I'm planning on getting a fishing rod for Christmas, so I need some OB preferences and inputs. I currently fish with a TFO and Concept A, but my Chronarch needs a rod upgrade.

I'll be using this set-up for mainly saltwater. I typically wade fish but occasionally fish out of a boat or kayak and want a rod with a fast tip but want a good backbone also for hook-sets and handling the bigger slot reds.

I love the feel of the Temple Fork for top-waters, plastics, and when I throw live bait, but I think want to try something different. I'm looking online at a Waterloo Slam Mag, Hookspit Diablo Pitchfork(can get a 30% on their website right now), another TFO Mangrove, or Laguna Liguid or may be the Laguna Custom. I'm looking for recommendations and input about these rods or if you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear them. I haven't felt any of these except the TFO and would like to but I need to narrow my choices.

I have a 7' Medium Fast St Croix Tidemaster that I really like for wading. It's got enough backbone to land an upper slot red but it's also sensitive enough to pick up lighter trout bites on plastics.

I have most of my Lews on Kistler KLXs. I thought I was doing good until I picked up a Laguna Liquid at a boat show. Even at $60 less than the KLX it's a better rod.......and that's no knock on Kistler. The only down side to the Liquid is that it tempted me to buy the Texas Wader II for my Concept E. It's as close perfection as I can even imagine perfection.

In short, at $159 it would be hard to come up with a better deal than the Laguna Liquid. If you want to blow the bank, the Texas Wader is one fine rod. I recommend calling them up instead of ordering online and asking for a discount.

Another rod that has a serious following with saltwater guys are the Sarge Customs. I've never fished one so I can't speak personally about them, but, you won't find a negative review on 2cool.

Jh and Fido,
Thanks for the responses. I'm going to try and stop by basspro and check out that St. Croix.

Fido the liquid is definitely up there on my list, but I wasn't sure the difference between the custom and the liquid. Which liquid do you own? Is the custom 10x's better or just perfect because it's custom. Can you stop by their shop and check them out? I'm never able to make it to the boat show or fishing show to see all these products, may be a good thing!

My Laguna Liquid is 6'6" ML Casting and the Texas Wader II is the same so it's a pretty easy comparison. It's hard to say the custom is ___x better than the Liquid. You'd really have to just feel them to understand. I can guarantee you won't be disappointed in the Liquid though. Where do you normally fish? If you're around Seadrift/POC, I'd be happy to let you check mine out

I mainly fish around Galveston but being that they're in Katy and I live in Cypress I'm going to stop by there shop. Have you ever used a Waterloo? I know they've been around awhile and have a bigger name but just curious about their product.

I've never used a Waterloo, but, that's mainly because of time. When I was building up my Saltwater equipment, Waterloo was strictly in the high end custom market and I wasn't ready to drop anywhere near $300 on a fishing rod. At that time, Kistler was much more aggressive with discounts and pricing on the KLX series and so that's what I thought was the best bang for my buck. Back then you could get a KLX for around $150.

I have a friend that's a former guide and probably the best saltwater Angler I know and Waterloo is about the only rod he will touch. Now that they introduced the Salinity rods they are competing at a more affordable price point. I'd suspect the Salinity and the Laguna liquid would be very similar in quality and the Slam Mag/Ultra Mag would be every bit as good as the Laguna Texas Wader.

patters10 said:

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I mainly fish around Galveston but being that they're in Katy and I live in Cypress I'm going to stop by there shop. Have you ever used a Waterloo? I know they've been around awhile and have a bigger name but just curious about their product.

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I looked at the Phantom and the Salinity and wasn't crazy about either. I've heard good things about the HP Lite, but I've never used one. It's also probably well out of your budget.

I have the Laguna Liquid and like it okay. I would probably like it alot more if I didn't have a Sarge Priest. The Sarge rod is unbelievable but it has somewhat of an unbelievable price tag that goes along with it. I will say that a buddy of mine bought a Liquid on the same day I did and his broke about 6" for the tip on the first trip. I don't remember the exact circumstances on when it broke but I remember being shocked that it broke. As a result I haven't really put the liquid through its paces.