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Quality Equipment=Quality Fishing (Guest Article)
But before getting down to cases, let’s talk about cheap for a second. I know of a very wealthy woman, someone who could afford to buy the most expensive rod and reel set-up ever made, who went river fishing in Texas with a $30 off-the-shelf bargain basement rig. As luck would have it, she latched onto a whopper. But before she could even raise the fish, the reel support snapped and the reel shot forward like a bullet, to be trapped at the guide. She struggled frantically, trying to grab the reel, crank the fish in and hold the rod. This was a funny scene, three things to do and only two hands to do them. As you might suspect, the fish broke off and she lost it. In another instance, while wading, I saw a woman catch a 20+ lb Northern Pike using a throw line wrapped around a pop can. After trying unsuccessfully to reel the line back around the can, she finally put the line over her shoulder and ran for shore, up the bank and into the parking lot with a trophy Northern Pike in tow. Imagine us river vets, standing there next to her with our high powered gear, watching this travesty! What is the point here? The point is quality gear will not guarantee you will catch fish but it will guarantee you will have few or no equipment failures.
So let’s get to the point and talk about fishing outfits in general, remembering that details do make a difference. I use primarily spinning equipment and consequently, this article is about that type of equipment. A good balanced spinning rod and reel combination is an absolute joy to fish, will provide years of trouble-free service, and will be easy to use. And by easy to use, I mean easy on you, the fisherman. My favorite spinning outfit weighs just 12.65 ounces fully rigged and with it I make hundreds of casts a day with no fatigue. This translates to more time on the water and more fish caught. I use the lightest line practical, usually 4 pound test. This not only improves my catch, but to some extent gives the smallie a fighting chance. I am not a believer in heavy-test-line-jerk-‘em-out-of-the-weeds style of fishing as seen on TV.
Spinning equipment is the rig of choice for me because it is much simpler to use and is less prone to birds nests or other downtime such as re-spooling. If you have suffered a birds nest with bait casting gear while fishing a pristine Canadian lake, you know the frustration. Spinning equipment has fewer technical headaches and allows me to focus on the fishing instead of equipment or technique. It also allows use of much lighter lures, like those I use, in the 1/32-1/8 oz range. These light weight baits are nearly impossible to use with bait casting gear. But if you must use a bait caster, here is a tip that has served me well. If you are right handed, use a left handed reel. All the pros on TV cast their bait then trade hands to crank the lure in. This always seemed silly and inefficient. Just as with spinning gear, I cast with my right and crank with my left. Period.
Let’s first address rod length. Much ink has been spilled on 7 foot rods, 8 foot rods. Hey, did you see the new European 11 foot rods? Huh? Did ya? All this is a load of crap. Euro fishing is much different than what we enjoy here. Their fishermen (many) have put so much pressure on their fish (few) that they are forced to use cat whisker bobbers, balloon drift floats, and rods that will cast out to the middle of the lake. In Taiwan, fishermen actually use small RC boats to carry their line out to where the fish are! We don’t have their problems here and we shouldn’t use tactics or equipment designed for situations that don‘t exist. Just be thankful we don’t have go to these extremes.
A six foot long rod is preferable for most applications because it is easier. If you are shore fishing, a six foot rod is easier to get thru brush, over fences and around trees. If you fish from a canoe, this length of rod is easy to handle given all the clutter that accumulates in the bottom of a canoe, particularly if you carry more than one rod. And when wading, this size rod allows easier cleaning of a weeded-up lure and to hold while putting on a new lure. While considered short by today’s standards, this length is easier to carry, fits into most vehicles comfortably and when lugged through an airport in a rod case, is much easier to handle. If you have ever flown internationally with 6’6” or 7’0” rods in a case, you know what I mean. Any longer casting distance achieved by a longer rod is problematic. Long range hook-sets are very difficult because of line stretch and once hooked, the fisherman has very little control over the fish.
It is important that the rod material be graphite and of good quality. Graphite is a very light weight yet robust material and will take lots of punishment. I have only broken one graphite rod in all these years and that was when I slammed a back hatch of my car on it and broke the tip off. Once, I accidentally drove my truck over two graphite rods and they held up just fine. Do I need to say “don’t try this at home?“ Graphite provides greater feel for soft bites, particularly while jigging or in cold weather. A rod with a fast tip and a fair amount of spring coupled with a rigid body with plenty of backbone is perfect. The soft tip eases the shock of hard strikes and hook sets, preventing line breakage and the backbone gives the power needed for better fish control.
The rod guides should be the best available. I have been using silicon carbide guides for years and found they stand up to tremendous pressure and don’t show signs of wear after many thousands of casts and hundreds of fish. Other less expensive guide materials are available such as hardloy, aluminum oxide and ceramic but these don‘t hold up nearly as well. Custom rods in 6 foot length usually have 7 guides, while most off-the-shelf units have 6 or 5. I don’t know how much difference it makes in casting distance or line wear but I prefer more guides for better line support. Remember to take the time to clean your rod, including guides, with a mild cleaner, when putting new line on your reel. This helps maintain casting distance and clean guides are easier on your line.
A bait keeper is a great feature on a rod. It allows you to secure your lure near the reel seat for transporting or storage, thus keeping it out of the way and less prone to hooking yourself or others. Without a bait keeper, it’s common to see lures hooked through one of the guides. This is rough on the guides because the hook can scratch the polished inside diameter and it puts stress on the guide frame it was never designed to carry. A good rod will come equipped with a bait keeper but if your rod doesn’t have one, Cabalas and Bass Pro both offer inexpensive models that can easily be attached to any rod.
The grip material should be a good quality cork. Cork offers several advantages over foam or other space-age materials. It is easier to hold onto when wet, warms to the touch immediately, is easily cleaned and feels better to the touch. Additionally cork will not degrade or breakdown if stored out of direct sunlight and with just a little bit of care, cork grips should last many generations. For river fishing, I prefer a slightly longer butt, which allows me to brace the rod on the underside of my forearm when I have a good sized fish on. I can then control the rod with my arm, not my wrist, which is less fatiguing and provides more positive control. Be careful not to get the butt section too long; it’s embarrassing when it hangs on your belly during a cast!
Now that you know what to look for in a good rod, let’s talk briefly about spinning reels. Given the variety of spinning reels on the market, it is easy to get lost in the hype and hustle. Here, as with rods, quality does not come cheap, but a good spinning reel will provide many years of dependable service.
Remember that bearings count! The more and better quality bearings a reel has, the longer it will last. It will be smoother to operate and less prone to failure. You can protect your investment by having your reel cleaned and serviced every so often, depending on usage. A good reel servicing will remove all the old grease along with fine metal particles suspended in it. These particles are the result of metal to metal wear, usually from the gear train, and if not removed, will act as an abrasive on the gears and bearings, thus accelerating wear and shortening the useful life of your reel. Fresh reel grease will retard wear on metal contact parts, but cannot eliminate it. Like everything else, even expensive reels eventually wear out in time.
The long spool, large hub reels designed for long casting are great and most manufacturers have models of this type. If you compare the spool design of an old Mitchell 300 to a Diawa Tournament SS, you can see the difference immediately. You will notice the long spool design will carry more line at the outer diameter. This means the line does not have as sharp a bend to make as it travels around the forward lip of the spool on its way down the rod during a cast. This means less friction and line resistance which yields longer casts. This is a great design feature and one I will never be without.
A good drag system with a full range of tension control is vital. Front drag adjustment is preferable to rear drag because it allows the reel to be lighter, shorter in overall length and is more easily adjusted while fighting a fish. When would you adjust the drag while a fish is on? When the drag is singing and the fish is headed for wood or weeds and you can’t turn him any other way, tighten the drag! I would rather risk losing a nice fish because I over tightened the drag than lose him because he wrapped the line around a log and then broke off. One way I have a chance; the other way I have no chance of saving the fish.
Many of today’s spinning reels have triggers or a “quick-fire” design, allowing the user to open the bail and cast using only one hand. While this might seem like a nice design feature, I have seen the mechanism fail and when it does, the reel is useless. To my way of thinking, this is one more level of complexity that can and does fail. If you look at the most expensive reels on the market, none of them offer this feature and I have yet to see a “pro” use this type of equipment in a tournament.
Fishing line is an area that requires some comment. I have tried most of the super lines on the market and each has its flaws. Super sensitive mono suffers from low shock resistance and tends to throw lures off. The braided and fused lines are super abrasive and if you have any consideration for that expensive new rod, you will stay away from it. My suspicion is the guides will be damaged with continued use so I refuse to sacrifice a good rod to see if it will stand up. I keep returning to an old favorites, Berkley Trilene XL, which is designed for long casting. It works great and offers few surprises if you retie your lure after every couple fish. I tie a simple Palomar knot because it gets me back on the water fast, has very good knot strength and is easy to tie.
As mentioned earlier, I use 4 pound line. I have found it doesn’t spook the fish as easily as heavier line and if you think fish can’t see the line, you are dead wrong. Four pound line does have its limitations though. Hook-sets are more difficult to make, thus the lure is thrown more easily, but overall, I will still go with the lighter line in nearly all situations. One exception is when I am fishing for a particularly large and scrappy smallie that I have lost repeatedly on the light stuff. I’ll then step up to 6 pound test for a stronger hook-set. Part of this is due to the style of lures I use. If I were to use a minnow imitator with multiple treble hooks, I could probably stick to the lighter line but I seldom use any lure with treble hooks these days. They cause more injury to the fish and lure removal is more difficult.
You can see that a good graphite rod and a small compact reel with light line make a very light weight outfit. I prefer this setup because I often walk 2-4 miles while shore fishing or wading and have found the reduced weight a blessing. In fact, I seldom carry a tackle box, preferring to stick extra lures in a pocket, grab my rod and go. Because I fish single hook lures and seldom use live bait, I can travel light and fast, working a stream or river quickly with very little fatigue. I have been using nail clippers on a small cheap plastic retractable reel for years now and love it for clipping tag ends or cutting line. It is much lighter and easier to use than a knife and is always within reach, clipped to a belt loop of my shorts or jeans. These units are inexpensive and will last for years.
You may want to consider making your own lures. After the initial investment in a melting pot, molds, split rings, swivels, blades, etc. the per lure cost is very low. I can produce jigs for a few pennies each and bent wire spinner baits for less than a quarter. Over the years, I have decorated most of the trees in Canada with expensive lures; in fact, some lakes look like Christmas, the trees being so colorfully decorated. Aside from the expense of losing a lot of fancy lures, I design and build my own lures because no manufacturer offers lures that have the benefits of my own stuff. Those benefits include being nearly weed free, easy hook removal, tunable to a specific water conditions, very inexpensive and they are extremely effective. But my purpose here is not to crow about my lures but to pique your interest in making your own. It is easy and fun. And you don’t have to get fancy. I don’t bother painting them up and making them pretty because the fish don’t seem to care. So why should I? They work like gangbusters and that’s all that counts.
Now a final word about catch and release. Today we know a lot more about fish behavior than ever before; we know their feeding habits, what they eat and when they eat. We have electronics that pinpoint fish. We have underwater cameras and can spy on them anytime we chose. We can destroy our fishery because we have become too good at what we do. Catch and release ensures our fishing future and I encourage everyone to practice it.
My equipment:
by Michael E. Little
I have been an avid smallie fisherman for many years and I fish a lot; more than 150 days per year would be my guess. If there is one thing my experience has taught me, it is to invest in quality equipment. And when I say quality, I pretty much mean expensive. For a decent setup, you should plan on spending at least a $100 on a rod and about the same for a good reel. The old adage about getting what you pay for is absolutely true. Surprisingly, expensive gear is actually cheaper in the long run. Nearly 20 years ago I bought an expensive custom graphite rod and added the best spinning reel money could buy. The rig set me back more than $250, which was a lot of money any way you look at it. However, the rod is still going strong today and I have only recently replaced the reel. At the time, those who opted for “bargain” equipment have since replaced their rigs many times over and ultimately my high quality gear has been less expensive to own.
"A good balanced spinning rod and reel combination is an absolute joy to fish, will provide years of trouble-free service, and will be easy to use. And by easy to use, I mean easy on you, the fisherman."
Published on River Smallies.com with permission
This is Michael's first contribution to River Smallies.com. He can be reached at michaelelittle@earthlink.net.