Which Combo?

[papajoe222]

So for those of you that have and use different combos, which one of yours will see the most use throughout a season?

For decades, I could answer that question without looking at the condition of the reel..... my jig combo.  This year and possibly last, my Med. cranking combo saw more use than my jig combo.  I did use it for more than just med. diving cranks though.  2.5 squarebills, Red Eye Shads and 4in. swimbaits were also tossed at one point or another. Of the nine combos that I normally keep on my deck, these two see the bulk of fishing time.  The only other one that comes anywhere near to them is a med.light/mod fast rod paired with my Alphas 103.

[Catt]

Texas Rigs weightless-1/4 oz

Powell Inferno 703C MH X-Fast

Lew's Team Lite Speed Spool 

 

Jig-n-Craws 1/4-1/2 oz

Diawia Tatula TTU711 MH X-Fast 

Lew's Tournament MP

[Columbia Craw]

Drop Shot

Dobyns Xtreme 702SF

Daiwa Luvias 2500

 

Medium Depth Crankbaits

Dobyns Champion 764CB RM

Lews BB1

[Mike L]

 

Diawa Tatula 7’1” MH/XF

T rig up to 1/2 oz 

20# Shooter 

 

Frog/Pitching Stick

Dobyns Kaden 715C

50# braid

 

 

 

Mike

[roadwarrior]

G.Loomis GLX PR844S/ Shimano Stella/ Tatsu #6

G.Loomis GLX MBR842C/ Shimano Core/ Smackdown #12 w/ Tatsu #15 leader

G.Loomis GLX PR844C/ Shimano Aldebaran/ Sunline Shooter Armilo #11

[FishTank]

Last year it was a Dawia Steez SV TW and a St. Legend Elite 6'8'' M Fast.  This year it has been split between the same set up and a Shimano Vanquish 3000 with a G. Loomis 803S NRX>  But after the tip broke on the NRX (my fault), I have been using my old St. Croix Avid.  

 

On a side note, as the season starts to end I was thinking of the reels I will work on for people this year and the question of which reels will give my a head ache always comes up.  One of the thoughts that goes through my head is "There is always one reel from each guy that gets beat up the most".   You can always tell which one is the favorite go to on the outside by how much grime is on it but the insides always tell me which reel can withstand a beating and which ones can't.   A lot is based on how and what a guy fishes.   It always weird to see a few almost untouched reels and that one that looks like it been drug through the mud. 

[QED]

UL Casting:

Shimano GR-01451 UL Graphite Casting Rod

Daiwa Steez CT SV TW, 6 lb mono

 

UL Spinning:

Fenwick Golden Wing 49UL Graphite Spinning Rod

Shimano Soare CI4+ 500S, 4 lb mono

 

The heavy vegetation that was common at my local lake during the summer is mostly gone now, so UL works great for the fall.

[T-Billy]

#1 Ark Tharp King Cobra, Lew's Super Duty, 40# 832, T-Rigged Beaver.

#2 Ark Tharp Meterman Special, Penn Spinfisher VI 2500, 6# XT, Z Man TRD Bug on a 1/8 football jig.

#3 Abu Veritas Winch 7'6" MH, Lew's Super Duty, homebrew chatterbait, 30# 832.

 

[islandbass]

6 hours ago, QED said:

UL Casting:

Shimano GR-01451 Graphite UL Casting Rod

Daiwa Steez CT SV TW, 6 lb mono

 

UL Spinning:

Fenwick Golden Wing 49UL Graphite Spinning Rod

Shimano Soare CI4+ 500S, 4 lb mono

 

The heavy vegetation that was common at my local lake during the summer is mostly gone now, so UL works great for the fall.

Very nice. If Count Dooku had a casting rig,I bet it would look very similar to the top image. 

 

This year, as I focused on light weight t-rigs, my Cabelas mag touch casting rod mated to my trusty green curado bag with 14# mono. This has been in hand much this season. So much so that for me, being for much of my bassin’ career, has stayed on the finesse side (and primarily drop shot) of the spectrum, my crutch DS was not employed until this month that I can recall. I was facing brutal conditions and weather earlier this week targeting smallies, that I had to go smaller and smaller and finally nailed my first smallie this month. As in tune with the DS as I’ve been in past seasons, it actually felt weird, and it took me a minute or two to “readjust” to finesse level force, lol. I’ve been t-rigging all season hopping and popping and dragging so much so that when I was drop shotting, I was unintentionally hopping my weight instead of keeping it on the bottom when I was working the semi-slack. 
 

On the spinning side, it was been either my 7’ Okuma celilo for the UL and my Shimano Compre for weightless t-rigs. 
 

These are my 2-piece rods. My true bass rods hardly get used these days for convenience sake as they don’t fit in the trunk. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by islandbass
Added Dooku’s Lightsaber for comparison to QED’s rog

[scaleface]

I like this combo so much that I bought a second one . 7 foot mh Okuma Epixor paired with a Piscifun Phantom . I throw just about everything on it . 

[Lead Head]

NFC x-ray SJ-736  (built casting) 

Daiwa SS SV 103 (gears upgraded to 8.1.1 and carbontex drag) 

 

3/8oz jigs mostly, occasional 1/2oz