If you have had a spinning rod for a while and decided that you like bass fishing then you are probably going to want to buy another rod. At this point, almost all of the websites and videos out there that I’ve seen would recommend a medium heavy fast action casting rod. I’d actually argue that you should hold off on that one (for now) and go for a heavy power rod instead. Here are a few of the reasons why I would suggest a heavy rod instead of a medium heavy rod at this point:
- While specs will vary depending on the manufacturer, a typical heavy rod can usually handle lures that weigh up to 1.5 ounces.
- This will enable you to throw a wider variety of lures than you would be able to throw with a medium heavy rod.
- At the same time, you can still throw most of the lures that I would normally recommend throwing on a medium heavy rod casting rod.
- Having a heavy power fast action rod along with a medium power fast action spinning rod will enable you to throw just about every lure I mention on this site, other than the ones with treble hooks (and we’ll get into those next).
In terms of specific rods that I would suggest, I personally really like St. Croix fast action rods and if I could waive a magic wand and start all of my rod purchases over right now I’d probably go with something like this 7’4″ heavy power fact action Physyx model:
Having said that I actually own two different heavy power fast action rods since I use one for flipping and pitching and frogs and the other for spinnerbaits and swimbaits. In my case I currently own the version of this rod in the Victory line, and while I like that rod enough that I’m not interested in selling it, I also really like the handle on this rod and would probably choose it over the Victory if I were making the same purchase today.
One great thing about a heavy power fast action rod like the ones I’ve mentioned is the versatility. On one hand you can spool up some 50lb braid and throw a topwater frog. On the other hand you can spool up some 17lb fluorocarbon and throw a small umbrella rig. You can also throw jigs and larger texas rigs with this setup (along with a lot of other lures) and so ultimately if you find yourself at a point where you are considering a second bass rod I’d go with this option over the medium heavy fast action rod that the rest of the world seems to suggest picking up at this point.
To be fair at some point you are probably going to want a medium heavy fast action casting rod, but for now I’d argue going this route will open up more lures for you to potentially throw. You can also go with a different manufacturer (although I will say St. Croix also has a great warranty program on their rods) and generally speaking you are looking for a 7’2″ – 7’4″ casting rod that has a max lure rating of about 1.5oz and a fast action. In terms of casting reels I’d suggest getting two of them and then spooling one up with 50lb braided line and the other with 14-17lb fluorocarbon. This will enable you to go back and forth between something like a flipping and pitching setup and a large swimbait, and you can eventually pick up another rod (like I did) if you like throwing those lures enough that you don’t want to have to worry about switching out the reel.
My next post will be about the third type of rod I would suggest picking up, after that one you will basically be able to throw all of the lures that are in the lure selector and that I’ve mentioned on this site.
