I finally got some rods & reels. 7 rods r getting delivered today and I have 5 new reels. So for my tournament on Thursday I need to rig these up. I will also have a spinning rod for a dropshot rig. How should I rig my 5 baitcasters and what line? I definitely need one rigged for senkos, so was gonna do yellow Smackdown 50lb w fluro leader.  One for T-rig/Splitshot rig, what line would you use for that? I would like a topwater rod but feel like it's either 60lb braid and frogs or straight mono or lighter braid and leader for popper/walk the dog baits? One for single hook reaction baits, spinnerbait, chatterbait and soft swimbaits? What line? Need a jig rod, probably more cast and drag than pitching. And I do have a CB rod I could take, that's 7 rods to lug around onto someone's boat. I was using 2 cuz it's all I had. Most fish are pre spawn now. I fish Lake fork so tons of wood, very pressured fish and the chance of hooking DD fish. So what would you rig 6-7 rods with and what line. I know this is a lot but would really appreciate your guys advice.

 

 

 

You "finally" got some rods and reels? Didnt you just make a post 2 weeks or so ago about having 14 NRXs?

The fish are prespawn on Lake Fork?

 

51 minutes ago, NJSalt said:

You "finally" got some rods and reels? Didnt you just make a post 2 weeks or so ago about having 14 NRXs?

The fish are prespawn on Lake Fork?

 

I was also confused a bit.  So you're a tournament fishermen and have 14 nrx's rods but you don't know how to set them up for your waters? 

In the spirit of the original question... I'd run a mix of different line types for different presentations. 

braid

copoly 

flouro

Do you know your boater before hand? Might talk to them and see what they plan on doing or if there's anything they definitely won't be doing.

50 lbs is a lot for a Senko. Throwing Senkos into wood I'd be looking at ffluoro in a high pound test. I would advise you to fish straight line where possible so you're not effing with leaders in addition to everything else. If you're fishing wood I wouldn't worry about the frog unless you're Dean Rojas in disguise. Don't spread yourself too thin and try to fish your strengths. 

Good luck, don't drop one of your many NRX rods in the drink. 

3 hours ago, NJSalt said:

You "finally" got some rods and reels? Didnt you just make a post 2 weeks or so ago about having 14 NRXs?

The fish are prespawn on Lake Fork?

 

Sorry post spawn. And my post 2 wks ago said I was in the process of getting them. 7 r being delivered today. 4 I have to go pu and haven't done so yet but there paid for. And had one seller back out on me. But gonna order 1 or 2 916C. And ordered a Kistler Z Bone Custom. 

14 minutes ago, Cgrinder said:

Do you know your boater before hand? Might talk to them and see what they plan on doing or if there's anything they definitely won't be doing.

50 lbs is a lot for a Senko. Throwing Senkos into wood I'd be looking at ffluoro in a high pound test. I would advise you to fish straight line where possible so you're not effing with leaders in addition to everything else. If you're fishing wood I wouldn't worry about the frog unless you're Dean Rojas in disguise. Don't spread yourself too thin and try to fish your strengths. 

Good luck, don't drop one of your many NRX rods in the drink. 

Just taking 5 casting 1 spinning. Only reason I was goin w 50lb is cuz I hear guys complain about braid digging in on baitcasters w 30lb. It's only my 5th tournament. Moved to Tx and got the bass bug real bad and those r the rods I wanted?

Ask the guys on your club our other local tournament guys in the area. With all the brush and larger than average sized fish it may not be the same size or type of line some of us use. Guys fishing spooky bass in clear water, guys fishing heavy weeds in Florida, and guys like me in the Midwest fishing a mix of everything but without truly giant fish are all using different lines and sizes. 

Maybe someone one here fishes the same bodies of water you frequent and can lend some advice.

It sounds like money isn't an issue so maybe buy a good mix of lines and some sizes to try. See what you like and what you don't. 

Do not overthink and complicate yourself, use what you always use, a tournament is NOT the place to make experiments.

1 hour ago, TxHawgs said:

 Only reason I was goin w 50lb is cuz I hear guys complain about braid digging in on baitcasters w 30lb. 

That's false information imo. I fish no higher then #30 except on my frog rod and I even use #10 on my one bfs combo. I have no issues with dig in. Yes, if you try to pull a snag free it'll happen but that's with any size braid. It will just be a bit more with smaller sized braid. It's not the best idea to do that anyhow. You could potentially damage your spool. 

22 minutes ago, rippin-lips said:

That's false information imo. I fish no higher then #30 except on my frog rod and I even use #10 on my one bfs combo. I have no issues with dig in. Yes, if you try to pull a snag free it'll happen but that's with any size braid. It will just be a bit more with smaller sized braid. It's not the best idea to do that anyhow. You could potentially damage your spool. 

Got it, thanks for the advise man I appreciate it. Before moving to Tx I didn't bass fish for 4 yrs and back then wasn't fishing braid on baitcasters just mono or fluro. And this Seaguar Smackdown is suppose to be thin stuff that's another reason I bought the 50lb. And went with the yellow and leader so I could line watch while fishing jigs and Senko style baits. Never fished high viz line before but the green braid on my spinning rod is really hard to see as my eyes aren't what they use to be. So I thought I would give this whole line watching thing a try and see if I really have been missing fish on the fall. I'm just real skeptical of fishing yellow line even w a leader. The fish on Fork get hammered. 

http://www.lakeforktexas.com/news--fishing-reports--Lake-Fork-Fishing-Report-for-April-26-2016/3503

I would check out some guide pages as well.  Tom Redington comes to mind.  They divulge quite a bit of info.  The texas fishing forum would be a good place to visit also.

Please oh please start entering salt water tournaments in the NE. Love guys like you, enter ALL the calcuttas, and make the checks payable to...