Like a lot of you on this site I have other priorities for my paycheck that are higher on the list than fishing gear of any type. Shelter, food, clothes, transportation and health care for a small family. From time to time I do come up with few extra bucks and that usually goes into my fishing and photography gear. I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I will probably spend the rest of my small, insignificant days just struggling to make it from pay to pay.

I am not complaining because I am rich in ways that the wealthy will never know. I also appreciate the value of a dollar. So here are some pics of three of my several rods all of which are less than $100. Some of the substantially so.







The long brown rod is a really neat fiberglass rod. It's called a Hurricane Ultra-Fast. Made in Japan, throws a nice 6/7 wt line, is a parabolic, does not have any "hinge" on it or to it and cost about $20 bucks on eBay. Oh yeah, I almost forgot it catches fish too.

The second wonderful green rod is a Cabela's rod. A 6'6" Cabela's "Traditional" 2wt, 2piece with a Cabela's Prestige Plus Reel, Prestige Plus wf3f line and backing for about $120. Yep, it does catch fish rather well too.

The third rod you have seen a few time s here. It is an inexpensive bamboo made by a man who once upon a time used to visit this forum. It is a "Banty" so to speak in the sense that it is a very short rod. The similarities to what is usually called a "Banty" stop there as this rod is made from scratch and it's own taper not form the mid and tip of another bamboo. It is a 5'2.5" 2 piece that has nice hard chrome guides, nickle silver ferrules, beautiful lavender wraps and a nice hand carved cork reel seat. All dipped in several coats of spar varnish. Cost less than $100 delivered and catches lots of fish too. Caught lots of gills today on this one. I stopped counting at a dozen.

What's the point of all of this? Simply that I am living proof that you do not need to spend thousands of dollars to have good quality gear. Gear that will serve you well, last if cared for properly and help you catch lots of fish. It will not out perform some of the high dollar stuff but it will out perform most of the high dollar stuff without all of the glitz, glamor, bells, whistles and such that come attached to the high dollar stuff. At one time this used to be a "rich man's sport". If my budget gear and unwashed masses attitude bends a few high society noses out of shape, so much the better. Now lets all go fly fishing!