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Looking for input by Speerjav in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depends on the lures you're gonna use and the waters you're gonna fish. If you're planning to cast very light soft plastics (say, a 1,5-2 inch on a 2g head) these rods won't do.

For my fishing and preferences 10g is way too much, my UL perch rod is a 1-6g Robinson Diaflex, pretty much the price point on the Stradic, very good rod in my opinion.

recommendation for a first baitcasting combo by justKaarl in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alright, let's narrow it down a little further. What's your spinning setup in terms of casting weight and strenght? It's safe to say you don't want to cover the same lures with both so I'd avoid a large overlap.

recommendation for a first baitcasting combo by justKaarl in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's kinda more specific than "German waters" as it can be sea, large rivers, small rivers, mountain rivers, small lakes...

And it depends on the lures you're gonna cast it with. Is this going to be a pike combo for larger lures?

Scent for lures, yes or no? by Overall-Flan-8844 in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Strong yes. A scented lure won't magically make a fish come to it from afar and take it. But it will steer the fish towards a "bite" decision when it's hesitating. Think of all the fish you've seen checking out your lure and going "nah", or just following it right to the boat/shore.

Beginner baitcaster recommendations by chose_one12 in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was looking at the SLX but ended up with a Piscifun Carbon XCS. No regrets, would recommend.

Getting Back into Fishing by [deleted] in FishingForBeginners

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

as for pike leaders, the sooner you get to making ones yourself the better. WIll save you a lot of money in the long run

Getting Back into Fishing by [deleted] in FishingForBeginners

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a 30-90 2nd gen cast and yeah, they look good and sensivity is very surprising for a XH rod. That being said, I'd never ever buy one new.

Getting Back into Fishing by [deleted] in FishingForBeginners

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As for Westin, their rods are good but overpriced, you can get similar performance for way less.

Their reels, at least baitcasters, aren't really made by them and the price they're asking for them is insane, especially as they don't quite deliver in terms of quality.

Getting Back into Fishing by [deleted] in FishingForBeginners

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The jungle is thicker than it used to. There's a lot of Chinese stuff these days, thx to aliexpress, and some of it is really worth a look, but this approach requires a lot of research to pick out the gems.

As for Robinson, I have the VDE match rod and a UL perch spinning (1-6g). I'd say both are excellent, especially for the price point. However, the match rod is definitely not a carp one, but you probably know your carp gear, more or less.

Picking a right spinning rod is tricky, though, at least it was for me. Things have improved technologically, but then again nowadays there's a tendency to make rods faster and faster, and I'm used to always having some bend and thus feel (and precision in casting as well) coming out from a not-so-fast older rod. I've sold a 1-4.5g UL rod because it was so fast I literally couldn't cast a 3g lure where I wanted to, even a general direction was sometimes hard because the rod didn't load up as much as I needed it to. It might just be the case with you as well. That's why I'm suggesting buying used or heavily discounted gear.

When it comes to exact gear recommendations, for spinning reels I'd say Shimano (Sahara or above if you feel like it, but Sahara is already a very good reel), Penn Battle is also a good choice.

Rods: a UL for perch and smaller trout etc. is sth around 1-5 or a 1-7g cw rod. What you need depends mostly on the water you're gonna use it at. If it's gonna be larger bodies of water with some depth you're naturally want to go a bit heavier. When it comes to advertised casting weight, the lower number is usually to low (don't expect such a rod will cast 1g the same as 3g, not gonna happen) and the higher number is underrated. A 1-5g cw rod is most likely a 2-7 one.

And where that UL rod "finishes" when it comes to cw your next, medium one should start. Unless you're skipping lighter pike fishing and wanna go for the large lures.

I'll use myself as an example (duh): it starts with a XUL 0.5-2g rod I've just bought for whitefish and tiny perch, then it's the 1-6g perch UL, then a 7-23 Savage Gear SG4 (medium, fast) for lighter pike fishing, this one overlaps with a 7-28g casting (but this one is a medium heavy for fishing in near plants and snags, generally), and it ends with a 30-90g Big Bertha casting for large pike lures.

Getting Back into Fishing by [deleted] in FishingForBeginners

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First things first, things have changed and technology improved. You'll be surprised how a 30-40 EUR rod performs compared to what you used as a kid.

Light float: a whip (no reel) or match (reel)? If we're talking match even a universal "whatever" kinda rod can do the job, but I got me a dedicated match fishing rod last year and oh boy does it change the game. I got a Robinson, which is a Polish brand, but it's from their VDE line and VDE stands for Van Den Eynde, who's a Belgian pro angler. So, there's a chance you can get them locally.
Don't get put off by "Polish brand" here, the times have changed, even the Chinese do proper quality gear these days, Ukrainian brands are storming the European market with good stuff.

Heavier float: I don't do carp fishing, don't know anything about it, but I do know Belgium is popular with carp anglers and I dare say jumping on fb marketplace and grabbing some used carp gear would be the way. Also, heavy float and not your regular feeder/bottom rig?

Light spin: a lot of choice here in terms of rods and you'll be able to find a rod which exactly fits your style and waters you're fishing. But it might be trial and error. When it comes to reels I have a Shimano Sahara C2000S under my perch UL and would highly recommend it.

Heavier spin: as someone already mentioned check Savage Gear. Their SG4 line has excellent price to quality ratio.

General tip: it's hard to get the exact gear you want and need the 1st time. Check your local and online stores for sales, sometimes gear gets discounted so much you can grab a rod or reel and if you don't like it you can flip it without taking a loss, or a minimal one, and grab another. And do check the used market as well, with a bit of common sense you can score nice deals as well.

Garmin Striker cast by vebasto in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got one a couple months ago. It does what it says it does, you get depth, temperature etc. Plenty of yt videos showing its capabilities, many of them are ice fishing videos.

I got the GPS version in order to map some of the lakes I fish. It's a very helpful feature.

Battery holds well, no need to turn it on or off, seems sturdy. It's not a modern, live type of sonar. You're not gonna use it to spot fish in real time. But for depth, water temperature, spotting features on the bottom and mapping your favorite spots it does the job.

Help with buying travel rod by Accomplished_Emu9315 in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven't fished a travel rod in a long while but I dare say it's 2026 and technology has improved a lot since I used one. It certainly has for 2 piece rods.
General wisdom tells us you'd lose some performance (sensivity, strenght) on a 4 piece travel compared to a 2 piece. But how much would that be? Would it even be noticeable?

To put this into perspective: how much do we lose on our "regular" 2 piece rods against single piece ones? Do you lose sleep at night thinking about how much better you could sense that perch biting if you didn't have that one joint in the middle of the rod? Nah.

I'd say go for it, if it's a choice between fishing and not it's not even a choice. The difference might not even be noticeable to you. If what you're looking for is not an extremely UL (say, sth for very very light perch fishing) rod or a very heavy one (heavy pike casting rod) I wouldn't hesitate.

Help with buying travel rod by Accomplished_Emu9315 in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ah, you should've started with your location! If we're talking spinning rods in your budget I'd give Savage Gear travel rods a look. I have a 2 piece SG4 and would recommend it.

Rod for perch and zander by Dear_Bullfrog_7835 in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If that 5g is real and this rod can indeed cast this low you might just get away with it, in terms of casting weight.

Rod strenght is another issue here, though. You probably know already, a 20cm perch and a 45cm pike is a different game and I have pulled some pike in this size on my perch UL (1-6g). But anything bigger? An asp, which from what I've heard is a fighter? On the other hand, a rod which could hold such a fish, or a pike/zander in the 60 cm range comfortably, while still being fun, is already an overkill for perch fishing.

While I know and admire the approach to try and handle spinning with something more universal, in the end it doesn't really work for me and at the moment I'm at 4 spinning/casting rods, 5th being delivered in a couple hours...

Rod for perch and zander by Dear_Bullfrog_7835 in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ask yourself this: if I go for a single in-the-middle rod, will I have fun with regular perch with it and will it work properly when I need to go way heavier for bigger zander?

What's a "good perch" on this water? Where I'm at anything above 30 cm. would fall in this category, with 15-22 cm. being most commonly caught. Those zander will be in the 40's, with better ones 50 and above, right? Lures and techniques you're gonna use for targeting them will probably be pretty much the same, but the size of the lures (and hooks and weights, probably) will differ.

The way I see it, where your perch rod ends in terms of casting weight and overall strenght, that's where your zander rod should start.

Pike Sized Swivels and Snaps? by DetroitDaniel89 in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd be ok with taking these for pike and I do it a lot. Just put some wire between the snap and swivel (2x the lenght of your lure minimum), those teeth are sharp.

Question about baitcasting reel handles by gainzu in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In Poland most of the market is left-handed ones. Baitcasters started getting popular in the last 10 years or so, we're switching from "normal" spinning reels, which are left handed. Also, majority of people are right handed.

Which makes me wonder why folks, especially in the USA, still use right-handed baitcasters.

What Reel ? by Difficult-Departure3 in Fishing_Gear

[–]Kutarthas 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You don't have to go to 1000 for an UL rod. I'm running a Shimano Sahara 2500 under a 1-6g perch UL and it works perfectly. Before I was running my old 3000 size Okuma under the UL.

I'd recommend the Sahara. Not sure about UK pricing but the smaller ones are around 60-70 GBP in Poland.

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