Panfish rods

Have had a 5 foot lightweight Fenwick the past 20+ years. It mostly get used for small ponds and rivers when I fish the wood vertically with tube tails. 4# Daiwa fluorocarbon line and a small spinning reel. It has whipped 5# bass, but slays bluegills and crappie with little effort.

For lakes where I must cast slip-bobber rigs, I switch to a medium-light 6' 6" Berkley Lightning rod with a medium spinning reel spooled with 8# Daiwa flourocarbon. Even with a #2 Mister Crappie hook, adult bluegills do not hesitate taking a giant redworm.

Just picked up a Daiwa Procyon PCYN661LFS spinning rod for $40 (regular price is $79.99) and am VERY impressed. Light, very sensitive and the handle and reel seat are very well designed. If they would have had a couple more, I would've gone back and bought them. Went and broke it in a couple nights ago on some crappies and gills. Threw a 1/16 oz jig with a 2" Charlie Brewer Slider paddle tail and caught a ton of nice fish! 

Well I'm old and old school, I've never spent over 25 dollars for a rod in my life. Granted there's some dandy rods out there, but they get stepped on, slammed in tail gates and  once in a while go over board. Fish don't care !! I get some dandies at St. Vinnie's spring sale for 10 bucks reel included. I have everything from 6 to 12 footers use them all. Believe I have 38 different combo's. I tweak them to my liking, they all catch pannie's and bigger at times. Tight lines.......

My favorite rod is a 7' UL SC Avid one piece custom built. It incorporates micro guides on the top half of the rod. I use it to dropshot gills mainly. Extremely sensitive. It has a Tennessee handle with Fuji slip rings. I have a Daiwa Exceler high speed 2500 on it. I use this combo almost every panfish trip I make. 

I built my favorite panfish rod. 6'9" Light X-Fast with carbon fiber reel seat. I have used one of the St. Croix Panfish rods that a buddy of mine bought. It was a nice rod, but if you have the know-how, you can build just as nice of a rod for a little less money and have the satisfaction of catching fish on a rod you built.

I do have a couple less expensive rods I use for slip bobber fishing for crappies. They are Shakespeare Micro Series 7'0" Light action rods with a nice, soft tip that help keep hooks from pulling out of crappie mouths. Those rods are 2-piece and have a slower action, but I have used them for fishing jigs and they are fairly sensitive. Best part is they are like $20, so if my kids break them, I won't feel bad and will just go buy another to replace it. I used to love the Gander Guide Series panfish rods too (the Tournament Series, not the Sportsman Series), but obviously those are no longer an option. I found them to be very similar to the St Croix for about $50 less. I pair all of my panfish rods with a 1000 size spinning reel and 4# mono or 6-8# braid.