Matching Reel with Rod and Primary Use

[ScorpiFish]

I have three casting rods and 2 reels and would like some guidance as to which reel matches best with which rod and what the 'primary' purpose would be best suited for those setups.  I will be purchasing a $100-$125 baitcaster for the remaining rod.  About me, I live in NE Georgia and fish large reservoirs (Lake Hartwell, Lanier) for the most part and to be honest, I never catch anything.  I have a runabout that I fish from with a HELIX 5 installed.  I have just found it difficult coming from northern Illinois and Minnesota where the lakes have weeds and underbrush.  So much easier than rocky bottom lakes they have here.

 

That said, here is the equipment I am trying to match up.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

REELS:

Abu Garcia Revo STX - 6.4:1

Daiwa Tatula SV TW - 8.1

 

RODS:

Googan Squad Muscle - 7ft5in Heavy Power, Extra Fast Action

St Croix Mojo Bass (Jig-N-Worm) - 6ft6in Med-Heavy Power, Fast Action

St Croix Avid - 6ft6in Med-Heavy Power, Moderate Action

 

**I do have two other baitcasters and another rod that are probably not worth mentioning just because they are very low end.

KastKing Brutus 7.2:1

Piscifun 7.6:1

Ugly Stick GX2 6ft6in Medium Action

[WRB]

Relocating from MN to Georgia is a big change regarding locating LMB that are structure fish vs cover fish.

I suggest hiring a good local guide to teach you how to effectively use your sonar unit to find bass on creek channel ledges / breaks. Your sonar becomes your eyes in lieu of looking at visual cover areas.

Both Hartwell and Lanier have Stripe bass and blue back herring. Strippers tend to dominate LMB that feed on herring schools. 
Verticle jigging spoons and working jigs and Carolina rigged worms along the creek channel breaks and using top water lures like Gunfish for school herring will be your primary tackle.

Good fishing lakes, enjoy.

Tom

PS, add another Daiwa reel 7:1.1

for your SC Rod

[scaleface]

3 hours ago, ScorpiFish said:

Piscifun 7.6:1

I have 5 of the Phantoms and have been impressed with all of them. I think my oldest is five years old . I know I've caught over a thousand bass and it still runs like new. It out last my name brand and more expensive reels that have acquired that rumbly feeling. They all sit in a drawer while the piscifuns get used and abused.

[crypt]

matching a rod to reel is all about balance.....with that being said there are exceptions.....you have to figure what you are using the combo for then go off of that. I have a catfish rod that is a 25 year old   7 foot Ugly Stick that is paired with an older Daiwa Procaster PMA15 model. not a big reel at all, but for what I use it for it just flat out works. like WRB said hire a guide , you will be so much farther along than if you didn't.

[DinkDonkey30]

I would personally put the 6:4 on the Googan and the 8:1 on either ST Croix. The Googan rod would be ok for frogs and pitching,flipping, stuff like that. On a side note I would be prepared to toss that Googan rod in the trash. I had 3. All 3 had failures.  2 broke near the tip. One had the reel seat glue loose adhesive. They are terrible rods I absolutely would stay away from them. The St Croixs could both be pretty versatile throwing soft and hard baits. Top water walkers might be a little iffy getting them to work a bait correctly for action and they wouldn’t really be suited for deep cranking or frogging. If you’re looking to add another reel I would recommend looking at the Lews KVD series reels. I have 5 of them paired up on rods and haven’t had a single issue out of any of them. I use them for 80 percent of techniques swim and glide baits, frogs, pitching, punching, top water moving etc. I just went through and did clean up and maintenance after last year. They show almost 0 wear. I fished from February to November 3-5 days a week last season for reference. I also really like my Diawa reels but they aren’t quite as sturdy so I keep them on lighter equipment like plastic, small cranks.