Over the past 4 years or so I've assembled a bit of a hodgepodge of rods and reels. Mostly through fb marketplace. I just got a kayak and so I'd like to set these up so that each combo has a purpose. So I spend less time retying lures. I'll be freshwater fishing in Minnesota, mostly targeting bass. Does anyone have any suggestions for how I should pair these rods and reels, and then how I should set them up?
Here's my list:
Rods
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Abu Garcia Conlon Premier CPC701MH
7' Medium Heavy Action — 10–25 lb Line, 3/8–1 1/2 oz Lure -
Abu Garcia bass tour series KB7S601MH
6' Medium Heavy Spinning — 6–17 lb Line, 1/4–5/8 oz Lure -
Ugly stick lite CA 1166-1M
6'6" Medium Action — 10–17 lb Line -
Tatula bf universal TTUL6101LRB
6'10" Light — 4–10 lb Line, 1/14–3/8 oz Lure -
Quantum Escalade HD ESCC701MH (IM8, 48-Ton Hi-Strain Modulus)
7' Medium Heavy — 10–25 lb Line, 1/4–1 1/3 oz Lure -
Ambassador s AMBS701MH
7' Medium Heavy — 10–20 lb Line, 1/4–1 oz Lure with a broken dip
Reels
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Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6500C4 — Baitcasting
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Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5500C3 — Baitcasting
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Abu Garcia MX 120R — Spinning
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Shimano BFS XG — Baitcasting
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Daiwa Tatula SV TWS 6.3 — Baitcasting
Currently my thoughts are to set the spinning reel up for walleye because otherwise I don't really use it and I only bring it if I was specifically targeting walleye. (Realistically this is my loner combo unless someone thinks it can fill a niche my other combos can't)
The 6500 on the conlon to my mind is my muskie combo.
The Shimano BFS on the tatula rod is for trout, small bass, maybe also walleye.
The Tatula reel on the quantum rod Is my current do everything rod, it's just sort of the default combo I grab when I'm going fishing.
The 5500 on the ugly stick is actually the combo I've had since I was a teenager. I used it for catching speckled trout flounder and redfish back in the day and love it very much, but I'm not quite sure how to use it up here in Minnesota. It was out of commission for a long time and that's when I bought the Tatula reel but I've since got it up and running again.
The ambassador s came with a cheap ambassador reel that I bought a long time ago. Currently I'm not using it for anything but if anyone is of the opinion that it's a better rod than one of the ones I am using I'm all ears.
Posted by isthis_thing_on
1 Comment
I’m not an expert on this stuff by any means but I have a friend who joined the Georgia southern bass fishing team and I remember him getting some rods for tournament stuff. He had a lighter bait cast setup spooled with only mono (I would recommend flourocarbon but I’ve never spooled a reel with it) that he used as a Swimbait/crank bait rod. He had a heavier rod that he spooled with (I thjnk 60) pound braid and that was his frog rod(he also used it to flip jigs but he would tie on a leader). He had another lighter bait cast set up that he used for Texas rigging and soft plastic fishing but the Swimbait rod I mentioned earlier would work fine for that. Imo a spinning rod is pretty important if you want to finesse fish with lighter lures. It’s also really nice to have one for drop shotting but that’s all personal preference.