# Tica Recommendations



## buckles (Jun 18, 2015)

Just joined today after browsing around for a couple hours, love the site and I need some help!

Looking to put together 3 Tica spinning combos for surf and sound fishing. (the place we ALWAYS stay is sound front but we travel to the beach most everyday)

These combos will be fished maybe a half dozen times a year at the OBX and occasionally elsewhere along the NC/SC coast.

Id like to get (2) (1 for myself and 1 for wife) 7' or 8' (based on suggestions) rod/reel combos for mainly the sound/surf to throw hopkins, sting silvers, etc and 2 hook bottom rigs (up to 2oz I suppose)

Fishing for whatever bites, blues, spanish macks, flounder, pompano

Then (1) 10' 6" for bait fishing probably up to 6oz.

Im looking at the Tica dolphin surf line of rods for all 3 rods (again, recommendations is what Im looking for here)

The Sceptre is what im considering pairing up to the 10' 6"..think it will be very good with that rod.
However, I think it is too much for the two smaller rods.

So, out of the Tica lineup, what would be the best reels to pair with those two rods and am I on track with the sceptre choice for the 10' 6"? 

Have I chosen the correct size rods for the type of fishing those two rods will be used for or are their better options.

The reason for Tica as Im sure are wondering. One, from previous use over the years but not recently, I think Tica offers some of the best bang for your buck out there. 

Two, and this couples with the bang for your buck comment, we have a relative that works in tackle (but doesnt fish..strange right?) that gets a pretty good discount on the already (Imho) affordable Tica lineup.

So, thats why Tica!

Any and ALL help/advice is appreciated!

We are not hard-core fisherpeople as you can tell, we arent going to the point to do that dance, we are just going to hit the beach, throw some lines and if we catch, great..if not, we WILL get em next time!


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

for metal rods and light bait fishing (mullet, etc) i would pick up the 9 foot models (either 1/2 to 3oz or 2-6oz). i have the tc2 9' rated 1/2-3oz and it is a decent rod for the $ (less than 100). heavy bait rod the 10'6" or 11' models would be fine. can't help you with the reels, never really trusted tica reels...not to say they're not good but when it comes to something like spinning reels i want a general consensus from a large group that the reel will hold up... if it was me i would put 5k penn battles on the 9 foot rods, or if u wanted to save money then penn fierce, tried and tested by many....


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## buckles (Jun 18, 2015)

Thanks, my thinking was the 7's/8's would be more versatile but, thats why I decided to ask here. We can do 9's, just didnt want too much rod for both the sound and surf side of things! Thanks again!


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## Hooked4Life (May 30, 2014)

Good choice, Buckles. i own two TICA Dolphins (7' and 9') and they really do provide you with a quality rod for a very fair price. It's just a comfortable rod with a good backbone. I especially love the extended cork handle. One of my favorite rods to fish inlets for striped bass or blues and also blackfish.


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## Fish'n Phil (Nov 11, 2002)

Don't overlook the TC2 even though they don't have fancier guides. I have a 9' MH TC2 and 9' M Dolphin and the TC2 gets more use for bait fishing.


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## DANtheJDMan (Aug 29, 2012)

Fish'n Phil said:


> Don't overlook the TC2 even though they don't have fancier guides. I have a 9' MH TC2 and 9' M Dolphin and the TC2 gets more use for bait fishing.


I got my son an 11ft TC2 3-8 and I have put my 6000 Battle on it. I throws really nice. Have not fought a big fish on it but it has a nice feel to it. 

I got him an 8ft not a dolphin but not a TC2 I think 1/2-3. I put my 4000 Battle on it and used it for throwing a sling silver. It worked really good. 

We fished it with a river rig at BBNWR hooked up a 29 inch pup. The rod worked really well and the drag on the battle worked great not straightening out the small hooks and bringing in a nice oversize pup. 

Not bad bite detection either on the rod. 

I like the Ticas. I got my wife an Okuma Longitude and it sucks. It was cheap and it feels cheap. Its really whipy and still not great bite detection.


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## IPNURWATER (Aug 20, 2013)

I have had a few ticas,ticas surf,tica tc2 ,dolphins . rjmetal on here ended up with one of my rods , traded off for a st Croix rod,still have it.all 8-9fters ,no complaints. Not much difference in the rods just better hardware the higher up the chain you go. They load pretty good just don't over load them and you will be fine.I have caught 40in drum and striper on them. But on the pier I did have one stresing out but didn't break ,but was talking to me .it was a nasty 20plus mph day with 2-4ft white caps on the cbbt. Hooked on a big bull red we still got him in, just couldn't over power him and I didn't have the intentions of hooking up on that rod with that kind of fish that day was throwing storms shads and he took it. I think I had my 4 k stradic on that day . all in all I would buy and recommend them.


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## greg12345 (Jan 8, 2007)

9' is a good length for a versatile surf rod, can use for metals (the longer the rod the longer the distance, getting your lure as far out as possible is helpful) but can also use for light bottom fishing. for sound fishing then 7 or 7.5ft would be a better length IMO, easier to cast/retrieve a smaller/lighter rod repeatedly, could also use this for light artificial fishing in the 1st gut in the surf for winter trout, etc. maybe you should get a 7 footer, 9 footer, and an 11 footer...


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## buckles (Jun 18, 2015)

Sounds like Im good with the rod selections and maybe the 8' would be the sweet spot for us since those rods would be used in both sound/surf? I think thats what Im gathering anyway! 

Also what Im gathering, and I knew this going in, Penns come highly recommended in most parts....and it doesnt look like a lot of people are using the tica reels. I know Sceptre has gotten some good reviews in the past..just not sure of anything a step or two down from there. Just think sceptre is too much for the smaller rods

But thanks to the replies I have gotten here..exactly what I was looking for


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

I've never really found much surf where I can use 2 oz ... 3 is mostly lite as I can go and some times 4 ... 9' Star Stellar Lite is by far the best $100 rod made and I have used a lot of them in that price range, Daiwa's, Tsunami's, Tica's, you name it


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

for reels I have Battles and Daiwa Black and Golds both great reels


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## IPNURWATER (Aug 20, 2013)

buckles said:


> Sounds like Im good with the rod selections and maybe the 8' would be the sweet spot for us since those rods would be used in both sound/surf? I think thats what Im gathering anyway!
> 
> Also what Im gathering, and I knew this going in, Penns come highly recommended in most parts....and it doesnt look like a lot of people are using the tica reels. I know Sceptre has gotten some good reviews in the past..just not sure of anything a step or two down from there. Just think sceptre is too much for the smaller rods
> 
> But thanks to the replies I have gotten here..exactly what I was looking for


Why would these reels be to much for the rods you lost me there ? If you think these are to much then the battles would be way to much .. All you need is this if you plan on throwing metals specially all day then you going fur a light setup weight wise ,so a 7 1-2 to 9ft rod with. 4k-5k reel . if you just chunking bait and waiting then you can go heavier 8-10ft rod with a 5-7k reel . now these tica reels supposedly can get 8 different kinds reel spools I would pick up a couple since your buddy gets a killer discount . now the reason why ticas reels aren't that well know or rods is because they are not in every tackle store like Penn , they are a newer up coming company that a lot of people never seen or heard of .

Now for us people that don't get that discount that reel is 80 bucks so another twenty bucks we can upgrade to a battle with better drag washers ,line lay and parts for yrs to come. Etc . when I buy something I want to be able to get my money back when I go to resell it and be able to get parts down the road yrs later if I keep it . if your reel isn't in high demand then the parts won't be either or won't be available long. Also Penn's are easy to service . there's no point buying a reel if it's parts and reel discontinue shortly after . I look At my tackle and gear as an investment .


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## buckles (Jun 18, 2015)

IPNURWATER said:


> Why would these reels be to much for the rods you lost me there ?


My thinking..and maybe it is incorrect..is that the Sceptre reels I looked at were close to 24oz reels..where say something like the Dynaspin lineup from Tica is about half that. I was thinking a 24oz reel on a 7' rod was too much...heavy(ier)..unbalanced I guess. Maybe Im wrong. 9' with a 24oz reel might be ok..not sure.

I think the Sceptre would pair well withe the 10"6" rod but not so much with a 7 or 8 footer. Is my thinking flawed?


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## IPNURWATER (Aug 20, 2013)

. Penn battle 6k 22.1 oz while the tica spectra 8k is 21.8 so they Are lighter ,while the Penn battle 8k is 30.2 oz . tica is actually lighter then the battles so you shouldn't have a issue. I can't find any specs on the tica under 8k.unless you go graphite like most shimano reels its hard to cut weight on a spinner. But going graphite you lose strength and get flex in the reel frame in spinners .


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## buckles (Jun 18, 2015)

Maybe Im wrong about the Sceptre for the smaller rod then. And the only reason Im keying on the sceptre lineup is that it is one of the only ones I can find that people have actually used and seem to like. The rest are few, far between or non-existent. 

Also found something, on Amazon of all places that lists a Sceptre 5000 at 12.8oz which is comparable to the Tica dynaspins weight. Funny thing is that the Tica catalog he gave me and I got online doesnt mention a Sceptre 5000 only an 8k or 10k.

Im going to try and link/code that catalog for anyone that cares...18mb file..I dled it and uploaded to google drive since ticas' site likes to crap out from time to time. Hope this is not frowned upon?


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https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7QEf78mAZ4TS21iZzZlOGJsVk0/view?usp=sharing
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## Fish'n Phil (Nov 11, 2002)

It would look funny to have a huge reel on a small rod or vice versa. Just get what looks decent and balances out. The 9' Dolphin has a pretty thin blank so having a huge reel on that would look strange.


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## dawgfsh (Mar 1, 2005)

3 rods you need for the OBX:

7' with 2500-3000 size reel, great for flounder, trout, puppy drum ect. works for lures and light bait rigs 

9-10' 1-4 oz with 4000-5000 size reel. What you need for throwing 1 1/2 -2 oz metal for spanish, blues also works well for bottom rigs for pomps,mullet ect.

11 1/2 -13' 6-16oz rod with reel that holds 2-300 yards 17-20# mono for big drum,cobia, sharks, rays. Only need this if you want to fish for big fish.


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## buckles (Jun 18, 2015)

dawgfsh said:


> 3 rods you need for the OBX:
> 
> 7' with 2500-3000 size reel, great for flounder, trout, puppy drum ect. works for lures and light bait rigs
> 
> 9-10' 1-4 oz with 4000-5000 size reel. What you need for throwing 1 1/2 -2 oz metal for spanish, blues also works well for bottom rigs for pomps,mullet ect.


Thanks again guys!

This sorta is what was my thinking from the get go.

We arent going to be heaving out on the point nor looking for the big boys really. If they hit the 10' 6" with 4-6oz on it, so be it. Plus, I always have liked catching larger fish on smaller tackle...make you work for it a bit!

I think Im going to ask him to bring/send some reels over and let me check them out to see what I think will work with the shorter rods. Sceptre it is for the 10' 6" and will figure out something for the shorties. Dynaspins dont look bad but, I just picked those out earlier in this thread to use an example. Could care less about looks just need to know how they fish

be nice if I could "demo" the tica lineup eh? lol


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## smallz (Jun 26, 2021)

Hi everyone. not sure if I am using this forum properly —it's my first time here. Need guidance from some experts. I am looking for a 9 foot TICA rod. More specifically, I want the best model for the price: a nice stiff rod, that is light, strong, a good price, and that I can cast far with off of jetties and beaches for stripers and bluefish in New York. In addition, I am open to suggestions for any TICA or PENN reels---really great value for the price— for the rods or rods you might suggest. thank you!


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## Fish'n Phil (Nov 11, 2002)

I’m currently using a 9’ medium Tica Dolphin paired with a Penn Fierce 4000 throwing 20 lb braid. It’s nice and light. I use it for bottom fishing mostly throwing 1 oz and it gets it out there. It is rated up to 3 oz but I would not use more than 2 oz. I plan on throwing 1.5 oz metal at some point this year and think it will be fine.


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