Which of the three?

[Columbia Craw]

There are three key components to fishing, rod, reel and line. Each have evolved with new technology.  Of the three, which component would you select as the most impacting in your fishing?  Basically what two components that you started your career with, would you be satisfied with.  Mine is rods hands down. I could fish my Lews Speed Spools from 1979 and my Trilene XT without out a hitch.  Rods is another matter. Today’s rods are game changers.

[bulldog1935]

Line has been the biggest change for me, and took the longest - I waited until braid caught up with my requirements - smooth, round, hard, diameters from 0.23mm down to 0.12-mm, with breaking strengths from 45 lbs down to 10 lbs.  Leaving everything about monofilament and line memory behind.  

FWIW, my last Lew's Speed Spool (BB-25SW) caught its last fish on 12-lb Abrazx fluoro at the end of 2018, and my last 4-lb Kamikaze copolymer on finesse caught its last fish on the same trip.  I began fishing braid (832) the year before on Super Duty and Tica spinner - also had a lifetime snook gill-cut my fluoro that trip. 

 

Things got a lot smaller when I found Japan X-braid the following year.  

Rod technology has been hit or miss for me, especially fishing soft baits - I'm always more productive on moderate taper rods, including Lami glass on the Lew's BB-25, and Crowder IM6 on the Super Duty - obviously, the rod weight is less important to me.  

I get faster, lighter-in-hand rods, especially for bottom contact, but I've gone 100% threadline braid from surf to rivers, and won't ever go back.  

 

[bowhunter63]

I agree Rods came a long way. Still using Big Game and Diawa . But some old rods I have are 3 times as heavier then my new ones 

[BigAngus752]

I'm with the OP.  Rods have the most influence on what I "feel" and keeping the fish pinned.  I could fish every day with a spinning reel loaded with monofilament if I had all the modern rods.  

[FishTank]

For me, it's the rod. It's part of the equation that communicates the most with you. 

[DaubsNU1]

Whelp, the majority of my rods are Cabela's branded from the 1990's. I have a few newer Scheels rods, and a Fenwick spinning rod. All are good...I don't much notice a difference between the newer and older. 

 

All of my casting reels are old Curado's or Citca's from the 1990's. A few of my spinning reels are new. 

 

I think the biggest impact has been with fishing line...switching to brain-to-leader on my spinning rods has been a game changer. 

[BigAngus752]

44 minutes ago, DaubsNU1 said:

switching to brain-to-leader on my spinning rods has been a game changer. 

Best fishing typo ever.  

[bulldog1935]

@DaubsNU1 - the biggest rod difference with MOC and lay-up is rod weight.  

Within strength limits, you can duplicate most any rod taper in most any MOC, but you may pay for it in weight - there are places the taper matters more than the weight, and vise-versa.  

They already figured out the mass of dark matter in the universe has to be greater than the matter we can detect.  So it's either the gravity that pulls you this way, or it's the Lay's potato chip thing - you need more than one brain to leader on baitcaster.  

 

[Mobasser]

I'll say rods also. Rods have become so much lighter and more sensitive than when I started.

 

[king fisher]

My first set up was a steel telescoping rod, with a fly reel.  The rod was not a fly rod, and the reel had mono line on it, so while all the other kids were bombing casts with their Zebco's I was looking for a place I could drop my worm in the water and didn't need to cast.  I fished off of bridges, docks and cliffs for my first years fishing.   The steel rod was heavy and sensitivity wasn't even worth thinking about.  The reel would have been great for fly fishing but for casting a worm and bobber it was next to impossible.

 

When I was twelve my dad bought me a spinning reel the day before I went on a big camping trip with the boy scouts.  My life as a fisherman changed on that camping trip.  I was finally able to cast.  I still used the steel rod for a few more years, and it wasn't the best, but as long as I had a spinning reel I could fish.

 

Although I love and appreciate the improvements in rods I have owned, I have to say any reel I own now is the most important improvement over what I started fishing with.

 

I will say that first reel I owned, I would gladly use with a modern fly rod, but wouldn't want to have to cast one of the fly rods made at the time with even the best modern reel. 

[bulldog1935]

@king fisher there's a hierachy in fly rod MOC with rod length - and there's overlap.  

Below 7-1/2', graphite simply doesn't work - in order to be strong enough, it's a tomato stake.  

Especially 7' and below is where e-glass shines.  From 7' to 8-1/2', S-glass and cane are the same equivalent modulus, and stand out for both para and progressive rod tapers.  

In 9' rods and especially longer, there's no reason to use anything but graphite, which is where the industry turned in the '80s.  But there were glass jewels from the '70s that more than hold their value today, and everybody wants - e.g., 7-1/2' Vince Cummings Water Witch (St. Croix), 7'7" SA System 5 (Fisher), and any Phillipson under 8'

 

In the salt, my Sage RPLX-7 hurts to shoot line, though it will shoot line to 140'.  

While my 8-1/2' Japanese S-glass (also para) will do anything the RPLX will do up to 15-kt wind, where using a fly rod is questionable, anyway - and it doesn't shock you to shoot line.  

[Bass Rutten]

I've always considered the rod as the heart and soul of a setup. As of recent years though the reel has become a closer second after delving into bfs and better quality reels in general. I'm not to picky when it comes to lines, I could probably work with most but I've settled on x-braid for my lighter rods and yo-zuri hybrid on the heavier powers.