Looking To Add Big Spinning Gear For Lake Okeechobee

[Shane Procell]

I have been fishing Lake Okeechobee alot more in the last year. Many times I have someone with me who cannot throw a baitcaster. I really need to add a couple of heavy cover spinning reels/rods to the arsenal. I need a setup that I can throw a big EZ or frog in heavy cover with a minimum of 40# braid. Rod needs some backbone. Any suggestions? I prefer Shimano.

[LgMouthGambler]

If your looking for budget and strong, Ive been using the Sellus rods for a while, and they are pretty tough. MH is pretty stout, and has not given me a problem with dragging fish out of cover. In fact thats what my Chronarch 50 that I just bought is mounted on with 50# Power Pro, and does good even when snakeheads wrap me around stuff.

[tennsopher]

I have a G-Blanks ISB843 with a Shimano stradic4000 mounted on it. The rod has 9 guides and is rated 5/16-3/4 oz baits10-17 lb line.I am running 30# braid on it with no problem.Cost around 140.00 dollars for rod.Give Larry Mitchell a call at 918-231-5696 and tell him what you are looking for .You can have your name put on the blank (rainshadow)for free.I have three G-BLANKS and they are sweet rods.P.S.tell him Wayne from Florida says hello.

[fishking247]

shimano crucial worm and jig rod. it's 7'2" MH. I use it with 30lb braid throwing frogs and heavy texas rigs. i used it all season and had no problems. I highly recommend it. i have a 3000 shimano on it but will probbaly be using a 4000 next year. good luck

[Shane Procell]

Thanks fellas!

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Hell, Shane. For what you want to throw, just about any decent saltwater rod will do the trick. A lot of the freshwater specific sticks are far too limber for where you like to fish.

[basscrusher]

This may be too heavy but...Loomis LR 844S. Made for small tarpon. 10-20 lb line. 1/4-2 oz lure weight. Beast. I use one for saltwater, big cats, and throwing certain small musky lures.

[SirSnookalot]

Hell, Shane. For what you want to throw, just about any decent saltwater rod will do the trick. A lot of the freshwater specific sticks are far too limber for where you like to fish.

I concur......I fish mainly saltwater, there are quite a few rods that fit the bill. I don't recommend anything, but this is what I use for snook and tarpon and have used them for bass on occasion. Not only are these rods excellent but they are not pricey. Hurricane Redbones, I have 6 of them in a different lengths med and mh, very good for lures up to 1 oz.,$89. For heavier lures I use a Star steller lite, mh 10/20 rod, max lure wt 2 oz $99, all these rods have 4000 reels with only 1 being a 2000. Just a countless number of fish up to 40# caught on these rods. But as SoFlaBass, says any decent saltwater inshore rod will work well, there are many choices. If it were a Shimano pick, a clarus or teramer are both good rods, I have used both.

[Sam]

Medium Heavy Crucial rod with any 2500 size spinning reel in your price range.

If you want to go up on price try the 6'8" Medium Heavy Cumara.

If you believe the equipment will get mistreated you may want to go with a BPS or Cabella spinning rod and reel. They are excellent and not as expensive a the Shimano's.

[fishking247]

if you go the saltwater rod route the st croix tidemasters are tough to beat

[Crabcakes]

For reel I'd go Stradic 5000FJ but that's just me. Very rugged reel. The important thing I'd recommend is not go below a Shimano 4000 size for that size braid.

As far as rods go I disagree with the need to go saltwater. You could but don't necessarily have to.

A 7'-8' MH or H "freshwater" rod will work fine depending on the manufacturer. St. Croix premiers are always good for that sort of thing as they tend to be on the stouter side. Shimano clarus or compre would work fine too.

[SirSnookalot]

Some of the posts may be losing sight of the objective, the inquiry is for a customer not adept at using casting gear, not a personal use outfit. Where the 5000 stradic fj is a very good reel, it has way too much line capacity for freshwater use, not to mention the expense. Staying with the spirit of Shimano for a customer reel, I'd look at a saros or symetre. The number of suitable rods is almost endless in any price range, I think the reason inshore rods were suggested is that they are available in heavier sizes and in many cases a mh inshore as compared to a freshwater mh quite often is going to have more backbone. Doesn't make it better or worse, just a different rod, I personally use inshore rods for bass fishing. With all due respect, Capt. Shane is a professional, I have a good idea he already knows what he wants.

[fishking247]

For reel I'd go Stradic 5000FJ but that's just me. Very rugged reel. The important thing I'd recommend is not go below a Shimano 4000 size for that size braid.

As far as rods go I disagree with the need to go saltwater. You could but don't necessarily have to.

A 7'-8' MH or H "freshwater" rod will work fine depending on the manufacturer. St. Croix premiers are always good for that sort of thing as they tend to be on the stouter side. Shimano clarus or compre would work fine too.

5000 stradic is huge. i use them on my 9' surf rods for stripers and bluefish

[SirSnookalot]

5000 stradic is huge. i use them on my 9' surf rods for stripers and bluefish

Not in the fj series...........both the 4000 and 5000 are identical size and weight (about 10.8 oz), with the 5000 having a deeper spool to hold more line. The fi series 4000 is about 11.8 oz and the 5000 is bigger and If I remember correctly more drag too.

[J Francho]

I'd be looking at inshore rods, and a 4000 series reel loaded with 30-50# braid. I know quite a few people using this for frogging and heavy jig and worm.

[Diggy]

You can try a calico jack inshore rod from Dicks Sporting Goods. Its inshore and about 60 or less. You can also use the 10 off over 50 for it. Sir snookalot will cosign these rods. I bought a mh one, its light and strong.

[fishking247]

Not in the fj series...........both the 4000 and 5000 are identical size and weight (about 10.8 oz), with the 5000 having a deeper spool to hold more line. The fi series 4000 is about 11.8 oz and the 5000 is bigger and If I remember correctly more drag too.

no reason anyone largemouth bass would need a 5000 reel. more then enough capacity with a 3000 or 2500. i can see using a 4000 with the advantage of a bigger spool for 40- 50lb braid. i have no problem with my 3000 and 30lb braid for frogs and jigs

[SirSnookalot]

no reason anyone largemouth bass would need a 5000 reel. more then enough capacity with a 3000 or 2500. i can see using a 4000 with the advantage of a bigger spool for 40- 50lb braid. i have no problem with my 3000 and 30lb braid for frogs and jigs

The intent is for customers, not personal use.

A little bigger is better for a few reasons, Lake O has larger bass than up north and I understand there are landlocked snook and tarpon too, The combos can be used in other locations as well, where larger and stronger fish are the norm. Also not all customers are seasoned anglers and a little extra horsepower certainly is no negative, especially considering modern reels and rods are lighter in weight than they used to be. The seasoned angler is probably bringing their own gear, so what I or anyone else might use is not necessarily pertinent to that of a customer's needs.

@ Diggy..........you like that calico jack, I thought you would, heck of rod for $55.

[South FLA]

Shane,

I use 4000 series Shimano Symetry RJ for my tree catching buddies. lol. If you go too thick on the braid with spinning gear the casting distance suffers dramatically, so 40bl test braid will suffice. I really like Star Rods, they are a local company and make a quality blank, I use the discountinued Nickelite and have a couple of Plasma series, but the Stellar Lite series for spinning rods is excellent, look for deals you can get them for about $90 and the reels for about the same. As far as rod action Med-Hvy to Hvy right at 7'.

http://www.seastriker.com/starrods/index.html

http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/products/reels/spinning.html

[SirSnookalot]

I have 2 steller lites, one is a 7' 25lb hvy class rod that I use offshore, $119., my other one is a mh 7' 20 lb, $99. IMO if I were buying another Star I'd be buying a better rod. On both rods I have had to shim the reel seat to get a tight fit, they both have adequate backbone but do not cast lures in their lower range that well, the heavy side of lures cast a ton. On my heavier Star I've caught many kings, bonita, dolphin and sailfish, my lighter Star is one of my tarpon and snook rods. I was fishing with Bassn Blvd and he had just purchased a Star seagis, I thought it was very sweet, however it's a bit more expensive and may be price prohibitive for customer use, for personal use It's a winner. Quite a few of their rods have lifetime warranties, they are located in Morehead City, NC but stores like Tuppens in Lake Worth will do over the counter exchanges.

[Crabcakes]

no reason anyone largemouth bass would need a 5000 reel. more then enough capacity with a 3000 or 2500. i can see using a 4000 with the advantage of a bigger spool for 40- 50lb braid. i have no problem with my 3000 and 30lb braid for frogs and jigs

The newer line of stradics have been resized. A stradic 5000FJ is smaller than a 4000 Saros and stradic 4000 FI but still bigger than a 3000 by a few ounces. If you're using a 7 foot MH/H rod I think it balances better than say a 3000 size reel but that is just me. I was coming more from a balance of the outfit standpoint. For customers I'd imagine the heavier gearing might lead to greater longevity too.

Overall I think sirsnook is right in that it's really a moot point and that a less expensive reel would be better suited for customers. For simpler internals and bang for your buck I might recommend the spheros or socorro series in the 3000 or 4000 size. A bit heavier but more robust internally than the freshwater shimano reels and easier to maintain.

As far as rods I was only saying that an inshore rod is not a necessity. If freshwater rods are more easily available or cheaper they will work too but it might benefit to go up a power relative to any inshore rod.

I primarily fish inshore so when bass fishing I've frogged with a 7' H premier spinning a 7' mojo inshore and a 7' teramar se. For what it's worth I liked the premier best. Generally speaking I find lots of inshore rods to have a slower action and be heavier in weight relative to freshwater bass rods even if rated for a similar lure weight range. For repeated casting and fishing heavy cover with larger hooked lures like frogs I like a lighter rod with a faster action.

Anyways hopefuly the OP finds some of this useful.