Lots of rods vs. Lots of tackle

[RPreeb]

6 minutes ago, bowhunter22 said:

I guess I was more looking for if you had to choose one not what you are currently doing.. obviously you would pick a lot of both..

 

 

I still don't think that I'd change much.  Too much tackle I just find confusing, and more than my 3 rods would just clutter up my canoe.  I guess I'm just a fan of simplification. 

 

It also means fewer issues trying to explain things to my wife, who has no grasp at all of what is involved.  As far as she is concerned, I've already gone off the deep end. 

[Backroad Angler]

Honestly if I had to choose between a lot of rods or a lot of lures,  I would go with a ton of the different types of lures/colors 5000 spinnerbaits, 5000 swimbaits, I'm in heaven .  But in reality, I'm going with a bit of both lol. 

[Sam]

Bass Fishing Rule 1 - You can never have enough rods.

 

Bass Fishing Rule 2 - You can never have enough tackle.

 

Bass Fishing Rule 3 - Keep adding to your arsenal.

[DropShotHotShot]

I have limited my tackle,  i find i only throw what i have confidence in.  So i am in the camp of having several rods rigged with my most confident presentations.  I always have a weightless senko, a spinnerbait (swim jig is phasing out), a deep crank bait, a dropshot, and a few more that i think will produce on the lake that day.  I loke the speed of changing presentations without retieing.  Faster fishing, also lets me better match rods to techniques.

 

I normally have 5-6 rods on deck, and several more in locker

[N Florida Mike]

This is hurting my brain to figure out...?

[Angry John]

Less rods and more lures.  I only say this because I keep moving and what I was using in that other state does not work.  To be fair I move from NE to pnw to tenessee and nothing is the same.

[WRB]

I have over 15 rod & reel combos that get used during the year. I have more lures then I can remember.

If  shore fishing I prefer only 1 outfit with limited lures like worms or whatever that may work where I am shore fishing.

My boat is my tackle storage unit and full of rods, reels and everything.

When fishing from a partners boat it takes me lots of research to limit 4 or 5 rods what to take for lures and it’s not an easy decision.

Tom

[bigbill]

I fish from shore all the time, five spinning rod outfits. From ultra light to heavy. Different line test. Line test does influence how your bait runs and reacts. A baitcaster for a jig n pig. Lighter line test for smaller lighter baits with a lighter rod setup.

 

Five tackle boxes. One with all crankbaits of all brands, sizes, colors. Second all topwater baits of all sizes, styles and colors. Third topwater with newer style baits, frogs,  in-line spinners, spinnerbaits, propbaits etc. Fourth plastics with rig setups in zip lock bags, from worms, creature baits, minnowbaits etc. Fifth, weedless baits.

 

i probably look silly with everything but since I fish near the car now I fish out of the car. Or set it up and park the car. I can’t seem to limit my tackle. I’m using Plano 9606 hip roof boxes filled to the hilt. Plus I’m a decaded serious color freak. On a slow day, I know the fish are there just not biting. Is it the color of the bait that matters the most? Sometimes, we’re like a baseball pitcher we need to toss a change up pitch.

 

Plan A i start off with a variety of baits, sizes and color till I get action. Plan B second pass I go with different presentations. I’m in no hurry to figure it out. I take my time and stay motivated and focused. It can be as little as changing from a orginal bass attractant to a garlic scent that triggers them. Never give up there’s always that split shot rigged plastic worm. Don’t put all your fan casts next to each other. Skip fan casting, move your casts away from each other. I also like to cast past my targeted area and work my baits 10’ from where the fish are. Make the fish come to your baits don’t spook them.

15 hours ago, Angry John said:

Less rods and more lures.  I only say this because I keep moving and what I was using in that other state does not work.  To be fair I move from NE to pnw to tenessee and nothing is the same.

Your hot baits can change from place to place. Even if there a mile apart. Everyday in the same spot baits can change. Even when the bite slows down I up size my baits first. The scale down if larger sized baits don’t work. The more knowledge we learn it works at different places too.

 

[Angry John]

4 hours ago, bigbill said:

Your hot baits can change from place to place. Even if there a mile apart. Everyday in the same spot baits can change. Even when the bite slows down I up size my baits first. The scale down if larger sized baits don’t work. The more knowledge we learn it works at different places too.

 

Yea but mostly the forage is different.  They have no shad in the PNW and in CT alewife was the primary forage in most lakes.  Now here in TN shad is the main feed.  I used a lot of watermelon in both CT and PNW but the water here in about half of the lakes and ponds i frequent need green pumpkin or black blue in a soft plastic.  I dont by a lot of plastics for this reason and i may have 10 or so bags that dont get use.  The good news is when i go on trips to Texas the water in Austin is crystal clear so i use them up there when i visit.  I have prevented a huge pile of plastic by sticking to the basics and not going color crazy.

[roadwarrior]

 

[pondbassin101]

I only have 3 rods either way, so I would go with a large assortment of lures to work with.

[haggard]

I'd go with fewer rods and less tackle but that's not one of the choices.

 

I'd go with lots of rods and then just take four rods max with me at any time, because lots of tackle means lots of choices to make and retying every time.

 

I'd go with lots of tackle because lots of rods take up way more space than lots of tackle.

 

I'll go with lots of rods and lots of tackle so I can sell lots of rods and lots of tackle and just go back to 2 or 3 combos and a single box of tackle

 

11 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

 

That post gets a lot of mileage and rightly so.

[LionHeart]

Lots of rods.  I use less than half the tackle I have, and hate stopping to re-tie just to change lures, then regret changing lures and re-tie the original lure back on.

[Pitch'nCypress]

More rods less tackle for me. I'd rather have multiple bottom baits and reaction types baits all rigged at once. In all honestly the same basic baits have caught bass forever. So much stuff out there to catch fishermen more so than fish. Believe me, me and my wallet speak ths truth.....lol.

[Scrapiron]

On 2/27/2018 at 9:53 AM, Team9nine said:

I'm the opposite, striving for limited tackle AND limited combos (simplicity)...making progress, but I'm not there yet 

Same here. Still working and toying with getting down to three freshwater setups and two inshore. As a kayaker, for me, more than 3 rods gets unmanageable as I'd rather just focus on fishing. Of course same goes with lures.