Penn Bluewater Carnage vs Ugly Stik Tiger vs Penn Rampage Boat rods
 

I'm looking for a second 30-40lb setup for my kayak and general party boat use. I'll be doing mostly live baiting with it and maybe yo-yo jigging every once in awhile. My first setup is a Daiwa Seagate 40 with a Ugly Stik Tiger 7' M action which I think is a great rod for the price.

No one seems to have the Penn Rampage or Bluewater Carnage rods in stock anywhere around me so thought I would ask for some advice before buying online.

I wasn't considering the Penn Bluewater Carnage rods because it was more than double at $130 but now looks like some places are clearing them out for $100 since the Carnage II rods are coming out in September.

So my question is....should I spend $60 and get either a Ugly Stik or Penn Rampage (which one is better?) or is it worth it to spend $100 on the Penn Bluewater Carnage rod?

It's not the rod. It's the person holding it. Besides, I love my ugly stick. Inexpensive with a lifetime warranty. I have used and abused it.

The rampage is a fiberglass Rod, like the ugly stik. So those are probably equals... But I would lean towards the ugly stik as I have beat the crap out of mine for years.

The carnage is graphite composite, like the calstar grafighters (and have roughly the same specs of the grafighters). They aren't going to be as soft as the glass rods.

I have several of the carnage rods and like them a lot (again, also have ugly stiks, which are reserved for the kayak). I used to have a couple grafighters, but sold them Cuz I had the equivalent carnage rods and couldn't justify keeping the calstars.

For $100 (shipped) you can't beat the 700m for what you are looking to do. Might be a little light for 40lb yoyo applications, but should still be ok.

Ugly Stik Tigers have 5-year warranties not lifetime. That warranty is, however, much longer than anything in that price range. The Penn Carnage rods have only a 1-year warranty.

Thanks for the advice, I think I'm going to go with the Penn Carnage.

So I pulled the trigger on the Penn Bluewater Carnage (Model CARBW700M) from Charkbait. Ordered it yesterday and it arrived today! Props to Charkbait for the quick shipping

My thoughts on the Tiger Model BWC2201 vs the Carnage (both rated 20-50lb and 7'):

- Surprisingly, the Ugly Stik Tiger is lighter, 15.45 oz for the Ugly Stik and 15.75 oz for the Penn
- The Carnage is a much better looking rod as one would expect
- The actions on the 2 rods are very different, the Ugly Stik has a lighter action and a much lighter tip section, the Carnage is a lot stiffer overall

I think you will like it. You can pull on fish a lot harder with it than the similar rated ugly stik. My only advice if you fish braid to fluoro is to keep your drag a little looser than you would if you are fishing braid to mono. With the stiffer rod you lose some shock absorption, and it's easier to pull hooks when fishing braid to fluoro.

As I mentioned, it's not gonna be as soft as the glass ugly stik. The carnage also has a gimbal butt and cap.... Might explain some of the weight.

Makes for a really good 40lb dropper loop setup for sea bass as well as other applications

Thanks for the advice. I generally prefer a soft tip so I was feeling a bit hesitant after pulling on it that I would like it going forward. As you said, I think where it is going to shine is when I'm pulling on a better grade of fish. Now, I just need some YT, WSB, or Tuna to test that on :reel:

You might be right about the weight, I forgot that the Carnage has the aluminum gimble and rubber butt cap.