What's your favorite rod/reel combo?

[chex]

With so many possible combinations, I'm curious, what's your favorite combo and why?

I haven't owned many, but my fav so far is a Trevala 6'3" S grip paired with a Shimano Calcutta 201B (left handed). I like because it's light, short, sensitive and pretty strong. I feel like I'm wielding a rapier when I hold it. It's short so casting distance isn't that great, but I feel like it's a good rod for many situations. If I could only take 1 rod, that's the one I would take. I like the Calcutta's thumb bar for easy one handed casting. And I love that it's left handed (even though I'm right handed).

[medicyaker]

I'm sure that I would say something like what you put down with the shimano Trevala and such but they are a bit out of my price range. My overall Favorite combo is an Ultra Lite combo from BassPro. Its a 5'2" Walley Marshall rod with a Walley Marshall 5-1 U/L reel loaded with 4lp test mono. I've caught more fish with that rod and reel than I have with any other combo I own. I've caught both large and small fish with it from a 21" striper to a 7" White Perch. I've even caught a nice 12 LP Channel Cat at Northpoint State Park. (That was one hell of a fight). I have a few high end combos but none have given me the enjoyment that the Marshall U/L has. I think my next favorite is my St Croix bass Rod and a Pflueger 3640 reel. Nice Combo that I put together myself.

[chex]

I'm sure that I would say something like what you put down with the shimano Trevala and such but they are a bit out of my price range... My overall Favorite combo is an Ultra Lite combo from BassPro. Its a 5'2" Walley Marshall rod with a Walley Marshall 5-1 U/L reel loaded with 4lp test mono. I've caught more fish with that rod and reel than I have with any other combo I own.

Precisely... and I bet there are many lower-priced rods and reels that are better than expensive ones. I got an expensive one because I don't know any better! I can only hope that more $ = more fish... but I'm pretty sure that's not true. I also have a $30 ugly stick light action rod that feels good to me...

I think that more info like I hope to get in this thread can help newbies, like myself, get a better idea of the wide variety that's out there.

(and BTW... i know for a fact that angler prowess is much more important than gear... when I was a fishing kid, my buddy caught way more fish than I did, even though our gear was similar)

[mmanolis2001]

What ever rod that is catching fish while i'm holding it




Joking aside I will have to think about that. I have more rods than i know what to do with and they all have there place. The budget builds i made last year for my kayak matched with some Shimano Cardiff's got the most work done. They turned out excellent for lite jigging and bottom fishing but came up short in other areas.

I Added two more heavy outfits Avet SX matched to a 15-30lb Batson musky blank and a Tyrnos 10II matched to a Seeker Inshore Lite. I did not fish these much this year but they are pretty sweet. The Avet setup will be a nice Tog rod and the Tyrnos setup is my Kiptow Cow wench.

I have some really nice shore bound setups with all the goodies but i dont really fish them much since i got into the whole Kayak Thing.

I guess my favorite setup would be my trusty SCIII 6ft UL blank with Titanium guides and a Symmetry reel. This combo has caught so many fish over the years. It feather light and a blast to fish. Its starting to show its age and i will rebuild it soon. This one does not get retired. its got to much mojo left in it. One of the best things about building your own rods is recycling old rods into new ones.

[mytmouse]

Medic, I've got that same combo! I loved it while yellow perch fishing. My favorite though, and not my most expensive is a 6' Bass Pro Graphite Series Spinning Rod(Medium Action) paired with a Cabela's ZX20 reel... the combo is light and hauls in everything I have asked it to! For the price, it can't be beat! The person that said you get what you pay for, hasn't fished this combo! LOL

I am a firm believer in buy what you can afford... it hasn't been until recently that I even looked at a rod that cost more than $30...LOL But I have still caught fish and still had fun doing it!

MYT

[DOGFISH]

I have a 5'4" Loomis spin/jig blank built into a spinning rod that I would use all the time if I could. I have caught stripers up to 28" on it and loads of smallmouth. It is also my favorite croaker rod. It is just an all around fun rod, paired with a Shimano Sustain 1000.

With that said, like mmanolis, I too have many rods for many occasions. I have another 7 or 8 to build this winter. Your favorite rod should be one in which you have conficence, just like with lures. I also like Shimano reels. I just purchased two new Calcutta TE reels a 400 and a 401 to replace the ones I lost this past season. I use the left hand retrieve on the left side of the kayak and the right hand retrieve on the right side of the kayak. They are very nice and reliable reels. The only other reels that I have other than Shimano are two Penn International 975 LD casting reels that I use for spring time trolling. As of late, I have also become fond of St Croix blanks. I have 4 SCIII 7.5' blanks to build into 2 light trolling rods for the fall and 2 for heavier spring trolling. The others that I have to build this year are SC 4and 5 blanks. I picked up most of the blanks during a huge sale at MudHole last fall. I even bought a saltwater #8 fly rod blank, to maybe get back into that sort of thing. Like some others here on the forum, I can be quite the gear junkie.

So much said for one favorite rod and reel.

[ronaultmtd]

I can afford better tackle today than when I was a hard core angler- I am partial to conventional reels being "old school". Like everyone else I have years of accumulated hodpodge of tackle, some good, some OK, all serviceable. All have caught fish. I cannot say I have ever lost a fish because of the failure of the reel or rod...I tend to go more to the lighter tackle now days...medium bass tackle mostly. I just bought a new UL spinning outfit (Pflueger Supreme on a 6 foot Cabela's Fish Eagle II). You can spend well over a thousand dollars on a ultra light rod and reel, but that isn't for me. I usually keep my purchases at or around the medium price range. You can get a lot for your dollar in that range. I am partial to Abu reels as I have found them to be good values and durable, but I have a thirty year old Quantum ultra light spinning reel that has been a real jewel...great reel, super durable, high quality, all metal with lots of ball bearings. I bought it with a Berkley 5'10" cherrywood rod at a Sports Authority Grand Opening sale in Virginia Beach back in the late 70's for $89.99...my tackle is like the United Nations- a lot of different brands.

My newest inshore fishing "favorite" is my Revo XTHS on a W&McGill Captain Blair Wiggins flats blue heavy action rod with 30# Rip Cord braid. Cast great, high speed retrieve and bullet proof drag...rod handles light lures as well as trolling the Stretch 25's- good all around kayak rod and reel. I also have a Curado 200e7 outfit on the same Blair Wiggins Flats Blue rod- it is a fine outfit, but I like the Revo better- just personal preference.

I also have surf and pier fishing outfits that are speciality items- you cannot compare these to any other as they are special purpose outfits. Their strong points are distance casting and line capacity.

[ictalurus]

Hmmm... this is a tough one. My combo with the most mojo is a 6ft light Fenwick Eagle GT with a Shimano Sahara 750. I've gone through a number of reels on that rod, but the rod itself has caught somewhere between 15 and 20 species. It's my shad/pickerel/perch rod, and it was the first rod I owned that cost more than $20. My wife got it for me for one of our anniversaries. It's action is pretty slow, slower than what I like now that I own a bunch of fast and extra-fast action rods, and the lure weight range is pretty narrow, but it's a fish catching machine.

My favorite rod to use is my 6'6" MH Bass Pro Extreme spinning rod with a Shimano Symetre 2500. It was my first rod over $50 and was a Christmas present from my wife. It came as a combo with a Stradic 2500, but that reel didn't hold up very well and is now a freshwater only reel. The rod isn't the most sensitive rod I own, but it is the most versatile. It can cast everything from 1/8oz to 1.5oz+, and it would be the one rod I would carry if only allowed one rod. It's the grown-up version of my childhood blankie. Just holding it puts me in a better mood. I need to do a species tally on it.

I got a 6'8" M Powell Max baitcasting rod for this Christmas. Like Mike (Chexone) said, it feels like a rapier when I hold it, similar to high end St. Croixs I've held, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. I'm looking forward to seeing how it performs.

[Grilled]

My favorite reel is my revo inshore. casts smoothly, great drag, it caught a lot of fish this year. Not really sure what my favorite rod is, to many to choose from but i do love my st. croix and lamiglas rods.

[medicyaker]

Dogfish, Sounds like you have alot of custom made rods from blanks. Do you build your own rods? I would like to get ito building some and have two blanks that I bought from another member and have gotten away from doing the build but I know he and I both want to build these blanks. I'm thinking maybe if we could find a centrally located area to meet, we could build these rods during the offseason. If anyone else is interested in doing this, please feel free to chime in.
Thanks
Tom

[HokieDJ]

What's the difference between the Calcutta vs Curado? I feel as though I need to get the conventional reel because that's what I see people use but the Curado seems to do the same thing for me. I look at conventional/casting reels as jigging and live bait rods. I don't need a spinner on a Kayak because I don't need to worry about casting distance like I do on land.

[CB kayak 02]

While I just bought a Trevala S with a Penn battle 3000 spinning combo and it is SWEEET!!!! I still think my favorite rod is my 4'9" MH Ugly stik spinning rod (I have 2) very sensitive but strong and versatile. I have them both paired with Okuma Avenger live line reels.

[DanMarino]

Pflueger

I've got a Pflueger President XT spinning reel that I really like and it is paired up with a 6'6" Bass Pro Graphite series medium action rod. I think the Graphite series rods from Bass Pro are a good value. They seem pretty light weight and plenty sensitive for the bass fishing I do.

I've got a 35 year old Ugly Stick Ultra Light rod that is lots of fun to use. I've got some cheap Bass Pro ultra light spinning reel on it and it's does fine when I use it to go after smallies on smaller flows.

13

[J.A. Veil]

At the risk of highjacking or sidetracking this good thread, let me pose a somewhat related question.

What are your thoughts on matching the quality/price of the rod to the reel? In other words, which of those two is the more critical component? (My personal opinion as a frequent caster is that the reel is more critical. But in reading Shawn Kimbro's new book, he suggests that the rod is the more critical component).

I own strictly spinning reels. Twice during the past 15 years, I bought casting rods with Shimano Calcutta reels. I never spent the time to learn how to cast them well, and did not like the reeling motion. I sold both combos and personally don't plan to go back the baitcaster world.

Most of the combos I use for fishing from my power boat or when I am targetting fish larger than pickerel or bottom fish are 6'6" St. Croix Premier medium light rods paired with Shimano Stradic 2500 or 4000 reels. I have about 6 of these combos rigged with different lures. When I use my power boat, I carry all six, but bring only three when fishing from my kayak.

One of those rods had a mishap a few years ago -- the outer 6" to 12" of the rod broke off. I sanded off the break point and added a new rod tip. The rod is shorter and much stiffer than before. It now serves as a jigging rod for deeper water and heavier lures (it caught the rockfish I jigged up in the Severn on three recent trips).

For my ultralight fishing (mainly perch, pickerel, shad), I have three different inexpensive rods (5'6" or 6' long). This year I upgraded the reels to two Shimano Stradic 1000s and one Shimano Symmetre 1000. The reels are wonderfully smooth and make my constant casting and retrieving pretty easy.

[surfdog]

my favorite rod/ reel combo is the one that caught my 43" rock this spring. found it at a yard sale last fall 10' 2 piece alumium butt section fibeglass upper. no clue who made it but it looked like a nice rod, needed the thread work redone and a new reel seat so for 30 + the 10 i paid for it it was a good buy. this rod caught a lot of rock this year. mached it with an okuma abf 50 with 20lbs power pro. this combo will throw 5oz+ bait easily and 2-3oz metal a long way also sensitive enough to let me know when a YOY rock is attacking my bait.

on the kayak i usually use an IM7 7' mfast with an okuma or penn captiva LL trying to lighten up and use 10-15 lbs braid, more fight for the buck

john, i think matching the reel to the rod is most important, you wouldnt want to put a 6000 on a 5'8" med graphite rod the balance would be off. matching the rod, reel and line is very important.