Big Cat Fever rods?

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
Anyone on here use them?
Want to hear some feedback on them. Got to play with a few. Nice rod but not sure for that price.
Like to keep all my rods and reels the same just for feel on the boat.
There are several good rods and high rated rods for less. Wanted to see if first hand users had some feed back.

Want to get 8 or 10 but it looks like you buy direct at retail price or from a few dealers at the same.
Not enough dealers or any in my areas.

Thoughts.
 
They are nice but imo they are too heavy of a rod for lake fishing. Now that new Medium action they came out with may be perfect. For places like James river or high current rivers I'd buy BCF. But for fishing is lakes with little to no current your better off with something not as stiff and heavy. I personally have switched all my rods to Rippin Lips 7ft 6in med heavy. They are 39.95 on Amazon. They are a great big fish rod and at a incredible price. I will not have a catfish rod that does not have solid stainless eyes. Both the BCF and RL have solid stainless eyes. The BCF are just a little to pricey imo as well. Only complaint about the rippin lips is the gap in the foam handle, but you can combat that with paracord and a little superglue. Also, Pro Angler tackle med heavy 7ft 6 is another good option for around 50 bucks.
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
I would check out the American Spirit NiteStik ...I use model ONG719AW which is 7' mh but you may want a longer lighter action which they have. Imo thi s is the best cat rod out there. I have seen a salesman hold the rod vertical and a 250 lb man reach up and grab the tip and fall to the floor. I would off thought it would have busted but it held up and mine has no problem with big cats....39.95

You can get them at bottom dwellers tackle.
 
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I would check out the American Spirit NiteStik ...I use model ONG719AW which is 7' mh but you may want a longer lighter action which they have. Imo thi s is the best cat rod out there. I have seen a salesman hold the rod vertical and a 250 lb man reach up and grab the tip and fall to the floor. I would off thought it would have busted but it held up and mine has no problem with big cats....39.95

You can get them at bottom dwellers tackle.

They are nice rods but very hard to find. Bottom dwellers stay sold out of them.
 
The rippin lips was another I was reading up on.
Several in the 50 to 60 have good write ups.

Look on amazon, they are 39.95 for the 7ft 6in med heavy rippin lips. The 8 ft is 50 bucks I believe. You want a rod with solid eyes as a catfish rod take's some abuse, you don't want the inserts popping like on other brands. The ugly stick catfish is a nice rod too, both my biggest blues a 52 lb from Tillery and a 57 lb from Gaston came off ugly stik catfish from walmart, also 40 bucks. I use circle hooks so when I'm looking at rods I'm looking for a fast action tip with lots of backbone and must have solid stainless eyes, also needs to be 7 ft or 7 ft 6 in. A rod that is too stiff will not engage the circle hook. Ask me how I know lol.
 

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
Yep most the rods I found that work good with circle hooks do not have the backbone needed for bigger fish.

Want longer rods like the 7' 6" or 8 but they are a hard find. The Ugly cat is a 7 from what I remember.

Been using the ugly tiger lite but I dont see them working on many big fish plus too soft for weight.
All the newer ones they added a gimbal butt....
 
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Look at the pro angler tackle rods. They are really nice, they have cork or foam handle. They have 7,6 and 8 ft. I really like this rod it's just a little more expensive. The one's I bought were 55 each. The have 12 stainless steel eye's so your line will never touch the rod itself. The pro angler tackle rod would be my first choice but them rippin lips are hard to beat at 40 bucks with free shipping. Both make great big cat rods but are still fun with the 10 lb class fish. My buddy caught his PB of 60 lbs last year off a pro angler rod out of my boat. Still the biggest fish that's been over the rail of my boat. I do not like that gimbal butt on the new ugly stick catfish but I do love that they upgraded to stainless eye's. They are 7ft like you said, but they do have plenty of backbone, I caught my 57 lb blue in really heavy current on Gaston after about a week of rain. A good reel with good drag and 30 lb berkley pro spec chrome, I know I could haul in any fish in the lake. I would not go smaller than the uglystick catfish, it's on the verge of being to small but still a great rod.
 

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
And here i thought ugly sticks were tough to beat

Thats what I use now. They have been doing great just dont handle the heavier bait and weight. Plus they changed several things on the new ones.
Dont care for the gimbal or the heavy rods went to 6.5'
 
There have been a ton of big fish landed on ugly sticks. They make good stuff, but there's a lot more options out there for cat guys now days than there was ten years ago or even 5 years ago. Trophy catfishing has really blew up the past 5 years.
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
If the Pro Angler catfish rods are as good their crappie rods, they should be awesome. I love my Pro Angler crappie rods
 

GreenThumb

Button Buck
I started off with Ugly Stick catfish rods and later added several Big Cat Fever rods. I like them both, but the BCF rods are kinda in a different class. They handle the heavier weights much better than the Ugly Sticks.
 
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