I've currently got a st croix triumph 6'6" MF spinning rod with a pflueger 6930 reel that I use almost entirely for all of my bass fishing. I want to try to expand but I'm not sure exactly what to get. I was thinking of going for my first baittcaster. I mainly fish from the bank or kayak. I also fish rivers and lakes equally. I mainly through small crank baits, senkos or other forms of soft plastics. Thanks 

Cant go wrong with a mh fast action rod in the 6`6 to 7 ft range. I as well fish from the bank but do not have a kayak nor a boat. Id go with a 7.1 ratio reel as well. A good all around setup. Others will be able to assist you better. What is your price range that your willing to spend?

The next setup I would suggest is a rod around 7 foot and it would be a medium heavy fast action rod.

Let me give you some rods to consider. It would help to have a budget, but I will give you a couple of rods in each price range.

First in the under $75 range, consider a Berkley Lightning Shock rod in the 6'6 MH or 7 foot MH model.  These do have a bit more moderate tip, but they are great rods and retail for around $50.  Another good rod to look for is a Daiwa Aird X Casting Rod 7' Medium, This too sells for the same price.

For a rod costing up to $150 consider these.  

First look at a Dobyns Fury FR 703C and Fr 704C. These rods are very sensitive and built well. These cost $110. Another great rod is a Powell Max3D 683CEF. I own one of these rods in the older model called a Powell max 683 CEF. Go read the review of this rod on Tackletour.  It is my most versatile rod I own.  The rod is now available in the Max3D series and sells for $159. It is also available in their more affordable series called the Inferno series. So an Inferno 683 CEF costs $99.

For $100 Abu Garcia sells the Veritas rods, so a Veritas 2 MH  6'9" or 7 ft MH would work well.

There are lots of other choices but any of these will be in your arsenal for years. I do not like buying "starter" stuff I will have to upgrade later, it is a waste of money.

 

For a high quality, very reliable reel look at these two. First a Daiwa Tatula CT 6.3-1. This reel can be purchased for around $100. The other reel to look at would be a bit cheaper and built with most of the same hardware. It is a Daiwa Aird for around $60. These are 10 bearing reels. I again would get a 6.3-1 for versatility. It will work fine for throwing texas rigged plastics, jigs and small to mid sized cranks.  You realize most of us have a dozen rods to do everything, so it KILLS us to make adjustments to our thinking! LOL  Here I have tried to suggest some very versatile combos.  In the future you could add another rod and that should be more of a crankbait/  jerkbait oriented rod. That rod would be a medium power moderate action rod. But that is not what I suggested for now. Enjoy every moment on the water!! They are precious!

 

Thanks. My total budget is around $250. I've looked at some other st croix rods since I really like the one I currently have. I'll definitely look into what you've recommended. How does the lews tournament mb compare to the tatula reel? I've been looking at that one based on reviews. Thanks

I have to be honest, I have never cast one of the Lews reels and they have so many it is hard to keep them all straight. I can tell you this, the guy that turned me on to the Daiwas owns another local fishing board. It is clled baybass.com. Bryan specializes in real-time fishing info for the MD and VA areas. He fishes at least 3 or 4 times a week for most of the year and he has a group of pro staff that help with local reports. I use him sorta as a gauge on equipment. He often does equipment reports.  He also includes all the equipment and tackle used to catch his fish in his fishing reports, the whats, whys and hows. I figure if a reel holds up for him for a year it will hold up for at least 10 years for me. He has gone to all Daiwas on most of his baitcasters for the last 3 years. He uses Excelers, Tatulas, Tatulas HDs and a few JDM reels.  I have compared the Exceler and Tatulas to my SHimano Curado and Chronarchs and then sold off my Shimanos. I own one Exceler, two Tatula CTs and 4 Tatula Type Rs, some in left and some in right hand retrieve models. The Daiwas were more comfortable and I found them to be smoother casting.  I have noticed three of his pro staff have had a chance to fish with him, use his gear and over the last three years they chose to sell their Lews stuff, also in favor of the Daiwas.   Bryan fishes on the Potomac and Upper Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake tidal rivers is my home waters. While fishing these waters for both stripers and bass we often catch big blue cats and even snakeheads. Some of these can easily go up to 20 pounds. Our gear has to stand up to that.  I recommend you take a little time and read some of his forum posts especially his fishing reports. He is one of the best fishing "teachers: I have ever been lucky enough to share a boat with.

With your budget of $250 I would go with the Tatula CT 6-3 to 1 and the Powell MAX3D 683CEF.  That is a super versatile rod.  Go read this. http://www.tackletour.com/reviewpowell683cxfast.html

THe Lews MB reel is .7 ounces lighter and has two more bearings, likely in the handle.

You would need to go to a tackle shop and play with both I guess.

 

Thanks for all the info. I'm going to make a trip to Bass Pro and check out those reels.