20 Best Rod And Reel For Redfish And Speckled Trout (2023 Updated)

The rod was really cooked! I’m very familiar with rod splines as I have built many rods in my day but this rod is just plain dog leg crooked. If I had seen this rod in person I would not have purchased it.

It is a 6 1/2, 2 piece rod and it arrived in one piece in a 8 ft long tube open at one end and it fell out of the tube when I picked it up from my porch! Not sure if it could have been damaged or bent from falling out of the tube during shipping like it did for me all though I don’t see how that could happen with out breaking it.

There was no packing slip with it. I purchased it for a friend as a gift but didn’t give it to him. Instead I went to Wallmart and bought another ugly stick that was not messed up to give him. If I had a packing slip and a reasonable way to send it back I would.

It looks to me like it could be a factory reject or something. I was very dissatisfied with the purchase.

Bought the rod before the price hike. Really liked it I caught a 30 pound black drum on the beach at Ft Pickens near Pensacola. Have since caught several medium sized reds with it. Ok, great! Great action for 10 pound line.

Then last Friday at Dauphin Island throwing a 2 oz surf weight the rod broke (snapped) above the large first guide on the forward swing of the cast. I was somewhat shocked to say the least. That’s never happened with me and this brand before.

Love me some Ugly Sticks! Anyway, I have 2 more of the same rods. Might consider adding a little more backbone toward the butt of the rod.

I brought 2 of these Combos a while back and they are working great. I’ve used them for both Fresh and Saltwater and the reels seem to hold up just fine provided you do the proper care after fishing.

These are light and you can feel the hits when they strike. The Rod itself is a beast I’ve had both of them get snagged and put them through some really tough bends and neither of them snapped, Uglystix holding true to there name.

These rods are a beast. Only Issue I had with the reel was I fell and landed with the reel hitting a boulder and bent the bail. Thats on me not the company, I was able to bend it back into place and make it work again so they can take some abuse :-).

I deffinetly recommend these combos.

Ok, let me start by saying I am not one of those people who buys something and reviews it before the product is ever used. Ive had this for about a month and have used it off a pier about 6 times already.

The reel is awesome (6500). Smooth in every aspect, retrieving and in drag. The Spool has a great line capacity for braid and mono and the sealed system is great for all saltwater applications. The price you pay for this combo is mainly to cover the reel, you basically get the rod for like 20 dollars.

I havent seen to many good reviews on the rod itself, mainly in regards to the guides being cheap and easily broken. So far I have nothing negative to say about the rod, it has worked well for me, but I am generally very careful and take good care of my gear.

I hooked a shark about 75 to 90 pounds the other day and the rod and reel performed flawlessly. No doubt in my mind I would have landed it, but the shark jumped out of the water and broke me off because I only had 30# mono.

I have since switched to 50# braid. Overall this is a good quality combo for most saltwater applications. Cant wait to do a little surf fishing with it next.

bought this online through BPS some years ago. I have the 8ft casting rod, Primarily used for for inshore applications such as Seatrout, Reds, Stripers, Sheephead, Balckdrum and even landed a 25lb Jack Crevelle on it.

Some people say its not made in the US but who cares! Ive landed many fish on this rod. I did have one early mishalf. The Tip guide ring shattered on me the first day I used it. I may have banged it on the rocks which caused my hooksets to snap all the time.

After I realized the cermaic ring shattered i replace the tip guide myself and it never failed me eversince. I will purchase me another. I have 1 Con. Mine was the very first model Coastal that came out.

it did not have a hook keeper.

It looks & feels great, agreed, but it’s “medium light” not “medium” action. Then like another recent reviewer mentioned, it broke into 3 pieces just sloppily sticking it in my car. It’s like a thin piece of glass.

A hundred bucks wasted later I sure wish I’d heeded that other person’s warning a couple of weeks ago!.

In February of 2017, I bought a Falcon Coastal XG 8′ casting rod and paired it with an Orra Inshore reel spooled with 20lb Powerpro. I used it fishing the bays of South Texas and caught quite a few specks and one nice red on it.

My main use was for casting croaker and live shrimp, which it works very well for. The rod has a lot of backbone, but is soft casting so you don’t sling your bait off on long casts. I also threw a few 1/8 & 1/4 lures, and to my surprise, it did quite well, even with so stiff winds.

After the first year, the eyes are still bright shiny, and the finish is in great shape. I don’t care for my rods like I should and lesser quality rods quickly show corrosion and weathering. This rod has held up better than expected.

Choose the rod length and power carefully. This rod is quite flexible and you won’t be happy if you are expecting the same action as a 6’6″ bass rod. But, that’s not what this rod is designed for.

I bought this 3 years ago so I could learn how to use a spinning real. I was instantly pleased whenever I felt the quality of the rod and reel when I got it into my hands. The baits that came with the combo weren’t worth anything except for the worms so the bait wasn’t great but, The reel is so smooth.

Over the last couple years I had reeled in dozens of 2-5 lb largemouth with not to much issue and I didn’t take good care of the reel. The gearing is to high for anything bigger as I found out. Whenever I hooked onto 6pounder the combo had finally had enough, the gears began to slip (I had oiled the gears just before) then once I got the fish to the bank the tip of the rod snapped.

I did get the fish but at the cost of the combo. When I took the reel apart I noticed that the main bearing was seizing and the gears were sheared. Overall it’s a great combo! The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the bait.

But the rod and real were both great!.

I bought it a month ago, it seems decent for a combo. The mono isn’t rated for bass 8 pounders and above. But it will do if your targeting bass in general. I bet some braid would make it a perfect rod for bigger bass, but the stren mono does do the trick if you tie it correctly and check your knot every couple casts like your supposed to.

The lures that come with it are decent. The tackle box is fine having room for all the lures with it plus more, it’s a little hard to fit the crankbait in though. If you want a decent spinning combo for bass and you use it correctly this is the rod for you.

Bought this last year to give saltwater fishing a shot. I did not want to spend a lot of money on something I was not sure I’d like. Over 4 days of fishing its held up well with no issues. I’ve caught several different species, all from a canal, on it with no issues.

I do not think I’d trust it for surf fishing or targeting anything over 10 lbs, a 22″ 4lb red bend it nearly in half. Overall its a great beginner setup. Just don’t rely only on the tackle provided and don’t go after something huge.

Have had this product a couple months, and while I appreciate the crankbaits, beetle spins, hooks, and the Berkley powerbait sample, I’m terrible at actually bass fishing, so haven’t used those much.

I use this rod and reel on a basic bobber-splitshot-hook set up to go after bluegill and catfish. I’ve caught a few bluegill and some 2 lb channel cats with it. It handles those pretty well, and it casts pretty nicely.

Anti reverse isn’t quite instant, but that’s ok. It’s a solid enough set up to handle those small, filet sized channel catfish, and yet isn’t overkill to fish for bluegill either, it does satisfactory with them too.

For $30, I say I am getting sufficient performance. The one fuss I have with it is the line, it tends to come off the spool a little quicker than I would like to, and as a result, it does loop up at times, which can be annoying.

This may be for being slightly overspooled at point of sell, or perhaps it’s just a product of stren line having top much memory, thus being susceptible to coming off the spool and looping. Perhaps a change to a different brand mono or flurocarbon would remedy this.

For general purpose fishing, this combo gets the job done quite satisfactorily, but I wouldn’t use it as a primary bass rod. If you are going out on the water just to catch fish with no particular target species, then this will get it done.

If targeting bass, however, this shouldn’t be the primary rig one would use to do so. Anybody looking to just get a decent combo for a pocket friendly price, I would indeed recommend this product. Just note that sometimes it tends to loop up, and fix it accordingly.

If you happen to hook a catfish up to about 10 lbs, this combo should be adequate for that.

Just terrible. Almost completely made of plastic. I bought this combo a few months ago and finally got to get out to fish with it. The first runner I got broke this reel. Snapped the gears/drag as well as the handle.

My wife keeps telling me to spend more money for better quality equipment. Maybe shes right. I wasnt expecting high quality but this didnt stand up even at its price point. Especially for Shakespeare, which i have other products from.

Though I only spent 30 or 40 dollars on this combo, i would really like a refund.

I bought a medium light and it is what I would consider medium or even medium-heavy. It’s a pretty stiff rod even in the tip, which might simply be the trend in modern rods. The medium light graphite rod this was meant to replace is a noodle by comparison.

I had hoped to return it, but given that it’s a one-piece and was shipped in an 8 ft tube it would have cost another 70% of the rod price to do so. Shakespeare customer service seemed uninterested in helping.

I might recommend it with the caveat that it’s probably stiffer than other medium-light rods on the market.

Good rod at a good price. Although designed as a steelhead rod, I am using it on the Gulf Coast and Caribbean for a variety of surf and mangrove dwelling fish. I have thrown plastics and jigs (primarily 1/4oz) with good results.

The rod has a fast tip and enough backbone to land larger fish and almost enough to work top water plugs. I’m using #20 braid with a #20 fluoro shock leader.

I’m delighted with this rod. Been used to quite rigid and heavy beachcaster rods but at quite a modest increase in price this is a whole new ball game. Improved my casting and bite detection over night.

It is robust with perfect finish. The rollers are working excellent. It is the perfect rod for deep fishing carrying the Daiwa Tanacom 1000 (with a small modification)

I hate it when someone breaks a rod from freeing up a snag and then calls the rod garbage. The rod is not garbage but the owner doesn’t know how to free a snag. When you get snagged which right off the bat is your fault.

You don’t pull back on the rod like you just caught a fish. That can break the rod because unlike a fish there’s no give in the snag. You point the rod at the snag and pull straight back. Hold the spool so you’re just pulling the line and not using the rod at all.

You’ll either pull out the snag or break the line/leader. Which is much better than breaking the rod. The HMG is a good rod and won’t break if you know what you’re doing.

Got the hmg 7 ft medium spinning as a replacement for a broken hmx. Fenwick upgraded me with the hmg and thats great service. Good rod maybe highest end rod i ever had. Good sensitivity however not the greatest casting rod.

Weghtless lures are a struggle to get 30 yards. Other than that this would make a good jigging rod for walleye. Senkos and zoom flukes dont cast well on this rod. 4 stars only. I have had cheaper rods that cast farther.

wish they had this one in store… i had two and they’re much smoother and durable than the other brands in this price range. go with this brand, trust me

Girlfriend was having trouble feeling strikes when Cod/Haddock fishing with a regular jig rod. I ordered up a couple of these combos and loaded them with some braid. Problem solved! Rods have a great feel to them and she doesn’t miss a set now! Glad I ordered a second one as it will now be my go to Cod/Haddock combo.

The Squall Star drag seems to be a pretty solid reel. Liking the 6:1 ratio. Overall, excellent combo for the money.

I recently purchased a Penn Squall combo and tested it on the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi, Texas. What I found out was that you get what you pay for. Compared to other rods and reels the Penn Squall combo surpassed other competitors.

Smooth action, along with sturdy rod for heavy action is unsurpassed. I got to land several groupers and sharks with no hesitation. Thank you Penn for a good product.