Rod choice ?

[CoastieCulture]

Just curious to what everyone uses.

Baitcast vs spin cast ?

What length rods do u use?

Light or medium ?

For bay fishing

Thanks

[SAHunter1983]

Spinning castaway or shimano 7'6" to 8'6" medium to medium heavy for inshore 7' castaways for freshwater with Penn Spin V or fierce reels. Just depends on what and where I am fishing for inshore.

[CoastieCulture]

I was given to 10' rods light to medium action. Ive never used rods this long other than from a pier. Would this be an advantage
Or disadvantage?

[SAHunter1983]

Where do you fish. That sounds like crappie (the fish) fishing rods used to jig or fish live minnows in tight brush clumps.
My thoughts on my rods are as follows. When fishing a popping cork you need a stiffer medium to medium heavy to give a sharp pop to the cork that wont break the tip and is rated to heavier lures. I use a longer 7'6" preferrably 8'0" compre for this to get the tip up higher from the water to keep the hook secure especially when catching large head shaking trout 20 plus inches. And I often hook into 30" reds. In that case using the bend in the full 7'6"+ rod is a great benefit when absorbing a big run. Med heavy isn't necessary in all cases and isn't needed for the fish size. It is for heavier lures and when you do get a larger fish you wont worry about breaking your rod.

When free lining bait, jigging or using top waters i prefer a lighter shorter rod, I use a Castaway go2 in 7'6" medium weight with a lighter reel. This allows me to make softer more sensitive ticks and pops on presentations with the bait and is more forgiving to your casting arm after a long day of twitching, casting, ticking, casting etc over and over again.
I would not go any less than 6'10" or more than 8'6" on length and would stick to med to med heavy fast rod weights.

But that being said, to each their own, try it and if you dont like it sell it and try another until you find what works well for you and is tough and reliable.

Keep your line tight and rod tip at 30~40 degrees with a fish on and you wont break what you have. Reel up to set the hook and lift slow and again you wont break the tip on hooksets and you will have mote solid sets.

[CoastieCulture]

Thanks that answered my question . Theses rods are brand new from bass pro with price tag on them for 39.99. Ill let them go for twenty a piece if anyone uses that kind of rod . It's Wally marshal signature series 10' lite never used.

[SAHunter1983]

Take them back and try to return them for store credit and then get a good rod that you like.

[CoastieCulture]

They were given to me by my super cool neighbor . I have no receipt .

[SAHunter1983]

They should take them if the tags are on them, just say they were a gift and you have no receipt

[Corona_kayaker]

Do y'all recommend buying a reel and rod combo or separate items? I prefer spinning reels, and use. 7ft rod,

Lately, my line keeps getting wrapped on the top rod guide.. I use 30 lb braided line. Not sure what the deal is, but lately I don't feel the bite.

[Matyyaker]

Corona change the brand of braid. I just bought some tufline supercast, havn't tried it yet or some fins windtamer.

[Throttlehead250]

all spinning 6'9" is my shortest rod 7'9" largest

medium action

[Predator130]

Baitcaster - 7ft H20 Express Ethos MH w/ H20 Express Mettle from Academy. Great combination that can cast light lures a mile and stout enough to set the hook 50ft away.

Spinning - GanderMountain GSX tournament combo in M and MH, They have a good warranty and great sensitivity.


If you keep an eye on them you can pick them up pretty cheap during their sales through the summer.

[Vlad_989]

I recently bought a Penn Fierce 3000 combo on clearance from Dick's for $65, and I am very impressed with it for the price. The rod is 7' medium rated to throw 1/4-5-8oz. Has a soft tip but good backbone. Reel has a smooth drag. The reels normally sell for $60, so if you can still find them for the clearance price it's a good deal. After catching a few fish with it I wanted to go buy a second combo but they were all out. I did originally buy a 4000 (once size up), but the rod was defective. The tip guide had a sharp edge that frayed my line when I tried to spool it up. I took it back and exchanged for the 3000 (didn't have any more 4000s), and I'm glad I got the 3000 since the size ended up being perfect for the bays.

I also use a 7' medium baitcaster for throwing lures (Abu Garcia rod and Abu Garcia Black Max reel). I like the setup, it's what I used to use for bass before I moved down here. The rod's light enough to throw 1/8oz jigs a decent distance.

I found that 7' is an ideal size in the kayak. I've been using a 6' medium heavy Berkeley Lightning that I liked for throwing plastics for bass, but it was too short in the kayak, at least my 13 footer. It was too short to maneuver around the bow without sliding myself way forward, and the handle was too short too fit in my Canon rod holders without falling out occasionally. I picked up another 7 footer medium with an Okuma CS45 reel that was on clearance from $70 to $40 to replace the 6 foot rod, but have yet to try it out.


I haven't fished BTB yet, but I've got a couple heavier rods to try out for that.

[Djrodeo]

Next time I go out I will be using a shimano that was donated at my last outing.

[Bwalls]

I'm a baitcaster type of guy. Once I learnt how to skip baits with a baitcaster I sold all of my spinning reels..

[CoastieCulture]

I just saw your post DJRodeo lol!