bass fishing rod and reel combo : Shakespeare Complete Bass Spinning Reel and Fishing Rod Kit

Took to Galveston Bay last Saturday and caught my entire days bait for me and two others. Like the telescoping pole makes for easy storage.See more

The first day out with it went ok. The second day, though, was far different. The line is almost too light to be viable. The instructions on how to string it onto the rod are vague at best, and improper stringing leads quickly to a mess. After eight attempts to cast all wound up with a basketball sized knot on the pole, this whole thing wound up in the lake. A few days later, what I thought was a decent hit from a trout turned out to be yet another huge knot of line off of this pole. I dragged the pole in, stripped the reel down, and that's when I realized how cheap this thing is. Nothing is supported internally on any type of bearing. They balanced it all on a single ball bearing, the rest rides very loose in plastic sleeves. The individual parts are made from aluminum but they look like they were stamped with a bulldozer. Nothing is smooth at all, in fact, no one even made an attempt to craft any of the parts, they slapped an assortment of washers, levers, and gizmos together and shipped it. Once I corrected this, I put it back together and the bail quit working. I screwed with it for two hours before finally giving up and loosening the mounting screws a hair to let it work. Now it's loose. I checked a similar Shakespeare rod that I have, and it, too has a nail that shakes, wobbles, and just barely holds together. The only things I found useful in the tackle box were the bobbers. For trout, you need #8 to #12 single hooks, Powerbait, swivel clips, and a chain stringer. None of that came with it, no, nope, none, zilch, nada. There was nothing to land the fish, either, which is really odd considering anything you stick in a trout's mouth will get bitten by about 472 teeth. Oh, and the box itself? Yeah, you won't be hauling any of the required stuff in it, either. Its compartments are too small. I like the idea they have here with the micro kit you can stuff under the car seat, but the quality just is not there. If you want an I expensive trout kit, get the items above a la carte and then grab a Zebco casting reel/rod combo, it'll save you a lot of headaches and some bait, too.See more

Took to Galveston Bay last Saturday and caught my entire days bait for me and two others. Like the telescoping pole makes for easy storage.See moreThe first day out with it went ok. The second day, though, was far different. The line is almost too light to be viable. The instructions on how to string it onto the rod are vague at best, and improper stringing leads quickly to a mess. After eight attempts to cast all wound up with a basketball sized knot on the pole, this whole thing wound up in the lake. A few days later, what I thought was a decent hit from a trout turned out to be yet another huge knot of line off of this pole. I dragged the pole in, stripped the reel down, and that's when I realized how cheap this thing is. Nothing is supported internally on any type of bearing. They balanced it all on a single ball bearing, the rest rides very loose in plastic sleeves. The individual parts are made from aluminum but they look like they were stamped with a bulldozer. Nothing is smooth at all, in fact, no one even made an attempt to craft any of the parts, they slapped an assortment of washers, levers, and gizmos together and shipped it. Once I corrected this, I put it back together and the bail quit working. I screwed with it for two hours before finally giving up and loosening the mounting screws a hair to let it work. Now it's loose. I checked a similar Shakespeare rod that I have, and it, too has a nail that shakes, wobbles, and just barely holds together. The only things I found useful in the tackle box were the bobbers. For trout, you need #8 to #12 single hooks, Powerbait, swivel clips, and a chain stringer. None of that came with it, no, nope, none, zilch, nada. There was nothing to land the fish, either, which is really odd considering anything you stick in a trout's mouth will get bitten by about 472 teeth. Oh, and the box itself? Yeah, you won't be hauling any of the required stuff in it, either. Its compartments are too small. I like the idea they have here with the micro kit you can stuff under the car seat, but the quality just is not there. If you want an I expensive trout kit, get the items above a la carte and then grab a Zebco casting reel/rod combo, it'll save you a lot of headaches and some bait, too.See more