Rod/reel for hali

MIL wants Christmas gift ideas for me.  I'd like a rod ajd reel that would be better for hali than what I have now.  What do you all like that's good value for the money?  Bonus points if it's something sold by Bi-Mart.

Ugly stick and a Penn

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What length and action Ugly Stick?  Model of Penn?

Depends on what you want to do with it. If I'm working 6-10 oz jigs I like a longer rods 6'6" - 8' 15-40 pounds.
If I am soaking bait with more lead 8-32 oz I like shorter rods 5'-6'6" 20-50 pounds.
The longer lighter rod is more versatile too as it would also be a great heavy ling rod.
Any reel that will hold 500 yards or 50 pound braid will do everything you need. Lower ratio will making cranking heavy lead easier, but I like a little faster reel if I know I'm going to be fishing deep. 4.2-5.2 is about right, but I've fished with 6.2 reels before too.

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Any reel that will hold 500 yards or 50 pound braid will do everything you need.

500 yards???

-Allen

What length and action Ugly Stick?  Model of Penn?

Here's my standard answer for a budget all around rod /reel combo.  A BWC2201 is a great all around Stik with enough backbone to handle butts, sturgeon, and albacore, yet enough sensitivy that a lot of people use them for rockfish.  Jigmaster 500.

The BWC2201 comes in both 1-piece and 2-piece.

-Allen

Okuma Andros and Cedros rods?
http://www.okumafishing.com/product/view/rods/saltwater-jigging/andros-speed-jig

http://www.okumafishing.com/product/view/rods/saltwater-jigging/cedros-jigging

7'6" Ugly Stick Tiger Medium Heavy action with an AVET LX (2 speed) is what I use.  Works great.

I've also caught several halibut on my 9' Ugly Stick Heavy action salmon rod.  Usually put my AVET SX on that so it will fit in a rod holder for trolling.

Both work well, just depends on how much cranking you want to do.

Oh, and I use 1 and 2 piece rods....no problems with either....2 piece is just more convenient for packing up in the fishing rig.

Any reel that will hold 500 yards or 50 pound braid will do everything you need.

500 yards???

-Allen

OK maybe 400 .... The amount doesn't really matter as you will never need more than 150 yards unless you plan on fishing stupid deep. The reason I recommend a higher capacity reel is most of the smaller more affordable reels aren't going to stand up to cranking one to two pounds of lead. Even jigging 8 ounces will blow up lighter reels if you aren't careful.
That's why larger more rugged reels like the Jigmaster are a great option.

I've seen 30 pound halibut caught on an Abu 6500 but it wasn't pretty. And I've caught fish on a 3000 series spinning reel but it is not ideal.

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Shimano TLD 15 and Ugly Stik would work. I am also a Penn fan, and if you want the levelwind go with Penn, but that TLD would do double duty in a lot of situations as a good trolling rod... I have the BCW2202 and caught a chicken halibut this spring but it would work on some larger fish too.

My rig is an Ugly Stik Tiger, BWC 2201-2 270.  7' long, 2 piece, 10-50# line, medium action.  Reel is an Abu 7001 HS.  I bought a few of the reels on eBay.  6.3:1 ratio.  The right hand crank is a 7000HS.

I casted it ONCE.  Now it is exclusively a bottom fishing rig.

The rig is still a hali virgin, but has brought in a bunch of lings and rockfish.

The rig is still a hali virgin, but has brought in a bunch of lings and rockfish.

Then how would you know how it performs as a halibut rig?   

-Allen

MIL wants Christmas gift ideas for me.  I'd like a rod ajd reel that would be better for hali than what I have now.  What do you all like that's good value for the money?  Bonus points if it's something sold by Bi-Mart.

What's the budget? Do you already have a dedicated jigging rod? You may want to think about going with one of the below options if you fish for bottomfish more than Halibut. They're not ideal for Halibut but will get the job done.

Ugly Stick Tiger Lite-$60-Durable as any ugly stick and is pretty light and well balanced. The tip is a bit stiff for my liking, but I know that Nate, Craig, and Langcod all use one and really like the rod. I believe they are fishing the 14-40 7' MODEL BWCL220070
http://www.uglystik.com/Ugly-Stik%C2%AE-Tiger%E2%84%A2-Lite-Rod/1285731,default,pd.html

Tica wasabi jigging rod-$100-I have one of these in the 7' 15-40 and really like it. It's got a good sensitive tip and seems to strike a balance between the Trevala and the ugly stick. It's pretty durable but with a bit more feel than the the ugly stick. I use this rod for bottomfishing, Halibut (not that I can catch one) and Sturgeon.   
http://www.ticaamerica.com/product_detail.aspx?id=87&catid=10#

Shimano-Trevala-$119-Nice rod that looks to have a nice tip, with good feedback but perhaps not as durable as the other options. I know Paul broke one earlier this year. 
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shimano-Trevala-Casting-Rod/739335.uts

I'd mate any of the above to an Avet 5.3 ($160ish) or a 6600 Abu Garcia C4 ($100 and you'll be good. The C4 might be a little light if you're throwing a lot of lead but aren't you Washington guys fishing pretty shallow (less than 100 feet) for Halibut?

MIL wants Christmas gift ideas for me.  I'd like a rod ajd reel that would be better for hali than what I have now.  What do you all like that's good value for the money?  Bonus points if it's something sold by Bi-Mart.

What's the budget? Do you already have a dedicated jigging rod? You may want to think about going with one of the below options if you fish for bottomfish more than Halibut. They're not ideal for Halibut but will get the job done.

Ugly Stick Tiger Lite-$60-Durable as any ugly stick and is pretty light and well balanced. The tip is a bit stiff for my liking, but I know that Nate, Craig, and Langcod all use one and really like the rod. I believe they are fishing the 14-40 7' MODEL BWCL220070
http://www.uglystik.com/Ugly-Stik%C2%AE-Tiger%E2%84%A2-Lite-Rod/1285731,default,pd.html

Tica wasabi jigging rod-$100-I have one of these in the 7' 15-40 and really like it. It's got a good sensitive tip and seems to strike a balance between the Trevala and the ugly stick. It's pretty durable but with a bit more feel than the the ugly stick. I use this rod for bottomfishing, Halibut (not that I can catch one) and Sturgeon.   
http://www.ticaamerica.com/product_detail.aspx?id=87&catid=10#

Shimano-Trevala-$119-Nice rod that looks to have a nice tip, with good feedback but perhaps not as durable as the other options. I know Paul broke one earlier this year. 
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shimano-Trevala-Casting-Rod/739335.uts

I'd mate any of the above to an Avet 5.3 ($160ish) or a 6600 Abu Garcia C4 ($100 and you'll be good. The C4 might be a little light if you're throwing a lot of lead but aren't you Washington guys fishing pretty shallow (less than 100 feet) for Halibut?

Probably around $100 all up.  So most likely that means a reel or a rod, but probably not both.

I do already have a rod that works pretty well for lings, etc.  And a couple old rods and reels my dad gave me that might be really good as dedicated rockfish rigs.

Trevala 80-200lb rod and tekota 500lc reel. The trevala 50-100lb is a great all-around bottomfishing rod (same reel) that could handle halibut fishing if the lead isn't too heavy.