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New spinning rod/reel

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New spinning rod/reel

Old 07-18-2016, 03:53 AM
  #1  
Nontypical Buck
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Default New spinning rod/reel

Looking to add another spinning rod/reel to my collection. Predominantly fish for largemouth bass in farm ponds, lakes, & rivers. What rod/reel would you recommend?
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Old 07-18-2016, 05:21 AM
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Broad question but given what you are targeting any medium weight 6 1/2 foot spinning rod would be a good general purpose rod. I fish almost every day and have a wide variety of rods and reels. I find I get settled into and comfortable with what I have and some of those combos aren't high end tackle. I have plenty from bass pro, and cabelas and feel they offer some good choices with a wide variety of costs. I do feel extra money is well spent on a reel though. A cheaper reel just won't hold up and many of them are around 20 to 30 dollars. I have found the Pflueger line of presidential reels in the 30 or 35 size which are around 60 bucks to be absolutely my go to reel. There are better ones at significantly more money but for a medium priced reel they are great. I used to have a nitro bass boat and have 8 or 10 casting rods with level wind type reels. It takes a little more skill to get used to them and since you specified spinning I would encourage you to stick with those. One casting rod in a 6' length is great if you like to throw spinner baits though and are good for Carolina rigging. Money is well spent on a good level wind reel though. The cheaper ones just will be lots of problems with back lashes etc. If I am fishing that way a casting rod reel combo is much better. These days I commercially fish for pan fish almost every day and my normal rods are all spinning and light weight. Being on Champlain I catch bass every day even though I am not targeting them and have no problem getting them into the boat and releasing them with UL poles and 4 pound test line. If money is no object there are some very nice medium action graphite poles available at most good sporting shops. If you live near a bass pro or Cabelas they will have a wide inventory you can hold, shake and look at to get a good idea of what feels good. Use good quality line and change it often before you lose that big one because the sun deteriorated the line. Since I fish almost every day I fill each spool with cheap line and save the last 100 ft for the premium line. I join the 2 together with either a blood knot or an improved Albright and put a small tab of electrical tape over the knot once it gets on the reel so it doesn't grab. When the line starts to get shorter and I need to replace it I just go back to the tape and replace that last section of line. A spool of line lasts for much longer and in doing it that way you tend to change out the line more often as it gets shorter or begins to show sign of sun damage. I have spinning rods ranging from 6' to 12' on my pan fishing boat and all of them have a specific type fishing they are there for. Good luck and hope this helps.
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Old 07-18-2016, 08:44 AM
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Hate to just jump on the thread but do ya have any recommendations on a reel? I've been getting into the Saugeye (Walleye) fishing here and have found that a 3/16 to 1/4 oz jig head with a nightcrawler threaded on it has been deadly. The only problem is the only rod reel combo I have found that can cast it is a zebco 33 and although it works well enough the drag system is terrible lol
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Old 07-18-2016, 10:07 AM
  #4  
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The rod is more critical than the reel for casting heavier sinkers or jigs. The rod can't be an ultra light and any medium weight rod like a Shakespeare Ugly Stick will work. Like I said on an earlier post the Pflueger presidential reel series is very good but will run you 60 bucks. They are smooth have like 9 ball bearings, strong bail spring and last. I used to use Shimano reels but found the lower end units didn't have the longevity that the Pfluegers did. In my pan fishing I use a 1/8 oz jig for perch and 1/32 oz for sunnies, gills and crappie so my rods are all lite weight or ultra lite other than a few stiffer rods I keep in the boat rod locker for special use. I need to add I don't have any Shakespeare ugly sticks in my locker but have used them. My rods are normally a step or two above them but to someone who doesn't fish every day they are a real good rod.

Last edited by Champlain Islander; 07-18-2016 at 04:18 PM.
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Old 07-24-2016, 07:52 AM
  #5  
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I'm looking for a real good set-up for bass, budget maybe $200 for the rod & reel? What size line do you all like using for various set-ups also? I always figured a lighter 6 lb. test will cast further & let the lure work the way it's supposed to but I see a bunch of guys fishing for largemouth w/ 8 & 12 lb. test...
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Old 07-24-2016, 10:59 AM
  #6  
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6 is fine if fishing the cold clear waters in the north especially for smallmouth. Going for largies I would put 8 or 10 on a spinning rod and 12-14 on a level wind casting rod mainly because you will be hauling them out of the weeds. 200 bucks should be more than enough for a quality spinning rod/ reel combo. Cabelas or bass pro have some nice matched ones for less. Just be careful they don't put a cheap reel on and use quality line. Good luck.
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