Looking to get started in bass fishing and don’t know where to begin? Look no further…
With everything iced up here in Wisconsin, there’s no better time to stock up on fishing gear. I mean, if I can’t be out on the water, I gotta scratch that itch somehow. Of course, with half the country bracing for some big winter storms, just about all of us won’t be on the water this weekend.
But if 2025 is the year you finally start bass fishing, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to figure out where to begin. When I got started getting really serious about bass fishing, there was a lot of trial and error, and most importantly, wasted money. Unless you really know what you’re doing, you’re probably going to wind up with some gear you don’t need, or gear that really isn’t designed for technique you’re throwing. Or maybe you know what you need to add to the arsenal, but you just don’t want to break the bank doing it.
So here’s 5 of my favorite affordable, quality rods that I still have rigged up just about every single day of the fishing season.
Daiwa Fuego – $69.99
At 70 bucks a rod, you really can’t beat the Daiwa Fuego. With a handful of both spinning and casting options, you can really set yourself with a few good rods to cover all of your bass fishing needs, and for an extremely reasonable price. These workhorse rods can handle just about every technique you can throw at them, and if you pair them up with the Daiwa Fuego reel ($109.99 – $129.99), and you have yourself a rock solid combo that will outperform its price tag.
Abu Garcia Jordan Lee – $79.97
When you’re talking signature rods, they almost always come with a premium price tag. But Abu Garcia’s Jordan Lee sticks are an exception to that rule, and most importantly, you’re getting a quality rod that the two-time Bassmaster Classic winner will put his name on. Problem is, they are being discontinued so you can get them about 20% off right now… stock up while you can.
Fenwick Eagle – $99.95
Fenwick completely overhauled everything in their lineup recently, and I’m loving it. The Eagle is their most affordable line of rods, and with 19 different models, you can easily cover all the bases… and then some. I personally use the 7’5″ Heavy as my flipping stick, and specifically for light punching. On my home lake, loose grass tends to blow into pockets along the shore and create these beautiful mats don’t require a massive weights to get though. My Fenwick Eagle always gets the job done. They look great, they feel great… they fish great.
Shimano SLX A – $99.99
The Shimano SLX line is arguably the pinnacle of where affordability meets quality in the bass fishing world. Their SLX A 150 casting reel is also arguably the pinnacle of baitcasting reels at the $99 price tag, but we’ll save reel talk for another day. For $100 bucks, you’re getting a fantastic rod that can hang with rods well above its price point. I actually caught my PB flipping a Texas rigged craw on a 7′ MH Fast SLX A this past summer, and I also have a 7′ ML Extra Fast SLX A spinning rod rigged up at all times. It’s TOUGH to beat.
The SLX A also has a glass crankbait line and a swimbait line to supplement their standard spinning and casting gear.
Daiwa Tatula XT – $99.99
I’m admittedly a BIG Tatula guy. I love the Tatula Elite rods, I love the regular ol’ Tatula line, I have a few different Tatula reels that I’m using at all times… but I’ll tell you what, the budget-friendly Tatula XT always seems to find its way into my hand. I primarily utilize their spinning rods for throwing swimbaits and minnow-style baits, but the Tatula XT line has a great budget friendly frog rod, solid jig rod… I just really love this lineup at the $100 price point. If you’re looking to get into bass fishing on a budget, you just can’t go wrong with the Daiwa Tatula XT. They just look so clean too… if that matters to you at all (let’s face it, nobody wants to fish an ugly rod).
They also offer a BFS rod and a glass cranking rod in the Tatula XT Family
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