Gotta have Gear!!

[gabowman]

After taking inventory on my crappie fishing rod and reels (I mostly fish poles and minnows) looks like I need a few (4 or 5) rod and reels. I dropped by Wally World today and checked out what they have. They have a rack of cheap rods for $7 and Abu Garcia (C101's or something like that) spinning reels for $20. Those cheap rods all say Med. action and go between 6' and 6.5' long and they seem plenty flimsey out on the ends so they wont be so stiff when a crappie is a finicky feeder. Has anybody bothered getting set up with any of these el-cheapos or am I better off getting some quality stuff even though it's gonna cost me WAY MORE money? I also noticed they have complete 8' fly rod outfits in packs for $20. (We all know how flimsey flyrods are. They make a good rod for pole fishing with minnows or jigs and they already have eyelets on them if you later decided to add a spinning reel with some tape.) Has anyone ever tried regular 6 lb. mono on those flyrod reels for tightlining crappie using rod holders? All of their ultra light combos are short 5' rods which dont really interest me. What say you guys?!? :rolleyes:

[tarheel]

I personally wouldn't use anything heavier than "medium light" action rod. Keep it fun!

[crap-king]

I would buy better rods and just adepedable reel nothing facy

[Big George]

I use the c101s and have a dozen of them and not a one has give me a problem 20 bucks is about 9 dollars less than I can get them here in Okla

[Papermouth62]

I have used the 8' fly rods for the last three years and have had no problem
with them. They have workedgreat for me slow trolling 1/4 oz jigs.
Good Luck, Mike

[horseshoer]

Hey man I think it's all a personal decision. I use a limited # of rigs as I mostly
cast/retrieve, slipfloat, or tightline. My favorite rods are a couple Berkley Stinger 6'6" I got over 10 yrs ago in Tx on sale $10 with $20-30 Quantums. Have a couple Berkley Lightning Rods weren't very expensive and 2 Penns that
were $60-70 over 10 yrs ago. I love em but really wouldn't spend the extra
$30-$50 per reel again, the Quantums are nice and I bought a $30 Shakespeare at BPS last spring I like alot too. My fishin buddy back in Tx said
it best-" I don't need more, bigger, and better gear, I need to get out there more often with the stuff I have". My rods/reels are all rated 2-8# or 4-10#
by the way and I fish with 4-6# mono. and feel like I have a good enough feel for the fish. If I'm missing some I don't know about it so it doesn't bother me none. LOL. Take care.
Jeff

[reelcrappie]

I agree with you, Horseshoer, I have about 12 rods with the longest being about 7'. All are light to medium action and I fish with 4# test line. I troll so length is not critical usually use the longer medium rods on the sides with wt to fish deep and shorter light action rods across the back for flat lines. I have an assortment of reels, mostly quantums (which seem to work the best for the money).

[hawkman]

Mitchell also makes a good reel for $20, the Avocet. They are available in 3 sizes. I have a S500UL (ultralight) & a S1000T, there also make a bigger 2000 series. All come with an extra spool, good for a different line size or type.

[GRIZZ]

Buy quality, spend some money. If your using a rod for 10 yrs and extra 50 bucks isn't gong to make much difference in the long hawl, but the quality of the rod and reel will. The better MFG's also have better warrenties, some lifetime. Catch fish on a light fast action rod and youll never go back. You can feel everything thats going on down there. Makes all the difference with light biting crappies. I personally use St Croix rods but there are lots of good brands. Bass pro and cabelas name brand rods are real nice for the buck. Gander Mountain makes a St Croix knockoff that looks and feel as good as the original. If your wealthy buy Gloomis. Pound for pound there isn't a better rod made as far as I'm concerned. I just can't spend $300 for a rod - Yet.

Mainly just look for im6 im7 im8 graphite blanks. If your used to the cheaper rods that flex more it might take a bit to get used to the stiffer higher modulous graphite blanks, but they are more flexible than they seem once your casting and retrieving fish.

A fun test to use when buying is have someone press the tip of the rod up against thier voicebox on thier throat and talk. If its a good rod you'll feel the vibrations through the real seat very strongly. You'll feel every light hit with a rod that can do that.

There are so many good reels out there now its hard to choose. Many formerly so-so reel companies have caught up to the big boys - diawa shimano quantum and make great reels. A good example of a reel that I would never have bought in the past but would now is the newest models of Okuma. I personally use Quantum right now, but I have a bunch of Shimano's. Best thing to do is go to a big store that has lots of brands and test them. This is an area where I'd say not to listen too much to the sales people even in a good tackle shop. The reason is that people have personal preferences that you might not share and if you take the advice of a sales person you might end up with a reel that doesn't suit your needs. Most of the best reel have oscillating spools, ballanced spools, durable bail springs that never break, and duable bails. Usually the better reels have 5-10 sealed bearings.

Be careful about balance between the rod and reel. you should be able to grasp the reel once its on the rod and the rod should balance parrallel to the floor or close to it. Buying good fishing tackle is addicting.

[fishin3]

BPS microlight rods come in differnet lengths and actions. If you are close to one go check them out. They usually run specials on them 1 or 2 a year. I've got about 5 in differnet action and lengths. I really like them.