fishnkamp

I sent you a personal message. You have a very good budget and there are lots of boats available to choose from. To find the right one may take a little while, but good boats are out there. If you want easy to use. For small to mid size lakes do not go too small. With your budget you should be able to get a 17.5 to 19 foot aluminum with a 50-90 hp outboard or perhaps more. Personally I have owned multiple aluminum bass boats and several fiberglass rocket ships. The 18 to 19 foot aluminium boats offer some good storage, fishability and performance. Here is what I run. What part of the country are you located?

Bunnielab another good place to go is Piney Run in Carroll County. If you purchase your own battery and 12 volt trolling motor than you can run all over that body of water with their rental boats. It is good enough fishing that you will actually see big fiberglass bass boats in there running only on their trolling motors. Also if you have time I would be happy to get together and help you learn some of these spots. Brian if you run into any questions with that boat do not hesitate to ask for help. There are lots of us in MD that can help.

Just make sure you pay attention to your states rules. life jackets, throw-able, lights, flares, etc. Be safe and enjoy!

Nice additions to the fleet

briansnat nice breakdown. Now do not get scared by that grocery list. Lets make it a little painless. If you start with say 1 pack each of one type of worm in the suggested colors, add a pack each of grubs like the Kalin 5 inch Lunker grubs in a watermelon red flake and a bluegill color then go get some worm weights ( the small packs ) and hooks that fit them to begin with. Add a couple of spinnerbaits, and a couple of packs of swimbaits with their hooks (belly weighted ) you have a good place to start. Just add as you go.

Absolutely that should work very well for bass.

I am trying to be as versatile as possible with your combos ( without replacing anything). I would spool the spinning reel up with 8 pound mono line. If you had two spinning combos one would have mono and the other either copolymer line like P Line Cxx or fluorocarbon like Halo. Since this is a question about best using the equipment you have, we make compromises. Let me say I fished with only one rod for more than a decade and was happy, so keep all of this in perspective. I would use the spinning rod to throw texas rigs ( with 1/8 to 3/8 worm weights) small jigs up to 3/8, Sencos rigged weightless, texas and wacky. I also would throw topwaters like Rapala floating minnows, Pop Rs and walking propellor baits. None of these weigh enough to throw well on most baitcasters. Make sure you throw 5 inch grubs like kalins on this rig as well as tubes, even drop shots. If you ever want to add another spinning rod then a good choice would be a rod say 6'8" ML fast or Medium fast ( or even extra fast). Normal size topwaters like spooks or larger minnow/jerkbaits would go on the 7 ft medium rod. Again this is making some compromises, but you can catch a lot of fish with these combos. If you look under the deck of my boat you will find about 16 rods to do all of the things we just talked about doing, however I have been fishing for over 40 years. LOL How did I get that old? HUH!

Nice looking reel

I would match the 6.4 orra with the Ugly stick 7 ft medium and that is the rod I would throw baits with treble hooks like crankbaits, squarebills etc, and maybe things like spinnerbaits. I would probably load it with 10 or 12 pound mono for versatility. I would take your 7-1 reel and match it to the Okuma 6'8" MH. I would spool it with 30 pound braid and tie on a leader made of your 12 pound test mono. This I would use for all of my bottom bouncing lures, so jigs, texas rigs, lightweight carolina rigs.

My wife and I use the 6930 reels for our 6 foot light power fast action rods( 1/16 to 5/16 ounce lures). On all of our other rods we use 6935 series reels. It weighs a bit more but holds more line. See how it feels on the rod I would expect it will balance fine. The larger arbor will help with longer casts.

Amazon lists them by the top line listed for the reel. He received a 6940 and wanted a 6935.

Dig In Shallow water anchors are probably one of the best and most expensive http://dig-in-anchors.com/ Another one I am looking at is a http://www.shallowwateranchors.net/ Here is one I really like it mounts to your trolling motor https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=crmas&p=Evo+shallow+water+anchor%3F#id=4&vid=b6e29c0317dff0b5191f0c9b8e8dc16d&action=click this is from Venom Lures If you look at Max Gain they make the raw fiberglass poles that lots of other companies sell. I have a genuine Dig In pole but it is 12 feet long. I used Max Gains center joint pieces. Now I have a two piece pole cue style pole that breaks down and stores in my rod box. If you do this you must either rope tie to your pole or be sure your mount has the ability to allow the joint to pass through the pipe on your mount. Many do or you have a custom one made. https://www.mgs4u.com/shallow-water-boat-anchors.htm I believe I am going to have a mount made for the rear and add the EVo or Venom unit to my trolling motor.

I have a friend that uses a ST Croix Avid X 6'8" M XF to throw Sencos weightless, texas rigged with 1/8 to 1/4 ounce weight and also on the weedless wacky jigs. He also throws a lot of lightweight texas rigged creature baits. He loves that rod for those baits. I recently picked one up at Bass Pro. It says it is a 6'8" MXF but the tip bends down to the 3rd almost 4th regular guide. If you go read some of his fishing reports on baybass.com you can see the river monsters he pulls in. When you fish the Potomac River you run into big stripers, catfish and snakeheads. I say all of this because each rod maker has its' own "standard" so you need to feel it and see if you like it. What state do you live in. You can easily check some of these manufacturer's websites to see if you have a dealer near you.

Boy there are some really nice rods available in that range. Here are some nice rods to consider. Take a look at Powell Rods. They have a series called Inferno. Take a look at the Inferno 6103. Itis their 6'10 all around rod. They should be able to handle that stick fine. Powell rods are very lightweight. St Croix has a Triumph that might be nice. I fish several Abu Veritas rods. If you can go put one in your hand I recommend it Abu rods tend to run a bit on the heavier side so like my frog rod is a Veritas MH not heavy. In your case their 6'6 ML might be more what you want. I am not sure though as I have not had one in my hand. If you look on Academy Sports and outdoors they have a few interesting rods as well. They have an All Star AS Nano series 6'6" M with a handle that is not so long as some others. he price is good as well. They also have the Falcon Bucoo Open Hook 6'6" Medium on sale for around $89

I was going to say that my Exceler and all of my Tatulas Rs and CTs are buttery smooth and that you had to have an issue. Glad you took care of it. They really are nice reels

The ten pound is the largest and heaviest. I own one of those. It will work fine, I would have gotten the next one smaller but it will work fine.

Found them on Amazon for less than $50

i used it years ago but that was before Shimano got involved. My best suggestion is to contact your local dealer if you have one. If you do not have a local dealer, than I would call G Loomis directly. When I had a broken GL3 rod my local dealer charged me like $75 dollars and handed me a new rod. They then dealt with getting their rod replacement. Now I am not sure about the cost, it was at least 3 years ago and it could have been less.

I am beginning to wonder if Daiwa can keep them straight! Maybe they have limited english skills so they do not know any other letters in the alphabet exist!

Yes it is the spinning rod and I suggest the 7 foot medium 1 piece for $47.89 plus $9.19 shipping. Look here https://www.amazon.com/Abu-Garcia-Medium-Veritas-Spinning/dp/B00PB7M55A/ref=sr_1_1?s=hunting-fishing&ie=UTF8&qid=1483939316&sr=1-1&keywords=veritas%2Bspinning%2Brod&th=1&psc=1 Currently i fish with two Veritas baitcasters a 7 ft MH and a 7 ft HVY.

Well since your intention is to throw a light weight A rig ( less than 1 ounce roughly ) I would guess the Heavy rod should handle the job. What you wish to throw should fall almost in the middle of that rod's spec for lure weight. I figure 3/4 of an ounce of lead, add the body weight of the swim baits and the rig can't total more than an ounce and a half. If you ever think you might go heavier in the rig then the XHVY would be better. Does either rod have enough tip to maybe double for some big swimbaits? Just a thought Just before you make up your mind take a look at an Irod Genesis II A rig rod. IRG7104AB “Bama Rig Special”

The Penn battle 2 is a nice reel but not cheap. Let me show you what we are talking about when describing specs of a rod. The power refers to a rods lifting power ( loosely) so a ultra light rod would be more of a panfish and small trout rod and a long heavy power fast action rod will handle lures in the 1/2 to say 2 ounce weight category and be more useful throwing big heavy baits. Now that is a bit over simplified answer but you get the idea. Actions can be best visualized by looking at this picture. Now what does this mean. We tend to use slow, moderate and mod fast rods to fish lures that can tear out easily like crankbaits, Pop R type top water baits and jerkbaits, these all have treble hooks. These rod also are not as sensitive as faster action rods, so we usually use fast and extra fast rods for baits that bump along the bottom like jigs, worms and creature baits, like crayfish looking plastics. These faster actions are generally better with lightly weighted or unweighted finesse baits like a Sencos or worms. My recommendation for a medium power mod fast or fast action rod was obviously a generally good compromise or all around good choice. Again the Pflueger President in a 6930 size would be a good reel for you for $60. A 6835 would be fine if you feel more comfortable with the bit larger reel and want more line capacity. Either way it will make a good bluegill, crappie, bass rig. I especially like the idea of the medium Abu Garcia Veritas rod. Those are $100 rods on sale for around half that. Let me tell you a real fishing story. we live in MD and vacation in KY on a lake called Dale Hollow. We were there fishing for big smallmouth bass this last April. We arrived right after spawn, so the females were on main lake in big grass beds just hanging out recouping. Here I stand on the deck of my bass boat. I have 16 rods of my own and 7 of my wife's rods onboard. These include some very long and expensive baitcasting combos. The darn fish would not eat anything. We ended up both throwing these little 3 inch worms called Ned rigs on tiny 1/10 ounce lead headed jigs called Shroomz heads. We had to pull out two very expensive G Loomis rods we owned just to throw these baits and feel them in 6 to 20 feet of water. The rods are 6 foot long, light power fast action rods. They handle baits that weigh between 1/16 and 5/16 of an ounce. Happily, we landed at least a dozen bass over 5 pounds. On the last day my wife hooks and lands an 8 pound catfish that took over 5 minutes to fight. Meanwhile I am sitting in the driver's seat laughing because she is running from the front to the back of the boat constantly chasing the big cat. The morale is we would never had gone fishing for those big cats with such light gear, she could have easily broken that $275 G Loomis rod. She fought that fish with a Pflueger 6930 reel and it suffered no harm. That is the exact reel I am suggesting would work nicely for you. That particular reel is over 5 years old and is working as good today as when it was new. There are lots of other quality reel out there, but I have total confidence in these reels. They are not on my rods because of price, they are there because time and time again they work

new2BC4bass it is funny my boat is 17 1/2 foot long and carries almost as much gear as my 20 footer did. I bet if you put all of my lures on a scale it weighs well over 100 pounds. If you look at the rods my wife and I fish most, I bet you will find a grub on a perfect finesse worm hook, a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper, some type of a 4 to 6 inch worm, and a jig on the deck at almost all times. The Senco is a newer bait to me, for years it was always a Berkely Ring worm on a little slider head. Don't get me wrong I fish all types of jerkbaits, topwaters, cranks, traps and square bills, but I catch more fish on the first group of baits. The other thing is I am now primarily fishing tidal water here at home. When I travel I am fishing deep clear lakes. So I have to be ready for all sorts of conditions.

basszilla Welcome to the forum. You did not mention a couple of things. First how old is your daughter? I am trying to see if a smaller reel is needed due to small hands or is she a young teenager? My wife has fished with me for almost 40 years and she definitely is a small frame with small hands. We use 7 Pflueger President reels. Some of them are over 10 years old. If you look at Academy they have the President 6930 for $59.99. That reel is as reliable as you can get for the money. Now for a rod to match up with it. Academy has several brands of rods from All Star, Berkley, and even Ugly stick that run around $40. Let her decide based on what fits her well. For something less expensive look for a Pflueger Trion Spinning Rod and Reel Combo at Bass Pro. It runs $60 for the combo.

new2BC4bass You were correct I left out the fast in my description, although the Lightning shock is kinda in between medium and fast action. It is a decent rod for the money. Another good choice is an Abu Garcia Veritas 7 foot medium and they have that rod on sale for $47.89 plus $9 shipping on Amazon. That is a $99 rod. MY wife and I fish both of these rods as well as some rods that cost over $300 each, so I am suggesting gear that you will keep using. For a starter setup, I would get myself one of the tackle bags that holds 3 or 6 plano boxes. It makes it easy to organise your tackle and if you go bass fishing one day and catfishing another day, you can easily swap out which boxes you carry that day. For all around use I would set one box up with some different hooks, some small hooks for panfish and bait and some larger hooks like we use for fishing grubs and worms. If you decide to go catfishing, I would get some larger hooks for that. Add a couple of bobbers to fish minnows and nightcrawlers. Some of the largest bass are caught down in Florida with either a big bobber or balloon and a large minnow or bluegill. Get some different weights, a pack of small pinch on weights, some rubber core sinkers, and some worm weights in 1/8 1/4 and 3/8 to begin with. Look at Kalin Lunker 5 inch grubs ( Bass Pro is a great place to go because they have people to help you). Pick up a bag of bluegill colored and a bag of watermelon seed red flake grubs. If you fish really off colored water than add a june bug or chartreuse instead. Bass pro has these hooks called Perfect finesse worm hooks that I like because they have a weight and a hook together. That is a great way to fish grubs and worms Just match up the sixe hooks to the bait/ They do come in different hook sizes and weights. Next go pick out some worms. Gary Yamamoto, Zoom, Berkley all make great stuff, so does a ton of other people. Look at Berkley Powerbait Power worms in 4 inch. Pick up a pack or two of these colors to begin with. First Blue Fleck, Black chartreuse tail, and watermelon red see. Later try some 6 or 7 inch worms, but for now start with some 4 inchers. Next go look at Gary Yamamoto Sencos. They come in all colors and sizes. To make it easy choose the 5 inch and god all of the colors work, but let's start with say a pack of each of the following colors Black Blue Flake, watermelon red green flake, and maybe smoke blue pearl silver purple. That should give you a mix of baits in different colors. The Sencos can be rigged different ways and present totally different presentations. With a very little effort you can find a ton of videos online that teach you how to rig them texas style, wacky style and as miny finesse carolina rigs etc. Make sure to pick up an O ring tool with O rings and some small hooks to use with them. Lastly, take a look at a hollow bodied swimbaits like a Strike King KVD Perfect Plastics Swim'n Caffeine Shad. These baits look like a minnow swimming and then one dying when you stop reeling them. Depending on if you texas rig them, use a belly weighted swimbait hook or use a heavier jig head, they can cover shallow to deeper water. All of the baits I suggested will catch bass and lots of other fish as well. My wife and I use these baits all over MD, PA, VA, TN, KY, and MO. They work in clear water and stained water. We will just change colors to find out what the fish want but they all work well. Notice I am not trying to spend all of your money at once! I say get a pack or two of something. Go fish that technique, catch some fish and learn what works in your area, and water conditions. And most of all as others have said enjoy yourself. If you let us know what part of your state you are in we probably have some members that live near you. There is always that chance to meet up and learn first hand.