5 rods to do just about everything.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

Would these 5 rods cover almost everything except big swimbaits which I don’t even own and super tinny finesse? If not what am I missing?

7’4 heavy fast with 50lb braid:  for frogs big jigs, punching

7’3 medium heavy fast with 40lb braid to a leader: for fishing jigs, t-rigs and other stuff around grass.

7’0 medium heavy with 15 or 17lb fluoro: for jigs and t-rigs in open water and spinnerbaits and chatterbaits

7’0 medium regular with 12lb fluoro: crankbaits, jerkbaits 

7’0 medium fast spinning rod with 10lb braid to a leader: finesse stuff and light treble hook top water,  just take the leader off

Let me know if I’m way off on anything or my line choices are bad

[MN Fisher]

I would leave the leader on the M/F Spinning rig for light trebles....you want the 'give' that Mono or FC will give you to keep them hooked.

 

Otherwise it looks pretty good.

[king fisher]

Your good to go. Very similar to my 5 combos. May not be perfect but works ok for me.

[Jig Man]

I would add a spinning rod 7’ mlf because it is super versatile.  It is one of my favorite setups.  I use it a lot more than my 7’ mf.

[Obi_Wan]

I don't use a Hvy rod, so for me, I would get a ML spin rod and not use the heavy.  I would use the MH wtih 40 lb braid for  frogs and such.

[CDMTJager]

I would immagine weather you're a boat fishermen or a shore fisherman it pays at least a moderate roll in your spinning rod selection because shore fisherman have not the luxury of pulling up to a big bass in the weeds to get her out.

 

By that I mean a shore fisherman will likely need as I did recently upgrade his MF spinning rod to MHF to help prevent bass from getting to deep in the weeds and if in the weeds not to deep yet get them out. 

Been losing to many bass to the weeds lately while fishing soft plastics so I am now moving from MF spinning rods to all MHF spinning rods. Still to early to conclude it was a wise move but I have already stopped losing fish to weeds but that was during only one outing.

If I am in reasonably open areas from shore I will use MF spinning rod, but all my baitcasting rods and now most of my spinning rods are MHF. 

[Woody B]

6 rods?????  Why so many?

[new2BC4bass]

10 hours ago, Woody B said:

6 rods?????  Why so many?

Seriously????  Are you trying to make the rest of us look bad?

 

OP, double the number of rods, and you'll almost be halfway to having enough for a short outing. 

 

 

Just kidding!  Are you satisfied with what you have, or has the Bait Monkey been giving you the come hither look?

 

I used to fish with one rod and caught more fish than I do today with a much larger arsenal.

[Bird]

For years I took 2 rods and caught fish now there lies 14 in the rod locker 😳.

 

I only own 1 heavy for frogs, medium sees most of the action with braid but I'm throwing a lot of finesse in clear water.

[Brian11719]

On 6/1/2024 at 3:42 PM, Jig Man said:

I would add a spinning rod 7’ mlf because it is super versatile.  It is one of my favorite setups.  I use it a lot more than my 7’ mf.

+1 to this. If it were me I'd definitely start w/ these 4:

 

spinning:

7' ml f

7' m f

 

casting:

7'2" mh f

7'4" h f

 

For the last 2 it would depend on where I was and what I liked to do. So for example it says you are in MN so you might not have as much grass up there and could probably throw trebles more. In that case (if you like treble lures) it might make sense to go with a longer rod for heavier cranks and a lighter one for jerkbaits, topwater poppers, etc. 

 

On the other hand if you aren't going to throw trebles as much you could just get a 7'2" MH MF that you could do for all your treble hook lures then that opens up a slot for something like a heavy rod for smaller swimbaits or another medium heavy fast rod.

 

One last thing - I personally think a 7'4" H F rod is one of the best ones out there for bass. You can keep one reel w/ 50lb braid and use that for frogs, punching, etc. and then another reel with 20lb fluoro and use that for 'medium heavy' swimbaits like a 6" magdraft or mini umbrella rigs. I do that now with one of the ones I have and while I wouldn't throw heaver swimbaits the 6" magdraft is a ton of fun and you can throw that size on that type of rod and it works well. That setup also works good for heavier spinnerbaits as well...but you could use the same rod for both and just get 2 reels if you wanted to save some money.

 

I also love having a rod specifically for lipless crankbaits and bladed jigs since they are 2 of my favorite lures. I ended up getting the victory rip n chatter but there are others out there that would also work...

[bp_fowler]

On 6/1/2024 at 4:09 PM, August said:

Would these 5 rods cover almost everything except big swimbaits which I don’t even own and super tinny finesse? If not what am I missing?

7’4 heavy fast with 50lb braid:  for frogs big jigs, punching

7’3 medium heavy fast with 40lb braid to a leader: for fishing jigs, t-rigs and other stuff around grass.

7’0 medium heavy with 15 or 17lb fluoro: for jigs and t-rigs in open water and spinnerbaits and chatterbaits

7’0 medium regular with 12lb fluoro: crankbaits, jerkbaits 

7’0 medium fast spinning rod with 10lb braid to a leader: finesse stuff and light treble hook top water,  just take the leader off

Let me know if I’m way off on anything or my line choices are bad

Seems like you got all your bases covered.  

 

One minor quibble would be that I prefer to throw jerkbaits on my spinning rod.  Therefore I like having a slightly shorter rod like a 6’8-10”.

Makes it a bit easier to work the bait.

 

21 hours ago, CDMTJager said:

I would immagine weather you're a boat fishermen or a shore fisherman it pays at least a moderate roll in your spinning rod selection because shore fisherman have not the luxury of pulling up to a big bass in the weeds to get her out.

Sure, upgrading to the MHF spinning rod would be one possible solution, but honestly if the weeds are that thick and the bass are that big I’m probably not using spinning gear to begin with.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

Do you all think it’s a good choice to have 2 MH casting rods? It’s definitely my most used rod.

[MN Fisher]

Ya - MH/F is the 'Swiss Army Knife' of rods - can't do everything, but does quite a few things well. Of my 12 Casting rods - 4 are MH/F....

[WRB]

I am down to 2 bait casting combo’s and could get by with 1 spinning for finesse.

 Bait casting;

Custom 6’ 10” 5 /MH+ fast jig & worm rod w/Daiwa SV and 12# Tatsu FC.

MJ Iovino’s Splash it rod 6’8” MF w/ Shimano SLX 70 MGL and 11 lb Armilo Nylon. Utility rod for everything else.

Spinning;

SC Victory 7’3” MXF w/ Shimano Vanford and 5# Max UG copoly line.

Tom

PS, I have 2 other finesse spinning combo’s 1 for Senko’s the other drop shot rigged. If you want to catch numbers of bass where I fish finesse is essential and I back seat now.

 

 

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Ya - MH/F is the 'Swiss Army Knife' of rods - can't do everything, but does quite a few things well. Of my 12 Casting rods - 4 are MH/F....

What length are your MHs? 

[MN Fisher]

7 minutes ago, August said:

What length are your MHs? 

2 are 7'0", 1 is 7'1" and 1 is 7'3"

[garroyo130]

2 hours ago, August said:

Do you all think it’s a good choice to have 2 MH casting rods? It’s definitely my most used rod.

 

I would make one of those a MH/M or H/M for deep cranks

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

43 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

 

I would make one of those a MH/M or H/M for deep cranks

I fishing out of a kayak so deep cranking is a big pain so I might add that in later but not yet

54 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

2 are 7'0", 1 is 7'1" and 1 is 7'3"

If I was going to have a MH with braid to a leader as my primary rod for flipping jigs and t-rigs would you recommend 7’0, 7’1, or 7’3?

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

Also is it true that by using braid while flipping and pitching it basically brings your rod up one power because the no stretch? Like would a 7’3 MH with braid basically be equivalent to a 7’3 H with fluoro?

[ironbjorn]

Your list is good. I can simplify it even more. If you have a H/F and MH/F casting and M/F spinning, you can do everything in bass fishing outside of super niche and extreme conditions/situations stuff. Psssst don't tell the tackle junkies, retailers, and marketers.

[MN Fisher]

15 minutes ago, August said:

If I was going to have a MH with braid to a leader as my primary rod for flipping jigs and t-rigs would you recommend 7’0, 7’1, or 7’3?

If you're flipping/pitching with it....go longer.

 

3 minutes ago, August said:

Also is it true that by using braid while flipping and pitching it basically brings your rod up one power because the no stretch? Like would a 7’3 MH with braid basically be equivalent to a 7’3 H with fluoro?

Rod power doesn't change based on line - rod power remains the same.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

13 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

If you're flipping/pitching with it....go longer.

 

Rod power doesn't change based on line - rod power remains the same.

I know it doesn’t physically bring it up a power, but I’ve heard some guys saying that they have switched over to braid and a MH rather than fluoro and a heavy because they get similar power and a lot lighter rod

[casts_by_fly]

51 minutes ago, August said:

I fishing out of a kayak so deep cranking is a big pain so I might add that in later but not yet

If I was going to have a MH with braid to a leader as my primary rod for flipping jigs and t-rigs would you recommend 7’0, 7’1, or 7’3?

 

Flip a three sided coin.  Longer can be better in some circumstances, shorter can be better in others.  My pitching rods are anywhere from 6'10" to 7'4".  Tighter cover, skipping under docks, all purpose rod to also do other things- the 6'10" is great.  Wide open spaces and pitching to holes in the grass?  They all work.  

 

39 minutes ago, August said:

Also is it true that by using braid while flipping and pitching it basically brings your rod up one power because the no stretch? Like would a 7’3 MH with braid basically be equivalent to a 7’3 H with fluoro?

 

No, but kinda.  Obviously the rod doesn't change.  What changes is the total system.  By putting braid onto a rod, it will let you overcome some missing power (if you've chosen a rod underpowered for the application) because you're eliminating the stretch in the line which attenuates the power getting to the fish.  the rod suddenly isn't more powerful, but the hook feels a lot more direct pull against it.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

27 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

Flip a three sided coin.  Longer can be better in some circumstances, shorter can be better in others.  My pitching rods are anywhere from 6'10" to 7'4".  Tighter cover, skipping under docks, all purpose rod to also do other things- the 6'10" is great.  Wide open spaces and pitching to holes in the grass?  They all work. 

If you could only have one what would you go with? I fish mainly open areas, flipping into pads or grass lines, and I hardly ever fish docks because there’s not that many on the small lakes I fish so probably on the longer side right? 

[WRB]

4 hours ago, August said:

Do you all think it’s a good choice to have 2 MH casting rods? It’s definitely my most used rod.

When I had my boat 15 combo’s didn’t seem to be enough. I had 3 identical custom MH+ Jig& worm casting combo’s with the same reels and line that used nearly every outing, a back up for a back up!

Tom