Okay, I won't profess to know much about rod action...what I really want to know is if for example a cranking rod has a moderate-fast action yet a casting rod has a fast action would I be able to throw spinners, buzz bait, senko's etc. with a cranking rod and have them perform decently and vice versa, could I throw crank baits with a casting rod and be okay? Right now i have a 7ft. Medium-Heavy spinning rod with a fast action which I've been using for everything so I don't really have anything to compare it to and see if using a rod with a moderate-fast action would make my crank baits perform any differently. Are the differences universal (i.e.-does the same apply to bait cast rods and spinning rods)?

I hope this helps, you can fish pretty much every bait with a MH/F rod but if you are going to fall for bait/technique specific rods then a crank bait rod will serve you for cranks but for nothing else; jigs/worms/spinnerbaits/bladed jigs can be fished with the same rod MH/F. 

 

Will a crankbait rod make your baits perform differently ? I seriously doubt it will, the crank will continue to perform the way it was designed to perform, you see a difference in rod performance ( not lure performance ) with a crank bait rod when you fight the fish, crank bait rods have a more "forgiving" nature, the rod bends with a lot less effort.

 

Only once, in my more than 3 decades of fishing, I owned a crank bait specific rod for a brief period of time ( Kistler Magnesium TS Crankbait rod ) and found no difference that made me catch or maintain hooked more fish than the practice of reducing the drag for fishing cranks I have been doing for years.

I think Raul makes his point very well, but for me, a crankbait specific rod makes all the difference in the world.

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/130634-rod-selection-the-basics/

 

 

 

I'm using a variety of lures...lot's of 1.5 crank baits but also lot's of plastics (senkos' and craws) too as well as some top water, buzz baits and small swim baits. What would be best for a variety like that? I can't afford to have like 6 set ups like most people on here so I need to have a good all-around spinning setup (which i'm happy with what I have now) and a good all-around bait caster setup.

Of course, when it comes to: with how many rods I´m covered ? you can fish only with one, two is nice and 3 is better, my choice for those 3 rods is: 

 

1. M/F spinning
2. MH/MF crankbait trigger
3. H/F trigger

With those you can fish almost every bait and every technique almost everywhere. I point out the crank bait rod because when I owned it I liked the way it behaved, my beef was that it was a M power ( Kistler only manufactured it in M power ) so it was underpowered for my taste.

I'm using a variety of lures...lot's of 1.5 crank baits but also lot's of plastics (senkos' and craws) too as well as some top water, buzz baits and small swim baits. What would be best for a variety like that? I can't afford to have like 6 set ups like most people on here so I need to have a good all-around spinning setup (which i'm happy with what I have now) and a good all-around bait caster setup.

that's all i use is three set ups , right now i use -

1.) Phenix M1 7'8'' M/XF custom spinning rod w/micro guides

2.) Rainshadow 7'10'' H/F casting rod w/micro guides

3.) St.Croix Big Nasty 9' musky/swimbait rod w/micro guides

 

i'm gonna replace the Rainshadow soon with a custom Phenix K2 7'6'' H/F and i'm soon to add a Phenix Ultra 7'7'' ML/F custom in a couple weeks , so my total will be 4 set ups .

I do a lot of crankbait fishing so I prefer a tech specific rod. I do not constantly adjust my drag so I like a forgiving rod. I just play the fish out. That being said I have whippy cranking rods that do get overpowered so not all are created equally. I would not want to use my cranking rods for spinnerbaits and the other baits you mentioned,they are just to underpowered for them. To clarify not all my crankbait rods are whippy it depends on the bait I'm using, this dictates which rod.