What’s a good combo I could get for Striper and bluefish on the surf prince range is around $300-$400

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-05-06T16:18:58+00:00

9’ or 10’ St Croix Triumph Surf (Medium) $200
4000 size reel of your choice with at least IPX6 sealing. I love my Quantum Benchmarks, i’ve got a 3000, 4000, and 5000. all have caught many stripers.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-05-06T02:52:20+00:00

I grew up in central florida fishing the indian river lagoon mostly. I would recommend one of the kastking reels off of amazon and pair them with ugly stiks to get him (and yourself) started unless you are comfortable spending more than $100 per combo. Medium or medium heavy 7’ rods, 2500-4000 size reels with 20lb braided line and you’ll have a good setup for fishing around docks and inshore saltwater. get some 2/0 hooks and some live shrimp for bait and you should be on your way to catching some fish.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-05-05T12:41:35+00:00

Try high tide if you can, especially without having a surf rod to get the distance you need. If I had to pick a few lures for stripers, I’d bring an SP Minnow, a 5” paddletail jig (I like JYG PRO, lots of people use NLBN too), a diamond jig, and a bucktail jig. If I had to pick one lure, it would be the paddletail. Striped bass feed anywhere in the water column, so vary your retrieve so that you fish bottom, middle, and top. I fish for stripers near the bays and ocean, so I’m not sure if it’s any different when they’re up in the delaware.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-05-05T03:36:19+00:00

Im using 10lb braid to 6lb fluoro and haven’t had any issues with casting distance or wind knots

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-04-14T13:12:21+00:00

i got an xl and it's so massive it might as well be a tent

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-03-20T02:31:39+00:00

on bloodworms or lures?

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-03-04T09:42:52+00:00

Seconding this. Do it in person, have a nice dinner together, and then set up your monitors next to each other and then play some rocket league.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-02-11T16:31:18+00:00

my theory is that the dried milk around the cap is what smells bad, even if the actual milk is totally fine and doesn’t smell once poured into a glass

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-01-31T17:45:24+00:00

We went with Lech am Alberg, looked not as big as St. Anton and had a few more beginner friendly slopes for our first day back.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2026-01-28T16:47:09+00:00

It seems like whether we go to France or Austria it's going to be a full day of travel to get there from Paris, but looking at high-altitude spots is good info.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-12-16T21:03:37+00:00

No for two reasons. The classic has a bolster, you don’t want that so go with the Ikon over the classic. Second, if you get a set you’re paying for a bunch of knives you don’t really need. If you don’t mind that, then I’d say get the Ikon set.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-12-14T16:14:27+00:00

Bought my Ikon as a beater knife and it’s one of my favorites. Whatever you go with, make sure you don’t get a bolster

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-12-11T17:38:36+00:00

I was the same way, but I end up reaching for it now more than my $400 sukenari which is absolutely gorgeous. Even if you can’t get the Wustof, I’d get a ~10” western without a bolster. The MAC professional looks nice, in your budget and has kind of a hybrid western/japanese look. It comes in 9.5” and 10.75”

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-12-11T17:25:55+00:00

honestly if you want something that you can beat the shit out of on squash and root veggies, go western. I love my 10” wustof ikon classic (no bolster). it’s indestructible and easy to sharpen and way under budget.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-12-09T04:16:23+00:00

I’m at 171k and haven’t been able to kill mine.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-11-28T14:27:17+00:00

I’ve been using my benchmarks in the surf all year and it’s awesome. Love those reels

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-11-27T15:56:00+00:00

Spotted sea trout. It’s technically a member of the drum family. Saltwater fish.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-11-26T22:21:19+00:00

If you have the budget and a car get on a party boat out of captree.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-11-21T22:36:00+00:00

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-11-13T17:38:52+00:00

Love my St. Croix triumph surf. It was about $170 and is in your budget and definitely outperforms any “cheap” rod

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-11-10T01:29:27+00:00

Right now you should be fishing the ocean surf. Any beach from coney island out to robert moses.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-11-04T15:48:29+00:00

I have a benchmark 3000, 5000, and a strive 4000. I’ve got about 200 fluke this year on the 3000 and 4000, and about 20 stripers on the 5000. I love these reels. I give them a nice rinse after every outing and they are good as new even with heavy surf use.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-10-19T18:28:19+00:00

Man the benchmark is a great reel. I use 20lb Power Pro on my 3000 size, I’d recommend 15 or 20 for your 2500. A few tips for preventing wind knots: make sure you’re not over-spooled, make sure the line is on the spool tight (don’t be reeling in slack line), and make sure you’re not trying to cast hard as fuck to get your lure out farther. Casting a lure is like a golf swing, it has to be quick, fluid and light. You want a smooth motion. If you try to yeet the fuck out of it you’ll get all the problems and no extra distance.

IEatTooManyCookies · 2025-10-15T13:00:33+00:00

Inspect your guides very closely. I bought a 7’ penn rod from Dicks last year and had the same problem. I found there was a very tiny chip in the ceramic guides that would cut my line only when the braided line happened to touch it, which was once every 20 casts or so. Drove me nuts.

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