3-4 Rod setup for $4-500!

[EVG]

I’m just getting back into bass fishing and am basically starting with nothing and want to build my setup.  I don’t want to spend a ton as I need to learn how to fish all the various techniques before jumping in and buying more expensive equipment.

 

I am thinking a 3-4 rod setup.  I have found the Shimano SLX combos for $126, looked into the Daiwa Fuego CT and Daiwa AirdX Rods.  Not even opposed to purchasing the orange Shock rods from Walmart.  My reasoning for wanting multiple rods is to have multiple setups ready to go and not spend all my time tying on lures.

 

I have an old Berkley Tactics Medium spinning rod that I am probably going to throw a Trion on and a few of my grandpas older 6’6” Medium heavy rods that will probably get some black max reels.  These will be backups and for new people I take with me to use.

 

So the question is where would the money be spent the best?  Thinking 2-3 baitcasters and 1 spinning?

 

I’m going to start off fishing in Iowa starting with T Rigs, Senkos, Ned Rigs, wacky rigs, drop shot, and flukes. Basically starting with plastics and work my way into spinners, cranks, and chatterbaits.

 

 Thanks in advance!

[A-Jay]

Hello Eric and Welcome to Bass Resource ~

Interesting first post.

Good luck with whatever you're selling there.

A-Jay

[EVG]

4 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Hello Eric and Welcome to Bass Resource ~

Interesting first post.

Good luck with whatever you're selling there.

A-Jay

I apologize, got messed up creating my account, didn’t mean to post it yet!

 

Just stumbled upon this forum last night and love the fact it’s not all about high end gear!

[EGbassing]

21 minutes ago, EVG said:

I have found the Shimano SLX combos for $126

WHERE? ?

[EVG]

1 minute ago, EGbassing said:

WHERE? ?

I can’t take credit for this, someone posted yesterday, and I saw it.  New subscribers get 10% off bringing these down to $126!  I’ll post the link, if it’s not ok, please let me know and I’ll remove it!

 

https://www.americanlegacyfishing.com/shimano-slx-casting-rod-reel-combo.html

[Scott F]

Before you start spending, determine where and what and how you are going to fish, then purchase gear for those situations.  No use buying gear suggested here for situations you might never see.

[NYWayfarer]

1 hour ago, EVG said:

Not even opposed to purchasing the orange Shock rods from Walmart.  

Speaking of Walmart, they have nice combos from Lew's called the Xfinity. They recently came out with orange versions of the spinning and baitcasting models $70 - $90 I handled the spinning version and it's pretty solid. A budget version of their Mach series combos.

 

The spinning combo would be great for Ned rigs, wacky rigs and dropshotting. The Baitcasting combo for T-rigs and cranks.

[EVG]

15 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Before you start spending, determine where and what and how you are going to fish, then purchase gear for those situations.  No use buying gear suggested here for situations you might never see.

Updated OP to reflect where I’m starting, Thanks!

[Boomstick]

1 hour ago, EVG said:

I am thinking a 3-4 rod setup.  I have found the Shimano SLX combos for $126, looked into the Daiwa Fuego CT and Daiwa AirdX Rods.  Not even opposed to purchasing the orange Shock rods from Walmart.

Given your price point I would be all over that SLX combos. I have no direct experience with the SLX but with my experience with Shimano in general, I highly doubt you'll do much better for the price and that will let you buy a quality three rod setup. The Shock or even the Cherrywood are also great budget options if that falls through, but you still need a reel and a SLX and a Cherrywood rod will run about the same price!

 

Last year, I carried primarily a 3 rod setup, which consisted of a MH/F rod for jigs, soft plastics and frogs, a MH/MF glass rod for pretty much all moving baits (a M/F or M/XF rod could also work pretty well here as that can fish weightless soft plastics but the MH/MF glass rod can fish a 1/2oz chatterbait or spinnerbait, which I wouldn't try on a M/F) and a ML/XF spinning rod for finesse tactics. It covered most baits pretty decently.

 

I would recommend the following:

 

St Croix Mojo Bass 6'10" ML/XF drop shot/finesse spinning rod - $130 virtually anywhere. I actually have the Avid X which has the same blank! It's virtually impossible to miss a bite on that.

Daiwa BG, 1500 or 2000 size - $90-100 on amazon right now, but I got mine (2000) for $70 or $75.

SLX combo, 7'2" medium rod with a 6.3:1 reel. Run 10-12lb mono or fluorocarbon and use this for cranks, jerkbaits and weightless plastics.

SLX combo, 6'10" medium heavy rod with a 7.2:1 reel. Run 12-17lb mono (or 40lb braid if you throw frogs) and use this for jigs, weighted soft plastics, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits etc.

 

The other thing I might suggest is going down to two rods initially, which would let you buy some higher end gear. You still can have 2 setups ready to go but would forgo the cranking rod for better quality gear. It has some advantages as well as you could focus on building your confidence lures and then you could add a cranking rod later. Since you said you plan on focusing on soft plastics, this seems to make sense and you can also fish jigs, bladed jigs and spinnerbaits as well -- and even larger cranks for later in the season.

 

I would buy the same spinning setup then add a St Croix Mojo Bass 7'1' MH/F jig & bait rod - usually around $130.

 

For casting reels, pick one:

Daiwa Tatula SV 7.3:1 gear ratio - $167 from tricetackle on ebay (I've bought two from this seller without issue). This puts you a little over budget, but the SV is great for lighter lures and pitching and skipping as well as it's really tough to bird's best.

Pflueger Supreme XT - $120 on amazon. This is a lesser known reel but I bought my youngest son one and it's great! Casts a mile, brakes well and it's very light! It casts further than the Tatula SV, but doesn't have the additional braking.

 

I hope that helps.

[greentrout]

 

 

good fishing ....

[TBAG]

SLX combos for that price can't be beat.

 

I'd stay away from Kastking.

[Joshua van Wyk]

15 minutes ago, TBAG said:

SLX combos for that price can't be beat.

 

I'd stay away from Kastking.

Agreed. The slx reels are great and I've heard the rods are high quality too.

[EVG]

7 hours ago, Boomstick said:

Given your price point I would be all over that SLX combos. I have no direct experience with the SLX but with my experience with Shimano in general, I highly doubt you'll do much better for the price and that will let you buy a quality three rod setup. The Shock or even the Cherrywood are also great budget options if that falls through, but you still need a reel and a SLX and a Cherrywood rod will run about the same price!

 

Last year, I carried primarily a 3 rod setup, which consisted of a MH/F rod for jigs, soft plastics and frogs, a MH/MF glass rod for pretty much all moving baits (a M/F or M/XF rod could also work pretty well here as that can fish weightless soft plastics but the MH/MF glass rod can fish a 1/2oz chatterbait or spinnerbait, which I wouldn't try on a M/F) and a ML/XF spinning rod for finesse tactics. It covered most baits pretty decently.

 

I would recommend the following:

 

St Croix Mojo Bass 6'10" ML/XF drop shot/finesse spinning rod - $130 virtually anywhere. I actually have the Avid X which has the same blank! It's virtually impossible to miss a bite on that.

Daiwa BG, 1500 or 2000 size - $90-100 on amazon right now, but I got mine (2000) for $70 or $75.

SLX combo, 7'2" medium rod with a 6.3:1 reel. Run 10-12lb mono or fluorocarbon and use this for cranks, jerkbaits and weightless plastics.

SLX combo, 6'10" medium heavy rod with a 7.2:1 reel. Run 12-17lb mono (or 40lb braid if you throw frogs) and use this for jigs, weighted soft plastics, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits etc.

 

The other thing I might suggest is going down to two rods initially, which would let you buy some higher end gear. You still can have 2 setups ready to go but would forgo the cranking rod for better quality gear. It has some advantages as well as you could focus on building your confidence lures and then you could add a cranking rod later. Since you said you plan on focusing on soft plastics, this seems to make sense and you can also fish jigs, bladed jigs and spinnerbaits as well -- and even larger cranks for later in the season.

 

I would buy the same spinning setup then add a St Croix Mojo Bass 7'1' MH/F jig & bait rod - usually around $130.

 

For casting reels, pick one:

Daiwa Tatula SV 7.3:1 gear ratio - $167 from tricetackle on ebay (I've bought two from this seller without issue). This puts you a little over budget, but the SV is great for lighter lures and pitching and skipping as well as it's really tough to bird's best.

Pflueger Supreme XT - $120 on amazon. This is a lesser known reel but I bought my youngest son one and it's great! Casts a mile, brakes well and it's very light! It casts further than the Tatula SV, but doesn't have the additional braking.

 

I hope that helps.

Thank you for the insight! Will look into it all this evening!

[CrankFate]

I would go with one reel at $200-250, with one heavy rod and one light rod in the $150-200 range. This would cover most applications. 

[Allen Der]

Sounds like you'd be better off with at least two spinning rods.  Senko/fluke and drop shot/ned.  Casting rod for spinner baits and chatter baits.

 

I'd put your money into reels and maybe one $100 plus rod.  When you have more money you can get better rods. The berkley tactics rod would be fine for wacky senkos and a lot of other stuff. 

 

Pflueger reels are great for the money.  The president XT and supremes are nice and light in both spinning and casting.  I think there's still a $20 rebate if you buy a pflueger reel and a Fenwick rod.  

[FishinBuck07]

I have the SLX combo and for that price you said I would by a couple more if I needed more.  I have only fished with it a few times because I just bought it over the winter, but so far it is very good.  You getting a very nice rod and reel with that combo and saving money at the same time.

[EVG]

Planning on ordering my rods either tonight or tomorrow, was going to get the St Croix spinning and 2 of the SLX combos! 

 

In researching I believe I can get a Dobyns Fury/Daiwa Fuego CT combo for around $180, would this be worth spending the additional $55 per setup over the SLX?

 

Only issue I’m seeing is they don’t make the fury in a Medium/fast configuration!

[WRB]

My advice is select a reel and rod make and stay with that choice in lieu of mixing several different mfr's. 

Both Daiwa and Shimano make excellent reels in both casting and spinning. Dobyns is a good rod company with several choices in your price point.

I didn't read if you are interested in spinning for finesse presentations, a big factor in today's bass fishing. 

I would say 2 bait casting outfits and 1 spinning within your budget range; Daiwa Fuego reels and Dobyns Colt rods for example.

Tom

[Lead Head]

To me, the MH fury fishes like a M in most other brands. I've learned to focus more on lure weight recommendations than listed powers (thanks bassresource).

[EVG]

So I’m basically going to blow my budget out of the water and buy what I want!  

 

The 2 main rods are going to be a St Croix Mojo Bass ML with a Daiwa BG2000, the second is going to be a Mojo Bass MH with a Daiwa Tatula SV TW.

 

I’m going to purchase 2 cheaper rods for less experienced anglers and for me to use a secondary rods.

 

One being the Xfinity M spinning combo from WalMart and a M Cherrywood with a Abu Garcia Black Max, this will allow me to experiment with cranks, jerkbaits, and etc and see how I like it.

 

Eventually I will add a Mojo Bass M with another Daiwa Tatula SV once the funds will allow!

[TBAG]

Good choice, can't go wrong with St. Croix or Daiwa!