While my friend has certainly been a great help to me, I've also done my share of reading about bass and the ways people catch them. One thing I've found is that there's a huge gap between the weekend fisherman (no matter how avid) and the tournament anglers, and part of the secret of translating what you read in articles to what you catch on the water is the ability to sift from the pro articles the parts that are relevant to you, as well as the ability to figure out the "why" as opposed to the "what" of both the advice from the weekend warrior and the sales-pitch article from the tackle company.
One of my favorite things about bass is that they're consistent. That's not to say they're always biting, or even that they aren't selective, but rather, it seems that in similar conditions, similar tactics will just about always produce. You've still got to figure this out, however, and identify what the conditions are, as well as what worked last time in those conditions, but while trout are known (and sometimes, even loved) for their finnicky nature, I've never seen a day when bass are crushing silver original rapala F-9s with a green dot on the nose, but are totally ignoring the ones without the dot, as well as any other color than silver, or any other size but F-9. That might get you the most action, but if that's what your friend is driving them nuts with, and all you've got is a silver F-7, you'll still catch fish. Perhaps Pat Smith conveys my reasons for loving bass better than I could ever hope to:
"But if the salmon and trout must be classified as elite in this mythical social structure then let the black bass be given permanent status as the working class of American gamefish. He's tough and he knows it. . . . He's a bass sax grumbling get-down blues in the bayou. He's a factory worker, truck driver, wild catter, lumberjack, barroom bouncer, dock wolloper, migrant farmhand and a bear wrassler. If it's a fight you're looking for, he'll oblige anytime, anywhere. Whether it's a backwater at noon, a swamp at midnight, or dockside at dawn, he'll be there waiting.He's a fierce-eyed, foul-mouthed tobacco-chewing redneck who has traveled to every corner of the nation, paying his way and giving no quarter."
Still, when I decided to specifically target bass, all of the sudden, several aisles and an entire wall of my local sporting goods store became suddenly relevant to me, though it was still largely a mystery. Racks of ridiculously huge hooks (especially compared to #14 trout hooks), soft plastic worms, longer than many trout I've caught, spinnerbaits with enough blades to mow the lawn, and crankbaits that looked so realistic that I thought they might still be flopping...all claiming to be the ultimate bass-catching device known to modern man. But how to know what to spend my already-scarce currency on? When I asked my buddy, his simple answer came, "Get a few big Rapalas and a couple Jitterbugs."
Okay, but how, where, and when should I use each of these? And what if neither worked? What colors should I look for and what patterns work? I knew that trout, even of similar size, would hit drastically different lures in different bodies of water and weather conditions, and I was sure bass would follow suit. Thus I turned to the collective wisdom of bass fishing sites on the internet. This turned out to be a rather alarming experience, as everyone had a different idea on the best bass tactics. The only things they seemed to agree on was that I needed a bass boat (not happening), and that I needed to spend gazillions on my setup (also not happening). So I took what I could from the pros and combined it with what I got from the locals, added a healthy dose of my own thoughts on fishing, and tempered it all with a shot of realism and came up with the following as the core of my arsenal for pursuing bass:
Bass Fishing Rods
Trout fly rods aside, I'd have to venture a guess that there are probably more different bass rods on the market than any other species-focused fishing rods. This is probably due to the near-omnipresence of bass in America's lakes, ponds, and rivers mostly, but also because of the wide variety of philosophies of bass fishermen. From among the thousands of bass rods out there, however, we can classify them through three main descriptors: power, length, and action.
Power
What's the main difference between an ultralight trout rod and the stick the catfish angler takes to the water? Immediately, the answer comes back "weight". But while the thick cat rod certainly will get a higher number on the scale, the difference isn't strictly one of weight alone. To change things up, get a graphite bass rod and stack it up against a fiberglass trout rod. In this case, the "lighter" trout rod may actually weigh more than the more modern bass rod made of graphite. So we see that "weight" in the traditional sense, is really not what makes the difference.
A more appropriate way to describe these rods of different "weights" would be to say "the amount of weight that the rod is designed to cast effectively". This would explain why the ultralight trout rod is the tool for casting 1/64 ounce jigs, while the cat rod can toss a quarter-pound of lead out into the middle of a major river. A more appropriate way of saying this would be to say that a given rod has "the power to cast baits of a certain weight", which is known simply as a rod's "power".
Fishing rods range in power from Ultralight, to Light, to Medium-Light, Medium, Medium-Heavy, then on to Heavy and above. I have little to no experience with any rods above Medium-Heavy, so I can't really say what rods lurk at the heavy end of this spectrum. For most bass fishing applications, however, you need only be concerned with the middle range of rod powers: Medium-Light, Medium, and Medium-Heavy.
Many people regard the rod's power as a guide to the weight or size of fish it was designed to catch. In many cases, this actually is applicable, though this is more of an indirect oversimplification. True, with a Medium-Heavy rod, you'll be better able to guide and turn a fighting fish, but with enough space, a properly set drag, and a cool head under pressure, you can land a 4-5 pound bass with an ultralight rod...spooled with 2 pound test line. I've done it.
The bottom-line is, you should choose a rod power suited to the types of lures you plan to use the most. While one ounce football jigs might be fairly unruly on the Medium Light rod you got for drop-shot, if you primarily rely on drop-shot and finesse presentations, you want the advantages that that ML rod provides more than the backbone that would be ideal for flipping jigs.
For a beginning bass angler, my (most certainly non-expert) opinion is that a standard, medium power rod is the best option. A good medium rod will give you the best combination of delicacy and sensitivity to effectively use just about any of the standard bass presentations. With this one rod, you'll be able to determine what your favorite methods are, and what changes would make a second rod more ideal for those methods. Also, medium rods tend to be a good choice for many of the more standard, simple tactics, such as crankbaits and Texas-rigged soft plastics, so the medium rod won't get phased out as you add other rods to your lineup.
Length
While length may not be the most important consideration when buying a new bass rod, it should be considered nonetheless. Length tends to become more of a relative quantity among fishing rods, a situation where "shorter" and "longer" are probably more useful guidelines than 6'-3" or 7'-0". In my experience, length comes into play in three main areas: steering fish in tight quarters where the rod allows you more precise control in what direction pressure is applied to the fish, as an extension of the casting arm, and as a less obvious, though, for me, more practical sense, in transportation.
The first area, steering fish, certainly comes into play, however, with the nature of most spinning and casting rods, I've used, most rods of a given power are similar in length to within 12-18 inches, with a 6'-0" rod being about the shortest bass rod and anything over 7'-6" being a specialized, technique-specific rod. Furthermore, I'd say a 6'-0" to 7'-0" rod will be able to do anything you want or need it to do. This fairly narrow range of lengths, to me, means that as far as steering fish, there isnt much difference from length to length.
In terms of casting, its a matter of personal taste. I happen to like using a slightly longer rod, anywhere from 6'-6" to 7'-0", as I feel it gives me more leverage and improved accuracy in my casting. My buddy, on the other hand, feels a shorter rod (between 6'-0" and 6'-6") is more manageable. Either way, the only way to determine your style is to try a few on the water. Still, many, like myself, enjoy the advantages (and are prepared to deal with the disadvantages) of a somewhat longer rod. For me, my desire for increased leverage and accuracy was tempered by my desire for a rod that would comply with the third aspect of choosing a length: transportability.
This is a factor many people dont really think about, but once they have to deal with it, it certainly becomes a major issue. I know from experience, that without rearranging the backseat of my small car (and even then), my 6'-6" bass rod is a tight fit. That isn't to say that its a pain, just that, when my 6'-6" bass rod fits and my 7'-9" fly rod definitely won't, that means that somewhere between those two lengths I go from a very tight fit indeed, to a point where I'd be bending a rod dangerously to get it inside the car. Recently, I got a new bass rod, and at 6'-9" it still fits about as easily as my other one, so the magic length that just wont go is somewhere in that foot between 6'-9" and 7'-9".
Naturally, there often exists the option of buying a 2-piece rod, which really makes the transportation concerns a non-issue. You'll especially see breakdown options in rods in excess of 7 feet long, when rod transportation becomes and issue for most average anglers. In terms of fishing performance, the debate still continues as to whether a rod constructed of a single piece performs better than its multi-piece brothers. While you'll hear arguments both ways, I feel that any quality rod maker knows how to account for the challenges presented by a multi-piece rod, and thus, a multi-piece rod from a good name in fishing rods should not, in any way, be deficient in its performance. Whether its fishing characteristics will be identical to a one-piece rod of the same product line, power, length, and action isnot assured however, and many have found that identical rods, one single and one multi-piece, will be very similar, but with the multi-piece rod having a decidedly "stiffer" feel, possibly due to the increased bulk and lack of flex in the ferrule (where the two pieces join).
To cut to the chase, for the beginner, I'd recommend a rod length of about 6'-6". This length provides for the widest variety of fishing tactics and while you may find you prefer a longer or shorter stick, you'll still find that 6'-6" medium rod at the core of your bass fishing equipment loadout.
Action
This final aspect of a fishing rod's performance may be the most important, and also the most poorly understood, of the three. A rod's action, simply enough, describes how deeply a rod will flex along its length while under load. While this may seem simple, you'd be surprised how many people misunderstand the term "action". Whether due to a somewhat misleading name (action), even more misleading descriptors (fast, moderate, slow), or due to the profound effect it has on the rods performance for such a simple thing, you'll find all sorts of answers as to what "Fast Action" actually means. In fact, its entirely possible that I've missed a key point of an action's impact, or added something to it that may not hold true for everyone. More than power or length, I feel that a rod's action is very much a matter of personal taste, and that, over time, you'll learn to prefer a specific action over others, when technique allows for it.
Rod action is described as being anywhere from slow (deepest flex) to extra-fast (only the tip flexes) with moderate (or medium) and moderate-fast in between. This amount of flex affects everything from casting, to the retrieve, to the action of the lure or bait, to fighting the fish and while any action rod can be used for the majority of bass fishing styles, certain actions truly excel at certain techniques.
Due to the nature of most bass fishing techniques, the preferred habitat of bass, and the behavior of a bass once hooked, youll find very few bass rods with an action much slower than moderate. Slower actions help to accurately cast light offerings and to detect the lightest bites. Bass normally prefer rather large, bulky baits and lures and a bass's strike usually falls somewhere between the intensity of a sharp tug and a freight train. True, certain techniques, such as a Carolina rig, put you in contact more with your weight (and by extension, the bottom of the lake or river) than your bait itself (and by extension, the fish), so a slower action might seem necessary to detect a light, or muted bite, however, these sorts of weighted rigs tend to be heavy, making a faster action necessary to cast it effectively. Furthermore, many technique-specific rods designed for these methods incorporate extremely soft, sensitive tips with fast, heavy butts, in an attempt to get the best of both worlds. For this reason, when I talk about "slower" rods, I mean moderate action to moderate-fast, and when I say "faster", I'm talking fast to extra-fast.
Action is the area where you are most likely to find your first rod less than ideal for a new tactic you want to try. It is also the area where a technique-specific rod might prevent you from effectively fishing a different style.
When you cast a slower rod (medium for bass rods), it will feel more "whippy" and flexible than average. It will do more to "let you know" when to release the line on a cast, and for me, at least, a slower rod seems to be perfect for short to medium length, non-precision casting. Tossing crankbaits to cover alot of water with a medium action rod is a great way to locate bass. Slower rods also seem to require less effort for casting lighter lures, allowing you to spend hours on the water without straining your arms or wrists. Additionally, a slower rod will allow baits with built in swimming action, like most crankbaits, and hard swimbaits, more freedom to do their thing.
When fishing a faster rod, it'll feel more like a "stick". Accordingly, it'll be better suited for casting heavier offerings that will be able to transmit more "feel" through the non-flexing portion of the rod. In my experience, faster rods also tend to be a bit more "touchy", demanding superior timing and casting skills from their users where a slower rod will communicate better through it's "feel", allowing for some angler error with little loss of performance. Fast rods tend to be a good chioce for presentations where you, the angler, must provide the action to a lure, like drop-shot and finesse rigs.
Casting a 1/16 ounce spinner with a fast rod will make it feel like you're trying to cast with a "broom handle", likewise, throwing 1 ounce football jigs on a medium rod will feel like you're trying to cast a brick with a slinky. Most of your bass tactics will have you casting anywhere from 3/16 to 3/4 of an ounce, all told. You may get into heavier (or lighter) styles, but by then, you'll be more in tune with what you need and can plan a rod purchase accordingly.
For a beginner, I'd recommend a moderate action rod, moderate-fast at the fastest. Fast action rods are more specialized tools that won't give you the versatility or forgiveness you might need as a beginner. A moderate action rod might get a bit noodly when fishing especially heavy rigs, but for crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and lighter plastics rigs, a moderate action rod will shine. Once you get used to a rod like that, you still may not know if a fast rod is for you, but that's one thing where you just need to try a fast rod and see how you like it. If it's for you, you'll know.
Wrap-up
So, to summarize, I recommend a Medium, 6'-6", moderate action rod for a beginning bass angler. That certainly isnt to say that something else might not work better for you, but that rod will cover a wide variety of tactics and situations admirably.
When choosing a rod, the first thing to determine is just how much you're willing to spend on a rod, then look only at rods in your price range. If you start playing the game of "for just another twenty bucks, I can get this...", the next thing you know, you'll be looking at $300 rods when youre just getting started.
For good value in entry levle rods, look to names like Shakespeare, Pflueger, Eagle Claw, and Berkley. Also, the "house brand" of many major outdoor retailers tends to be a great workhorse line. I'd recommend buying a rod at an outdoor shop rather than a department store, simply because they'll have far fewer "cheapies", and sometimes, more knowledgable staff. If you can, visit a place like Bass Pro Shops (duh) or Cabelas, where you're more likely to find knowledgable staff.
Expect to pay a minimum of $30-40 on a bass rod made with a good graphite blank, quality components, and a sturdy reel seat. Check the wrappings of threads on the eyes for evenness and the cork of the handle for smoothness and a lack of pits and voids. For the next notch up from entry level, you'll be looking at names like Shimano, Diawa, Okuma, and St. Croix. These companies will be selling thier introductory (not bargain) rods at prices from $45-$65, and are all quality names that stand behind their products with some sort of guarantee.
Regardless of what you choose, though, remember to treat your rod with care, and it will last you a long time, providing many a fun, relaxing day on the water.
Next Time: Reels!
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