3 years on, thoughts on rods and reels for new people

[boudroux]

3 Years into my bass fishing and I'm convinced the best rod and reel is the one in your hand at the moment.  

 

When I first got into this I made a post or two that in hind sight were a combo of blind enthusiasm and a bit of being overwhelmed at the options and number of manuf. in this sport.  These probably made the experienced folks here take a deep breath and sigh and think geez use the search button guy. ha

 

A few years later, some sweet second hand purchases, more ass chewing from the wife about purchases then I care to count, a couple broken rods, 7 and 9 year olds who go through tackle and gear like a candy bar and now I'm feeling like offering a simple piece of advice to others who might be new to this.

 

Worry less about the gear and more about casting skills.  Because my sons are young but can throw a baitcaster very well they have a few 30'ish dollar BPS rods with KastKing assassin reels.  Wrinkle your nose but I can promise this much.  With these cheapo combo's I'll out fish a guy with top shelf gear who hasn't taken the time to practice casting until accuracy is achieved along with the ability to skip baits into small spots.

 

Another thing I keep running across is a lot of times you are never in a perfect position to do a easy front hand cast so being able to fish backhand, out of position and such has been a huge help.  I swear I catch more fish when the boat gets pushed out of position by wind or current and I see something I want to target and instead of taking the time to preposition the boat I just fire a cast with confidence that I'll hit it.  My primary fishing grounds is a river with strong current so this out of position stuff might not apply to some folks however I'm confident that casting skills would apply exactly the same on lakes.

 

One more thought for the new folks that I just recently figured out.  Find a person who is super experienced, buy them gas and food and spend all day on the back of their boat.  It was mind blowing watching a local bass club ass kicker grind for 6 hours straight.  I swear he got 3 casts to every one of mine and could hit a gap between tree branches the size of a freaking baseball from 35 feet away, almost every time all day long.

 

Stop obsessing on which $100 dollar rod is the most sensitive and get out there and practice casting with the same intensity, your fishing experience will be far more rewarding!  Just my opinion based on personal experience thus far.

 

 

 

 

[roadwarrior]

Great advice, but the specific gear can have an impact on performance.  Several of

the modestly priced KastKing, Okuma and Abu Garcia reels are VERY user friendly.

 

 

[Backroad Angler]

I definitely needed to hear this lol. I learned and started to fish about a year or so ago(tack on some months lol) since then I've blown so much money on quite expensive gear( at least for me), I have been focusing on technique/skills but probably not as much as I should. Thanks again sir!

[Brew City Bass]

Rod and reels are only the tools we use to catch bass. They don't catch the bass, we do. 

I only refer people to high end gear if they can logically afford it. I have some higher end gear, but I don't catch more bass because of it. What it does do for me is make fishing for comfortable and fun. Longevity is also a part.

[Krux5506]

Get what you want and just get out and fish!! Most of my buddies are gear nerds and I think it gets a little out of hand sometimes. I can't blame them, the market is designed to lure us in. Sometimes I'm convinced it's gotta be the easiest sport to market to.

[Mobasser]

I don't have to have the latest, best gear. I have some newer stuff, but also run some older round ABU reels that I still love to fish. Buy the best you can afford, and try to maintain it well. And I agree. You won't catch any fish if you're in the wrong areas, regardless of what gear your using