My Arsenal.. what am I missing?

[TNriverRAT]

For reference I fish the Tennessee river from gvill, wheeler, wilson, and pickwick. Took several year break and recently got the gear monkey on my back. I don't get to fish as much as I'd like, so prefer good reliable gear. Would appreciate y'alls feedback on what I have, if uses are correct, and what technique rod/reel needs to be acquired.

 

Spinning Combos

• Fenwick Silver Hawk: 6'6" ultra light, mod action. 1/16 - 3/8 oz lure, 4-8# line. Quantum smoke PT25

Technique - panfish, crappie, white bass

• Abu Vigilante: 6'6" medium light, medium action. 1/8 - 1/2 oz, 6-10# line. Abu cardinal 102, 5.1:1

Technique - panfish, crappie, white bass, light treble hook baits

• Megabass Levante "Shakeyhead": 7' med. light, fast action. 1/8 - 1/2 oz, 5-16# line. Shimano Vanford 2500HGF

Technique - shakeyhead, dropshot, wacky rig, neko rig, finesse jigs and tubes.

• Dobyns Kaden 713SF: 7'1" medium, fast action. 3/16 - 5/8 oz, 8-14# line. Daiwa Exceler LT 2500 D-XH

Technique - jigs, texas rigs, carolina rig, heavier shakeyhead/neko rigs

 

Baitcaster Combos

• Abu Silvermax: 6'6" medium power, moderate action. 1/4 - 5/8 oz, 8-15# line. Silvermax reel 6.4:1

Technique - moving treble hook lures, square bill, light jerkbaits, etc.

• Kistler Helium: 7' light medium heavy, fast action. 1/16 - 5/16 oz, 12-14# line. Daiwa Zillion SV TW 1000 XHL 8.1 reel.

Technique - weightless  worms, senkos, flukes, light underspin jig heads, powershot.

• G. Loomis SBR 812 (old red blank) 6'9" medium, extra fast action (says extra fast, but I feel its more like regular fast), 3/8 - 1oz, 10-17# line. Lew's Tournament Pro TP1SH 7.1 reel

Technique - close quarters spinnerbait, underspins, chatterbaits.. smallish single hook moving baits. Read this can work as jerkbait rod..?

• Shimano Crucial 7' (old green blank): medium heavy, medium fast action. 3/8 - 1oz, 10-20# line. Abu Silvermax 6.4:1 reel

Technique - treble hook moving baits, but also like it for bladed jig as the slower action allows the fish to really get the lure. Works great for buzzbaits and treble hook top water lures, just have to swap to a high speed reel.

• Dobyn's DC 610-4C heavy fast action. 1/4 - 1oz, 10-20# line. Shimano Chronarch 201E7, 7.0:1 gear ratio.

Technique - close quarter jig, texas rig, frogs.

• Kistler Helium: 7'3" medium heavy, fast action. 1/4 -1oz, 15-20# line. Daiwa Tatula Elite 8.1 gear ratio.

Technique - jigs, texas rigs, carolina rig.

 

Honorable mention: Cabelas Tournament ZX: 7'3" heavy fast action. No reel for this rod at the moment. Used strictly for top water frogs in heavy slop in the past. But the rod wore me out, too heavy and stiff tip made it difficult to walk the dog.. Figured in a pinch I could use it for punching mats?

 

So, what am I missing? Seems to me a 7'6" (or so), flipping/pitching setup, and an umbrella rig setup.

TIA

 

 

 

[softwateronly]

  Looks good to me.  My favorite A-rig rod and one of my favorite for pitching rods are the same; expride A 7'7H/MF.  It's also good at deep 16-22' cranks, big scroungers, carolina rigs, heavy football jigs, and preacher jigs, super versatile.  I fish braid to leader making all those techniques a little easier to swap between on the water. 

  I always thought a Dobyns extreme 795Flip or a Phenix feather 7'7XH/F would be possible similar candidates but haven't tried them.

 

scott

[webertime]

Pretty well covered.

[TNriverRAT]

@softwateronly I appreciate the rod recommendation. You happen to know the difference between expride A vs Expride B models? Can’t find the A models anymore. But funny enough, I was recently looking at the Dobyns extreme 795 flip. 

[softwateronly]

49 minutes ago, TNriverRAT said:

@softwateronly I appreciate the rod recommendation. You happen to know the difference between expride A vs Expride B models? Can’t find the A models anymore. But funny enough, I was recently looking at the Dobyns extreme 795 flip. 

 
I’ve heard from others here, that the B is a touch faster than the A. They also changed the top end of the rating from 2oz down to 1.5oz. I’d guess they’re not very different though.  Yeah I have a 735 and a 755 dobyns, can’t quite find a reason to get the 795 yet. 
 

scott

[TNriverRAT]

I understand that. Gear acquisition disorder is real!

[txchaser]

Irod's A-rig rod is pretty good, and it'd work just fine for punching too. I use it from time to time on 6" soft swimbaits (more like the whale or daingerous than a boom boom). 1.25oz chatterbaits, big spoons, etc. 

Fill the other spot with a H rod you like for frogs if you fish them much.

[TNriverRAT]

I appreciate it Tex! Will need to read up on it, but do most people use braid or fluorocarbon when fishing umbrella rigs, large swimbaits?

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

On 2/25/2025 at 5:11 PM, softwateronly said:

 
I’ve heard from others here, that the B is a touch faster than the A. They also changed the top end of the rating from 2oz down to 1.5oz. I’d guess they’re not very different though.  Yeah I have a 735 and a 755 dobyns, can’t quite find a reason to get the 795 yet. 
 

scott

How heavy would you feel comfortable flipping/punching with on the 7'7H? Up to 1oz or maybe 1.25 in some think stuff? I can't decide between the 7'7 H and 7'6 XH exprides.

[Choporoz]

On 2/25/2025 at 2:11 AM, TNriverRAT said:

Kistler Helium: 7' light medium heavy, fast action. 1/16 - 5/16 oz, 12-14# line. Daiwa Zillion SV TW 1000 XHL 8.1 reel.

Technique - weightless  worms, senkos, flukes, light underspin jig heads, powershot.

Add traps and light (1/16-1/4) T-rigs and swimbaits.    

 

[softwateronly]

7 hours ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

How heavy would you feel comfortable flipping/punching with on the 7'7H? Up to 1oz or maybe 1.25 in some think stuff? I can't decide between the 7'7 H and 7'6 XH exprides.

 

  I don't flip/punch much.  One end of my lake will cheese up, but it rarely extends over any depth, so my success is limited.  If you're really going thru heavy slop, the 7'6XH is a beast of a rod.  It has a nice tip like the 7'3XH, maybe even a little more due to the length, a powerful midsection that just shuts down into backbone about a 1/3rd of the way in.  If I were ever to set the hook and make a fish fly over the boat, I'd bet it would happen with this rod.  I often take a 3/4oz swim jig w/ a d-walker and bomb cast into the deeper heaviest hydrilla, reeling and ripping horizontally thru the weeds and this is the perfect rod for this.  It also doubles as a beast hook 6-8" swimbait rod, and open water heavier jighook swimbait rod like a burrito.

  Most of the time when I pitch, I'm looking at visible holes in submergent hydrilla.  This is when I'll choose the 7'7H, 5/8oz bullet to a beaver, pitched into holes, lift/drop, rinse/repeat.  The relative softness of the 7'7H feels right to me for this.  I don't really crack them, more of a reel into weight and lift while reeling.  The 7'7 seems like a 20% medium tip, 20% MH mid, then a true H backbone.  The 7'7H can surely handle the weight of 1-1.25oz, it's just loads the rod more than I like for this type of fishing.  I deep crank, 18-22' divers, large 6-7" 3/4-1.25oz scroungers, 1-1.5oz flutter spoons, drag carolina rigs, open hook open water 6" swimbaits, and drag heavy football jigs.

 

Hope it's useful.

 

scott

  

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

1 hour ago, softwateronly said:

 

  I don't flip/punch much.  One end of my lake will cheese up, but it rarely extends over any depth, so my success is limited.  If you're really going thru heavy slop, the 7'6XH is a beast of a rod.  It has a nice tip like the 7'3XH, maybe even a little more due to the length, a powerful midsection that just shuts down into backbone about a 1/3rd of the way in.  If I were ever to set the hook and make a fish fly over the boat, I'd bet it would happen with this rod.  I often take a 3/4oz swim jig w/ a d-walker and bomb cast into the deeper heaviest hydrilla, reeling and ripping horizontally thru the weeds and this is the perfect rod for this.  It also doubles as a beast hook 6-8" swimbait rod, and open water heavier jighook swimbait rod like a burrito.

  Most of the time when I pitch, I'm looking at visible holes in submergent hydrilla.  This is when I'll choose the 7'7H, 5/8oz bullet to a beaver, pitched into holes, lift/drop, rinse/repeat.  The relative softness of the 7'7H feels right to me for this.  I don't really crack them, more of a reel into weight and lift while reeling.  The 7'7 seems like a 20% medium tip, 20% MH mid, then a true H backbone.  The 7'7H can surely handle the weight of 1-1.25oz, it's just loads the rod more than I like for this type of fishing.  I deep crank, 18-22' divers, large 6-7" 3/4-1.25oz scroungers, 1-1.5oz flutter spoons, drag carolina rigs, open hook open water 6" swimbaits, and drag heavy football jigs.

 

Hope it's useful.

 

scott

  

Thank you, that answers my question perfectly!

[TNriverRAT]

10 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Add traps and light (1/16-1/4) T-rigs and swimbaits.    

 

Good call, I have used it for light t-rigs. What’s your thoughts on gear ratio when fishing traps? I’m thinking the 8.1 Daiwa reel on that rod would be too fast for traps. 

[Choporoz]

I have 8:1 on both my 7'3" LMH.  Today, I was burning 1/2 oz over new grass in 4 foot of water.  Any less ratio and I'd have had (more) trouble keeping it from fouling up.  I use 8:1 for crawling t-rigs on the bottom.  I have just one 6:1 reel; on a crankbait rod.  I find it easier to slow down than speed up.

[WRB]

Frogs

Crankbaits

Swimbaits

Tom