ORIGINAL: thundermug

Bottom line is, it depends. Ugly sticks are inexpensive yet very good rods.Seeing how fast technology is moving it doesn't make much sense to buy an expensive rod when about 5 years down the road there will be cheap rods made just as good as that expensive rod. The expensive rods will be made a new way in order to keep them expensive and then 5 years later....Well, you get the picture.

Part of the difference between inexpensive and expensive is the expensive ones are handmade cheap ones are machine made, inexpensive are half and half (hand and machine). Would I buy and use a 10 buck rod? No, except if it was all I could afford. Bad thing is I catch fish in the 40 pound range off our pier and those cheap rods don't hold up.

Would I spend several hundred on a rod? Heck no, I can't afford that. Never have used one. The most I have paid is 100 bucks for a Tica. Actually I have two Tica's. Are they any better than the 50 dollar Okuma? Yes they are but just barely. the difference is the Tica's blank goes all the way to the butt, the Okuma doesn't. their blank goes to the reel seat, and another piece goes from the reel seat to the butt. It flexes at the reel when I cast. The tica's don't.

Rods do have to match the weight that you will be using and the line you will be using. And all of that has to match the reel also. Even a 500 dollar rod can be a piece of crap if the rod, reel, line and weight doesn't match.

Just remember what I've said is just my opinion and thats all. I don't proffess to know all about it....but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn last night.

The equipment I currently use;
7' Tica, Abu Garcia 6500 C3, 14 pound line, 3/8 - 3 ounce
10' Tica, Abu Garcia 7500, 25 pound line, 3 - 8 ounce
7' custom Ugly stick, Okuma 525 Pro, 25 pound.
12' Ugly stick, Shakespeare Tidewater, 25 pound, 1 - 4 ounce.
10' Okuma, Okuma spinning reel, 14 pound, 1 - 3 ounce.

The top two are my favorite. I can cast close to 100 yards with them, the third is a fighting rod and cannot be casted.