New to bass fishing this year. Coming from trout, so my setups are pretty light. I know I need some heavier ones, but what I have is what I have for the time being.

I have two 7' ultralight rods with 1000 reels. I use these to fish 1/8 and 1/16oz lures mostly although they fish 1/4oz just fine. For these I use 6lb braid with a 6lb flouro leader. While these are okay for most catches, I've had problems recently with larger bass dragging me into cover and logs and breaking me off. So I've mostly moved to using my next two rods....

Then I have 2 medium light rods that belonged to my father. Both older Daiwa's and 7' as well. On these I have 2500 size reels with 10lb braid with 10lb leaders. These are my heavier lure and jig rods.

Watching and reading, I see a lot of folks recommending using straight fluorocarbon. Would it make sense to change at least the ML rods to 15lb flouro or would that be too heavy for these rods?

Any issues with the way I'm rigging right now? I started using that because.....I don't know why really. I guess I read it somewhere and just started doing it. It makes sense to me with using braid to have the leaders, but I honestly don't see many bass anglers fishing like this so I'm guessing there's a reason for that. Should I consider moving to straight flouro for my ML rods and leave the braid for my UL setups?

Thanks!

Anything over 8# fluorocarbon is usually too stiff for a spinning reel.

Go heavier on the braid if you feel you need to.

Greetings and Happy Fourth All,

@BahnzoBass You have a nice Ultra lite setup in hand with those trout rigs. Give that a go and enjoy while you decide to acquire more gear.

Here in Southern AZ, I'm using the same rigs all year long. The cooler months they work well for the trout. The rest of the year it is multi-species to include bass. While I have heavier rigs, I catch more using the UL gear. Also I'm not as fatigued. Tossing that heavy gear about takes more effort.

Yes, I understand and have empathy when applying leverage on those stronger fish. Heavier rigs help but only go so far based on conditions. Each break off is a big time bummer for all.

A number of the local sticks prefer the braid to leader configuration. The braid tends to float, which does act like a strike indicator. It does help if you're looking.

Others have mentioned a bit more diligence in making sure the line is packed on the spool nicely with the spinning reels, this appears to be more critical on flurocarbon line. You want it right and tight to lower the overall drama.

There is a local AZ angler that has a TV program and YouTube channel, "Fishing with Johnny Johnson". His latest content included his recommendation of using 8 pound flurocarbon for the leader. His experience shows better presentation action at that line size. Heavier does not allow for his preferred level of lure action.

It is nice to have more options, but realize you have good stuff already. Just get something with a good quality drag. Low startup threshold, smooth action, no surging, consistent operation.

Be well, Cheers!

5 hours ago, BahnzoBass said:

New to bass fishing this year. Coming from trout, so my setups are pretty light. I know I need some heavier ones, but what I have is what I have for the time being.

I have two 7' ultralight rods with 1000 reels. I use these to fish 1/8 and 1/16oz lures mostly although they fish 1/4oz just fine. For these I use 6lb braid with a 6lb flouro leader. While these are okay for most catches, I've had problems recently with larger bass dragging me into cover and logs and breaking me off. So I've mostly moved to using my next two rods....

Then I have 2 medium light rods that belonged to my father. Both older Daiwa's and 7' as well. On these I have 2500 size reels with 10lb braid with 10lb leaders. These are my heavier lure and jig rods.

Watching and reading, I see a lot of folks recommending using straight fluorocarbon. Would it make sense to change at least the ML rods to 15lb flouro or would that be too heavy for these rods?

Any issues with the way I'm rigging right now? I started using that because.....I don't know why really. I guess I read it somewhere and just started doing it. It makes sense to me with using braid to have the leaders, but I honestly don't see many bass anglers fishing like this so I'm guessing there's a reason for that. Should I consider moving to straight flouro for my ML rods and leave the braid for my UL setups?

Thanks!

You’re going to have one of two issues stepping up flouro size on spinning gear. It’s either going to be terrible to manage with awful memory or you’re going to overpower the rod and it could fail. I doubt a ML rod is rated up to 14-17lb line.

The reason we use heavier than UL and ML is because bass are powerful and will tangle you up quickly. The lightest rod I own is a St. Croix ML and it fishes closer to a medium.

Personally I’d run 15-20lb braid on the ML and top it with 7-8lb good flouro. Splurge on some sunline sniper or similar quality line. It will last forever as a leader since you’re using so little each time. Use a simple connection knot. You don’t need to learn the 8 finger, 3 toe, hold a tag end in your mouth knot. Alberto is fine. I’ve used it for years and I despise leaders.

Tighten your drag a bit more once you’ve stepped up the line power and see if you have better luck controlling bass. The next option is locating a used medium power spinning rod and testing it out, but I’d avoid spending money when you aren’t sure what you have might be perfect with a few adjustments.

First welcome to the forum and the sport of bass fishing. I see you are almost 3 years younger than I am.

I'd honestly invest in a MF spinning rod. Don't know what you might have for a budget, but the Daiwa Aird X runs $60 and is rated 1/4-3/4 oz. That weight actually puts it in the range of many MH baitcasting rods. The Aird X has an excellent reputation of value for the money.

Did you ever get into fly fishing for trout? It'd be sacrilegious if you didn't considering where you live.

EDT: I'd continue to run braid. Leader if you prefer. It's helpful in some situations.

8 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

Did you ever get into fly fishing for trout? It'd be sacrilegious if you didn't considering where you live.

I do fly fish, although I use my tenkara rod mostly these days. It's still my favorite form of fishing, but I have much more bass ponds within a 10-15 min drive than I do trout streams which require 45mins+. Which are going to be in poor shape after the winter we had. Giving trout somewhat of a break might be the prudent thing to do this year.

3 hours ago, TNBankFishing said:

You’re going to have one of two issues stepping up flouro size on spinning gear. It’s either going to be terrible to manage with awful memory or you’re going to overpower the rod and it could fail. I doubt a ML rod is rated up to 14-17lb line.

Personally I’d run 15-20lb braid on the ML and top it with 7-8lb good flouro. Splurge on some sunline sniper or similar quality line. It will last forever as a leader since you’re using so little each time. Use a simple connection knot. You don’t need to learn the 8 finger, 3 toe, hold a tag end in your mouth knot. Alberto is fine. I’ve used it for years and I despise leaders.

You are right, my ML rods are rated up to 12lbs and 1/2oz lures.

If I could ask, what would be the advantage of stepping up to 15-20lb braid? I'm already using 10lb braid with either 8 or 10lb flouro leaders (double uni knots for me thanks ). The weak spot is still going to be the leader, which is why I use it to avoid having to lose braid into the environment.

I agree with the concerns that heavier mono will not handle well on spin, but the concern about lines heavier than the rating of the rod is a non issue. All you have to do to keep the system "balanced" is to keep yours drag set lower and if breaking off a snag keep the rod pointed at the snag when pulling on it (with the line wrapped around something or your finger on the spool to "lock it up."

I use 20 pound braid on rods rated for much less all the time. Never broken one on a fish or a snag. My garage door has been the biggest enemy.

What’s breaking, your braid or your leader? Is your leader knot holding up?what leader knot do you use?

I have fished 10lb braid on ML rods and have a tough time breaking it.

Going to medium rods 15 lb braid would be fine.

My dropshot rods are 6’10” ML action, both usually run 10lb braid and an 8lb fluoro leader, but when I’m in thicker brush/rocks I will go to a 10 or even 12 pound leader, or when in extreme clear/open water I’ll drop to a 6lb leader.

I honestly would never go to straight fluoro on a spinning reel. I tried it once several years ago and still wake up screaming and sweating. My therapist told me to switch back to braid and eventually the monsters would stop….

10 hours ago, BahnzoBass said:

You are right, my ML rods are rated up to 12lbs and 1/2oz lures.

If I could ask, what would be the advantage of stepping up to 15-20lb braid? I'm already using 10lb braid with either 8 or 10lb flouro leaders (double uni knots for me thanks ). The weak spot is still going to be the leader, which is why I use it to avoid having to lose braid into the environment.

I’ve had success stepping up the diameter of the braid line to 18ish lb almight braid when I’ve gone up on flouro leader. Increasing the sizes of the lines together tends to give me a more secure hold with the connection knot. I noticed it when I first started stepping up above 10lb leader on 10 or 12lb braid on my older spinning setups. Now this could be entirely in my head and the braid mainline or leader I choose may have been junk to begin with.