I live in North Georgia and I was looking to get into some trout fishing this spring and summer. I am looking at getting an UL spinning rod but do not know the length I should buy, I would fish the hooch as well as some smaller streams. Also need recommendations on a reel and pretty much everything else I would need.

A lot depends on what your budget restrictions might be? Rods vary tremendously in price. But if you want a decent trout rod and don't want to spend a lot of bucks, I would recommend you taking a look at the 7' B n' M Sam Heaton's Super Sensitive rod. I've used this rod for crappie for many seasons and it performs flawlessly. Just enough backbone to land trout, bass and pike with no problems whatsoever. (And I've caught all of those with it, besides crappie, perch and bluegill.) These rods run around $50.00.

I'd recommend you use a small spinning reel (i.e., Plfueger President #6920 - around $50.00) filled with 2# test Fireline Crystal and a 4 foot leader of 4# test fluorocarbon. Connect the two using the Alberto knot and you will have a great combination that can take just about any species. And you will have fun doing it too!

 

if you want to go cheap the Daiwa spinmatic rod looks good along with either a shimano  Sedona in the 1000 size or a Pflueger president in a 20 or 25. Go with a rod that is between 6 and 7 feet in length. 

I planned on fishing brushy rivers from the bank, so I bought a 5 foot ultralight- this is a bad idea! You can get away with a longer rod than you think, and a long rod often comes in handy. A 6 to 7 foot rod would cover a lot of situations.

I got a 4ft 6 ugly stick that is good for small to medium size streams.   then bigger rods would be better for bigger rivers. Basically you need a long rod and a small.....But id go small first , 

I have a BPS UL rod  forgot the size but no more than 5ft  and a pflueger president on it, I believe it was a package at BPS, think it was like 80 bucks??

Well worth it. I've had it for 2 going on 3 seasons.

Caught some nice trout on it

 

lot of varying opinions on the topic....  i grew up trout fishing in western NC and the laurel bushes don't allow for much of anything over 5 feet long.  but now out on the hooch, you might want a longer rod if you're wading or jumping out on the rocks.  that longer rod would let you sling some casts out further than the shorty will.  

any idea what kind of lures or bait you're thinking about fishing with?

 

6 hours ago, chris7390 said:

I have a BPS UL rod  forgot the size but no more than 5ft  and a pflueger president on it, I believe it was a package at BPS, think it was like 80 bucks??

Well worth it. I've had it for 2 going on 3 seasons.

Caught some nice trout on it

 

i swear that's probably the same one i bought at BPS way back when and I loved that rod.... until one day i didn't put my tailgate up after fishing and the rod wasn't there when i got home....  

luckily i had taken the reel off when i was packing it out from the campsite so i still have that reel, which is now on a 5' berkley amp UL (awful looking hideous green colors on the rod, but it's got some good action on it!)

4 hours ago, buzzed bait said:

lot of varying opinions on the topic....  i grew up trout fishing in western NC and the laurel bushes don't allow for much of anything over 5 feet long.  but now out on the hooch, you might want a longer rod if you're wading or jumping out on the rocks.  that longer rod would let you sling some casts out further than the shorty will.  

any idea what kind of lures or bait you're thinking about fishing with?

 

i swear that's probably the same one i bought at BPS way back when and I loved that rod.... until one day i didn't put my tailgate up after fishing and the rod wasn't there when i got home....  

luckily i had taken the reel off when i was packing it out from the campsite so i still have that reel, which is now on a 5' berkley amp UL (awful looking hideous green colors on the rod, but it's got some good action on it!)

I'd say it happens to all of us but that's a first for me haha. At least the reel was saved!

The reels are awesome. Take a hell of a beating and work great.!

On 3/25/2016 at 7:01 PM, ChuckTheBuck100 said:

I live in North Georgia and I was looking to get into some trout fishing this spring and summer. I am looking at getting an UL spinning rod but do not know the length I should buy, I would fish the hooch as well as some smaller streams. Also need recommendations on a reel and pretty much everything else I would need.

I use a 6'6" M or ML rod for trout. Same rods as I use for finessing bass. 

I have a 6'6" Gander Mountain Vortex spinning rod and it feels pretty good so far. The rod costs $20 most of the time. Only gripe on the rod is that it only has 6 guides but it still works well. There are tons of great options for spinning reels. Abu Cardinals are what I use but the Pflueger Trions and Presidents are very highly rated as well. I use 10lb power pro as a mainline and 4-6lb leader. Flourocarbon or mono would work fine too.

 

Lures: Small inline spinners, small spoons.  small jigs with a little Gulp plastic work well. 

 

Field And Stream Tec-Lite 6'0" Light or UL, shimano 1000 reel of your choice (the $25 sienna does just fine for me). Spool it with 4lb or 6lb seguar red label fluorocarbon.