what are the basic rod/real setups, how many?

[jwtrader]

Hello,

I am just getting back into fishing and want to do it right. I am wanting to buy enough rod a real setups that will allow me to throw all the different types of lures. I have heard I need a worm rig, a flipping rig, a cranking rig, a spinning rig, are there any other rigs that are wise to have? What type of real should go on the rigs?

Any sugestions are greatly appreciated.

Jim

[Raul]

With 2 setups you are ready to go for most baits most of the time:

1 6-7 ft Medium fast action rod

1 6-7 ft Medium Heavy fast action rod

Spinning or BC really doesn 't matter, it 's what you feel most comfortable.

[jwtrader]

So i dont need five different rigs?

[Intrepid]

So i dont need five different rigs?

hahaha no, anything more than 3 is probably a luxury

[bigbill]

I fish mainly from shore and i carry 5 or more rod setups with me. Each lure thats different requires a different line weight and rod action. I switch setups all the time. I can see my two buddy's smirk at me at times for they just don't get it.

Topwater action

6' 5'' to 7' heavy action rod with 12lb to 14lb test. I've lost too many bigger bass using the lighter setups. Plus there not line finiky with topwater lures anyway.

Crankbaits

6' to 6'5'' medium action rod with 10lb to 12lb test.

Worm/Plastics/Carolina rigs

6' med action w/17lb test with 14lb leader. Fishing from shore the 1/8oz brass bullet weight works awesome with a 3' adjustable leader. With smaller 4" / 6'' senko's to the larger BPS 7 1/4" sticko's it works great.

Inline spinners/spinnerbaits

6' light/med action rod setup w/10lb to 12lb test up to the #3 to #5 mepps and up to 3/8oz to 1/2oz spinnerbaits

Smaller rapala's/ smaller cranks/ spinnerbaits(1/8oz)

5' 6'' light/med action w/8lb test were talking the #2 inline spinners/ 1/8oz spinnerbaits to the 2 1/2" rapalas max.

I also have a 5' light action rod i use for crappies but also for smaller bass baits too.  I have a 7' heavy action rod setup for bass/pike and its actually light saltwater tackle. I throw the larger 9" trout lures with it for big bass.

These seem to work the best for me. If most of the fisherman would actually read the directions on the lure package they will recommend what line size will give you the best sction with there lures. Line size also determinds how deep the lure will run too and how quick it will dive too. I think its overlooked how important the line size and the action of the rod setup really is to the action/presentation of the lure.

If your using one rod right now that we can "say does it all" I say just try adding one more rod setup and try it. If your present one rod setup is in the middle just try a lighter setup with the smaller sized baits. Then with that success i'd go to the next larger setup. It will catch on with most fisherman when they see the improved success. But remember it also depends on where were fishing too wether its from a boat or from shore. After all its the same between the two only were fishing backwards. But we can apply the same tactics. Example with a rocky point from shore we fish up it from the deeper part of it to the shallows. From a boat we fish from the shallows to the deeper part of it. Like i said its just backwards but we can master it from both directions. Just bring your lure straight up the point and fan cast it from shore. Then move a little and fish across the rocky point at different depths too. We can also fan cast that too. A deeper,faster diving bait is good in the deeper part of the point too. It gets in the zone faster. A lighter wt line will make it dive even faster too. I have a rod setup for this too its a 6' rod with 8lb test. I cast it out and yank my rod tip back so the lure dives faster to its depth. Then i crank it slow so it stays at that depth. Its the little tricks thats added to our presentations too that matter. Its no different from a boat. Either way we can have success no matter were we fish from.

Now i have lost some really record breaking bass because of my tackle being too light on my topwater setups. This is where the line size and the action of the rod doesn't matter. I can make longer casts from shore with the longer rods. I say to go up in line size until it shortens your casts then back off your line size until you achieve the farthest casts you can. From shore the longest casts are better because you can reach out farther than most shore fisherman. Your lures are going to areas that no one reaches. When the fish are breaking topwater and near the lilly pads/ surface weeds i stay away about 10ft to 15ft from them when i cast not to spook them. I try to also cast past them and bring my lure near them not into where they are. This site fishing is like playing with a cat/kitten we need to exceit it then it will attack/strike. It may take a cast or two but it does work. We need to be stealthy too and very quiet. I've worked the weedlines along the channels many times this way with success.

My point is its not only our rod setups its how we apply it to the different conditions too.

Its not luck in fishing, luck is at the casino, its skill in fishing, having success in fishing is all about skill.

Godbless; BigBill

[koulaid]

Unless you are fishing in tournaments you wont need more than 3.

1 jig/worm

1 topwater

1 cranks/spinner

[BrianinMD]

As usual Raul gave a great answer, from my personal experience I would do the medium/fast action as a spinning rod for lighter baits.

[Grey Wolf]

Three is enough unless you are tournament fishing.

[gobig]

What type of waters are you fishing? The answers given seem relative to what people are fishing personally. There can be huge differences in bodies of water. For instance if you were to fish a place like the CA Delta, not having a heavy rod is a recipe for heart break. Going to the opposite extreme, if you fish deep crystal clear waters a medium light rod for going finesse is also a must. If where you are fishing is really diverse, I would add those two rods to what Raul suggested.

[Raul]

So i dont need five different rigs?

"Need" is mostly in your head, I don 't "need" all what I carry, I carry all that I carry because it 's very comfortable not having to cut/retie everytime you want to switch baits, I just drop one and grab another set-up already rigged with different bait or rig or whatever. You want five-six or more rigs for different baits/rigs/techiques but "need" no, not really.

A medium rod can cast from very light offerrings from 1/16 oz up to 3/8 oz very well, a medium heavy can cast from 1/4 up to 3/4 oz baits very well, so unless you are planning to cast a 1+ oz bait you are going to be fine.

A Medium rod can serve the purpose of fishing light baits, cranks and topwaters, a Medium Heavy can serve the purpose of fishing weighted soft plastics, large soft plastics, jigs, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits, doesn 't mean a medium rod can 't, it only means that it 's normally a little bit soft for baits where you set your hook with more muscle. Also it depends a lot upon cover type and density, lighter cover you can go with lighter rods, heavier/denser cover then you 'll need more powerful rods. But those two will cover most of your need most of the times for most baits.

However, just like in other sports, if you have the dough and are willing to spend then you can add more in ammount and more in specialization, let 's say that instead of two you want three ( a little bit more specialized ) setups, the this I how I would play that tune:

1 Medium Fast 6-7 ft rod

1 Medium Heavy fast 6-7 ft rod

1 Medium crankbait 6-7 ft rod

More specialized ?

1 Medium Fast 6-7 foot spinning rod

1 Medium Heavy fast 6-7 ft trigger rod ( trigger and casting is not the same, casting rods have shorter handles, take to the extreme we have the pistol grip )

1 Medium crankbait 6-7 trigger rod

My neck of the woods is blessed with different lake types, of different type/density of cover and in my experience I can fish quite well with those two, actually some of the rods I carry to perform more specific tasks see, when compared to those two, little action on a trip, but the philosophy behind me having them is: better have and not need than need and not have.

[roadwarrior]

I'm on the same page with Raul:

Here ya go:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1141187546/0#1

I can't find another thread, "You Only Need Three Rods", but here's the essence:

#1  6 1/2' or 7' MH baitcaster for jigs, some

   soft plastics and spinnerbaits

#2  6 1/2' or 7' MM baitcaster for treble hook   

   lures

#3  7' MF spinning rod for lighter lures and a 

   variety of techniques

8-)

[Raul]

Check out the "show your stuff" thread, there a pic from one of our members:

1 Cumara Spinning

2 Cumara Trigger

1 Stradic CI4

2 Core 50 Mg

Man, it can 't get meaner than that, not only they look beautiful, 3 really killer combos, true weapons of bass anhilation. 

[5bass]

[movedhere] General Bass Fishing Forum [move by] five.bass.limit.

[Fishes in trees]

The only rule I follow is "don't bring more thanyou can deal with."  When I fish by myself, I bring lots of rods = 20 , plus or minus a few.  If I step on one or lose one or break one, I only have myself to blame and I can live with that.

When I bring someone with me, I try to keep it to 10 or 12, just to try to reduce clutter in the boat.  If it is an experiment day, I'm likely to have half a dozen or so rods rigged very similar.

The last time I went, last fall, I was experimenting with drop shot rigs and I had 8 different rods rigged up with various drop shot baits, weights, line tests, etc.

So I guess it all depends.  The ultimate decider is your wallet and your level of fanaticism.

[Nibbles]

Someone taught me this one trick:

If you're worried about ripping trebles out of a fish's mouth due to not having a "moderate action" cranking rod, a quick and dirty fix you can do is to just lighten up on the drag somewhat when cranking with a fast action rod. That way you can set the hook without worrying as much about the action pulling the crank out of the fish.

Not saying that this would be preferable to having a dedicated cranking rod, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Scorcher214]

I used only one for about a year an a half and did pretty good. A 6'6 MH fast action spinning. Then again all i did was shore fishing then. I've added 2 BCs, and will be adding a few more this year and maybe another spinning combo.

[piscicidal]

I usually bring ten rods in the boat when fishing by myself. When in a tournament or as co-angler I bring five.  I can pretty much cover all the bases with five rods.  My five tournament rods (all baitcast):

1.) 7' Avid M/F #10 co-poly (senkos, flukes, trick worms, shaky, open water traps, light cranks)

2.) 7' Avid MH/F #12 co-poly (worms, beavers,  deeper cranks, ripping traps, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater)

3.) 7'3" Savvy MH/XF (735c) #50braid (flipping, light punch, jigs, light frogs)

4.) 7'6" Veritas MH/F #50 braid (swimbait) - dedicated swimbait setup. This rod might get used ~50% on a typical South Florida day.

5.) 7'6" Savvy H/F (766c) #65 braid (heavy frog, punch)

If me or my partner had room for another rod in the boat, my sixth man off the bench would be a dedicated jig rod.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

1. Dobyns SS 704c - 14 lb Fluoro - Worms & Jigs

2. Dobyns SS 733c - 12lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid - Spooks, Poppers, Trap, Shallow Cranks

3. Dobyns SS 734c - 17lb Fluoro - Worms, Jigs, Senkos, Pitching plastics to cover

4. Shimano Crucial 7'6" MH XF - 50lb Braid - Flipping, punch, heavy cover frogs

5. Pinnacle 7'6" MH Mod Fast - 40lb Braid - Swimbaits, horny toads

That covers me for most of my fishing down here. By myself or when fishing with somebody else. We'll see how long that fluoro lasts on the two rods that have it. Experimenting for a bit. If I pull it off, both of those will also have Yo-Zuri Hybrid or Braid on them.

If I'm on my lake here at home I'll also throw in:

6. Shimano Crucial 7'2" M XF (spinning) - 20lb Braid w/leader - Drop Shot, Shaky Heads

[SirSnookalot]

I have several for freshwater, however I almost always use just 1, it's the same set up up I use for beach snook, jacks and juvie tarpon. 2000 spinning reel, med 8/17 inshore rod,15# braid with a 20# leader.  If i need to go weedless I just tie a hook on.

[Georgia Jeff]

I have all of the setups below but I usually only take three setups with me when I hit a pond or the river due to space concerns in my 14X36 jon boat that I fish out of.  More than that and it gets a little cramped with me and my partner in the boat.  I usually take..

1. 6'6 MH for weighted plastics

2. 6'2 M for weightless plastics/flukes

3. 6'6 M for crankbaits

When they start biting topwater baits I may throw in a 4th rod...  a 6'9 MH.  All are baitcasters. 

Like Raul said, you can live with two rods.  More than that is just a convienience.