What's a good salmon rod and reel for around $200 used

[irvinparrett]

New to salmon fishing. Have good boat. Fishing in Puget Sound. Want to catch the medium as well as the King Salmon. I want to buy 2 reels and 2 rods willing to spend around $200 each used. What should I look for please. Will be trolling and downrigging. Thanks
Also what are the selected methods by which to troll (jigs, spinners, etc.)

 

[pscrabber59]

Re: What's a good salmon rod and reel for around $200 used

There are mainly 3-4 types of salmon caught here in PS. You have the biggest fish(King/Chinook), then comes the medium sz. fish(Silvers/Coho) Sockeye is next but we have not had alot of this type salmon run for the last 2yrs. Then the Pinks/Humpys are the smallest salmon you will catch. I have about 4 different rod&reel set-ups for these fish, 3 rod&reels are Penns that were my old man's poles but they work great and the 1 i did buy was a Diawa which cost me about $80 used on Craiglist. $200 is alot to spend on a rod and reel that you might or might not like as i have seen alot of nice new boats with fancey poles, gear, fishing right by us pulling blanks while here we are in our little boat(14') snagging a few. alot of times its the rigging of your gear, bait, lures, depth of dropping your lines that makes the difference in catching salmon. Just make sure what type of salmon your fishing in the area and rig your gear.
Gd. luck

 

[Jlawsen]

Re: What's a good salmon rod and reel for around $200 used

IMHO the Lommis/Shimano combos are tops but you won't find many in your price range. Take is down a notch and you have Lamiglass and Diawa but watch out for mid-2000 year Lamiglass, they had some problems with breaking. The all around good old everday rig is all Shimano and can be had all day long in your price range. They'll catch just as many fish as the Loomis stuff once you get used to them.

Rod manufacturers strive for several things when they make a rod but in the end it all boils down to feeling the bite and tiring out the fish. Salmon are pretty agressive so feeling the bite isn't like they bump it or anything, if they take it, it's usually a hookup. The critical factor then is tiring the fish without loosing it. If the rod doesn't do that very well then you'll either be one tired puppy or loose a lot of fish. I've done both in the past so I now use Loomis/Shimano and Loomis/Diawa combo's.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: What's a good salmon rod and reel for around $200 used

Get yourself an ugly stick medium action about 60-70 bucks and a penn reel as cheap as you can get em... I had always used and still have some Penn Slammer rods that cost about 60 bucks...I catch stripers 30-60 lbs. with these rods...just use the right lb. test fishing line. There is just to much advertising and people spending way to much money to go fishing.... fish R no more educated to today then they were 100 years ago... If you want to look like your fishing in an Esquire magazine spend big bucks.

 

[Jlawsen]

Re: What's a good salmon rod and reel for around $200 used

Get yourself an ugly stick medium action about 60-70 bucks and a penn reel as cheap as you can get em... I had always used and still have some Penn Slammer rods that cost about 60 bucks...I catch stripers 30-60 lbs. with these rods...just use the right lb. test fishing line. There is just to much advertising and people spending way to much money to go fishing.... fish R no more educated to today then they were 100 years ago... If you want to look like your fishing in an Esquire magazine spend big bucks.

I can understand why you say these things. I never had really good gear until the last 10 years or so. If I look like I'm in Esquire Magazine then the Mag has really gone downhill. I have Penn reels and inexpensive Eagle Claw rods that I swore by for years and then one day I found a miss marked Lamiglass and Diawa Bantam at the local drug store. I bought it for 129.00 and that changed my entire outlook on buying better gear. I still have that setup and use it regularly because it helps me keep the fish I hook. I had my Dad's old Fenwick Flyrod with a Diawa reel that I rarely used because no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't make it work. After I bought my Sage I realized that I wasn't all that bad at it after all and now I carry it with me everywhere I go.

So, I really do understand what your saying because I said it for years.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: What's a good salmon rod and reel for around $200 used

I can understand why you say these things. I never had really good gear until the last 10 years or so. If I look like I'm in Esquire Magazine then the Mag has really gone downhill. I have Penn reels and inexpensive Eagle Claw rods that I swore by for years and then one day I found a miss marked Lamiglass and Diawa Bantam at the local drug store. I bought it for 129.00 and that changed my entire outlook on buying better gear. I still have that setup and use it regularly because it helps me keep the fish I hook. I had my Dad's old Fenwick Flyrod with a Diawa reel that I rarely used because no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't make it work. After I bought my Sage I realized that I wasn't all that bad at it after all and now I carry it with me everywhere I go.

So, I really do understand what your saying because I said it for years.

I had a Fenwickand thought it was me.... but like you after a while and have a few bucks to spear I bought an Orvis 8wt. ... Now I love my Sage 10 wt. fly rod...... and of course for chartering I have 20 rods and reels.

 

[vicislander]

Re: What's a good salmon rod and reel for around $200 used

shimano gt 4000 gt and a fenwick hmx 10'6 that combo new should be about that. go to combo love it