jaximus wrote on Apr 7^th, 2016 at 5:22am:

as far as i know, gander mountain labled rods are still built on fenwick blanks. i have a large collection of gander brand rods as well as st croix and fenwick. based on my setups, most of my topwater fishing is done on my baitcaster which is a 6'6" gander 'vortex' rod ($19.99 on sale quite often and VERY much worth it) with sufix 832 braid. (832, IMO is thr best braid and ive used/use them all) the gander vortex rods are currently on sale now. the baitcaster version is 6'6" medium heavy action with a fast tip, one piece. great crank/spinnerbait rod. (i like a bit longer for trolling) the spinning version is 6'6" medium action fast tip, again one piece.  great jigging rod and excellent for live bait and slip floats (not in the Q!) i own and love BOTH versions. as for carrying them on portages, i have golf club tubes (thin walled plastic pipes) built into brackets made of cedar that have velcro on them. they weigh only ounces. they velcro inside my canoe and hold the rods inside. they act as a holster of sorts. i find taking my 2 piece rods apart for portaging a hastle, so if you own a canoe and dont mind sticking a little velcro on the inside of the hull, i would use 1 piece rods. leftover velcro can be used to secure your plano trays to the front and rear deck lids as well ;)

Thanks Jaximus. Interesting setup in your photos. I kind of straddle the two worlds in terms of rods. I have a Shimano 6'6" 2 piece graphite spinning rod that I really like and a 7ft shakespeare ugly stick that feels like I'm waving a fencepost-- but I love it especially for trolling. The issue of where and how to stow the rods has always vexed me. It seems I'll eventually break them if left out of a case but breaking down a 2pc-er is a hassle. I like the 2pc rods though for tucking away in a tube and your golf tube idea with the velcro would be a great fix. I'm going to look at the Gander Mt. rods as an option.

I'm also trying to weigh the advantages of a couple of reels. I have a Pfleuger President 6935 that I really like but only because I have never fished anything on the 'higher end'. I'm eyeing a Shimano Spirex 2500 but I couldn't say what the advantage might be except that I can probably load more braid onto it and it has a higher drag range whatever that means ;D. Anyway I would love to hear your and Tom T's reel setups even though I'm sure it probably comes to personal preferences for how, when and where to fish!