Two thoughts here. I have gear that I use and I have gear that I will let other people use. Learned that the hard way. I once had a set of custom made Powell 9ft plugging rods. They make fly rods but at one time did make some spinning blanks. These were really sweet rods. One day, I'm out on the clearwater with a guy I work with. We decided to stop and rig up some lead and try some drifting. I did not really pay attention trying of course to be the first with my line in the water. SO... This guy asks me how much lead should I put on??? I answer " how ever much you think its gonna take to get it down".. Next he casts and says "crap" I look over and he has like 8 inches of lead hanging off the now broken tip of the rod. Thats my fault the way I see it. The other one meet its end when I stuck it broken down behind the seat of my truck. I close the door. Damn door wont close... better slam it harder.. still won't close.. sup with that?? The rod had slide out and was now being totally mangled by my own dumb ass...I loved those rods.

I still have some pretty spendy gear. I have maybe 3000 bucks worth of fly rods I have bought or built over the years. I have some GLOOMIS spinning rods and a couple of Lamiglass also. But the point here is that I also have a couple of 9 ft Ugly sticks with some Shimono reels that cost maybe 100 bucks for the whole setup. These are loaners that I let other people use. The largest steelhead I have ever seen in my life was caught on a spoon and one of these cheap rods. This brings to mind something my dad always told me.

" It ain't the arrow son, its the indian"