Beginning set up for bass fishing

[JPeters218]

I've just been getting into bass fishing early this summer and am looking to buy a new set up. I've just been using my walleye set-up and tying a frog or a buzzbait on that but I'm looking to get a set-up just for bass. I've been doing research and I've seen that people say go with a 7'-7'3" heavy casting rod with fast action with heavy braided line (40-55 lb). But as I thought about it more was thinking I'd like to stay with a spinning reel. I have some experience with a baitcaster type reel, it's what I have on my muskie rods. But I'm much more comfortable with a spinning reel and have much better accuracy and finesse with it. So I'm just looking to find out what the best set up for me would be and if a spinning reel can handle heavy braid, or if like 20-25 lb would work. I'll primarily be using frogs and buzzbaits for bass, I'd like to be able to toss a spoon for northern too but that's not essential. Any suggestions for a setup, I'd like to keep it under $250 for the rod and reel, or just feedback would be great. Thanks a lot

[roadwarrior]

 

[fishnkamp]

Well there are lots of good rods and reels out there.

I usually suggest starting with a 6'6 to 7 foot medium spinning rod as the best all around bass rig. It can handle most of the typical finesse baits line Sencos, grubs, tubes, lightweight texas rigged plastics etc.  I would match that with a good spinning reel like a Pflueger President, President XT, or Supreme in a size 30 or 35.

 

But that combo will not do what you are asking to do. I fish with a dozen baitcasters and 3 spinning rods. My wife uses only spinning or fly fishing gear.  Finding the spinning rods that have virtually the same action as some of my rods has been a struggle. I now have 6 rods in her arsenal and each one does exactly what I was looking for.

 

Her frog rod would be a perfect choice for your needs.  I purchased her a Dobyns Sierra SA 705SF. That is a 7 foot spinning rod listed as a Heavy power rod.  It has a soft but fast tip, exactly like the action on my Dobyns Champion DC 705C rod I fish frogs on.  I can throw a Strike King Popping Perch, or a typical hollow bodied frog, a very very far distance, yet it has the right tip to work it correctly and a ton of power to pull any bass out of a junk yard.  The rod is lightweight and very well balanced. It costs $170.00, so that fits in your budget also.  Gary Dobyns' list of suggested lures for this rod includes Carolina rigs/Frogs/Jigs and as secondary suggested techniques Buzzbaits/Spinnerbaits/and Walking Top Water Baits.

 

Now for a reel there are a bunch of manufacturers to choose from. I prefer to choose my reels for longevity, quality and smoothness. Most of my spinning reels are Pfluegers.  We matched her rod up with a Pflueger Supreme 35.  This reel was chosen for several reasons, it is made very well, its smooth, and it also has a high speed retrieve. It retrieves the same amount of line  

( inches per turn of the handle) as my 8-1 Daiwa Tatula baitcaster.  For frogs that higher ratio means you can retrieve a  lot of line fast.  If a blow up and miss occurs  you are ready for your next cast quickly.  This reel will run you $100. This reel is spooled like all of my reels. I has half of a spool of Strem 14 pound Clear Blue mono backing and then it is filled up with 30 pound Power Pro Spectra braid.  It is 30 pound test but equal in diameter to 8 pound mono.  It cuts through Lily pads and other vegetation easily.

 

Since this is her exact combo I know it balances well, and is a joy to fish with, I am sure you will be happy using it. 

 

 When you are ready for your next setup take a serious look at my first suggestion of the Medium action rod. Instead,if you decide you want the perfect rod for throwing jigs and texas rigs, then look at the Irod Genesis II IRG 713S rod. That is her jigs rod and again I would match it with a either a President or Supreme reel in say a 30 or 35 series.

[new2BC4bass]

Not a lot of Heavy bass spinning rods, but Falcon has a 7' HF in the Bucoo SR line rated 3/8-1 oz.  I've no experience with this line although I do own several Falcon rods.  Diawa Tatula and Tatula XT offer a couple MHF rods at 7'2" and 7'3" respectively both rated 1/4-3/4 oz.  No experience with the XT line....or either line in spinning....but I own a few of the original Tatula casting rods and feel they are very nice rods for the money.  Especially since they can be found for about $110.  I'm also of the opinion that a MHF with that rating would be more versatile than a HF rod.  I am a fan of the Fenwick HMG rods.  They offer two 7' models that should work nicely for what you want.  One more in the Heavy area although listed as a MH.

 

In reels the Pflueger President is always a good option.  About the same price is a Diawa RG.  I gave one to a brother-in-law for his birthday and he is loving it.  Of course he normally buys all his gear at Walmart, so.....

 

No experience with Dobyns rods, but they get excellent reviews.  The Sierra and Supreme are going to put you on the high end of your budget.  Any combination I mentioned will be about $80-$100 below your $250 limit.

[CTBassin860]

34 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

Not a lot of Heavy bass spinning rods, but Falcon has a 7' HF in the Bucoo SR line rated 3/8-1 oz.  I've no experience with this line although I do own several Falcon rods.  Diawa Tatula and Tatula XT offer a couple MHF rods at 7'2" and 7'3" respectively both rated 1/4-3/4 oz.  No experience with the XT line....or either line in spinning....but I own a few of the original Tatula casting rods and feel they are very nice rods for the money.  Especially since they can be found for about $110.  I'm also of the opinion that a MHF with that rating would be more versatile than a HF rod.  I am a fan of the Fenwick HMG rods.  They offer two 7' models that should work nicely for what you want.  One more in the Heavy area although listed as a MH.

 

In reels the Pflueger President is always a good option.  About the same price is a Diawa RG.  I gave one to a brother-in-law for his birthday and he is loving it.  Of course he normally buys all his gear at Walmart, so.....

 

No experience with Dobyns rods, but they get excellent reviews.  The Sierra and Supreme are going to put you on the high end of your budget.  Any combination I mentioned will be about $80-$100 below your $250 limit.

×2 on the Tatula 721B

[Boomstick]

You seem to know what you want to fish, so I say go for it. If you don't mind a baitcaster, I wouldn't hesitate to get the Daiwa Tatula 7'4" heavy action frogging rod (model TAT741HFB). It did not take me long to learn to throw one myself, and I'm the type of person who I rather discoordinated and is at high risk of tripping over their own feet, so to speak.

 

I picked up a 6'10" MH fast action Tatula with a Tatula SV reel, and a 7' medium Mitchell pro combo for more finesse techniques and lighter lures. I'm not honestly sure if I will like the rod on the Mitchell pro combo, but the Mitchell 300 pro is a great reel and the combo is only $20 more than the reel itself. It might be worth checking out as it could throw smaller buzzbaits and spoons just fine. I figure this setup should cover most of my bases. If I do any real serious frog fishing this year in heavy cover, I'm using my catfish rod, but the MH Tatula should be decent to throw frogs in open water too.

 

But given that you know you want to throw frogs more often than not, I would say there is no reason you should compromise and get a MH rod with 20# braid, by all means get the heavy rod and put 50# or 65# braid on it. You know what you like to fish, and I assume also where you like to fish so get what suits you.