ITS ALMOST MY BIRTH DAY AND MY UNCLE AND I
LIKE TO DO LOTS OF FISHING AND HE WANTS TO GET ME A ROD AND REAL SO I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHATS REAL GOOD HES GOING TO GET ME WHAT EVER I WANT WITHIN REASON I GET TO SPEND ABOUT $200 DOLLERS.

i personaly like the blue mickey mouse rod rigged with a zebco thumb cast. dont get a yellow or red one though, they seem to be bad luck.

$200. doesn't go that far these days. Are you salt fishing? Are you river fishing? Get yourself a Cabela's tackle catalogue, and look at some of the gear available. Also look at some fishing gear web sites.

I work at a large sporting goods store in the Portland area. The best way to go for $200 is a Lamiglass magnum taper or medium heavy (I perfer the magnum taper because it has a faster tip and more backbone) and a Abu Garcia 5500 or 5501 C3. The rod is appr. $130 and the reel $65. Good Luck.

Tule mentions a good combo although a 6500 series (larger than a 5500) might be a better choice for just salmon. Also a Berkely Air IM7 8'6'' 12-25 for $80.00 is a decent rod and available at most sporting good stores. For your reel, check out Fisherman's Factory Outlet online. They are owned by Berkely (which owns ABU/Garcia) and have great deal on the 6600 Tournament Series Reels (4 bearing, single piece frame thumb cast). Good Luck and Happy Birthday

I have a buzz ramsey IM6 8'6" with a qauntum iron reel, I've been happy with that combo for an all around set up, use it on steelies, silvers, chum, both fresh and salt. Jerrys has a good selection of lamiglas in stock, the norwest special 8'6" med hvy, for 99.00 also the g series 8'6" med for 129. can't go wrong with either of those. Good luck happy b-day.

I've used the 6500s (actually 6501 for left hand retrieve) for years now. For the money, the best all around reel you can get. They have been tested by me all over WA and Alaska on kings - and lesser fish. Well worth the cash. ForrestBay (advertising on this site) did have a good price on them.

Steve