Need lots of help! Beginner - just bought a ton of rods and reels

[noercarr]

Just bought a dozen+ rod/reel combos from a gentleman giving up the sport. Add a few of my own and I'm completely overwhelmed. Can I get some feedback on whats great, good and not worth the space?

 

I've "fished" since I was a kid off and on but basically just stood on the bank and cast what I had in my tackle box that my grandpa gave me. I'm now in Washington State near the Columbia River and ready to make this a legit hobby. The bug has bit me.

 

I'd like 3or4 UL-ish combos for my local lake of trout and bass. 2 for the rivers that'll have some larger stuff, steelhead and salmon and 1 or 2 for some big salmon on the Columbia. I also just purchased a used Nucanoe Pursuit kayak and plan on using that as my main method of fishing where reasonable, bank fishing otherwise. I'm being guided next week for some Sturgeon but don't see being on a boat all that often in the near future. 

 

I'll post below some photos and brief descriptions of what I have, and then some followup questions if anyone is able to help. Things like "hey that's a piece of garbage don't bother" and "you know what a better reel for that rod would be" are welcome. I'm open to purchasing a couple more things if needed, but if I have enough "nice!" setups then all the better.

See below for the collection...

 

 

L>R

4'6" UL Ugly with a Shakespeare synergy baitcaster(nice for trolling behind the kayak, lending to a friend)

5' UL Ugly Elite with Okuma caymar c30 (literally bought this yesterday, really looking forward to it being my go-to for small stuff in the kayak)

5' UL Ugly with Shake usp5125 spinner (been using this mostly, it's an alright rig?)

Are these too short for lake bank fishing? I have longer rods(below), but the action is a little heavy for some of the small trout from my understanding. A medium rod for a 2lb fish is.... what? Difficult to feel the fish bite on? Anything else?

 

 

L>R

6'6" M Ugly with 325 wright and mcgill spinner (rod is older but fine, spinner is very cheap looking)

6'6" M Ugly with Shimano Mix 300 spinner (Newer rod, reel action is decent, perhaps a cleaning would help with "fast cast" option which is kind of nice)

6'6" M Shake Alpha spi310 with Abu Garcia 5500C (rod is decent and reel is nice from my research but boy am I confused about the operation. Seems like a left-hander or perhaps on the wrong type of rod? Would love some feedback on that!)

 

******* Reached my max attachment level, see below for next post - pt.2*******

 

 

[noercarr]

Next up....

 

 

L>R

6'6" M Ugly with Abu Garcia Cardinal 753 (Older rod and the action on the cardinal is stiff/sticky. Would definitely need an overhaul/cleaning. Worth it?)

6'6" M Quantum Lite(8-14lb) with Quantum Long Stroke QL3 (seems like a very basic/cheap setup)

8'6" MH (10-20lb) Lamiglas g1311 with Shimano Sedona 6000 F (seems like a descent, large setup)

7' Eagle claw Tom Mann with Penn 209 low wind (rod seems sort of custom, has a Coors logo on it and rod is pretty antique looking)

 

 

5'6" M Ugly BC with Abu Garcia 5501-c3 (reel in pretty solid condition, looks like something to hang on to)

7' rod with Mitchell 300 reel (rod is a tank, roddy recreation brand?, reel functions, seems antique)

6" M Pflueger rod- descent

Finally the beautiful 7' M (20-50lb) Ugly Tiger with Abu Garcia 6501c3 (This is so pretty I don't want to even take it out!)

 

 

Also have this big boy, just bought it for some salmon bank fishing

 

 

10' rod with Okuma fin chaser 65bl

 

Any and all feedback appreciated!

 

[noercarr]

Forgot one more:

 

 

6'6" M Pflueger Summit S3660 with Shake Alpha 40 reel

[MickD]

Pretty overwhelming for a forum to handle.  I'd hook up (good pun, right?)  with an experienced fisherman and go over your stuff with him.

 

Generally the longer the rod the longer it will cast.  Short ultra lights are notorious for trouble with casting distance and hook sets.  I started my young grandkids with 7 foot rods instead of the short "toys."

 

You mention lending, that first rod is the only one I'd lend until I sorted out the keepers from the slugs.  Then lend the slugs only.  Many have been disappointed in how their "friends" have handled their rods/reels.

 

Without being able to handle the sets it's hard to recommend anything, at least for me.

[noercarr]

Haha, nice. I would love to pick the brain of someone local but I'm finding that a little difficult. The new town I moved to has a population of 1,200 (just moved from a county of 3.2 million ) and meetup groups are basically nonexistent unless I drive 90 minutes to Portland. Plus, I find just getting one person's opinion is sometimes biased due to brand loyalty, etc and getting multiple is ideal for getting a well-rounded answer. That's why I enjoy forums so much. 

 

But I appreciate the thought of the long rods. So If I put one of my multiple 6'6" rods on that 3rd Shake spinner I'll be a little better set for some bank casting? That's a great start, thanks!

[ResoKP]

First thing I'd do is re-spool all the reels you plan on using with fresh new lines.

[Allen Der]

hopefully you didnt spend too much on that lot.  looks like mostly cheap ugly sticks and old reels.  money probably would have been better spent on a couple new combos

[Fishingmickey]

Noe,

     The Ambassadors are good reels and should be excellent for salmon,bass or larger trout (think steelhead). Might need some serious cleaning, lubrication and fresh line. I noticed you have a mix of left and right handed Ambassador reels.  if you can learn how to use both it is a big plus.

     A number of the rods looked like they might need to be retired. Very short butts or what comes out of butts etc. It's really hard to say with out seeing them. Rod technology has come a long ways in the last 30 years. I'd separate your rods and reels, pick out your gems and see what kind of sensible combo's you can come up with. then I'd keep an eyeball open at Wal-mart for when the Berkley lighting or Berkley shock rods get put on clearance and you can usually pick them up for 20-30 bucks. 

Good luck and enjoy the diversity of the fishing there! I am jelly for sure. Fishing the PNW is on my bucket list. 

Fishingmickey 

[WRB]

Salmon and steelhead are river fish on the west coast where longer rods with spinning reels are common and are a advantage to casting lnline spinners or roe clusters. You have a few outfits suitable for river fishing.

Most of the outfits are shorter 80's vintage with a few up dated reels. The bait casting rods are pistol grip or short handle styles.

Take them out and try them with fresh line, you will determine what's works for you.

Tom

[noercarr]

On 5/17/2019 at 12:14 PM, Allen Der said:

hopefully you didnt spend too much on that lot.  looks like mostly cheap ugly sticks and old reels.  money probably would have been better spent on a couple new combos

They came out to about $11 a combo, plus I got some nets. I saw some Abu reels were going for 70-80 on ebay so couldn't be that bad of a deal. 

On 5/17/2019 at 1:21 PM, Fishingmickey said:

Noe,

     The Ambassadors are good reels and should be excellent for salmon,bass or larger trout (think steelhead). Might need some serious cleaning, lubrication and fresh line. I noticed you have a mix of left and right handed Ambassador reels.  if you can learn how to use both it is a big plus.

     A number of the rods looked like they might need to be retired. Very short butts or what comes out of butts etc. It's really hard to say with out seeing them. Rod technology has come a long ways in the last 30 years. I'd separate your rods and reels, pick out your gems and see what kind of sensible combo's you can come up with. then I'd keep an eyeball open at Wal-mart for when the Berkley lighting or Berkley shock rods get put on clearance and you can usually pick them up for 20-30 bucks. 

Good luck and enjoy the diversity of the fishing there! I am jelly for sure. Fishing the PNW is on my bucket list. 

Fishingmickey 

This is exactly the helpful feedback I was looking for, thank you. The info on the rods are especially helpful. Looks like I'll be taking apart the Abu Garcias and giving them an overhaul, and looking to score some decent rods to replace them on. I'm certainly enjoying it here so far. I hope to post some sturgeon photos here after my trip on Wednesday!

[noercarr]

9 hours ago, WRB said:

Salmon and steelhead are river fish on the west coast where longer rods with spinning reels are common and are a advantage to casting lnline spinners or roe clusters. You have a few outfits suitable for river fishing.

Most of the outfits are shorter 80's vintage with a few up dated reels. The bait casting rods are pistol grip or short handle styles.

Take them out and try them with fresh line, you will determine what's works for you.

Tom

Interesting. What makes baitcasters more appropriate for short handles over long handles? I had heard pistol grips were the ideal choice... So maybe some of these shorter handles are ideal for the baitcasters?

[WRB]

Spinning reels came from Europe (France) in the 50's to the USA, the rods had straight longer handles with 2 sliding rings to hold the reel onto the handle, reel location was easy to adjust to suit the angler and balance. Most anglers are right handed so early spinning reels cranking handles were on the left side, hold the rod right handed and retreive using the left hand without switching hands.

Early bait casting reels were American designs and rods used a clamp type reel mount incorporated into a short pistol grip type handle held by the right hand, however the reel cranking handle was on the right side to allow them to spin at 12 O'clock with the casting wrist positioned sideways or thumb towards your ear and on the reel spool to control the cast. 

That is the basic history.

Bait casting reels evolved with anti reverse and free turning spools allowing anglers to 2 hand cast using longer handle rods, no longer necessary to hold the rod with sideways wrist, the modern trigger stick bass rods were borne around the early 70's along with low profile reels.

Today 90% of bass angler use longer handle rods and low profile reels.

Tom

[noercarr]

On 5/18/2019 at 8:21 AM, WRB said:

Spinning reels came from Europe (France) in the 50's to the USA, the rods had straight longer handles with 2 sliding rings to hold the reel onto the handle, reel location was easy to adjust to suit the angler and balance. Most anglers are right handed so early spinning reels cranking handles were on the left side, hold the rod right handed and retreive using the left hand without switching hands.

Early bait casting reels were American designs and rods used a clamp type reel mount incorporated into a short pistol grip type handle held by the right hand, however the reel cranking handle was on the right side to allow them to spin at 12 O'clock with the casting wrist positioned sideways or thumb towards your ear and on the reel spool to control the cast. 

That is the basic history.

Bait casting reels evolved with anti reverse and free turning spools allowing anglers to 2 hand cast using longer handle rods, no longer necessary to hold the rod with sideways wrist, the modern trigger stick bass rods were borne around the early 70's along with low profile reels.

Today 90% of bass angler use longer handle rods and low profile reels.

Tom

Thats rad, thanks for the history lesson. It's so interesting how little technological advancements can change an industry's product, like a reel advancement impacting a rod design across the board.

[Fishes in trees]

Never been a fan of Shakespeare reels - can't help you there, I don't even know if they are worth cleaning.  The Cardinal 753 - I'd clean that one.  I've got a couple and mind are great trout fishing reels - for me - fishing at Lake Taneycomo.   No clue about what to fish for in Pacific Northwest - but that reel will throw little spinners on. 4 lb line - at least it does for me.  Previous advice on having the Ambassadors professionally cleaned is good advice.   I'd get that Shimano Sedona done also - it is a decent all purpose reel, a little big for me, but most guys have larger hands than I do.  The pistol grip rods, imo are wall hangers, not really a collector item, but I wouldn't fish with them.   Actually, most of those rods I'd clean up and use as wall hangers.

 

I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the greater Portland area there are several decent tackle shops.   Do some research, find out where they are, take a Saturday to visit and chat and find out stuff.   Or maybe a Thursday, they're likely to be much less busy on a Thursday.   While you're in Portland, realize that you're in one of the micro-brewery capitals of the country.   Take some time to grab a good sandwich and lift a few pints.   I'd go to the Bridgeport Brew Pub.  Never been there myself, but I like their IPA, a batch of which makes it to Kansas City from time to time.