Shimano at Cabelas and question for the masses on how to use rods

[carlcmc]

Well Deitz,

your pal at the Owatonna Cabelas sold me a nice rod today. Bought a 7'2" Crucial dropshot rod in Medium power , extra fast action. Coupled with a 2500 Stradic I'm set for trying dropshotting this year.

I bought a cheap 7'6" fiberglass rod with a cheap Cabelas Gold Depthmaster II reel with line counter to get my feet wet with trolling leadcore. Perhaps I'll upgrade at some point :-)

My wife wasn't going for me buying any more nice rods today :-)

So much for my hopes of getting a few more rods. My rod selection now is:

• Shimano Crucial CRS-DX72M 7'2" 6-12lb 1/8-3/8oz Power-Medium Action-Extra fast. REEL:Stradic 2500 - Drop shot
• Shimano Crucial CRS-70MH 7'0" 8-15lb 3/16-5/8oz Power-Medium Heavy Action-Fast. REEL:Stradic 2500 - Texas rigged worm weightless
• Shimano Crucial TC4 CRC-C70M 7'0" 8-14lb 1/4-5/8oz Power-Medium Action-Medium Fast. REEL: Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5600C4 - Trolling crankbaits and occasionally casting them.
• Shimano Compre CPS-70MHA 7'0" 10-20lb 1/4-1oz Power-Medium Heavy Action-Fast. REEL: Symetre 2500FI - General purpose? May have to use this for Carolina Rigs?
• Shimano Compre CPS-70HA 7'0" 12-20lb 3/8-1/4oz. REEL:Shimano Sonora 4000FA. General purpose again. Should this be Carolina versus spinnerbait?
• A junk ugly 6' ugly stick rod with a shimano symetre reel on it used for whatever.

Can I get any feeback from you guys as to the best way to utilize these rods? I just sort of started buying rods at the begining without a clear purpose so now I find myself with some rods with no clear defined role.

[cableguy031]

I've got a good way to utilize those rods, give them to me. Hehe!! J/K

You make me jealous!!!

[basskid]

few shimanos eh?

[HawgTide]

Here's what I would do...

For Drop Shot, light jigs and grubs, wacky senkos...

Shimano Crucial CRS-DX72M 7'2" 6-12lb 1/8-3/8oz Power-Medium Action-Extra fast. REEL:Stradic 2500 - Drop shot

For Soft Plastics, heavier jigs,

Shimano Crucial CRS-70MH 7'0" 8-15lb 3/16-5/8oz Power-Medium Heavy Action-Fast. REEL:Stradic 2500 -

For Crankbaits...

Shimano Crucial TC4 CRC-C70M 7'0" 8-14lb 1/4-5/8oz Power-Medium Action-Medium Fast. REEL: Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5600C4 -

I would trade the other two in and get a good baitcaster for Spinnerbaits/Buzzbaits. Then you would have the basics covered...Plastics, Jigs, Cranks and Spinnerbaits.

[Captain B.R.K]

carlcmc- for a guy that just got into bass fishing this past year. I can honestly say you REALLY GOT INTO BASS FISHING this year. HOLY GUNS on the outfits boy. Nice job on the gear pick-up!

Hopefully these guys will give you some specifics on uses for each rod.

[carlcmc]

well.... i suppose i have bought a few nice rods :-)

The shimano crucial rods are amazing rods. I'm really happy with the stradic reels as well.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I just got back from norther MN.. spent a week hopping all around the north chasin fish through the ice... Glad Brian was able to help you out.

You have some great combos there Carl... my advise would be to expieriment with them... keep this in mind however.. Lures that you have to impart the action on(jigs, soft plastics ect...) those usually need a faster tip and a little more backbone. Lures that have thier own action(spinnerbait and crankbaits) need softer rods. Longer rods work best for distance casting, shorter for accuracy... more control fighting a fish with a longer rod as well.