Questions about casting rods

[Carptain_Bao]

Hi everyone, I am thinking about buying a new casting rod for some bass fishing. I am relatively new to bass fishing especially baitcasting stuffs. I am just wondering what will be a good casting rod for my first? I will be mainly throwing crankbaits, occasionally jigs and plastics. What will be a good rod to start with? Medium or Med-Heavy? What length?
My budget is around 70-75 bucks.
Thank you in advance!

Bao

[skunked4life]

Shimano clarus. You can buy new for $90 or used for around $75. My first legit casting rod and i caught my first legal halibut from surf. Lots of backbone, light as a feather and extra fast taper. I like fast taper so i am partial to this rod. It is somewhat more parabolic than others in the price range due to its tc4 and im 8 construction.

I am strictly shimano but i have been considering the carrot stick. It does not have a fast taper like the clarus and i think it would be an excellent halibut rod. For bass fishing, i am not too sure because i only fish salt bass. The e21 carrot retails at around the same price as the clarus.

Currently, i am using the shimano crucial and LOVING it. But my clarus will always be remembered as my first love.

[Carptain_Bao]

Shimano clarus. You can buy new for $90 or used for around $75. My first legit casting rod and i caught my first legal halibut from surf. Lots of backbone, light as a feather and extra fast taper. I like fast taper so i am partial to this rod. It is somewhat more parabolic than others in the price range due to its tc4 and im 8 construction.

I am strictly shimano but i have been considering the carrot stick. It does not have a fast taper like the clarus and i think it would be an excellent halibut rod. For bass fishing, i am not too sure because i only fish salt bass. The e21 carrot retails at around the same price as the clarus.

Currently, i am using the shimano crucial and LOVING it. But my clarus will always be remembered as my first love.
Thank you Skunked4life for your input! I will look into the Clarus series. I came across it in the sport chalet a while ago, sure enough the rod has a lot of backbone!

[angelsfan951]

i cant give u any advice on what to buy but i can tell u it will take A LOT of practice and figuring out how to adjust the brakes and how to keep ur thumb on the line. I tried a bait caster wich is an abu garcia bcx5600 and its put away as i couldnt get the hang of casting lol ill just stick to spinning reels

[skunked4life]

i cant give u any advice on what to buy but i can tell u it will take A LOT of practice and figuring out how to adjust the brakes and how to keep ur thumb on the line. I tried a bait caster wich is an abu garcia bcx5600 and its put away as i couldnt get the hang of casting lol ill just stick to spinning reels

Well I was a spinning set-up fan for all of my life. Then, I posted some questions here and got some info. I gave it another try and it did not take more than 2 outings for things to set in. The original question had to do with rods, but if reels are a part of the question, I say don't give up.

I started with a low end casting reel spooled with braid contrary to what everyone here told me to do. It was a nightmare. So I spent a few bucks and got a higher end reel. Two days later, I fell in love. I haven't gone back to spinning in the last 6 months except for one time. It can be done.

It is nice to have an arsenal of tools and skills to experiment and adapt with.

[DarkShadow]

The inherent problem about an 'all around' rod for bass fishing is the fact that the type of rod you look for when fishing crankbaits, is the complete opposite (in terms of action) that you look for when fishing bottom contact baits.

For cranks, anglers look for slower action rods, to reduce the impact made when a fish hits the bait (since you will probably not have any slack line) thus cushioning the strike, and not allowing the treble hooks to be ripped outta a fish's mouth during the fight.

For jigs/plastics, anglers usually prefer fast or extra fast rods, because you need the hookset to pierce a fish's mouth, especially since you will most likely have some slack in your line.

As far as power, it really depends on what weight your baits will be. If you're going to be using 'finesse' type cranks, you may steer towards Medium power. If you throw slightly bigger cranks (3/8 to 1/2 ounce), you should probably go up in power to at least something in the MH range.

As far as size? Unless you're in 1984 where 5'6" rods were all the craze, a 7 to 7'2" would suffice nicely. Gets you sufficient casting distance and has the leverage to turn any fish.

As far as your price range? While I agree with others that the entry level Shimanos are probably your best bet, realize that with this price range, you're going to be sacrificing sensitivity, which IMHO, can be the difference between catching fish and not catching fish (when fishing plastics). If you're primarily fishing cranks, sensitivity is probably not a factor. Just something to think about if you plan on using bottom bouncing techniques. I've seen guys lines *jump* when they're fishing, indicating a bite, yet they don't even feel it thanks to the rods that they are using that double as their trout jigging rods.

[CL SmooV]

CB--- when you make a purchase let me know. You fished Peck in the past if I'm not mistaken. If you still do, I'll meet you up there and give you a tutorial. Just PM me when you are ready.

[Carptain_Bao]

i cant give u any advice on what to buy but i can tell u it will take A LOT of practice and figuring out how to adjust the brakes and how to keep ur thumb on the line. I tried a bait caster wich is an abu garcia bcx5600 and its put away as i couldnt get the hang of casting lol ill just stick to spinning reels
Thank you I will be doing a lot of practice, didn't expect to master it too fast.

[Carptain_Bao]

The inherent problem about an 'all around' rod for bass fishing is the fact that the type of rod you look for when fishing crankbaits, is the complete opposite (in terms of action) that you look for when fishing bottom contact baits.

For cranks, anglers look for slower action rods, to reduce the impact made when a fish hits the bait (since you will probably not have any slack line) thus cushioning the strike, and not allowing the treble hooks to be ripped outta a fish's mouth during the fight.

For jigs/plastics, anglers usually prefer fast or extra fast rods, because you need the hookset to pierce a fish's mouth, especially since you will most likely have some slack in your line.

As far as power, it really depends on what weight your baits will be. If you're going to be using 'finesse' type cranks, you may steer towards Medium power. If you throw slightly bigger cranks (3/8 to 1/2 ounce), you should probably go up in power to at least something in the MH range.

As far as size? Unless you're in 1984 where 5'6" rods were all the craze, a 7 to 7'2" would suffice nicely. Gets you sufficient casting distance and has the leverage to turn any fish.

As far as your price range? While I agree with others that the entry level Shimanos are probably your best bet, realize that with this price range, you're going to be sacrificing sensitivity, which IMHO, can be the difference between catching fish and not catching fish (when fishing plastics). If you're primarily fishing cranks, sensitivity is probably not a factor. Just something to think about if you plan on using bottom bouncing techniques. I've seen guys lines *jump* when they're fishing, indicating a bite, yet they don't even feel it thanks to the rods that they are using that double as their trout jigging rods.
Darkshadow, your advice is very i formative. You cleared up a lot of stuff that I didn't even know. I will start out with a crankbait rod then maybe later on I will go into the jig fishing! there are a lot of stuff to learn about bass fishing.

[Carptain_Bao]

CB--- when you make a purchase let me know. You fished Peck in the past if I'm not mistaken. If you still do, I'll meet you up there and give you a tutorial. Just PM me when you are ready.

CL SmooV, that will be great. I haven't been to the peck for a while. but it is fairly close to where I live. Once I purchase a rod I will let you know, if you got time, let's do some bass fishing at Peck! Thank you!

[DarkShadow]

Darkshadow, your advice is very i formative. You cleared up a lot of stuff that I didn't even know. I will start out with a crankbait rod then maybe later on I will go into the jig fishing! there are a lot of stuff to learn about bass fishing.

I think you should approach it the other way.

I can use my jig sticks for throwing cranks. But there's no way I'd use an S-glass rod to throw jigs.

Go with a regular fast action MH graphite rod. That way you have the flexibility to throw both when the time presents itself.