Hey Guys, If you were to buy a brand new Rod & Reel for Large Mouth Bass fishing what would it be? Keep the total under 150$$$$$ I'm not at well off as SpotNStalk.
Lmao. I have just been buying Ugly Sticks for all around fishing. Are you wanting a spinning reel or a baitcaster?
Bass Pro Shops Heat in 8 wt with orvis' Large Arbor Encounter reel. Rod and Reel total $148. Fished with LARGE poppers such as Mike's Mad Mouse (for surface) or a 2/0 Dahlberg Diver (for subsurface down to 2ft) or crawfish pattern just off the bottom and hang on... You didn't specify rig type, but I have catch an average of about 1000 bass (plus other fish) on this every year. Super easy to cast. The advantage a fly rod offers over a spinning reel is I can fish the area I want and pick the line up and hit the are within a couple seconds instead of fishing a 'dead zone'. Imagine, if you will, on a boat approaching a dock. The Heat will allow a cast under the dock, popped back to about 3 ft from the dock, then picked back up and hit the next spot on the dock... Super efficient and crazy fun... Anyway, that's my pitch on fly fishing for bass.
That does not include the line (about $40), bass are not leader shy so short leader/tippets of <6 ft allow for easy turnover of big flies. I use hand furled leaders, but that is not necessary. 10# to 15# straight leaders straight off your spool of stren will work great.
My all around setup would have to be a 7' MH rod. To keep it cheap, check out the BPS Bionic Blades. For a spinning reel I still use Plunger Presidents, even on my high end rods. A good cost effective baitcaster is the BPS Pro Qualifier. Hunt around and be patient, you'll find sales on all these items.
I have 2 Ugly Stiks and they work great. If you want, just change out the reel for a nicer one and if you are trying to keep it under $150, you will have about $110 to play with on the reel after you take out the cost of the Ugly Stik.
For all around bass fishing I'm really starting to like the St Croix mojo bass rods. Their actions run a little on the heavy side..I usually like a 7' MH action rod for general bass fishing...throwing top water,shallow cranks and smaller spinner baits. But with the Mojo rods I found that I really like the 6'6" Medium action..they load well when setting a hook and the tip isn't so stiff that I can still get good action out of top water lures like the Zara Spook and jitter bugs. I put a Abu Garcia black maxx reel and spooled it with 30# power pro braid and I'm pretty sure I still had under $150 in the whole set up.
7' St.croix Mojo with a Lews Speed Spool baitcast, Awesome for crankbaits 7' Lews Froggin Rod with Daiwa Megaforce baitcast, Awesome for frogging or spinnerbaits 6'6 Gloomis GL2 with a Daiwa legalis Spincast, Awesome for tubes or Drop Shots
I like the bass pro line and the St Croix Mojo as well. I gave my son an Ugly stick till he was 10. He used one of my rods this past summer and raved about the difference in feel, at 10 years old. It was an expensive Xmas this year! I know I never had a $100 rod n reel combo at 10 years old. He cought more fish than ever tho. Well worth it to give him a new excitement in fishing and the bonding time is my favorite.
In my opinion, If you are going to fish a lot, it may be worth it to save up and get into that next class of rods, I personally use Shimano Rods and Reels, My brother used to work at Thorne Bros. and has a few custom made rods from G-Loomis blanks. I can tell you from my experience I fish with his rod every chance I get, whether he takes a nap or takes a leak, one cast or twenty, and I have a quality rod myself. So I honestly think when you do your research and get a rod that fits what you want to do, you get what you pay for. I don't mean spend $1000+ but if you were to double your budget you would open up a bunch of new quality options...
I love my Kistlers, even my low end ones are better then most others in their price range. Give them a look!
I've started becoming a big fan of the Powell's. If I were still chasing tournaments this summer all but my Abu Villain would probably be Powell Max's.
i really like the new vendetta rod i bought last year, its a 7' medium action rod. its stiffer than a medium so it worked out perfect. i have it paired with a bass pro shop extreme baitcast reel that i took apart and super tuned. that combo fishes as good as my curado on duckett micro magic rod, and it will fall close to that price range.
wait for bass pro to have a sale, the extreme baitcast reel normally is $90 but i got mine for $70 on one of their sales.
