Can't believe how good gear has gotten in the last 10 years.

[Chamelion]

So, from around 2006 to 2016 I was mad keen on fishing. If I had 5 spare minutes Id wet a line.. absolutely lived and breathed fishing. Life got complicated, I move down to bris, got a new job and fishing kinda fell to the wayside. Couple of weeks ago my 17yo told me he wanted to get into fishing... now, my reaction may have been overboard because I kinda went nuts on buying up gear to replace what I finally sold a year ago.

Anyway, over the course of the last two weeks I've put together 6 outfits for my son and I and I'm honestly shocked at how much better the gear is for a given price point compared to a decade ago. Can't remember some of my rods, but i was running a daiwa steez 2004, shimano stradic ci4 1000 and 2500, Daiwa luvias 2500, pflueger medalist 3000 and 4000, pflueger patriarch (baitcaster.. this is a reel i wish i never got rid of)... had a couple of luvias rods, a pflueger or two, bunch of other $100-$200 rods.

Just put together
Daiwa generation black 2500 on Shimano Zodias 2-4kg - So far beyond anything I used to own, including the steez on my Luvias 2-4kg, that I'm astonished.
Stradic 2500 FL on an old Pflueger medalist 2-4kg
Daiwa Fuego 2500D on a Shimano Anarchy 1-3kg
Stradic 4000 FL on an Abu Garcia Max
Daiwa Aggrest 4000 on a Daiwa Aggrest 3-6kg rod
Daiwa SLX 150 on an Abu Garcia Veritas 4-7kg

Not a bad way to spend $1200.... Now, considering that back in the day my Steez 2004 and Luvias 2-4kg cost me about that on it's own and wasn't even as nice as the combo mentioned above... yeah, astonished.

Now to look into what has changed in the world of lures.

[Terry H]

All of that looks like a fair haul for $1200 - the beauty of advancements in manufacturing!

I have to admit, the Stradics are fantastic value for money.