Ugly Stik Tiger® Elite Spinning Rod, 7' Heavy Fishing Rod

The ugly stick tiger Elite casting and jigging rod, both the 5‘8“ extra heavy and the 6‘3“ heavy are amazing and wonderful rods. I specifically paired the 6‘3“ rod with a penn squall 2 lever action size 20 - the rod is a bit large for a size 20 reel (rod is slightly wider than the mounting posts on the reel) - I used a plunge cutter to very slightly carve out a tiny bit of material just on the plastic of the rod, so that the nuts on the post will fit over). I also paired the 5‘8“ extra heavy with a Penn Squall 2 size 30. The rods are much stiffer than the medium weight rods I used before; this will be extraordinary for the hard fighting grouper, snapper and Amber Jack, which would bend my prior rod completely in two (also will be fabulous for fighting the snapper and grouper off the bottom when they try to “rock you” by heading heading for cover). My prior rod (also an ugly stick) is now over 10 years old (and luckily) I'm catching much larger fish than I did a decade ago. Super exciting to up my game (both for fish and in tackle).

I have 10 of the older models. Defined as with all Fugi componets. (reel seats & guides) But of course they ""ran their course"" and are all out of stock. I LOVE THOSE RODS! As YouTubes "Ugly Stik" unofficial Ambassador, (given that name by my viewers, certainly not Shakespeare. You'll find my super popular video's discussing the change to Ugly Tuff Guides and Shakespeare's own reel seats, via a Youtube search. I really wanted Shakespeare to keep these rods as a "high end rod" with the Fugi components. But they don't ask me. Then, comes the need for a few more of these to put my Shark reels on. So I order a few. I put large 30 size reels (Conventional) on them. As always, in the Charter Fishing biz durability trumps fancy. These rods are so TUFF, LITE in weight, and are so popular in my area. They'll catch big Bull Redfish to 100+ pound Blacktip Sharks with ease. While even the smallest woman can hold the 6' 3" rods and not be over-whelmed with tackle weight. They have a good bend to take up powerful runs, with enough control. Easily fish 10 ounces of weight. NOW....the older versions had a metal gimble. I likes that. But now, like many of the rods in the Ugly Stik line up. Now they have a rubber gimble. Turns out these are easier on people, versus the metal. Summarize by saying, the Ugly Tuff Guides are what we ALWAYS wanted on Ugly Stiks. And if you're after BIG fish, these jigging rods just aren't for "jigging" - (butterfly,slow jig, vertical jigging) They are good for many applications fro bottom fishing to trolling too.