need versatile rod for Penn TRQ40NLD2

texkan · March 27, 2019, 11:07:53 PM

I recently purchased a new TRQ40NLD2 and now I'm trying to figure out which rod to buy. Nearly all of my fishing will be in the Gulf of Mexico and on party type boats. I plan to use it primarily for jigs and bait, and I'm thinking it may be best to keep the length 7 feet or less. I looked at a Penn Carnage II (CARBWII80200C70) which looked like a decent rod for the money. Unfortunately, there's few places around San Antonio to "pull" on a rod. Any recommendations would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Ron Jones · March 28, 2019, 02:45:49 AM

I have been able to fish that reel once, at is a surprisingly nice reel to cast. I'm not sure what your budget is, but the Phoenix Black Diamond Hybrids are tough to beat. An 8 foot 60# stick would make a deadly combination.
Ron Jones

pjstevko · March 28, 2019, 03:41:47 AM

You should check out the Okuma PCH line of rods....

Swami805 · March 28, 2019, 03:43:28 AM

I've heard good things about Okuma too

MarkT · March 28, 2019, 03:54:47 AM

What line weight/drag are you looking to use for bait/jigs? I don't match reels to rods without taking that into consideration. I use a different rod for 30-40#, 40-50# and 50-60#. I wouldn't use a trq40nld2 for the 30-40# duties!

texkan · March 28, 2019, 06:04:07 PM

In general, I expect to use it for 50-60#.

conchydong · March 28, 2019, 11:02:24 PM

For 50-60, I still like an old fashioned Calstar 700XH. Since many folks are switching out to the newer stuff i.e. United Composites and Phoenix, sometimes you can find a nice used Calstar at a reasonable price. I wouldn't get anything shorter than 7' fishing off of a party boat due to the high freeboard.

Scott

SoCalAngler · March 29, 2019, 04:59:34 AM

Let me start by saying I really don't know much, well very little about Penn Carnage rods. I've seen them, pulled on a couple but don't know anyone that fishes them. They may be great and a price point around of $200 (MSRP) will fit into many peoples budget. The only thing that worries me is the rod's line rating of 80-200 lb. That's a huge range and unless you pull on one before you buy or trust people that fish them for 50-60 lb and like them how will you know if the CARBWII80200C70 will fit your needs?

I'm a Calstar guy and like said above a GFGR 700XH or a 7400XH will meet your needs nicely, but their price point is just about $100 more than the Penn. Calstar also has rods in the 6.5' range in glass like a 665H that you can get in black or honey color that have been fished for decades and and still catch fish. MSRP is around $240. They also make 6.5' rods that are composite like a GFGR 765L what will fit the bill but run around $50-100 more than their all glass rods.

EDIT: Leon Todd the owner and founder of Calstar passed away not to long ago. I hope the company does well without him. He made a huge impact in So Cal fishing working and designing rods at places like Roddy Rods, American Tackle (Sabre) and then starting Calstar. He was a great guy and will be missed very much, and he made great rods for someone that didn't fish!

UC, Untied Composites makes great rods but are on the upper end price wise. If I was just starting to gather rods I would look at these hard. I like them a lot but for me to change manufactures now and replace the 10-12 rods I have would be too costly for me. I like to have all matching gear, black or charcoal colored rods with matching wraps or close to it and black reels, but that's just me. So you can see changing my rods out is just not in the picture for me...at this time.

I like to buy American made when I can and these two manufactures build these rods right here in So Cal and both are close enough to me that I can visit their facilities if needed to or would like to, which I have done. That's a plus for me in my book.

I have heard good things about the Ohuma PCH rods. I was in the tackle biz and still have very good connections, with shop owners, their employees, manufactures. vendors and distributors. They know I may not be buying so no hard sell but we still talk about gear and such. I know Okuma, in the beginning had some issues with their first couple lines of rods out in the market. Now it seems like they have dialed it in and are coming out with rods that are up to our west coast standards. I personally have not pulled on these rods in the line test your looking at so no model info here but I have seen them and pulled on a few. Also their price point is right in line with the Carnage rods.

If the $200 price point is what your looking for I'd do some research on the PCH rods.