Spinning tackle, light line is ticket for Broad River smallmouth

Fishermen have a wide choice of gear for tackling smallmouth bass, but most prefer spinning combos and relatively light line.

As its name implies, the Broad River is broad, so casting distance is a big factor in gear selection. For all the advantages baitcasting gear offers, you can’t beat the casting distances achieved with spinning tackle, especially with many of the light lures used for smallmouth bass.

Putting a rod in a rod holder isn’t a part of this type of fishing; if anglers aren’t casting, they are retrieving or paddling, so heavy gear is more likely to wear anglers out than to result in more hookups. Rod length is important for casting distance and maneuvering hooked smallmouth around rocks, so most anglers on this river don’t go for anything under 6-foot-6, and rods in the 7-foot and 7-foot-6 range are not uncommon. Anything longer is tough to handle around the tree-lined banks and is unwieldy in a canoe or kayak.

Spinning reels are the heaviest part of a rod-and-reel combo, but the newer, high-tech reels like Abu Garcia’s Revo Premier are lightweight and a pleasure to cast all day. Reels in the 2000 to 3000 sizes offer a strength-to-weight ratio that is perfect for tussling with smallmouth here.

Some anglers prefer 6-pound test monofilament for its shock-absorbing properties, important when trying to lodge a smallmouth buried in rocks, but super lines like Berkley NanoFil offer improved casting distances and are resilient as well.