Cheap combo's

[Fishin4fun_MN]

I no longer own any of these $5 - $15 dollar combos from Frabill and HT and whom ever else make mass produced generic rods.

One of my buddies picked up a cheap HT combo (looked nice) at Wally World the other day. Today we get to the lake to fish and he goes to tie on a hook, not only does the line coil off of the spool, it looks like 8# line on a UL reel. What is up with these manufacturers using "heavy" mono an rods made for panfish?

[JoeKer]

Almost all combos that come pre-spooled with line the line is junk! Have to take the line off and respool with the line of your liking. Inconvient yes but necessary. And believe it or not there are some cheap combos out there that are fairly decent no matter what anyone says to the contrary.

[BronzeBrother]

I have several of these combos and for panfish they work just fine. Now if your talking bigger fish I would definitely get a better reel but still use the rods that come with the combo. It is an absolute must to get the prespooled line off and respool it with good line or you'll just have headache after headache with the junk line...

[harvey lee]

I agree, change the line.

As far as the cheap rods, one can simply put a spring bobber on them to make them a good panny rod.

If the rods for your larger fish are of less value, then I would put a better reel on with a good drag.

One of the 2 have to be good.

[c0untryf1sh3r]

The HT Ice Blue is a good rod for the money.

[Fishin4fun_MN]

I don't know what he bought but we both commented on the line. It curled like a ribbon at Christmas and OMG was it heavy. I use colored line so I can see it when it is 2 or 3# test and this was plain old cheap clear line and you could see it plain silly-me day.

I have owned my fair share of cheap rods and I know that some of them are good or even great rods but this, I have never seen. If a combo I buy comes with line, I always respool with whatever I use. But this looked as though it was intended for pike or something.

He said it was coming off as soon as he got home. It wouldn't even stay on the spool long enough for him to fish hardly always having to straighten it out and try to keep the line tight while jigging. Talk about frustrating. Can't say as I have ever bought a combo with line this stiff for ice fishing before.