timsford

Id go with a good graphite rod then if you are planning to use mono or fluoro and a composite or fiberglass rod if you use braid. A mh rod around 7 ft should be a pretty versatile rod. There are a lot of good cranking rods for that price or less. For graphite id look at the st croix premier or daiwa tatula regular action(retails for 150 but can be found for less with some internet searching). For a composite rod id search around, my favorite is seeker but its a little out of your price range. The bps crankin sticks are great and cheaper than what you want to spend. If you go with fiberglass there are a ton of choices. Ones ive tried and liked personally are the powell deisel and max, and the lews david fritts rods with the foam handle. The best thing to do is go to a bass pro or somewhere you can mount your reel on the rods and see how they balance and whats comfortable to you. What one person thinks is the best may be completely different than what you like

What kind of cover do you fish? I like composite rods for most cranks except deep divers and use fiberglass for those. There are no weeds in the lakes near me though, only rocks and wood. If you fish a lot of weeds you may want to go with graphite or composite to rip baits free from weeds

I fish for the same species with a lews team gold spinning reel in the 300 size. It weighs 7.4 ounces, hold 140 yards of 10 lb mono, and has a very smooth 15 lb max drag. I was worried at first about the carbon frame because of the stripers, but ive never felt the frame flex even with 10+ lbers. I think you would be very pleased with the lews

Instead of spending 600 on 6 combos for those id get 3 or maybe 4 better combos. A mh fast baitcast combo, a m or moderate or moderate fast fiberglass or composite baitcast combo, a m fast spinning combo. And maybe a heavy if you like throwing heavier swimbaits and frogs in heavy cover. There are a ton of brands out there that offer good stuff in that price range. I think you will be much happier with 3-4 good combos than 6 cheap ones. You can fish almost everything with a single hook on the mh, the treble baits on the fiberglass or composite rod, and the lighter stuff on the spinning rod. If you fish a lot of truly heavy lures you might want to fit in the heavy, but most of my mh rods handle lures up to 1 oz

I would go with user error as well. When you get another cumara, pm me, id definitely be interested

Out of the lews reels id get the tournament because it has an aluminum frame and will last longer. Other reels in that range are the tatula and lews lfs(both around 100 online.) Personally id get the tatula even though i love lews reels(i have 6 and am looking to buy more). Or look used and you can get great deals. Almost all my reels were bought used off here and other forums and i paid around half of retail for all of them. If you really want the lews the tackle trap has the tournament ss on sale for 119.99 so after the rebate its 89.99

What is center pinning? Sorry if i sound dumb but im from the mid south (tennesse) and ive never heard if it

I use med power rods quute a bit. I mostky stick with weight rating but rods are deoendent on rating by the manufacturer. I use med fast rods or xfast rods for any single hook bait between 1/2 oz and med moderate or mod fast rods for treble hook baits at the same weight. I feel like they load better and cast farther than mh unless im going to over 1/2 oz. 1/2 oz to 1 oz i use a mh. And over 1 oz i use a h or xh. I fish where there are no weeds or much cover to speak of other than fallen trees though so if you fish heavy cover this may not work for yoy

Havent tried that model but i have the tournament high speed spin and team gold in the same size and like them better than any other spinning reel ive owned. Im switching all my reels over to lews. Even my shimano and daiwas

This sums it all up. I personally prefer a 6'3" m fast fenwick elite tech for almost all my jerkbait and topwater spinning. Its the only spinning rod i use for baits over 1/4 ounce. If its a large bait over say 5/8 oz or 4.5" size i use a 6'6" mh casting rod with a fast action but im thinking of having a custom 6'3" mh rod built. I work my bait with hard snaps with my rod almost perpendicular to the water when using jerkbaits and about the only hard topwater i use is some type of walking bait. I think the fast action rod gives you more control and the bait looks more erratic. I get more strikes using these setups and rwtrieves than a softer longer rod using the sweep motion. Thats my preference anyways. I do lose a few fish but i get more bites so i still lip more than i did sweeping and thats what counts. If you go with a fast action id advise using mono and setting your drag as light as cover demands and you will get more to the boat

I use baitcast gear for anything over 1/4 ounce and spinning gear for anything under. The only exception is that i use spinning gear for all my hard and soft jerkbaits because it feels more natural to me and because i am usually skipping soft jerkbaits under docks and trees when im fishing them

Lews speed spool, lfs, or daiwa tatula( can be found around 100) and shimano clarus(old style can be found under 75), team daiwa t, or *** black. I have a tatula on the *** black and paid 205 shipped and its my favorite all around bc combo

I only have 2 combos in that price range. A browning ultralite combo and an ugly stick spinning rod with a mitchell avocet silver i use for catfish now. Ive never had a problem with my ugly stick. Not the most sensitive, but ive had it going on 15 years and put it through a ton of abuse and its held up to everything, even falling on it on rip rap then catching a 20 lb flathead an hour later. The avocet i havent had near as long, but i havent had a hiccup from it and it has a smooth drag, which is a must when fighting large catfish

I havent tried the lews speed spool model but if you save a little more i absolutely reccomend the tournament high speed spin or team gold spinning. Both are awesome reels. Lightweight for their size, super smooth, strong drags, and zero line twist issues. Both are graphite frame reels but ive never experienced frame flex, even with hard fighting 10+ lb stripers. My tournament reel weighs 8.something ounces and the team weighs not much more than 7 ounces and i have the 300 size reels because stripers take a lot of drag. I also use them for smallmouth and largemouth finesse techniques, and believe me if they will handle a striper, they will sure handle any other bass you will catch

7 lb largemouth, 5 lb smallmouth, 9 lb wiper(hybrid striped bass), and 10 lb striper. I use the mag super fluke for stripers and have caught them up to 18 lbs on it. Pretty good fight on a spinning rod and 20 lb braid!

I am a big fan of both brands but around 100 bucks id get the tatula over either of those reels.

Lews tournament high speed spin and *** black or even better an elite tech smallmouth if you can find one. That reel and the ets will put you a little over your budget but not if you can wait til the black friday sales. I have that combo and love mine. Also if you arent worried about rod warranties and are careful with how you treat your rod you can get that reel or the lews team gold speed spin and a powell deisel spinning rod. The team gold is a touch smoother and lighter than the tournament reel and the deisel rod is a great value for the 60 or so bucks i paid for it. I have 5 different combos with both lews reels and those 3 rods and i am very happy with all of them. I use them all for various techniques from jerkbaits and jigs for stripers to fishing finesse baits for monster tennessee smallmouth and they all perform well above their price range. Ive owned daiwa, shimano and pfleuger reels and i like my lews better than all of them. The daiwas are solid but too heavy, the shimanos ive owned had frame flex and were too heavy, and the pleugers were nice but didnt hold enough line unless i went to a large size reel which i didnt care for. If you use smaller size reels id reccomend the daiwas but i use reels that hold 130 yards of 10 lb mono or more because i fish for stripers a lot and dont want to get spooled, and the 300 size lews are perfect for me. Both lews reels i recommended hold 140 yards of 10 lb, both are light(the tournament hs weighs around 8 oz and the team weighs around 7), and both are smooth with very smooth drags. Everyone on bass resource is probably getting tired of me plugging the lews spinning reels as i have the same answer for every spinning reel thread, but i urge anyone who hasnt tried one to do so. Ive owned daiwa advantage, tournament ss, sols, tierras, ballistics, procyons, and a few others. Ive tried shimano saharas, the old ci4, siennas, and bought a sustain and took it back and got 2 lews team golds and line to put on them. Ive also tried pfleuger supremes, sumpreme xt, and patriatcj, but sold them all after issues or getting spooled. Try the lews reels and i promise you will be happy. Im not affiliated with lews in any way but i like to give props and promote great products. Another sleeper reel is the okuma rtx. They get awesome reviews, even on saltwater forums, are super light with strong drags, and can be found for under 70 bucks. Good luck and if possible try what you are thinking of buying if at all possible before you purchase. Ive ordered many rods and reels sight unseen based on others recommendations and ended up selling at a loss because they werent for me

This is getting a little out of hand. HE IS NOT SAYING THE LENGTH OF THE HANDLE CHANGES IPT HE IS SAYING THAT THE RATIO OF HOW FAR YOUR HAND TRAVELS(dependent on handle length) TO HOW MUCH LINE IS RETRIEVED(ipt) IS A BETTER GAUGE OF REEL SPEED THAN GEAR RATIO. No one is debating whether it changes ipt, of course it doesnt, and no one is saying handle length changes gear ratio. Handle length does determine how far your hand travels to reel in said amount of line but not how much is retrieved in one turn. A longer handle means your hand moves farther in one turn than a shorter handle. Im not even gonna argue about the math i worked it out and joshs math is right. And pluto is a planet whether some scientific convention decides it is or not. Everyone can sit on uranus and debate this for eternity im going fishing! :-)

For a crankbait rod in that price range id go with the lews david fritts rod with foam handles. A friend has one and loves it and i tried it and liked it well enough to order one for myself. I got the 7ft mh for versatility. What size and depth cranks do you throw most often? That would help with rod suggestions. The fritts rod was 100 and you would still have enough cash for a spool of mono or copoly to put on the reel you're mounting on the rod

The pfleugers are nice reels for the price and have a great following on here. I personally dont use them because they dont have enough line capacity for me. Ive been very impressed by the lews tournament high speed spin and team gold spinning reels. The tournament weighs around 8 ounces in the 300 size and is very smooth and a great reel for under 100 dollars. The team gold is probably my favorite spinning reel ive ever tried. It weighs just a hair over 7 ounces in the 300 size and is super smooth. Has a carbon frame like the ci4 and okuma rtx which had me worried at first because i like to fish for stripers, but ive never felt any frame flex no matter how hard the fight and it holds 140 yards of 10 lb mono which is a big plus fighting larger fish. I think you would be very happy with either

He is referring to length of travel of your hand(dependent on handle length) to length of line retrieved as overall gear ratio. What josh is referring to as overall gear ratio has nothing to do with gear ratio of the reel. A reel with slower 5.4:1 gears, short handle, and large spool could have a faster overall ratio(joshs term) than a 7.1:1 reel with a long handle and small spool.

Gear ratio on reels is a measure of spool revolutions to handle revolutions. A 6.4:1 ratio reel has 6.4 spool revolutions to one revolution of the handle. Why is it im the only one understanding what josh smith is saying? His ratio and math are comparing how far your hand travels(based on handle length) to how much line is retrieved. He is not saying it changes the gear ratio by changing handle length, he is saying that by changing to a longer handle, your hand moves farther to retrieve the same amount of line. This is offset though by having more leverage. (a longer lever=more leverage). Ipt is the best measure of reel speed, not gear ratio. And it is changed based on how much line is on the spool. A reel with a larger diameter spool will retrieve more line with the same gear ratio as a smaller diameter spool. Also a reel full of line will retrieve more line per turn than the same reel almost empty of line. Personally i think most people fish way too fast anyways and the only reel i have with a high gear ratio i use for buzzbaits and burning lipless cranks. All that is a matter of opinion though and if you want a super fast reel more power to you. But joshs math is solid, i worked it out myself and what hes saying makes perfect sense to me.

Id get a lews team gold spinning reel or tournament hs spin for 80-130 and a powell deisel or st croix premier if i wanted a light weight combo for that price

Can someone explain to me why its hard on the reel to click it in freespool? I dont do it often but ibe had to a few times while fighting stripers on lighter line. I saw no ill effects to the reel after doing this

Id use it for deep cranking, swimbaits, a rigs, or live or cut bait for stripers and catfish. Not much saltwater action here in tennessee lol but it would probably work pretty good for that tko