jitterbug127

Logan, I am from Greenwood, welcome to Bass resource!

Welcome to bass resource!

Good morning bass resource! It looks to be a gorgeous weekend here in the Indy area. My question for you folks is do you have a preference between the Fenwick eagle (the newer blue ones) and the Fenwick hmg casting rods? I have an eagle spinning rod and an hmg casting rod. They both feel great, so I’m having a hard time deciding which way to go. I will be buying a couple workhorse rods in a m/f and a Mh/f. I’m leaning towards the hmg rods, but I’m sure I’d be satisfied with either!

I bought 2 lews carbon fire reels from Walmart for like $50 bucks 7 or 8 years ago. They still fish like a dream and are every bit as good as my bb1 pro was. I swap the carbon fire and my curado reels out sometimes, and I’m not missing a beat

Thank you for your detailed and in-depth response. I really appreciate it. I fish from my kayak exclusively these days. Kayak is the reason for the shorter rods (that and finding deals on Facebook, garage sales, or discounted). I’m a river smallmouth fisherman. My river is shallow and I take 3-4 combos in my boat at any given time. My rods if choice are pretty much m/f spinning, mh/f, mh/m and m/m for the river. I have times that I will bring the heavy rod, but we don’t have tons of heavy cover on the river, and I’ve had no luck with frogs on the river so I don’t bring the h/Xf much. I fish tubes, neds, dropshot, wacky on the m/f spinning, most of my cranks on the m/m, chatterbaits/spinners/some top water on the mh/m and drag the bottom on the with t rig or jigs. my four primary combos 6 6 m/f diawa legalis/st croix triumph 72 m/m shimano curado k 6.2:1/Fenwick hmg 7 mh/m bps crankin stick/curado 7.2:1 69 mh/f veritas curado k 8.5:1 I am happy with these reels, I think eventually I’d like to get rods all from the same company (st croix mojo bass or Fenwick hmg or elite series). I primarily fish neds, tubes, grubs, wacky worms, and weightless plastics. I am wanting to focus more on my cranking and chatterbait fishing. Moving baits arn’t something I have a ton of confidence in, but I know a must for smallmouth fishing. I’d like to start throwing soft swim baits and dark sleepers as well. my kayak is a perception sound 10.5, so I don’t have a ton of extra room in my kayak for tons of gear.

Your absolutely right. I think I’m august I had 6 combos, and I’m at 15 now!!!

Are you inquiring about the length or why i have spinning rods at all? short answer is I use my kayak in the river, and its quicker to have 2 spinning rods to not have to retire everything all the time. I have a Fenwick eagle that I bought to bank fish and I have a st croix that is ml/f that i bought for ned rigs. I'll get longer rods in the future, I'm sure.

I hadn't thought about that one. Thanks for the heads up!

I have been buying rods and reels like it's my full time job lately. I am wondering if there is anything obvious that I am missing from my rod arsenal. I have the following: 6 6 m/f spinning 6 6 ml/f spinning 6 9 mh/f casting 6 6 m/f casting 7 4 h/xf casting 7 2 m/m cranking 7 mh/m cranking (spinnerbaits/chatterbaits) 7 6 mh/m cranking

I've spent countless hours trying to figure this out. Its really impossible to do all of bass fishing one 1 rod. At an absolute minimum I'd need 2, and I'd have to all but forget about either finesse or cranking. If i was going to do only 1 rod/1 reel I'd go with a lews bb 1 pro reel in 7.1:1 gear ratio. Rod is tough. I'd probably go with something like a 7'4" medium heavy or heavy fast action rod. This would cover the way i fish the best.

These answers are exactly what I expected ?. My original idea was gonna be how many baits do you throw on the average day, but I know no two days of fishing are the same. I think my goal was to decide how often I should change lures in a day. Say I fish 3-4 hours and I’m not getting a bite. How frequently are you changing til get bit?

I was wondering what is the most times you tried different lures in a different day? Same lure but different color counts as 2 different lures for this question.

NED

Tube/ned/senko whatever i've got tied on my spinning reel.

YES! This is the same thing I do (except 10 lb). Straight braid is fantastic and you're exactly right braid does straighten hooks out often. I can get most of them out of logs, but the ones that get stuck get stuck good! Ned is lure #1 for me on the river these days, so I will continue to go dig my rig out of the logs since it keeps catching fish. I don't think I've ever used a leader except on a Carolina rig catfishing.

I start my day off with a moving bait trying to match what I think the fish are eating. Ill crank about 20-30 minutes and if I don't get a bite I'm moving to the Ned or a tube. I spend 80% of my time on the river dragging the bottom. My single complaint with the NED is how often it gets caught up. I know they've made some weedless hooks for the ned over the last few years, but i am still sticking with my mushroom heads. I have confidence in them, and I'm not ready to change.

BB1 pro is built like a tank too with lots of drag. You take care of it, and it should last many, many years!

I still don't understand how the line is "heavy". 40 LB braid on a spinning rod should work just fine. It would be the equal to 10 lb mono diameter. I like 10 lb-15 lb braid on my spinning gear, but I think the OP has his braid installed wrong or something isn't working mechanically with his reel.

It might be slightly bigger, but nothing that I'd be overly concerned about. The BB1 pro was the first "nice" baitcaster I ever bought, so I probably compare everything to the BB1 without knowing it. My shimano reels have always felt a little "small" to me, but that's coming off BB1 pro reels.

I am a shimano guy through and through, but I'd get a bb1 pro. They are phenomenal reels and immediately came to my mind reading this description.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm gonna pair them up and experiment. I'll make changes as the fishing season comes and goes.

My collection seems to grow more and more every month, and like a good redneck I can't pass up a deal. That being said I think I could have 1 3600 size box fill it and never buy anything different ever again (except replacements).

I have been buying/selling/trading gear quite a bit this fall. I think I finally have a decent collection of rods and reels. I am a little confused on which reel to put with each rod. How would you pair these up? Reels Shimano Curado K 6.2:1 Shimano Curado K 8.5:1 Shimano Curado 7.2:1 Abu Garcia Silvermax 6.4:1 Lews Carbonfire 7.1:1 Rods Fenwick HMG 7'2" Medium/Moderate Fenwick Eagle 7' Medium/Fast Abu Garcia Veritas 6'9" Medium Heavy/fast Lews Xfinity Pro 7'4" Heavy/Extra Fast Field and Stream 7" Medium Heavy/Moderate

Personally I’d get a baitcaster for cranking. You can use spinning gear for crankbaits, but I think you’ll find the bc to be superior in almost every way for crankbaits. Longer rod also is super helpful to pin fish and make long casts. More leverage

I started another thread about this recently. I have been deciding on which/how many set ups to take with me in my small kayak. I have a perception sound 10.5, so I don't have tons of extra room. I am 100% sure i will be taking my m/f spinning rod. I use it for so much stuff its hard to think of not having it. The other 1-2 set ups are still up in the air. Honestly I could just take the spinning rod and be fine.