Your idea of light for rod/reel?

[Jason Angel]

This has been something I've been wondering about ever since I started getting into bass fishing (maybe a year or so now), what's considered "light" for a rod and reel combo? I'm waiting on my tax refund and might end up ordering a new rod and reel online, and want a relatively light setup. I guess I haven't handled enough rods to really get an idea of what it means. And I also like to be able to quantify in ounces to really good a good grasp on the idea. Of course it's gonna come down to opinion, but I'd like to get a concensus on it.

[kickerfish1]

Well, up until the last few years most reels were between 6.5 and 8.5 ounces when looking at the low profile options. Something lighter than 6.5 like the Steeze or Core came at a premium. Now it seems like all manufacturers are offering sub 6 ounce reels and some offering sub 5 ounce reels. 

Rods are hard to find very light. Problem is as the length and power of a rod increases so does the weight. The Zbones are very light and weights are posted on Kistlers website. You could also have a custom built on a decent blank using minimal components and bling.

If you are talking about a bait casting rod and reel I would consider anything under 9 ounces to be quite light. I have a Core 50 on 6'10 Cumulus rod that weighs a whopping 8.5 ounces. I paid about $500 for new for the combo.

Really depends on what you have to spend and what would feel noticeably light to you?

[aquaholik]

Reel, anything under 7 oz. Rod, anything under 4 oz. I fish tip up most of the time so unless I step up to an NRX, most rods longer than 7ft is going to be tip heavy for me. Going lighter on the reel amplifies the problem. I normally fish with a 6'8 M or 7' M or ML Fast action Loomis.

[cottny27]

Reels 6oz and less are easy to find at affordable prices.  If you put together a setup under 10oz then that is light to me.  

[buzzed bait]

i have no science to it so can't offer you much.

a rod/reel combo either feels right to me or it doesn't....  it may weigh 10 oz total or 20 oz it's just a feel thing.

[cottny27]

Yeah its a balance thing for me.  If its a 9oz combo that's too tip heavy then I'm going to grab another setup to fish with.

Maybe one of the lightest rods in the $100 range is the Quantum Smoke.  I think my Duckett Ghost feels  light, but I've never weighed it.  

[Paul Roberts]

Has everything to do with the lure sizes you need to throw, and the size hooks they have. I use rigs from UL (4lb lines) to heavy (50# braid).

Here's a quick run down of my light end of things:

-UL spinning rig with "4lb" (.008) line for 1/32-1/8oz baits with small #4 to #12 hooks. Small ponds, stream smallmouth, and on larger waters when big hatches of prey fish fry cause bass to become myopic. Otherwise I prefer more a powerful rig.

-L/ML spinning with "6lb" (.009) lines for 3/32-1/4oz baits for small baits in early spring, and during winter. I also use a 9-1/2ft rig with "6lb" for Float-n-Fly rigging in winter.

-M spinning with "8lb" (.010) lines. A standard rig for early spring when water is has high clarity and is mostly cover free. Using small jigs, grubs, small to med hardbaits, jerks, in-line spinners, blade-baits, ... .

I'm listing only spinning rigs because my lightest casting rigs have a minimum of 10lb lines on them which is getting out of the "light" side of bass fishing in my experience. 

Hope this helps.

Ah! Are you asking about "light tackle" rigs or "light weight" rigs? LOL. As in weight?

 

Edited February 11, 2016 by Paul Roberts
Re-read OP...

[rippin-lips]

It's easy to find a 6.5-7oz reel and a 4oz rod these days so making a 10-11oz combo is easy.  Anything 9oz and below is what I'd call dang light.  As mentioned it's more about balance though. You can have a heavier combo feel lighter than it really is due to how it balances. A tip heavy combo sucks. I've sold so many good rods because they didn't balance out how I like them.  Also longer rods will generally require a tad heavier reel. It's all preference.  

[Fishinthefish]

Balance increases sensitivity more so than lightweight does. Just remember, the light rod will feel a lot heavier out of balance after a few hours than a perfectly balanced rod and reel.

[cottny27]

Rippin, seems like today's nicer reels are all on the light side 6.5oz and lighter.  Add that weight to the butt of your rod...easy balance solution.  

[cottny27]

22 minutes ago, Fishinthefish said:

Balance increases sensitivity more so than lightweight does. Just remember, the light rod will feel a lot heavier out of balance after a few hours than a perfectly balanced rod and reel.

Its a fake feeling of lighter when held horizontal to the water/ground.  I've gotten to where I prefer a neutral balance for jerkbait fishing not even a slight tip heavy rod.  Just easier on your wrist after all day of fishing.  But I agree with you 100%.

[new2BC4bass]

Okuma Helios 701M rod 3.4 oz.  Helios Air reel 5.3 oz.  on TT review.  5.7 oz. at TW.  Pretty sure I've seen an Abu reel listed around 4.5 oz.  Not cheap, tho.  So it should be relatively easy to get combos weighing less than 10 oz. total.  You won't be limited to throwing 1/8 oz. lures either. 

 

[cottny27]

Pinnacle Producer LTE is 5.75oz for like $70 on Amazon.  Lightest reel I know of in that price range and its got good reviews.  

[rippin-lips]

2 hours ago, cottny27 said:

Rippin, seems like today's nicer reels are all on the light side 6.5oz and lighter.  Add that weight to the butt of your rod...easy balance solution.  

Adding weight to a rod is counter productive. 

[Fishin' Fool]

5 hours ago, Jason Angel said:

This has been something I've been wondering about ever since I started getting into bass fishing (maybe a year or so now), what's considered "light" for a rod and reel combo? I'm waiting on my tax refund and might end up ordering a new rod and reel online, and want a relatively light setup. I guess I haven't handled enough rods to really get an idea of what it means. And I also like to be able to quantify in ounces to really good a good grasp on the idea. Of course it's gonna come down to opinion, but I'd like to get a concensus on it.

You never really said, are you looking for a spinning or baitcast set up? I think alot of people are assuming you want a baitcaster. However, if you want a spinning check out a St Croix Avid X and a Shimano CI4 reel.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Balance is negated the higher you position the tip of your rod during actual fishing. The overall weight of the rod/reel comes into play more if say your tip is pointed high like /    Balance will show itself more the closer to parallel you get, holding rod straight out ---

So if bottom contact fishing with tip high balance isnt going to be as important as lightweight combo.

Sensitivity is effected more by weight and stiffness than balance. The lighter stiffer you get the more sensitive something is.

[cottny27]

7 hours ago, rippin-lips said:

It's easy to find a 6.5-7oz reel and a 4oz rod these days so making a 10-11oz combo is easy.  Anything 9oz and below is what I'd call dang light.  As mentioned it's more about balance though. You can have a heavier combo feel lighter than it really is due to how it balances. A tip heavy combo sucks. I've sold so many good rods because they didn't balance out how I like them.  Also longer rods will generally require a tad heavier reel. It's all preference.  

5 hours ago, rippin-lips said:

Adding weight to a rod is counter productive. 

A rod is either balanced or it isn't. The reel plays no role in that.  A true neutral balance is at the reel seat.  A rod balancing at the fore grip could use about a 1/2oz to achieve perfect balance.  After that any weight reels works just fine.  

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

5 hours ago, rippin-lips said:

Adding weight to a rod is counter productive. 

be it to the butt or heavier reel

 If I had to choose i would add less overall weigth to the butt than try to balance using a much heavier reel.

[Jason Angel]

3 hours ago, Fishin' Fool said:

You never really said, are you looking for a spinning or baitcast set up? I think alot of people are assuming you want a baitcaster. However, if you want a spinning check out a St Croix Avid X and a Shimano CI4 reel.

Yeah, I was aiming more at a baitcast setup with this post, but I'm more than welcome to hear opinions on spinning rods. Don't use a spinning rod as much while bass fishing as I really focus on topwaters like hollow bellies. But I can think of a few times I would like a spinning rod for topwater. I'll check them out!

[cottny27]

You can fine tune the balance much easier at the butt.  Add a couple quarters and an end cap to the butt for bottom contact baits or less weight for a slight tip drop for cranks/jerks.  Weights are removable on the go and don't have to be permanent.

[JustinU1X]

My Okuma Helios rod(3.6oz)/reel(6.3oz) is my lightest setup. Light as a feather

[smalljaw67]

My idea of light weight for reels is under 7oz and for rods it is under 4oz but that isn't counting flipping sticks or anything like that. When you start getting into long rods with heavy powers then light is pretty much out the window as the main concern with those rods are power and balance.

[5fishlimit]

10 hours ago, cottny27 said:

A rod is either balanced or it isn't. The reel plays no role in that.

The weight of the reel has a lot - if not everything - to do with how a rod balances.  It's plain physics.  Think of a basic lever, and the point you balance the rod being the where the fulcrum is located.  When the weight (in this case the reel) is increased at one end then the point of balance (or location of the fulcrum) shifts to counter that additional weight.

Case in point... I have a 7'6" rod for A-Rigs, and when I put a Daiwa PXL-R (5.8oz) on it the balance point is about a 8" in front of the reel.  When I take the same rod and an OG Zillion (8.6oz) the balance point moves backwards to about an inch in front of the reel.

If that isn't the reel playing a role in the balance then we are throwing away about 2300 years worth of physics.  Thankfully, the principles of Archimedes have stood the test of time.

[rippin-lips]

Hahaha Daniel. It was too late when I saw it to type out a response. Thanks for the 9:30am laugh though.  

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

6 minutes ago, 5fishlimit said:

The weight of the reel has a lot - if not everything - to do with how a rod balances.  It's plain physics.  Think of a basic lever, and the point you balance the rod being the where the fulcrum is located.  When the weight (in this case the reel) is increased at one end then the point of balance (or location of the fulcrum) shifts to counter that additional weight.

Case in point... I have a 7'6" rod for A-Rigs, and when I put a Daiwa PXL-R (5.8oz) on it the balance point is about a 8" in front of the reel.  When I take the same rod and an OG Zillion (8.6oz) the balance point moves backwards to about an inch in front of the reel.

If that isn't the reel playing a role in the balance then we are throwing away about 2300 years worth of physics.  Thankfully, the principles of Archimedes have stood the test of time.

Your description is on an unbalanced rod though. On a rod that is balanced, fulcrum at the reelseat, where you hold it while fishing no matter the weight added/subtracted at the fulcrum point the balance will remain the same.