Trout species, smallmouth bass, rock bass, catfish is what’s usually near me.. now my baitcaster is a Abu garcia 7.1:1 ratio on a 7” medium fast action carbon rod with mono 15 lbs.. is that good enough?
After 36 years i finally am picking up fishing! Got a baitcaster(abu garcia ultra max) for xmas…any tips? Lol
- Thread starter Marximus
- Start date
Smallmouth are a blast. I used to fish for them when I lived in New England. Here in SW FL we have BIG largemouth. Not sure if you mean Striped Bass when you mention "rock bass".
I think that’s same.. u think my setup is good or overkill? I see people down the river during the summer with much smaller gear
Setup looks good to me. I prefer braid over mono as it has a much smaller diameter, does not stretch, has higher abrasion resistance, no memory and casts a mile. 7 ft. medium fast rod is a good all around rod to handle different lure weights. 7:1 ratio reel is also a good middle of the road all around reel for retrieve. You could go lighter in tackle depending on how big the fish are that you are targeting. But you also risk being out gunned if you hook a bigger fish. I use 20 pound braid (which is the same diameter as 6 pound mono) and attach a 20 pound fluorocarbon leader (@ 3-4 ft.) The fluorocarbon virtually disappears in the water and is not visible to the fish. I love to fish topwater lures for bass to watch them chase down & crash the lure. One of my favorites is an all white "Horny Toad" that I dip the feet in a chartreuse dip. The chartreuse gives off the same color that sunfish flash underwater and it drives the largemouth nuts. My wife and I fish a remote lake and average about 20-30 bass between the 2 of us per trip fishing out of a canoe with an electric trolling motor. The rod I use is a St. Croix 6 1/2 ft medium power fast action rod which is similar to what you are using.
Thank u so much! I hope it get alittle warmer soon so I can go out more. Its pretty cold right now..ur right about the mono, the line seem to have this circles like memory and kinda stiff... btw with the line diameter is smaller the better? u only use 20lb braid(6lb mono) and I got 15lb on mine. braid seems to be expensive for me just starting out lol
Braid is initially more $$. But braid lasts so much longer and when the top of the braid on the reel spool gets faded you can reverse it on the reel spool. Remove braid and respool by putting the faded portion on the the reel spool first. Mono has a lot of memory as you've seen and has to be replaced more frequently. Besides good quality mono is more expensive too. Quality line will also make casting at distance easier and will decrease the likelihood of line overrun on the reel. Smaller line diameter allows for more line capacity on reel and has less resistance for casting. Now there are times I will use heavier braid up to 50 pound test for flipping and punching through heavy weed cover where I need a heavier rod and line to pull big fish out of dense weeds/cover. Lots of applications and why most of us carry multiple rods rigged for different situations.
Thank u im learning alot from u lol.. btw is there a big difference for rod length? Say a 6’6” rod to a 7” same power and action
