A while ago I wrote a few articles about the first three rods I would buy if I was just getting into bass fishing. In this article I’m going to cover the six rods I would buy right now if I could waive a magic wand and start over. While I personally own more than six rods, these six rods are what I would recommend getting first, and you could throw every lure that is currently listed in the lure finder with these rods. I realize I said you could throw everything on this site with just three rods and while that technically would still be correct, but owning these rods would enable you to throw each lure comfortably and not have to worry about switching lures as much. Six is also a good number for someone that fishes from a kayak or smaller boat a few times a week as it’s enough to give you some versatility but not too much. On that note let’s dive in.
For this article I’ve decided to go from lightest to heaviest so the first rod I’d get would be a medium light spinning rod. In my case I like the Shimano Poison Adrena and I’d personally go with the 7’2″ medium light fast model. Please keep in mind I prefer to hold my spinning rods the same way as I hold my casting rods with my hand under the reel, so the design of this rod is a great fit for me. There are also some other options out there like the Dobyns Sierra that would work if your budget isn’t as high, and if you happen to prefer a foregrip there are going to be a ton of options out there for you. Ultimately the idea is to start with a rod that will let you throw the lightest lures I’ve got in the lure finder on rigs like a shakey head or a drop shot.
The next rod I’d personally go with is a St Croix Legend Xtreme. I realize this is not an inexpensive rod but you can find them on sale or used at times and if you do the warranty is transferrable and I’d argue it’s a good value if you can find one in the $300 – $400 range. I’d personally go with the 7′ medium fast model as that is rated for lures up to 5/8oz and would essentially cover the remainder of the lures that I would use a spinning rod for but would be a bit too heavy for the Poison Adrena. Once again the Dobyns Sierra is a good alternative if you need something a little less expensive and if you happen to prefer a foregrip there are going to be plenty of options available for you. The main idea with this one is you want a medium or medium heavy fast spinning rod that is rated for lures up to 5/8 or 3/4oz.
The next rod is a crankbait rod and one of two crankbait rods on the list. In this case it’s a Dobyn’s Champion XP and I’d personally go with the DC 705 CB model. They also have a glass composite version of this model but for this rod I actually like the one that isn’t glass. This rod would do great for most lighter treble hook lures like a jerkbait or a squarebill crankbait, and you could also get an extra casting reel and spool it with 40lb braid and use it for topwater. I actually prefer 30lb braid for topwater, but if you wanted to get just one extra casting reel you could do this and then use this reel for frogging and topwater. Speaking of frogging I actually prefer 50lb braid for that but you could get by with 40lb braid and I’ll get to that rod in a bit.
The fourth rod in the list is a medium heavy fast casting rod. There are a ton of options out there for this one but in my case I like something in the 7′ to 7’3″ range. If I was going to buy one right now it would probably be the St Croix Avid and specifically the 7′ medium heavy model. There actually aren’t that many models available in the Avid line these days, but one thing that I like about it vs some of the other rods that St Croix makes is the handle design enables you to keep your trigger finger on the blank, which is going to help the sensitivity of the rod when you are throwing bottom contact lures. You can see what I mean in the picture here:
and if you look closely at some of the other St Croix handles like the one on the Victory you will see the design of that one does not enable you to keep your finger on the blank of the rod the way this one does. It’s a small detail but one that I’ve noticed after owning a Victory for a while. Aside from that the specs on those two models are very similar and this is a great option in terms of overall value and bang for the buck.
The fifth rod is the second ‘crankbait’ rod and in this case I have crankbait in quotes because the main purpose of it (for me at least) is a bladed jig rod. I also like to throw larger crankbaits like a 6xd on it but for the most part I’ve usually got a bladed jig tied on to this rod. The specific rod I’d get (I guess I should say got since I already own it) is a Dobyns Champion XP 736 CB Glass. This one is a composite rod so it’s got some fiberglass in it, which I like for bladed jigs and larger crankbaits.
For the last rod my recommendation would be a heavy fast rod in the 7’2″ to 7’4″ range. In my case I currently own a St Croix Victory and specifically the 7’4 heavy fast model. This rod does great for larger swimbaits and spinnerbaits but you could also swap to that casting reel with 40lb braid in it that I mentioned previously and throw frogs on it or use it as a pitching and flipping stick. The handle design is also not as important to me for this one since sensitivity is not as much of an issue for the types of lures that I throw on this rod. Having said that there are plenty of other options out there and ultimately you should be fine with anything that can handle lures up to 1.5oz or so. In my case I’d probably consider the Physyx version of this rod for next time, but also have been very happy with the Victory and have no plans on getting rid of it in the foreseeable future.
And that’s it! Six rods with one extra reel and you can basically throw every lure I’ve got in the lure finder right now which is over 40 lures and should keep most people busy for quite a while. Having said that you certainly don’t have to stop at six rods, but this is a good number to aim for if you are on a budget or just don’t want to own or carry too many rods. If you do decide to look into additional options I wouldn’t blame you as I’ve certainly done so and here are a few extras that you might consider:
- A technique specific rod. For example I throw a drop shot all the time so it made sense for me to pick up a third spinning rod that I primarily use for drop shots.
- A separate frog rod. If you like throwing a frog and / or flipping and pitching you can just get another 7’4″ heavy fast rod and then not have to worry about swapping out reels.
- A separate topwater rod. Same idea here and if you like throwing topwater you could grab another crankbait rod and then keep a casting reel with braid or mono in it and then just use that for topwater.
Ultimately the number of rods to own and use is a personal decision and there is no wrong or right answer. Hopefully this article got you thinking about your arsenal a bit and whether or not there’s anything about it that you might want to adjust. Alternatively, if you own a bass boat with a rod locker in it you could easily decide to own a lot more rods than this but for those of you that have a limited budget or amount of space to work with this might be a good number to consider.
