That figure's. Chances of it happening are in direct proportion to the cost! :-)

Antelope, Oregon 30 mi NE of Madras, Ore

Wal mart sells fishing rods that depending on what your fishing for work fine. For myself I've found inexpensive rods suit me just fine. Little known truth about expensive rods. Slam one in a door and it breaks same as a cheap rod! Stepping on them isn't so hoy either.

Right now I've got mostly med rods, no complaints. Have a heavy I got just for sturgeon and have only been after them one time, got 12! Then have a low profile reel on a light kokanee rod I use for small mouth when I do go after them. Use 6# line on that one but have a new low profile coming and gonna go with 4# on it.

Well yesterday evening I finally got them to hit down at Clarno. Been a long MTY spring for them. First one was 22" and weighed 4 lbs, nice eating size. Second I think I set the hook to soon and missed. Third I didn't know I had till I started reeling in. Must have picked up the bait the same time I started reeling. Got it up on the bank and it spit the hook. Then snicker tried to help me get it and it got back in the water. Snicker meant well! Boy had this drought been bad. Really look forward to spring but been a bad one this year. No rain and res I go to for crappie I can't get my boat into, really low water! Gonna take some driving to find fish this year it looks like! Oh well, my crappie res is 70 mi one way!

Ya ever watch Catfish Dave's video's? He reel's them way in then has the rod about in the middle and once in the net drops the whole rod on the floor. Fishing from the bank he simply drops the rod on the ground next to the fish. Wonder how many rods he's stepped on and broke? have a kid in town that goes with me quite a bit and he drives me crazy dropping the rod on the ground. Told him dozens of time not to do that but he still does it. He started out using a rod and reel of mine he really liked and stepped on it and broke it. Say's he doesn't know how it happened but I know better! He's got his own rod and reel now, one I had for years and gave him. he still throws the rod on the ground. Last rod I'm giving him or letting him use. Kid just doesn't learn. Imagine if you threw your rod on the ground landing a fish and stepped on it and broke it and you'd paid over $100 for it!

Nah. Just old and stumble a lot! :-)

Not the getting wet that bother's me, it's the stepping on it! :-)

Thing I've noticed, for me anyway, is people tend to reel in to much line before landing the fish. Then there's nowhere to go but down for the reel to un hook the fish. I land the fish with the rod tip up over my head and when landed the reel goes under my arm and stays there till I'm done with the fish! Actually I pretty much do that fishing on the bank or in a boat too. lay the rod down to unhook a fish and you have a rod in danger of being stepped on!

I'm an ABU lover but weather it's the best start or not, I couldn't tell you. I also have a Browning Millionaire I love, Kastking Rover 40 I love, Dawia low profile that is really easy to use and a few other's. Best one for a starter? Right now I'd say the Kastking. I've got my Rover 40, a small spinner and a new inexpensive Kastking low profile on the way. I say Kastking for no other reason than price. Decent level winds don't come cheap, well unless they are pretty well unknown brands. That's what it was with my Kastking. $45 for the Rover 40, figured if I lost that much it wasn't gonna be a huge slam on the income! Most the casting reels out there today will make pretty good starter reels, but not the expensive one's. Reason being if you decide you don't care for it, your not out $150+! Find something in the $40-$50 range. You can always go up later if you decide you like it. Something about casting reels, none of us have used them all I don't think so the impression come's from a limited number of subject's. Find one you don't mind laying out the money for and go for it! I prefer casting to spinning for larger fish. Spinning rod and reels are for me for crappie, blue gill and will do in some case's for small mouth bass. Keep in mind with your first one, there is a learning curve you might find a bit frustration with, work your way through it. Biggest mistake I see new people make is wanting to cast to far right off the bat, they over run the reel and that ain't fun. Starting out start by learning to toss the line easy on shorter casts. First cast designed for 50 yds pretty much guarantee's a hell of a birds nest!

My heaviest casting rod say's 3/4oz weight on it but about all I use are 2oz weights. Haven't broken a rod! I also am wondering about 50# line. But if you use 50# line and have the drag set for say 10# I'd doubt you'd break the rod. But then again something to keep in mind, you over tax the rod with weight or line not recommended and if there's a warrantee on it, you void the warrantee in all likely hood! Just for myself if I wanted to cast a 3 oz weight on one of my rods, I'd do it! I break the rod I'd break the rod! I simply can't imagine breaking a rod with a 3 oz weight if the rod is suggested for 20# line! Of course I suspect that it's not the line or the fish that would break it but rather the casting! So are you looking at a 3 oz weight to cast farther of for swifter current?

I am planning on setting up one rod to fish the Columbia river with one of these days. Probably should have gone heavier on line, ignorant about braid, but I ordered 20# braid for a rod. I only have a couple rods suggested for 20# line but I plan on allowing the drag to overcome that. Use 20# braid, maybe 15# leader and set the drag for the leader!

Scapoose is N.W. Ore, out west of Portland on US 30. I lived there a few years and found some little tribs off the Columbia to fish now and then. Didn't do a lot of fishing around there though, mostly left the area to fish. If you go west on US 30 I think it's the Wilson River you'll find and that was a nice looking river to me but never fished it. When I was young I lived near Independence and fished around there a lot in the Luckymutte and back water's off the Columbia. There is also a bunch of farm ponds in the valley if you can get permission to fish them. Santiam is over near Sweet Home and comes down to the valley from Detriot Res. Detriot res used to be a good spot to fish also. Have fished the North Fork of the Santiam east of Salem a few times, great looking water but never did much good there. You could also hit Freeway Parks just north of Salem. I've never done them but have heard they are pretty good.

Well you might punch through that stuff better but I don't see the problem being the rod but rather after you get the lure through it all you'll probably have cluttered up hooks on it! My heaviest casting rods are medium but am thinking about a medium heavy simply because I don't have one and that is no more than a excuse to buy a new rod! I avoid fishing heavy cover and matted weeds, in fact I pretty much avoid all weed's and simply fish the edge of them.

Old ABU? Then probably a round reel. Biggest difference I notice is I simply prefer the round bait caster's. I have one low profile on a light rod I use for small mouth bass and it's spooled with 6# line. Just bough a new one yesterday and going to set it up with an ultra light rod and 4# line. For me the round baitcaster's were easier to get started with. Does your ABU have a number on it? If it's a 2500, you might be surprised what it might be worth! I looked mine up on the internet and what they are asking for them blew my mind!

Anything you expose to salt water you don't want to go away, rinse well in fresh water when your done!