much as i spent on the Vendetta. I can't fit a rod over 8' in my car and I'm not a very big fan of two piece rods.

For the last 5 or 6 years, I've used the BPS Graphite series 7'6" muskie rods. They work great, detect the bite well, and will handle bigger fish. You can catch them on sale every now and again for 35 or 40 bucks.

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

Ugly Stick Tiger rods

FYI - The Daiwa I bought is a Sealine Surfrod (2 piece) paired with a Daiwa Regal 5000 BRI spinning reel. Price was a little over $100. He sets the drag so that live bait doesn't set off the clicker, but chirps if a cat picks it up. Too loose and a large live bait will be half way down the lake. One of the combos I use is an inexpensive Southbend spinning rod/reel. A couple of years ago, I wasn't paying attention to my glow stick while we were loading the truck and saw it take off across the lake. Long story short, got the rod, reel and 15# blue in, no damage done. Reel just needed a little cleaning and new line.

The heaviest BPS graphite rod i have seen in the store was 4-12lb test.

Ugly Stick was the first one i looked at, maximum on that is 20lb test.

Since my Okuma Avenger came with two spools, one has 20lb mono and I just put 30lb braid on the other today.

Originally Posted by ChrisCarter

The heaviest BPS graphite rod i have seen in the store was 4-12lb test.

Ugly Stick was the first one i looked at, maximum on that is 20lb test.

Since my Okuma Avenger came with two spools, one has 20lb mono and I just put 30lb braid on the other today.

Not sure the line rating, 7'6" heavy action rods, I usually use 20lb. mono, have caught plenty of 20lb/+ fish with them.