New to salmon/steelhead - casting rod/reel recommendations

[DocTrout]

Hi, I've been in Oregon a few years now and want to start bank/wade fishing for salmon/steelhead (I live right on the Applegate River). I've caught plenty of trout in SoCal and Tuna in Mexico in my life, but never fished up here for anything but trout. I'm looking for a good VALUE bait caster setup to get started with that should also last me a while. I'll buy new or used... just not sure what to look for. Currently I have a couple ultra lights and a 8'6" Med-Heavy Ugly Stik with a Penn Fierce 3000 spinning reel on it. I'm just not sure if what I see on craigslist/ifish/OFF classifieds is anything I need. I can compare prices to fleabay and to the original new prices, just don't want to buy the wrong set up.

Any recommendations? I STFA and see that people like the Abu Garcia C3/4, the IM8 rods, Shimano Curado's, Daiwa Lexa's, Abu Garcia Revo's, etc.

To give you an idea of some used items local to me that have caught my eye:

• Shimano Curado 200dhsv - $75
• Revo SX rvo3sx-hs with a Gear ratio 7.1 - $120
• Shimano Cardiff 401A Reel - $90
• Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6500 c4 - $50

TIA I really appreciate your thoughts. I'd like to get going for less than a couple hundred bucks.

 

[DocTrout]

Ended up getting a new Abu Garcia C4 5600 from Walmart for $94. So, FYI they are on sale right now.

 

[steelhead_stalkers]

Someone has no patience! :lol: The best advice you can give you before purchasing a reel is to contact John Strenk of The Reel Tech. He does reel repair and cleaning and I always call him before purchasing a new reel to find out if its any good. He sees and fixes 50+ reels a month and knows which ones have the most problems. Having said that I have not heard good things about the new Abu Garcia C4 5600 as the gearing can wear out quickly. I will work fine for salmon but probably won't work very well for steelhead being its not designed to cast lighter weight. Good luck.

 

[DocTrout]

With almost 100 people viewing and no replies, I figured this would be similar to some other forums out there...

I STFA here for the last couple weeks and felt I got a lot of good info and a lot of people recommended the C3s and C4s. I really like Abu Garcia's history and the fact that they're made in Sweden. We'll see how the gears hold up.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely seek his advice and services on future purchases and upkeep.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[steelhead_stalkers]

I have some of the older Garcias and they are solid as a tank. The nice thing is they are very easy to maintain and fix up if you do ever have issues. You can even get high end gearing installed from other reels that fit them.

 

[Hookset]

I am a huge fan of the Curado. I have 2 of them and have had them for few years never had any problems.

 

[SteelieRn]

Hard to wrong with a Garcia. I'm still using a 5500c I bought in 84'. But, I just got a curado 7.2:1 and love it for spinners. As far as rods go, I really like the Buzz Ramsey IM8's and own several for several uses. Nothing wrong with an okuma either, have a few of them too. And you can always spend the $$ and get the upper end rods. If your north of the couve, Vancouver that is, you can go to the lamiglass factory and see what they are closing out. They sell demos too, goo included....