Spinning rods have always been the angler’s priority, especially the amateur ones. The main reason for these rods’ popularity is their maneuverability, performance, ease of cast, and top of all price. Isn’t it great that you buy durable and the best spinning rods under $100?
Every angler wish to have high-performing rods from tip sensitivity to feel the slightest nibbles with heavy-duty rod components. But not everyone can afford the big-budget rods.
Although many brands offer many low-price spinning rods they reduce the quality over quantity. So it is challenging to find the perfect spinning rod
To find the perfect balance between performance and budget we have listed some of the best spinning rods under$100. To make sure you don’t miss any incredible catches!
List for best spinning rods extended
- Best Spinning rods Overall
- Best Spinning rods for Trout
- Best Spinning rods for Bass
- Best ultra-light spinning rods
- Best Inshore Spinning rods
Make sure to pair them with one of the best spinnng reels or saltwater spinning reels for enhanced fishing experience.
Top 3 picks for the best spinning rods under $100
- Composite Construction
- 34% increased Graphite
- Cork handles
- Stainless steel guides
- Fiberglass rod construction
- Aluminum oxide guides
- Cork handles
- 6 to 6.6 feet length
- Fiberglass rod construction
- Four Ceramic Guides
- EVA handles
- Medium Power Telescopic rods
List of Best spinning rods under $100
1- Ugly Stik Elite Spinning Fishing Rod
best spinning rods overall
FEATURES
The best part about Ugly stick elite is, it is perfect for every skill level. From professionals to novices, getting a rod with this performance is no doubt a great thing.
Graphite rods are good with sensitivity so feel the slightest fish nibbles fishing with this rod. It’s a composite material rod also, with 34% more graphite which also affects its weight, you can fish all day long without any arm fatigue.
Regarding its performance, I was quite amazed at how it handles the large-sized fish smoothly with 7 feet length. Selecting from its wide range of lengths from 5 to max 7 feet.
You can easily pick the required rod length according to the fishing location. You can target the smaller freshwater catches to large saltwater fish, this wouldn’t disappoint you.
The thing I appreciate about this model is its availability as both a 1-piece and 2-piece rod. In this way, you aren’t stuck with only one pattern. Also as a 2-piece, it can be your travel partner. The ferrules are well constructed.
Ugly Stik makes sure not to miss any premium quality features and adds cork handles to enhance performance. They are good with durability and offer good grip even with wet hands.
Top of all that it is the best fishing rod with all fishing lines. Its guides are stainless steel material which is durable and can bear braided line abuse.
Overall it is the best spinning rod for inshore fishing. We highly recommend Ugly Stik Elite spinning rods who are just learning how to fish or who are in search of a durable rod within a budget.
Pair it with one of the best spinning reels on the list for memorable catches.
- The flexible and durable fiberglass rod tip
- Offer longer casts
- Durable rods
- Light in weight
- Comfortable grip with Cork handles
- Smaller reel seat
If you fish with finesse techniques Shimano Solora spinning rods are a great pick. Their fast action tip is good with sensitivity and also offers power to control your catch on setting the hook.
These rods are easy to operate, they are good with maneuverability, and the worthy thing is their long cork handles. They are the best spinning rods for older as well as younger anglers.
Its fiberglass rod construction makes them durable, although it is not ideally sensitive as compared to graphite rods but can bear saltwater abuse and wouldn’t let you down in a fight with an aggressive fish. It has plenty of backbone.
Shimano Solora has graphite reel seats with solid locking, these reel seats don’t corrode and add less weight to the poles. The reel will remain stable and secure on these rods and will not disturb your cast.
To cover sensitivity its aluminum oxide guides not only improve casting accuracy but also increase the rod’s sensitivity. The rod can transfer the nibbles of panfish.
In search of the top-rated spinning rods, we were amazed to find a high-performer under $50. The best part about these rods is every component covers the drawback of another one not lacking power against any decent size fish.
- 2-piece rod design
- Long lasting rods
- Ideal fishing rod for smaller bass
- The only room for improvement is the rod guides which bend if you aren’t fair with maintenance while traveling
3- Eagle Claw Telescopic Spinning Rod
best travel spinning rods
FEATURES
Eagle Claw telescopic spinning rods break all the stereotypes about collapsible fishing rods and are listed here as the best spinning rods for convenience, affordability, and versatility.
To ensure their durability, these are fiberglass constructed. These moderate action rods support lure sizes up to ½ ounces so you can target a relatively decent-sized trout with these rods.
It is one of my favorite go-to rods for my fishing trips, it’s a must-have component in your camping pack. It can withstand significant abuse only if you maintain it well. Wash it at the end of your fishing round and it is just bang for the buck.
It has a total of four ceramic guides. The guides which are mostly present on expensive rods come at this incredibly low price rod. These guides can stand up against braided bruises and all are perfectly placed to transfer vibrations.
Their glass construction offers a smooth cast. These telescopic fishing rods are an ideal pick for targeting carp, smaller-sized bass, trout, sunfish, and even bluegill.
Even if you are a kayaker, I do recommend this one. Give it a try for river fishing and I bet you will be writing a long excellent rating review.
To offer a stronger grip over the rods and enhanced performance, they feature EVA foam handles and hooded real seats. The rod is fully backed up with one year warranty.
- Collapsible design
- Travel-friendly
- Can handle tough casts
- The only thing you will be missing is the slightest fish nibbles
4- Okuma Celilo Graphite Trout Rods
best ultra-light spinning rods
FEATURES
Trout is always exciting to fish and when you have the perfect gear collection for this and all within budget, this is all bang for the buck as finding the best trout spinning rods is something itself a bigger task.
Okuma is a popular brand regarding fishing gear and having a branded rod at this price is nothing else but great.
Okuma Celilo Graphite rods offer pinpoint accuracy and are incredibly sensitive rods. Each of its premium quality components makes sure to transfer the slightest underwater vibrations to the angler.
What’s more amazing than alert trout fishing when you feel the minimal strikes and tiniest nibbles by smart and skittish fish like trout which wouldn’t even let you know and will get the bait.
The rod is overall very lightweight. From its fiberglass construction to its aluminum oxide guide inserts. These guides don’t add any additional weight to the rod. They are good in durability and smoother casts.
It has longer cork handles with stainless steel hooded reel seat. The good thing about these hoods is they will not heat up, last longer, and are corrosion resistant.
Okuma Celilo trout rods are 5 feet 6 inches ultra-light spinning rods. They are ideal rods for lake trout and other panfish catches.
Some users complain about the rod snapping, the best spinning rods over $100 in comparison to the best spinning rods under $100 will also snap if you aren’t perfect with line and lure weight.
Ultra-slight spinning rods cast light lines and lighter lures like worms or other floaters. Pick the best trout lures with these rods to land a decent trout. Pair it with 2000-3000 sized spinning reels.
- Perfect rod for lightweight lures
- Extremely lightweight rods
- The rod catches decent-sized trout to other panfish
- Not ideal for crowded streams with bushes and trees
5- Fiblink Surf Spinning Fishing
best saltwater spinning rods under $100
FEATURES
Carbon fiber rods are relatively a newer addition to rods’ construction material. These rods are incredible with their features like they are durable yet sensitive, and they are strong yet flexible. Mainly they are more expensive than graphite spinning rods.
But to my amazement, this quality rod under $80 is something not to miss especially for surf fishing. Where the main required features are durability, length, and sensitivity.
The major issue with longer rods is line tangles due to low-quality guide inserts. This rod has unique stainless steel and ceramic guides. They have a smooth inner surface where the line runs smoothly.
To tackle long runs by fish and overcome the friction generated especially when fishing deeper. It has smooth stainless steel inserts.
Moreover, it’s a 4-piece spinning rod not highly compactable and is travel friendly. You can easily carry it on a smaller car without any disturbance but the major issue with multi-piece rods is their guides that bend when carrying.
To resolve this issue, these rods have double-footed guides, which are also properly placed. In addition to this, the rod ferrules are well constructed. Being 4-piece it does offer the performance of a 1-piece rod.
These versatile and best surf fishing spinning rods are available in 9 different lengths with a maximum line weight of 40 lb. with 15 feet long rod, heavy power, and moderate fast action.
You can easily use heavy lines and lures to target larger-sized fish. We proudly succeeded in landing a giant redfish with these Fiblink rods, the best spinning rods for surf fishing. Not only with performance, but they are also good with customer service. For rod maintenance, the package arrives with the tip protector and rubber guards around the eyelets.
- Perfect spinning rods for heavy lines and lures
- Durable rods
- Incredible sensitivity transfers the nitty gritty underwater details
- Stiffer rods
6- Daiwa Triforce Spinning Rod
best spinning rods under $50
FEATURES
Daiwa TriForce is an IM6 graphite rod. Being graphite rods you don’t have to be worried about rod sensitivity and stiffness.
It is a 7 feet long rod and what I like about these rods is their balance. They offer perfect cast ability, allow longer casts, and do not cause any arm fatigue.
Starting from its cork handles, which are good with grips even with wet hands, and its split-grip design also plays part in the rods’ weight and perfect casts.
The rods are good for trolling lightweight floating lures and ideal for finesse fishing techniques. Setting up a Texas rig, jerking baits, or up to drop shot fishing rid, give a chance to Daiwa Triforce spinning rod and you wouldn’t regret it.
The rod has all premium quality features like aluminum oxide guides which are braided friendly, stainless steel hooded reel seat that lock the reel properly, and its sensitive tip.
The only room for improvement required is the guides which can perform better if are larger in size. Otherwise, it is a good spinning rod for freshwater fishing.
- Perfect rod for freshwater catches
- Lightweight and well-balanced rods
- Good with finesse fishing
- Lines guides are smaller in size
7- St. Croix Rods Legend Black Ice Fishing Rod
best spinning rods for ice fishing
FEATURES
The major issue with buying ice fishing rods is seasonal fishing. You only icefish once or twice a year so what’s the point of buying an expensive fishing rod.
St. Croix always impresses us with its great collection of every rod type either its spinning or baitcasting rod. Its black ice fishing rod also makes us add it to the list of best spinning rods under $100.
Not to left any room for improvement St. Croix made these ice fishing rods as carbon fiber. They are a good combination of, action, strength, and sensitivity. Although you ice fish from a small distance, still sensitivity is required.
For more advanced fishing, the manufacturers also added the strike indicator to be aware before strikes even feel.
The rod has strong and durable stainless steel guides. To maintain the rod weight, it has split grip handle with a secure lock reel seat.
These ice fishing rods are great for deeper level fishing. Going with jigging for hook presentation results incredible with them. I must say these one are incredible in sensitivity.
It is a light power rod and available in two different lengths. Moreover, if you are more interested in ice fishing, must check the list of best ice fishing rods.
- Light-weight rod
- Budget-friendly ice fishing spinning rod
- No major issues with performance components
Till now as we have discussed the best spinning rods for trout, for bass, some are good for specific specie while some are good with finesse techniques, and on top of all that all spinning rods are under $100.
Now to target any specie either freshwater or saltwater, just shuffle the rod’s power and action and you are right on the point.
We all are well-known for Kast king’s performance fishing gear. So if you searching for some high-quality spinning rods for serious fishing Kast King Crixus rods are the best choice.
They are graphite rods with 2 piece construction design, so can be carried easily. These sensitive rods are ideal for those anglers who like fast fishing action. Fast retrievals especially fish on peak hours. They pass the vibrations from the tip to the angler’s hands.
For smoother and long-distance casts, the rod features stainless steel guide frame with zirconium oxide rings. The guides are all fishing line-type friendly. The guides are perfect in size for all types of line thicknesses.
Features split grip EVA handles. Although they are good with grip but can be improved as the handle’s wrapping might be disturbed in hot weather.
The rods have plenty of backbone and are a good alternative to Ugly Stik GX2. It is available in 5 different lengths so suitable for rivers, lakes to small streams.
It works well with jig heads plus ideal for topwater lures and crankbaits. Make sure to clean the joints after saltwater fishing to save them from rust.
- You can hook a fish out of any vegetation with this rod
- Available in multiple lengths
- It has a hook keeper below the reel seat
- The handle’s wrapping needs improvement
How the best spinning rods under $100 are short-listed
No doubt it is challenging to manage performance and price, but keeping in view the following factors, we ended up with the eight best spinning rods and all within budget.
Length
The factors that are affected by the rod’s length are
- Casting distance
- Casting Accuracy
- Hook set leverage
The rods of the same power and action may vary in accuracy due to length differences. Longer rods offer longer casts while the shorter ones are perfect with maneuverability.
The length of the rod is decided on the type of fishing, and your fishing location. For trolling, shore, and inshore fishing longer rods are recommended as they are good with casting distance. For example, for inshore fishing spinning rods of 9 feet or above are recommended.
While small-length fishing rods are the optimal pick for small creeks and crowded areas with trees and vegetation. Smaller rods are also better for jigging. If you want pinpoint accuracy then 6 feet spinning rod is perfect for you.
Spinning rods Power
Power is the backbone of the rod. It is how much pressure your rod requires to make a bend. The rod’s strength, and its ability to lift what size fish, all indicated the rod’s power.
The major impact of power is on castability. The lighter the rod is the better it casts. Heavy power rods are used for heavy lures, and fishing lines, to land a big fish. The highlighting part of heavy power rods is their ability to perfectly set the hook.
Light and ultra-light spinning rods are good for beginners as they cause less arm fatigue.
So now the answer to the question “How to choose the rod power? Is dependent on your target fish. To target big bass, Northern, and all larger-sized predators, casting heavy lures heavy power spinning rods are an ideal pick.
With Light to medium power rods you can target small to medium-sized fish like trout, walleye, panfish, or smaller-sized bass. Complete the perfect gear set up for smaller-sized fish pick ultra-light spinning rods with a 2500-3000 size spinning reel and pick lighter lures and lines.
Spinning rods Action
The rod power and action are always confusing points for many novice anglers. But if you just focus on both words “Power” and “Action”. They are the complete definition of their own.
The action of the rod indicates its position from where the rod bends or how much it bends. This also defines how fast the rod returns to its original position after a nice bend. Rod action is categorized as fast, moderate, and slow action rods.
There are also some in-between options like extra fast and moderate fast but mainly are three. Some of the fishing techniques require fast hook retrievals, especially bottom fishing. Here fast-action rods came to the rescue.
Fast Action Rods
Fast-action rods are stiffer and bend near the tip and are good with sensitivity. Fast-action rods are great for jigging and worming, where you make fast hook sets.
Moderate action rods
Fast-action rods are stiffer and bend near the tip and are good with sensitivity. Fast-action rods are great for jigging and worming, where you make fast hook sets.
Moderate action rods are versatile ones. They will bend from half to the tip i.e. the upper half. When fishing with chatter baits, and spinner baits with treble hooks and you want to cast them long, moderate action rods are good for this.
Slow-action rods
Slow-action rods bend throughout the whole of their length. To target smaller-sized fish slow action rods are preferred. These rods are good as shock absorbers, allow more time to set the hook and they will not take the lure out of the fish’s mouth before it engulfs it.
Fishing Rod handles
The handles of the fishing rod play an important role in the rod’s performance. Like other rods’ features and components, there are some categories in handles too.
You have options of
- Cork handles
- EVA Foam Handles
- Rubber Handles
Cork handles are good with grip with wet hands, sensitivity, and for cold weather, as they keep warm while EVA foam handles retain their shape for a longer time and are cheaper than cork handles.
After the handle material, there is a matter of discussion on handle grip design. As they are also categorized into two
- Full Grips
- Split Grips
We can let this point to the angler’s personal preference as both are good in different fishing situations. However, highlighting their characteristics full grip rods allow both hand fishing you can easily swap the rod between right and left.
Split grips are good for balancing rod weight. Pointing out the handle’s length, overall long-length handles are recommended especially for depth and coverage.
So pick the best you and your fishing location.
Rod Guides
Rod’s guides play an important role in many factors of fishing rods’ performance
- They reduce the weight of the rod
- Keep lines away from the rod while a bend
- Improves smooth casts
- Increases rod’s Durability
Rod guides come in different construction materials among them the most popular are Stainless steel guides, aluminum guides, zirconium guides, and many others.
Spinning rods usually have larger-sized guides as compared to baitcasting rods and among them, stainless steel guides are more durable and offer good heat resistance.
Fishing rod Material
Different material rods are available and each of them is best with their characteristics, these materials are
- Fiberglass rods
- Graphite Rods
- Composite Rods
Fiberglass Rods
If you are a novice angler then you should pick the fiberglass rods, also if you prefer durability then fiberglass rods are perfect for this. Let’s have a brief introduction to fiberglass rods
- These types of rods are more flexible than graphite
- Due to their flexibility they are usually slow or moderate action rods
- They are more durable
- Less expensive than Graphite fishing rods
- Heavier than Graphite
Graphite Rods
If rod sensitivity is your top recommendation then graphite rods are there for you.
- Graphite rods are lighter in weight than Fiberglass
- They are more sensitive
- They are stiffer as compared to fiberglass rods
- Due to their stiffness they are mainly Fast action rods
- Graphite fishing rods are expensive one
- Their stiffness is categorized into different levels and degrees
Graphite rods are mainly rated as IM6, IM7, or IM8. These are the degrees for the rod’s stiffness the higher the degree is, the stiffer the rod is i.e. less material is used to achieve that level of stiffness that also affects its weight.
Composite Rods
Composite rods are a combination of both fiberglass and graphite fishing rods. These rods contain features of both materials. Fishing rods with composite construction either have fiberglass or graphite as the dominant one.
Advantages of using Spinning rods under $100 over expensive baitcasting rods
We all know spinning rods are cheaper in price compared to baitcasting rods but there are many other factors performance-wise that raise the vote for spinning rods over baitcasting rods. Let’s discuss some good reasons why spinning rods beat some of the best baitcasting rods.
Two-Handed Equipoised Angling
The best part about spinning rods is that they support ambidextrous angling you aren’t restricted to only one side. You can easily swap rods from left to right hand while in the case of baitcasting rods, either you pick a right or left-handed baitcasting reel.
For lighter lures spinning rods are optimal
Spinning rods are great with lightweight lures although with fast or medium action rods you can pick heavy lures up to 1 ounce. Spinning rods are also great for vertical fishing.
In addition to this, spinning rods also work super incredibly against the wind. Because major drawback to using bait casters is backslashes in this type of fishing situation.
Easy to operate
Spinning rods are the easiest to operate among all fishing rod types. You don’t have to be a professional with techniques. That’s why they are top recommendations for novice anglers.
Their low prices also make them ideal for beginners. Who spends big amounts just in the learning phase?
Large Sized Guides
The reason why bait casting rods are more prone to line tangles is their smaller-sized arrow line guides. Spinning rods have larger-sized line guides, these guides reduce the size of the line coils, straighten out the line, and lessen the chances of tangles and twists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Thoughts
Normally when we look at something low in price the first thing that pops up is the big question of their quality and performance. Fishing rods are an essential part of the gear and must be picked carefully. Many anglers spend a handsome amount on rods but still miss ideal castability.
Finding the best spinning rods under $100 was a crucial task, but, thanks to spinning rods which are always banging for the buck over baitcasting rods mainly because of their ease of operation and budget. So confidently pick any of the above-listed rods and rock ON! All these spinning rods are under $100 so forget about breaking the bank for a loan.