Spinning combo's?

[fishingguy]

I am in the market for a couple new rods. Just got back into summer fishing recently. Am hoping to get into a couple rod reel combo's for $250 or less. Mostly troll for walleyes with cranks or lindy rids, or drag a jig once in a while. May do some casting with jigs and cranks, but mostly trolling right now.

Is there such a thing as a decent combo out there to fit my needs, that won't break my bank? Any of the cabela's, gander, or scheels brand combo's in the $80 to $125 range worth looking at?

Also is there any particular power or action rods that I should be looking at? Still learning the whole power(fast, mod, slow) and action(med, med. lite, ect..) thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[PerchJerker]

Here's my suggestions .....

If you're getting spinning combos ......

For one combo, get a 6'6" or 7'0" Medium Light power rod with Fast action. That will be a good rod for jigging, rigging with ligher weights, slip bobber fishing, and trolling cranks that don't pull hard, like raps and shallow shad raps.

For your other combo, I'd go with a 7'0" Medium Heavy power rod, with Fast or Moderate Fast action. That will be a good rod for rigging with heavier weights or even bottom bouncers, and will handle any crankbait you'd use for walleyes. This rod would also have enough backbone and power to be a good pike or bass rod, if you ever wanted to target them or throw spinnerbaits, etc.

The most important thing about rods is to make sure they feel right to you. Cabelas and Gander both have good rods at good prices with their own private label on them (Scheels may too, I don't go to Scheels very often).

However, you said you troll a lot, so if you spend most of your time trolling I'd suggest a line counter reel. It's a lot more specialized, but for trolling it's the way to go.

For reels, I'd really suggest trying to get a couple of reels that have spare spools for them. This will allow you to spool up each reel with copolymer (or mono) on 1 spool and a superline on the other, and will give you a lot more versatility to fine tuning your equipment to match what you're doing.

I like Shimano reels, although the last few spinnging reels I picked up were Pfluegers and they are very nice too. I can't help you too much with the Cabelas or Gander or Scheels reels but I definately would not rule them out --- I have a couple Cabelas reels I use for ice fishing and I've been very happy with them.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

[thedeadsea]

Best advice I can give is to go to the store and try out several models for feel. Get the one that feels best to you and has good balance.

Medium light action is probably the best all around action IMO, or medium if you are going to be pulling larger cranks like the larger shad raps. I believe most walleye rods are fast power but personally I pay much more attention to the action.

Sometimes combo's are a better deal than buying the items separately, sometimes it makes no difference in price.

[thedeadsea]

Addition: Perchjerker was typing at the same time I was. Many good points in there.

[fishingguy]

Thank You both for the great advice! That is the type of posts I was hoping for! I knew the best place to ask was on this site. Thanks again!

[Heatseeker]

Perch Jerker has good info. I would add this: I would say stick with the 6'9"-7'0" spinning rod in the med light with a fast tip as you can cast this further and fight larger fish more effectively. As far as the trolling rod, i would get a medium action with a medium fast tip. You fish walleye and mostly troll cranks and you will get a much better fight out of the fish with a medium action as opposed to a medium heavy. The med fast tip is also much more versatile. More enjoyable! Also, St. Croix sports a Lifetime warranty on all rods of the Avid series or higher with excellent customer service second to none! Hope this helps.

[fishingguy]

Thanks guys for all your advice! Went to Gander in kato and they happen to have they're St. Croix Triumphs on sale. Got 2 rods, a 6'6" med/fast, and a 7' med/fast for $59 ea. Didn't have any reels I liked, so went to Scheels and they had the Shimamo solstace on sale. Picked up a couple of those. All said and done got into to rigs for a little less than I was budgeting for!! Should fit my needs just fine. Thanks again for all the advice and help!