Looking for a 12' spinning rod - med heavy action - mostly 65 lb braid and 4-8oz weights.

This is for Paddlefishing, which is a sweep and snag fishery.   Fish up to 80 lbs and lots of bottom hang ups.  It's not probably ever going to see saltwater so corrosion isn't really an issue.

I'm not sure about budget, $200 give or take a little.

What I don't want is a rod that snaps off the first time you hang up on a rock or a pissed off 80 lb fish.

Looking at the Penn Carnage II rods, or Tsunami rods.  St. Croix would be nice, but a bit more than I want to spend.

I've looked at just building a rod as I've built several fly rods over the years, but when you get to 12' blanks they get spendy.  My current rod is a Korean built Master Custom Blank glass rod I bought for surf fishing in the 80's.  It's ok, but very soft and it tends to feel like it's collapsing when you throw a 6 oz weight.   You have to work really hard to throw it also, it just doesn't have the backbone to throw weight.  I think it's rated for 3 oz weights but it isn't well marked (the only numbers on it is 6603 which I interpret as 2 pieces 6' ea, 3 oz weight, but I don't have a clue if thats what it means.  It is 2 6' pieces and it does ok throwing a 3oz weight).   With river currents where we fish you really need 5 oz up to 8 oz.

Have you seen the Ocean Master rod bAss Pro sells. Very popular with the surf fishing guys on OBX

Are you holding yourself to spinning setups?

Over the last 2 years most of the guys I snag paddlefish with here in SD have transitioned to bait casters.

I surf fish at Hatteras with 12' rods.  I own a Tsunami which is really nice, but a bit heavy.  I've been using Tica rods for the past few years in various configurations and have been happy with them, especially for the price.

I don't know - I have a daiwa casting reel with 300 yds of braid on it.  It's a Daiwa Sealine 50H reel - listed as 2 bb 4.2:1 take up.  I'm using a 4.3 : 1 spinning reel now (older ryobi SX-5 I've moded with ball bearings) - and you have to reel like a madman after the sweep to take up the line.  The spinning reel likely casts down to a smaller diameter so take up is probably a bit less than the 4.2:1 casting reel at first.

I've only been doing this a couple years - one 3 or 4 day trip each time.  I've yet to see anything but spinning gear.

It seems that the better rods tend toward a 70/30 length split.  Which means breakdown and transport results in a long tip section to deal with - a bit over 8'.

The Ocean Master spinning rods seem to get good reviews - thanks for the heads up!

Another vote for the Ocean Master.

ordered a Penn Carnage 12' rod.  50/50 length split so its at least transportable.  Read several reviews on tsunami rods snapping a bit too easy.  The penns have a reputation for being tougher.  I guess well see.  season opens in about a month.

Eta: rod showed up in the mail.  Thing looks like a beast.  I'm hoping to find someplace I can give it tryout and compare it to my old rod.  I'd like to find a big space where I can cast it on grass and check distances and effort.

I'm dredging this one up from a while back, but looking at essentially the same thing you were.  Carnage II in on my list.  How has it held up for you?  Would you have went a different route, knowing what you know now?

It's a great rod - really too much rod for what I'm doing.  It casts much nicer than the old korean rod I had before.  I only got to use it for 3 days last year, this years trip was cancelled because the campgrounds were all closed for Covid.  Much less effort to cast than the old soft rod i used before.  I don't recall any issues with the reel seat loosening up or any other problems.

Thanks. My son is finally asking to go, so looking to upgrade from the entry stuff we bought a couple years ago to learn on. Penn Fierce/Battle Graphite and Daiwa fiber glass BG set ups were not bad, but if we’re gonna get serious about it's time for some better gear.

I picked up a 12’ Tica spinning rod that I used in Cape Hatteras for drum that sounds like it would fit your bill.  It will throw 4-10oz, Xheavy action, and had no problem throwing an 8oz pyramid and mullet head.  Did well fighting drum all week and didn’t break the bank.