I have couple of St Croix Mojo Glass rods that I use for cranking, they have a Shimano 4000 reel on them.

They are about as heavy as I got for spinning.

I picked both of these rods off of market place…cheap.

4 hours ago, gim said:

Types of reels/setups are tools in the fishing realm. You want to include as many tools as are available.

Gim, I get your position. However...you might remember that some of my reels are 40 years old. They're Shimano and still work well. So, I keep using them. They do the job. Do I believe that baitcasting reels would do a better job with certain lures in certain situations? Yes, I do.

However, my reels do a good enough job and I just don't have the "Look at my beautiful reels!" gene. I did upgrade my rods from M to MH because the M rods couldn't do the job. The M rods were fine fishing Lakes Michigan and Superior and the wilderness lakes of northwestern Ontario, but the weeds where I now fish overwhelmed them. Heck, my MH rods are sometimes outmatched, but most of the time, I have a boxer's chance.

You might also remember that I bought my lakefront land for $75,000. I'd rather own that than a new boat or dozens of new rods and reels. I'll scoot over there this afternoon or evening. It's five minutes away and my canoe is waiting for me...and my old spinning reels will take me past the thousand-bass-in-2026 mark too.

As the OP, I will go against the majority here and mention why I asked the question. I do not consider BC superior to spinning

I grew up fishing with old baitcasting gear, including rods made of split bamboo. The reels had none of the features modern BC reels had. I think the line was dacron, but whatever it was it was a braid, just not the braid we use now. I loved BC gear. My first exposure to spinning reels was in high school when my best friend used a Mitchell 300. I tried it and didn't like it at all.

I come from a military family and was born and raised on Army posts all over the world, and my own work has also moved me around a great deal. So, I have fished for many species in many places. I always regretted that I couldn't cast light lures with my BC gear, but I had no desire to switch to spinning. When it got too light for BC I used a fly rod.

Then, I moved to coastal SC and fished mostly salt water. I found I preferred large spinning rigs for surf fishing for large fish. Recently, I started fishing local ponds for bass. For reasons I do not recall I bought a cheap spinning combo. I did not expect to fish much because my ponds have gators. I fish from the bank, and my particular gators are far more aggressive than the experts claim. I'd like to take some of those experts fishing here.

Anyway, the bug bit me and I started buying more and better spinning rigs. Fishing a pond from the bank here requires some casting skills I had never developed before with spinning gear. When I realized I was serious about fishing again I bought a couple of BC rigs, sure I would enjoy them more. The same old familiar feel of BC was still there, and I enjoyed it the same, but I quickly realized I liked the spinning gear more. Not because it was easier, just because I enjoyed it.

To draw an analogy, anyone can operate a motorboat to go where you want, but you need skills to make a sailboat work at all. On the other hand, if you try to dock a large power boat in a crosswind with a contrary current in a crowded marina you need skills. Similarly, anyone can cast a spinning rod and reel and catch fish, but you need skills to use BC gear at all.

The difference is, while you do not require great skill to fish with spinning, there is no law against forcing yourself to develop more than the rudimentary skills and I found once I had done so I actually enjoyed using it more than BC. Someone commented on spinning gear as a fairy wand. Stripped of its pejorative connotation the phrase is appropriate as I do feel that high proficiency with spinning rod and reel is almost magical.

As for power, I understand how BC makes one feel that there is more power available, but I have landed enough large sharks from the surf with large spinning gear to feel it capable of all the power one needs.

I hope I do not get barred from the site for admitting my affection for spinning gear, even for bass.

26 minutes ago, SJS said:

I hope I do not get barred from the site for admitting my affection for spinning gear, even for bass.

I'm also fond of my old, scuffed spinning reels.

Bait casting for me whenever possible, with good equipment I have few problems with lures down to 1/4 ounce without reaching for the BFS; as others have mentioned, wanting something to fall on slack line means spinning. When people want to go fishing with me and do not have their own tackle I hand them 7ft. mh spinning rods with 12-15# braid and 10# leaders; that way they are able to use just about any lure I'm using on baitcasting. My casting reels are tuned to my own touch, and letting others use them would lead us to backlash city.

I grew up with spinning reels. My first and only one for many years was the reel mentioned by the OP that he didn't like...a Mitchell 300. I liked it fine but then I didn't know better. You learn quick as a youngster. I feel that I was pretty accurate with my spinning reel. But as alluded to, reel preference is mostly personal. Once I tried a low profile baitcast reel in 2009 I never looked back.

My nicest looking rod...and one of my most expensive at MSRP...is an OG Cielo 6'6" MHF spinning rod that I purchased on closeout for a measly $75 shipped. It was a $300 rod. It's the only rod where I sent a 1/2 oz. jig halfway across the lake after snapping 30# braid because it was wrapped around the tip and I hadn't noticed. Has never happened with one of my baitcast rods. Maybe I learned to pay more attention after that?

My largest fish were caught on spinning rods in my youth. The largest being a 35# carp on old 8# XL.

Today I have more spinning rods than I ever did in my youth but they never get used. Something I hope to correct in the future. None will be used for power fishing. I do want to get some use out of the Cielo simply because it is such a nice looking (and expensive) rod. My biggest problem is that any lure it can handle well is one I prefer using with baitcast gear. But since I'm stuck to fishing from shore there may be cases where the shorter length will come in handy.

I must also point out that untangling a backlash occasionally is no big deal to me. I pleasure fish only. I'm willing to put up with it because I like baitcast reels so much. A brother-in-law occasionally made fun of me because of the backlashes. He strictly uses spinning gear and cheap stuff at that. However, it has never stopped him from catching plenty of largemouth bass. His biggest that I know of was over 11 pounds.

I have 15 setups for bass as a mostly shore/bare bones kayak angler; 9 casting and 6 spinning. I've been heavily using my spinning rods lately and it doesn't matter to me as long as I'm catching bass. Today, the 7' MH spinning with 20lb braid/12lb hybrid leader did the damage with a t rigged power worm in the weeds. Whatever it takes

"My nicest looking rod...and one of my most expensive at MSRP...is an OG Cielo 6'6" MHF spinning rod that I purchased on closeout for a measly $75 shipped. It was a $300 rod"

@new2BC4bass , if you had paid $300 for it, would it have been worth it? I don't own any expensive rods and wonder if there is a noticeable benefit. Maybe I should start another thread for that question.

6 minutes ago, SJS said:

"My nicest looking rod...and one of my most expensive at MSRP...is an OG Cielo 6'6" MHF spinning rod that I purchased on closeout for a measly $75 shipped. It was a $300 rod"

@new2BC4bass , if you had paid $300 for it, would it have been worth it? I don't own any expensive rods and wonder if there is a noticeable benefit. Maybe I should start another thread for that question.

Can't say. Only used it a few times before going back to my beloved baitcast reels. Will require comparing it to my other spinning rods for awhile. I'm sure it must have better components. Will need to compare sensitivity. I've already set up three of my spinning rods but the three that I want to compare the Ceilo to haven't been set up yet...a Fantasista Regista 6'10" MLF, an Aetos 7' MF and a Smallmouth 6'9" M-EF.

More of an apples to oranges comparison but at least I can try to compare sensitivity.

Woo Daves, Bassmaster classic winner often fishes docks with a push button reels. I know that for a fact because I used to guide his sponsors in a tournament he put on on the James River and he gave one of them to the wife of the owner of Georgia Boot because she didn’t know how to fish. I guided her to a second place in that tournament. 😂

Literally all of the time. I love a MH spinning rod around 6 foot and a half spooled with 12 -20 lbs mono. It's my primary bass rod. I throw everything on it and haul fish out of gnarly trees and grass routinely with zero issue.

Why? I have way better accuracy with a spinning rod (people don't seem to be aware of how to break or feather a spinning reel properly), line management is easier, and they're easy to work on if something needs some maintenance. Additionally I think the setup of a spinning reel has better biomechanics for fighting big fish based on how your grip, joints,and muscles are set-up.

The idea that spinning setups are finesse only seems to be mostly a bass angler thing. In the salt and surf it's the reverse of bass world. Very few casting reels outside of maybe specialized billfishing and tuna applications. You can, and I have, hauled in massive saltwater fish in spinning tackle.

Modern spinning tackle got it's start in the USA within the surf fishing community post WW2, fighting big striped bass if I recall, so I guess not a big surprise there. But it does seem goofy that we bass folks somehow think spinning tackle can't possibly be up to the task of pulling in a double digit bass or something. Top end of our world record bass are the mid-tier of things like red drum, which are almost universally taken on spinning gear.

I started fishing just about 3 years ago (I am not young, just started later in life) - I initially bought yard sale rods/reels - one BC and several spinning set-ups - due to the ever present strong, gusty winds we have here I found myself endlessly having line issues with the BC and virtually no issues with the spinning gear - so now, similar to @Swamp Girl , I have 99% spinning gear and 1 BC rig - I have Ultra-Light thru Heavy spinning rods (the Heavy rods are inshore rods) - I have spinning reels from 1000 size to 4000 size - I use the MH and H rods to deep crank, power fish and when encountering cover (we certainly do not have "heavy" cover/vegetation like they do in FL/TX/other areas and no alligators that I know of ) - I recently landed a 36 inch Northern Pike on spinning gear and that fish had to be in the 13 to 15 pound range, tangled itself in the reeds and fought like crazy - I hear what @gim and others are saying and understand that having a variety of tools in the toolbox is best and makes sense - yet I, like @SJS , have found spinning gear to be effective and my majority tool of choice for now

PS: @Swamp Girl is living the life with that beautiful lake, a canoe and plentiful big bass

Being a Western finesse type, I have no shame in busting out the “fairy wand”.

If I had to hit the lake with only one rig, it’d be a 6’6” med/fast with a 2500 reel and 10lb braid (and spools of 6 and 8 lb FC leader).

On 6/26/2026 at 7:16 AM, Swamp Girl said:

I use spinning gear 99.9% of the time. I even started musky fishing with spinning gear, but soon realized it wasn't stout enough for those beasts. However, spinning gear works for me with bass fishing. However, I don't think it would work in the Everglades.

The key is having the correct spinning gear. You can fish anywhere, for anything. Musky and giant pike are caught on fly rods regularly.

3 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

The key is having the correct spinning gear. You can fish anywhere, for anything. Musky and giant pike are caught on fly rods regularly.

As are much larger saltwater fish. I used to watch a couple saltwater fly fishing shows all the time. Just never had money for fly rods and no saltwater within hours of driving back then. Sure looked like a lot of fun.

3 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

As are much larger saltwater fish.

When I lived in MA, I'd surf-fish for stripers on Cape Cod with my old Mitchell 320...just putting heavier line on than used for freshwater. caught a few that pushed 20#. Spinning gear, when properly sized, is just fine for almost anything.

There's a very good fisherman in my club that only uses spinning rigs. He frog fishes with a medium heavy 7' rod. It's not ideal but he shows that it can work.

I'm 100% spinning reel in freshwater, though not a "power" fisherman.

You want to watch power fishing with spinning reels check out tuna popping videos on you tube, they catch some amazing fish with these.