I have been following this site for a while and thought I would introduce myself. Live in hamilton been fishing most of my life and spent most of the last 10 years fishing out of my kayak and chasing trout in winter. Felt like a change - tired of loading and unloading the yak and dusted off the casting gear a couple of months ago. have been fishing raglan and have been over to Pikowai once - intend on spending more time there. Getting a few fish every time so pretty happy so far. I have found this forum very helpful and bought a bunch of tackle off Phil and enjoy tying up rigs. I have 2 set ups, an Alvey 600 that I used on the yak with a Kilwell rod and a Solaris 14 ft and okuma latitude that I have had for a while but hasn't seen a lot of use. I am disappointed to see that the female ferrule on the bottom section of the Solaris has developed some cracks right through the blank. I have had a binding put around the ferrule with resin but am not confident it will last too long.
Here is the question - I want to replace the Solaris and have around $600 or so to spend. I was thinking veritas but see they have their problems. Have also looked at Penn Prevails that look good but can't find a lot of decent reviews. Phil says CD are putting out a new rod as well. I have considered the AFAW 4+bait! but aren't sure about back up. After the Solaris I am concerned about quality of Chinese made rods. I do like fishing light and the one thing about the cheap Kilwell Alvey rod is it has great bite detection. I could spend the lot on a rod or get a middle of the road rod and reel. I generally fish 15lb line and like to fling 4oz around. Got a bit of a buggered right wrist nothing serious but try to avoid too heavy gear where I can. I intend to fish beaches mainly.
Any advise appreciated.
Charlie