When you schedule a repairman to come fix your air conditioner or a plumber to repair a leaky faucet, or when you watch your mechanic go under the hood of your vehicle and fix whatever it is that’s causing that infernal squealing, you expect them to have the tools they need.
You wouldn’t expect any of them to have only one crescent wrench, one pair of pliers or one screwdriver.
So, how can you expect to make the most out of your fishing trips unless you carry the right tools?
The tools you use the most as a bass fisherman, day-in and day-out, are your rods and reels. Like the mechanic who may need two different sizes of sockets, three screwdrivers and a couple of different clamps to take care of what ails your pickup, you need to carry the right kinds of tools — and as many as you need — to get the job done on the water. And that will likely mean somewhere between a half-dozen and a dozen rods and reels at any time.
I know it’s not a great time as far as the economy goes to just wander out to your local tackle shop and buy a half-dozen rod-and-reel outfits. Even if you have stashed away a little money, you’re liable to catch plenty of heat from your wife for buying fishing tackle, when it’s obvious to her that you already have enough.
In that case, just ask her to look in the closet where she keeps her shoes. That should take care of any questions about the number of rods and reels you own. If you don’t say anything about her shoes, she won’t say anything about your fishing tackle. Right?
But seriously, as a pro, I obviously need a lot of rods and reels. I might have 25 in my rod box or on the casting deck with me at any time. The average guy probably needs eight to 10 rod-and-reel combinations if he’s going to have any chance to be competitive, even just in his local bass club. When you’re faced with a situation on the lake that calls for a certain kind of rod and reel, you want to be able to reach into your rod box and pull out the tool that will do the job. If you can’t, you aren’t likely to catch the one or two fish you need, when you need them the most.
You need to match your tackle to the job at hand and the conditions. And that means rod, reel, line and hooks — not to mention lures.
Here’s what I recommend:
I think you need two flipping sticks. When I’m flipping heavy cover, whether it’s a brushpile under a boat dock or thick vegetation or cypress trees at Santee Cooper, I’m going to use a 7½-foot, heavy-action All-Star flipping stick. You’ve got to have a rod with a little leverage to get a good hookset and get a fish out of that kind of cover. But by the same token, if you’re fishing the lower end of Wateree or Murray or Clarks Hill, flipping around boat docks in that clear water, you may need to downsize your rod, your line and your hooks. You can’t flip 12-pound test on a 7½-foot heavy flipping stick and set the hook; you’ll break off way too often. You need a 6½- or 7-foot medium-heavy flipping stick. And you can’t fish 65-pound Spiderwire braid on a 6½-foot rod; the rod can’t take it.
You hear a lot of people say they’ll change the way they set the hook when they downsize their tackle. Yeah, right. If I pitch a 5-inch Senko up under a dock, and all of the sudden, the line jumps six inches to one side, I forget all about what I was planning on doing and I set the hook hard.
When you downsize or rod and line, you also need to downsize your hooks. With that heavy flipping stick and braid, I’m going to be using a 5/0 Owner XX-strong hook. With the smaller rod and lighter line, I’m going to want to drop to a 3/0, light-wire Owner rigging hook. You’ll get a better hookset with that smaller-diameter hook; you couldn’t get a good hookset with that bigger hook on the lighter tackle.
So, I need two flipping sticks, and I probably need two cranking rods. When I’m fishing big, open water, trying to get the maximum distance out of my casts so I can get a big crankbait deep, I’ll fish a 7-foot All-Start medium-action composite rod. But when I’m fishing targets with smaller crankbaits, casting a Shad Rap up against a rock pile or swimming it down the side of a dock, I’ll drop back to a 6- or 6½-foot rod. You simply can’t cast accurately enough with the longer rod. I’ve seen people try to get by with one cranking rod, but it’s very, very hard to cast to targets with the longer rod, and you’re at a big disadvantage if you try to throw great big baits long distances on the shorter rods.
Beyond that, it’s a matter of preference. I’ll would probably have a spinnerbait rod, a Carolina-rig rod, a rod for topwaters that has a real fast tip, and I might have a rod with a fast tip that I can throw a floating worm on. The rest depends on how you like to fish. And yes, I do carry a spinning rod these days. You’ll never catch me throwing a floating worm on one, but you’ve got to carry one to fish drop-shot rigs or split-shot rigs or Shaky Head worms.
When it comes to reels, the ones I carry will be either Pfleuger Patriarchs or Pfleuger Presidentials. And they’ll either have a 5-to-1 or a 6.3-to-1 gear ratio. I don’t go down to 4s or up to 7s; it can get too complicated. If I’m fishing big crankbaits or big spinnerbaits, I’m going to use the 5-to-1. The rest of the time, I’m probably using the 6.3-to-1. I’ve talked to some of the greatest crankbait fishermen in the world — David Fritts, Rick Clunn and Kevin Van Dam — about which reels they use, and I’ve gotten all kinds of different opinions on gear ratios and reels. I just stick to the 5-to-1.
One other thing about reels; mine come with either a wide spool or a narrow spool. I like the feel of a reel with a narrow spool, the way it fits in my hand. But face, it, it’s nice to have that wide spool and be able to carry a little more line. With the rods we have now and some of the line and big lures we’re using, we can cast most of the line off a reel with a narrow spool. Let’s say you’ve cast a Zara Spook out there about 50 or 60 yards, and a 20-pound striper grabs it and leaves, you might lose all your line if you’ve got a reel with a narrow spool. If you’re making really long casts, you need to use a reel with a wider spool.
So think about the kind of fishing you most like doing, or the situations that you’re faced with on the most occasions. Pick out the rod-and-reel combinations that match those situations. You don’t have to buy 10 at once; just work your way up.
Line and hooks are a little easier on the pocketbook, but they’re just as important a part of the overall tool you’re holding in your hand when you’re trying to crank a deep ledge on Lake Murray.
And don’t forget to remind your wife about all those shoes.
Davy Hite is a 44-year-old native of Saluda who lives in Ninety Six. He was the BASS Angler of the Year in 1997 and 2002, and he has won the 1999 Bassmasters Classic and the 1998 FLW Tour Championship. He is sponsored by Triton boats, Evinrude outboards, All-Star rods, Pfleuger reels, Berkley Trilene, Yamamoto baits, Owner hooks, Humminbird depthfinders and Solar Bat sunglasses.
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