# Catfish Rods



## Land is the Limit (Mar 24, 2012)

In the market for some Flathead sticks and need suggestions. The rods I have now have yet to fail me or not get the job done but they are red-lining it on big fish and I am fortunate to have landed some fish that were pretty much too much to handle on them. We use live bait hooks so hooksetting power is a must since we dont use circles. I am thinking about Penn Slammers but would like some of your opinions and suggestions. Thanks everyone


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*cat rod*

You will no doubt get some good suggestions from the cat guys here, but here is a pretty good read about rods.

http://www.bigcatfishing.com/catfishing_rods.htm


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## jcoss15 (Oct 11, 2010)

7'0 shakesphere ulgy sticks do a good job...


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## drifterfisher (Oct 9, 2009)

I really like my ugly stik's.....never broke one,yet. And I have a couple slammers to,but for the money when buying new I'd go with an ugly stik any day.


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## Land is the Limit (Mar 24, 2012)

Do the ugly sticks have the back bone for it? When I think of Ugly Sticks I think very flexible and very light with little stiffness to horse a big fish. I have used them before but and they will bend in a circle before they break but they couldnt horse anything big because they are so bendy....


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## jcoss15 (Oct 11, 2010)

the 7' medium heavy is pretty tough...but I have never tangled with one over 20lbs on rod and reel. So a 30+ lber could give you some trouble, but one that size is going to give you trouble regardless...


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

jcoss15 said:


> 7'0 shakesphere ulgy sticks do a good job...


+1
Damn skippy, they wont break and run around 30 bucks and can handle the biggest of cats


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## Fish-n-Fur (Apr 2, 2009)

CatHunter said:


> +1
> Damn skippy, they wont break and run around 30 bucks and can handle the biggest of cats


+2 :thumbup:


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## Land is the Limit (Mar 24, 2012)

Ugly Stick seems to be winning the race!


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

I wouldn't trade my uglys for any thing, the other two in the picture have been upgraded to ugly sticks as well, notice two of the sticks are 7"2 and the other two uglys are 6"8 big difference on leverage


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## jcoss15 (Oct 11, 2010)

I have more trouble settling on a reel for flatheads...


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## skiff89_jr (Apr 1, 2011)

jcoss15 said:


> I have more trouble settling on a reel for flatheads...


Yeah a good reel for flatheads can be hard to find. I've got a variety of reels. 
2 Penn Defiances- 5*'s holds a lot of line, big live bait handle, penn reputation
1 Penn Jigmaster- 4*'s holds a lot of line, big live bait handle, bare basics reel
1 Shimano Tekota- 5*'s small light reel, big live bait handle (Ambassadeur on steriods)
1 Abu Garcia Ambassadeur- 4*'s nice reel but the handle needs to be upgraded to the live bait handle
1 Shimano Bait Runner- 5*'s if you want to catfish with a spinner this is the way to go!


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Be carefull of the Abu Garcia Ambassadeurs I bought two of them new from academy for 75 bucks a piece and both of them crapped out on me after a few months of hard fishing, the drag cursor broke on both of them.


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## drifterfisher (Oct 9, 2009)

Penn 560 Slammer,65# power pro,7' Slammer rod=biggest fish yet in a 54" redfish.It has landed many large reds,and several cats.


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