New to Fishing—Help Me Match My Gear to the Right Fishing Types?

[Srogue]

Hey everyone,

I recently came into some new or barely used fishing gear, but I’m pretty new to fishing myself. I’ve been out a few times over the years, but I don’t know much about the different types of fishing gear and how they pair together. I’m hoping someone here can help me make sense of what I have and how to best use it.

Here’s what I’ve got:

Reels:

• Daiwa Samurai SX15B (1500B reel) on a Daiwa F562L Rod (5'6" Light)

• Daiwa Samurai SX25B (2500B reel) on a Daiwa F662M Rod (6'6" Medium)

• Penn Spinfisher IV 4500 on a 7' Ugly Stik GX2 (Medium-Heavy)

• Lews Hypersonic Combo (Size 20 reel, 6' Light rod)

• Shimano Caenan 150 on an Abu Garcia Veritas 7' Medium casting rod

• Vintage Mitchel Spidercast SC30 spinner reel

Bonus Gear:

• Daiwa Fuego 2500 CS LT (brand new, in box) — I’m not sure which rod to pair this with. I’ve got a few unmounted options:

  • Ugly Stik Carbon 7' Medium

  • Daiwa Fuego 7' Medium 2-piece

  • Bass Pro Shops Fish Eagle 7' Medium-Light

  • Fish Eagle 6' Ultra-Light

What I’m Looking For:

I’m hoping to get some guidance on how to pair these rods and reels for different types of fishing. I’ll mostly be fishing for stocked trout starting Dec. 1 here in OK, and then crappie, bass, and catfish in OK, TX, and MO beyond that.

A few questions:

1. What rod and reel combos make the most sense for different fishing types (trout, bass, catfish, crappie)?

2. Should I sell some of this gear to buy a better-suited rod/reel combo for a specific type of fishing?

3. As a beginner, what would you recommend I focus on for my first fishing trips?

I know this is a lot, but I’d really appreciate any advice or thoughts you all have. I’m eager to learn and start fishing with all this new(ish) gear.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[MediumMouthBass]

For rods. Anything ultra light, and light will work great for trout and panfish.

Medium light can be used for panfish, trout, and bass.

But should really be only used with ned rigs, and very light baits for bass.

Medium rods are great for bigger trout lures, but will be mainly for bass fishing.

Medium rods excel at smaller and lighter bass baits, like weightless soft plastics, jerkbaits, and crankbaits, Ned rigs, tube jigs, paddle tail swimbaits on a jig.

Medium heavy rods are more for things like Texas rigs, jigs (football, flipping, pitching, skipping, swimming), buzzbaits/spinnerbaits, bigger jerkbaits and deeper diving crankbaits, among others.

And when buying a rod for catfishing dont go by its power, but its ratings.

For example i have a medium heavy rod thats ratings go to 1oz at the highest, but i have a swimbait/catfish rod thats only a medium, well its ratings for lures go up to 6oz.

For reels. 

500-1000 sized are for trout and panfish.

But some guys have used 1000 for very light finesse fishing for bass.

2000-2500 (even a 3000) are the best. Holds the most line, while still not being very heavy.

4000-4500 these are really only for musky, catfish, salmon and steelhead.

 

14 hours ago, Srogue said:

• Should I sell some of this gear to buy a better-suited rod/reel combo for a specific type of fishing?

•  

Thats up to you. New rods and reels wont do a single thing to catch more bass, they will just make the experience on the water nicer. Its a tradeoff half the people want, and the other half not.

 

14 hours ago, Srogue said:

1. As a beginner, what would you recommend I focus on for my first fishing trips?

 

@Glenn makes a ton of helpful posts on here that would be beneficial. Then theres youtube.

Learn as much as possible before hitting the water.

[new2BC4bass]

Welcome.  Another new member today. 

 

EDIT:  Be glad you have so few.  I started fishing at five.  Will be 77 in less than 2.5 months.  Lived in a good fishing area.  Companies were fleeing the area so I wound up moving to another area where fishing was terrible...especially from shore.  Quit for 23 years.  Got back into it about 15.5 years ago.  Tried a baitcast reel and never looked back.  Problem is I kept buying just to keep my interest up so I wouldn't quit again.

 

Generally I know what reels I want to try on various rods.  Right now I'm trying to get down to 30 combos.  Would love someone to tell me what to pair up.  It's going to be a pain to take 4 rods to a lake and experiment with a dozen reels on each rod.  Then repeat the process several more times to find what feels best.

[Dan N]

Welcome! Very exciting to start out and learn . MediumMouthBass gave you some excellent info above. Also lots of great info on YouTube. When just starting, don’t get too into specifics for everything, just fish and have fun. 
A medium heavy fast action 7’ or so casting rod can handle a ton of applications for bass fishing. Medium is great for cranking. Spinning rods, medium or medium light also super useful for just about any finesse type fishing. Have fun and just start fishing!!

[Srogue]

12 hours ago, MediumMouthBass said:

For rods. Anything ultra light, and light will work great for trout and panfish.

Medium light can be used for panfish, trout, and bass.

But should really be only used with ned rigs, and very light baits for bass.

Medium rods are great for bigger trout lures, but will be mainly for bass fishing.

Medium rods excel at smaller and lighter bass baits, like weightless soft plastics, jerkbaits, and crankbaits, Ned rigs, tube jigs, paddle tail swimbaits on a jig.

Medium heavy rods are more for things like Texas rigs, jigs (football, flipping, pitching, skipping, swimming), buzzbaits/spinnerbaits, bigger jerkbaits and deeper diving crankbaits, among others.

And when buying a rod for catfishing dont go by its power, but its ratings.

For example i have a medium heavy rod thats ratings go to 1oz at the highest, but i have a swimbait/catfish rod thats only a medium, well its ratings for lures go up to 6oz.

For reels. 

500-1000 sized are for trout and panfish.

But some guys have used 1000 for very light finesse fishing for bass.

2000-2500 (even a 3000) are the best. Holds the most line, while still not being very heavy.

4000-4500 these are really only for musky, catfish, salmon and steelhead.

 

Thats up to you. New rods and reels wont do a single thing to catch more bass, they will just make the experience on the water nicer. Its a tradeoff half the people want, and the other half not.

 

@Glenn makes a ton of helpful posts on here that would be beneficial. Then theres youtube.

Learn as much as possible before hitting the water.

I just wanted to thank you for this.  This gives me a very solid starting point for understanding what I have and how to use it.  Based upon what you've said here, I am thinking of Mating the Fuego 2500 to the Fuego Rod for an all rounder.  (or would it go better on the MH Ugly Stik GX2, if I take the Penn off and mate it to a catfish rod)

 

For all my Crappie, Panfish, and Trout (stocked stuff here) I will use the Lews and the Daiwa Samurai's.  (Planning on using some panther-martin spinners, and powerbait power eggs/dough for the trout)

 

For my catfishing, I bought an Ugly Stik Catfish Special 2-piece 12' rod off Amazon (I think it was a price mistake, was only 39.00, typically priced at 79.00)  The rod has a line weight rating of 15-40 and moderate-fast action.  I will take my Penn Spinfisher V 4500 and mount it to this and fill it with 30lb braid and setup a Carolina type rig with a 4/0 circle hook using a 3-4oz no-roll sinker.  Does this sound like a good setup?

 

I'll use the Shimano on the casting rod as a crankbait, ned rig, texas rig, spinner bait setup.

 

Does this sound like a plan of attack for this?  I thank you much for your advice, and I will be going out fishing soon and seeing how it all works out

[Srogue]

12 hours ago, Dan N said:

Welcome! Very exciting to start out and learn . MediumMouthBass gave you some excellent info above. Also lots of great info on YouTube. When just starting, don’t get too into specifics for everything, just fish and have fun. 
A medium heavy fast action 7’ or so casting rod can handle a ton of applications for bass fishing. Medium is great for cranking. Spinning rods, medium or medium light also super useful for just about any finesse type fishing. Have fun and just start fishing!!

THank you for that.  Yes, I really appreciate the info, it was great!  I am watching some youtube videos now too.  So much info out there!  I am glad places like this exist where I can ask questions from people that have experience fishing.  I used to have an Uncle who owned a fishing camp and restaurant down in Mexico for decades, and he would have been my goto for any fishing or boating questions, but unfortunately he passed about 10 years ago and I never was really interested in fishing at that time.  But, again, thank you guys.