17 pounds of drag for powering fish from slop.

Slow oscillation spool for laying braid nicely.When matched with its Academy storebranded H2O Xpress Ethos Nano rod, deftly throws both swimbaits and spinnerbaits. Spinnerbaits remain a mainstream bass bait, one almost all fisherman throw on any given day.Īcademy Sports + Outdoors Xpress H20 Mettle HD is a value-priced reel ($79) capable of managing these often heavy baits. They’re versatile and capable of catching fish under any number of water and weather conditions. Swimbaits have become very popular of late - and for good reason. With Shimano’s Sedona 2500 spinning reel (SE2500HGFI) and Citica 200 casting reel (CI200I), we evaluated rods objectively.- John Geiger Small Swimbait/Spinnerbait Combo Academy Mettle Casting Reel $79 | Academy H2O Xpress Ethos Nano Rod $99 By having Abu Veritas casting rods (VTSC70-5) and Veritas spinning rods (VT-SS70-5) on hand, we were able to mount test reels to the control rods and isolate the reels’ features, and attributes.

These companies’ commitment to quality-control and consistency let us get to know our 29 test rods and 22 test reels intimately. We reached out to two industry giants, Abu Garcia and Shimano, to supply control rods and reels for our testing. Now, we share our picks for the best paired combos. In the past two issues, we evaluated 51 of the latest and greatest rods and reels, then shared our picks for our “Editor’s Choice” and “Great Buy.” In March, we covered baitcasting gear, in April, spinning gear. The 7-foot, 3-inch North Fork blank loads efficiently and fires long casts for exploring large areas of aggregate water.Ību Garcia & Shimano Helped Us Control Variables The Revo/Z-Bone fishes lipless crankbaits, small/medium swimbaits, spinnerbaits and stickbaits confidently. The Revo Rocket, with its blistering 10.1:1 retrieve ratio, lashed to the incredibly sensitive Kistler Z-Bone, manages search baits better than any other combo we’ve thrown. The ability to make more casts and keep the bait in the strike zone longer often leads to more fish. Best Search-Bait Combo Abu Garcia Revo Rocket Casting Reel $299 | Kistler Z-Bone Baitcasting Rod $520Ĭovering water quickly with search baits is fundamental to locating cooperative bass. 30/40 Ton Japanese Toray carbon fiber blank mixīottom Line: This combo’s light line rating and nimble demeanor manages morsel-sized baits with surgical precision.When combined with the remarkably agile Doomsday Tackle Company “The 47,” the user can concentrate on their bait without fussing with a distracting heavy combo. The 6.2:1 Daiwa is both fast and feathery light. Conversely, it has the sensitivity to monitor those baits for subtle strikes. Daiwa’s All-Around rod has ample backbone to manage the heavy lines often used when fishing worms or jigs in dense cover. Slithering a worm through a maze of timber or ticking a jig down a rip-rap bank require an odd pairing of both finesse and pure power. Best Worm & Jig Combo Daiwa All-Around Rod $189 | Shimano Curado DC Baitcasting Reel $249 Next time you are looking to gear up for a very specific technique, look to these combos to give you want you need to get the job done. We found a few pairings really stood out and wanted to share our results with you.

Our research was conducted over three days on the water, and many hours of debate back on shore, while testing more than 50 of the latest rods and reels in various combinations. Here, we’ve assembled six perfectly complemented combos - those promising to help you in your quest to catch more fish. But it’s nearly impossible to check out how any individual rod would interact with any particular reel. It’s one thing to check out a rod at a tackle store or to look at a reel online.

Revo rocket reel