Rod Choice For River Smallmouth

[hoglaw]

I'm into the Old Crow tonight, so let's ramble.

There's zero shame in having nice rods...no need to equivocate Al. Since none of my boats have motors, I have no distinction between big water rods and creek rods. I'm prone to carrying a seven foot broom stick with 20lb floro to fish laydowns and log jams on small creeks, and I'm not the only one.

What rods do I use for river smallmouth? The ideal rod for the task at hand. I do my best to keep it to four rods, one of which may or may not be a spinning rod. If I'm floating a stream with good for carp, then I'll carry my carp spinning rod and sometimes another to drag a shakey head or fish a wacky worm. The carp rod is great for those applications too, but if there are big carp to be had, that rod has to stay dedicated and locked and loaded at all times in case I see a good one. Most all of the rods I carry these days I built myself for very specific applications. The exceptions are a loomis GL3 that's a nice general all purpose baitcast rod. Don't recall the model number, but it's ideal for a hula grub or dragging a tube. I was also given an awesome Falcon Cara this winter that's a "jerkbait special," and I like it for jerkbaits, flukes, and cranks if I'm on a tight enough stream that I don't want to take my longer crankbait rods.

I think there are two mentalities. Guys like Ron take pride in having a tool they didn't overpay for that gets the job done, and I completely understand that mentality. I happen to take pride in having the absolute best possible rod for a very specific situation. The tradeoff is more money and time on my part for those rods, and less versatility. But I get a tremendous amount of enjoyment from spending my disposable income and time on rods you can't buy in a store, and they are tailor made for a very specific application. If I wasn't into building rods, I doubt I'd spend the money I have spent on off the rack rods. Hard to justify dropping $250+ on a creek rod, much less an arsenal of them.

Brand never mattered much to me. I thought it was cool when I got my first G Loomis for sure, but it does it's thing well and other things not so well. I've always felt that you match the rod to the lures you're fishing. On every float trip, I can name (right or wrong) three lures that I think will catch fish, and typically there are three different rods that are ideal for those lures.

In general, my rotation would consist of my day's pick from the following:

7'6" spinnig rod with 6lb mono for carp;

6'6" or 7' spinning rod for shakey heads or flick shake worms depending on current;

6' fast tube/hula grub baitcaster;

6'6 or 7' moderate crankbait/swimbait baitcaster;

5'6" pistol grip moderate fast topwater baitcast (doubles as a cypress swamp spinnerbait rod back home);

7' extra fast worm baitcaster;

6' or 6'6" moderate fast jerkbait/fluke/trick worm alternative crankbait baitcaster;

6'6" fast horny toad/buzzbait/spinnerbait rod.

Guess I'm somewhat of a gearhead when it comes to rods.

[gotmuddy]

I have grown fond of Denali rods, mainly because they are made fairly locally and sold in mtn home. warranty replacement is easy as pie.

In the Canoe I carry 4-5 rods

7' cranking rod

7' jig rod

6'6" jerkbait/spinnerbait rod

6'6" tube jig spinning rod

I have no problem casting those rods on waters as small as the southfork river.

[Chief Grey Bear]

When I hit the water I usually pack 3 baitcasters and one ultra lite. All of them in the 5 to 5 1/2 ft range. I don't like anything longer than that. Floating tandem like I usually do makes storage a hassle. I don't have any problem with casting accuracy, control or presentation. Most casts when you float are in the 10'-20' range with some up to 30' or 40'. I can hit the mark all day long with these rods.

I like a medium to lite rod. Heavy rods are like casting 2x4's and are about as sensitive. Just not my cup of tea.

[Mitch f]

When I hit the water I usually pack 3 baitcasters and one ultra lite. All of them in the 5 to 5 1/2 ft range. I don't like anything longer than that. Floating tandem like I usually do makes storage a hassle. I don't have any problem with casting accuracy, control or presentation. Most casts when you float are in the 10'-20' range with some up to 30' or 40'. I can hit the mark all day long with these rods.

I like a medium to lite rod. Heavy rods are like casting 2x4's and are about as sensitive. Just not my cup of tea.

Same as you except my rods are 1 ft longer and the one spinning rod is a medium/medium light

[drew03cmc]

Baitcasters, 5'6"-6'6" M-MH

[Stoneroller]

I prefer lower priced rods for river fishing. I'm not going to bat an eye if a $30 lighting rod or ugly stick gets broken. i'd be pretty upset and out some $ if one of my $100+ rods broke. if you are independtly wealthy like the st croix, fenwick, and G.Loomis fanboys, then dropping $500 on a rod makes sense (I guess) but for those of us not in the 1%, 'budget' rods are more practical. I don't buy rods that cost more than $100. break a $500 rod and you'll know why.

my ugly sticks catch more fish than any of my $100 rods, because I'm not afraid to use them, they are more durable , they flat catch fish without question and never break. they aren't the most sensitive, but you don't need that kind of thing with a crankbait/topwater rod. i'd cringe to catch a muskie or hybrid bass on my carbonlite rods, but the ugly stick is the first rod I pick up when I'm going after tackle busting fish.

berkley makes a couple of really nice, low priced rods. the Amped series makes great grub/tube/shakeyhead rods. they have a nice parabolic bend, but are really sensative and are around $30. The Lightning Rod series (not the shock series which are great crankbait/jerkbait rods) make for great, inexpensive and suprisingly sensative rods. I have the 5'6" ML 2 pc model and I've caught everything from 20 inch channel cats to rockbass on it and it's never failed me. I think BPS dropped the price on the redesigned model this year to under $25, that's one hell of a deal for a great rod.

if you are only targeting smallmouth, you won't need a rod more than medium wt. the action depends on the type of lures. i use my ugly sticks for cranks and topwater and my Amped rod for plastics. The lightning rod I usually throw a beetle spin or small crankbait with. I don't fish with UL for a couple of reasons the foremost of which is the health of the fish. sure it's a fun fight, but it's not cool to break off fish with hooks stuck in them or to play a fish to exhaustion so it ends up dying after you release it. There's nothing sporting or macho in killing a fish to pump up your ego.

length is going to depend if you are fishing from a watercraft or not. with a kayak, you want your rod long enough so that you can easily reach the tip around the front of your yak if the fish swims under your boat to the other side. good luck with that in a canoe. for me 6 foot is the minimum. my 5'6" rod requires me to lean forward to clear the bow. also a longer rod casts farther, but isn't as accurate. 6' to 6'6" would be the lengths I would look at but you might find a longer or shorter rod to be more practical for your situation.

[RSBreth]

Most of my river Smallie rods are 7' or so, the exception is a 6'6" crankbait/jerkbait rod that I just bought. Brands? Name one. I have all kinds of brands represented, lots of older Cabelas and Bass Pro rods and reels, Diawa, Fenwick, St. Croix, etc.

I use Braid or Fused line as a main line for everything so none of my rods are really heavy power, most are medium or medium light. I like the reach of the longer rods, but since I use fly gear so much a 7' spinning or casting rod doesn't seam long, and I CAN reach around the front of my solo canoe when a fish isn't trying to swim circles around it.

(There are such things as solo canoes)

Several of my rods are two piece, and a couple are three piece travel rods. When I hear someone say they would never buy anything but a one piece rod, I realize they probably don't travel far to fish. Fly rods settled the "multi-piece versus one" rod argument years ago.

Speaking of fly rods - if I was looking to get a Smallmouth rods for the Ozarks it would be a 8'6" or 9' 7-weight.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I'm with you, Ron I don't like ultra-light spinning rods at all, and they really have no application for smallmouth fishing. I like just about any IM-6 med-hvy or med-fast action, 6 foot rod rated for 6-10 lb line. The cheaper the better, although I would never get 2 piece in spinning or baitcasting.

We need to hook up this year and do a little fishing.

I agree a 100% on the two piece. That is for bikinis only!

Same as you except my rods are 1 ft longer and the one spinning rod is a medium/medium light

It all comes down to what each idividual perfers and is comfortable with.

(There are such things as solo canoes)

And they are for people without friends.

[RSBreth]

Funny - but like Al always says it's just frustrating that people think of canoes only as the big barges that you and your "friend" paddle around in and kayaks are the only solo watercraft out there.

Uh Oh - I'm thread drifting - call the interweb police.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Don't mind the drift.

I soon will join your exclusive club and own a solo. Wouldn't take a yak if you gave it to me though.