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4 Choice Combos

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Good morning, BassResource!

New guy here from NW Louisiana and exclusive kayak fisherman.

Due to fishing from a kayak, I am limiting myself to 4 rods in the boat, but would also like to cover most bases.

I fish smaller water, mainly throwing hollow body frogs, weightless soft plastics (senko, craw, etc), 1/4oz and 3/8oz spinnerbaits, swimbaits (grass pig, Keitech swing impact fat), along with the occasional jig, crank and lipless crank.

My arsenal as of now includes:

7'3 H/XF Kistler Magnesium - 50# PP + 20# Fluoro leader

This is a dedicated frog rod in the summer, with jig usage in the colder months.

6'6 MH/F All-Star - 15# P-Line Fluoroclear Co-Poly (Figured I would use a "middle of the road" line since I am limited at the moment.

This is used for 3/8oz spinnerbaits, traps, cranks, T-Rigged plastics - All around general use rod.

6'10 M/XF Kistler Spinning Carbonsteel - 15# PP + 12# Fluoro leader.

This is a new rod in the lineup - If I could get myself to learn to like fishing soft plastics (mainly senko) from it, I think I would be in great shape. I havent "dedicated" a use for it besides throwing light baits.

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Where do I stand?

Do I need a dedicated spinnerbait rod with mono? A dedicated senko rod with fluoro? I rarely crank, so I am reluctant to specify a rod for it.

I am looking to add 1 more to the arsenal.

Any comments are appreciated, just trying to minimize my cut/re-tying time while maximizing my actual effectiveness with each rod.

  • Super User

For what you do, it looks fine. That's a pretty versatile three rod set up

  • Super User

You look fine now actually.  No need to get another setup.  The lines you specified, don't see an issue with either.  If you do want to get a new setup though, I would personally upgrade one of the rods in your lineup.  Make the all star rod your dedicated bladed bait rod.  Depending on your budget - under 150 (Crucial, Fenwick Aetos or ET Smallmouth) or go high end St Croix, Shimano Loomis Powell or Dobyns usually get good reviews, just your preference.  Make it your dedicated plastics jig rod, I always spend more money  for bottom contact techniques on rods.   However it isn't necessary though as the three you have now can cover all  things.  Since you don't want to get a dedicated crank setup, in a pinch your spinning rod can do that for you decided to do cranking the times you do want to crank. 

  • Author

Thanks for the comments guys, they are highly appreciated.

I am looking to bump the All-Star out completely for an upgraded rod. I think I will run another 6'6 dedicated blade bait rod (in place of the all-star) with 15+/- mono (spinnerbait/buzzbait).

My 4th rod will be the dedicated plastics rod as you stated. I am loving the Kistler rods, so I might continue with them, but also looking at other options (dobyns, denali, etc)

For the dedicated plastics rod, would you recommend running fluorocarbon line? As you see, I use it as leaders on top of my braid, but have never run a full spool of fluoro. I really like the copoly, and would like to stick with it I wont see a huge gain in performance with the fluoro vs copoly.

  • Super User

90% of my reels have braid, will use leaders as needed.  I don't normally go straight floro, the ones I do have full floro is because it was free spooling by my local tackle shop for purchasing the reel.  If it was me, I would've placed 40 or 50 lb braid on a baitcaster. The main reason I do it is to save on line costs. 

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