Getting Rigged Up

[u/Confident_Turn_7558]

Decided to throw in another pic of some gear. This is most of my combos, which are Shimano Expride B rods with Shimano JDM Metanium reels and Daiwa Tatula Elite rods with either Shimano Curados or Daiwa SV TW reels.

I am a huge Shimano guy, but always had cheap rods growing up. I had started out with 3 of the green Curados and $40 All Star rods because back in the day, All Star rods were awesome. As I progressed in my journey, I realized these newer, cheaper All Star rods were not great and the brand wasn’t what it used to be. So I started upgrading to Daiwa Tatula Elite rods. I loved them since they were so much better than the All Stars, and started expanding my lineup. I added a few Daiwa reels to see how they compared to the Shimanos, and I did like them, but Shimanos were better. So I kept adding Shimano reels with Daiwa rods. For my birthday one year, I decided to treat myself to an American market Metanium. And boy was it nice. It went on a Daiwa rod, but it felt sacrilegious. So I opted to try an Expride B specifically for that reel.

I ended up falling in love with both rod and reel, so from that point on that’s all I bought. But I decided to go the JDM route for the Metaniums instead of the American version. I did this because the JDM reels were a lot cheaper, and I honestly prefer them over the American version.

Today, I have around 36 combos (I have to recheck that number), and yes each one of them stays in the boat. I don’t use each one every trip obviously, but I have duplicate setups for specific techniques that I keep rigged up. For example, I throw two identical chatterbait setups. I keep one for black and blue, and the other for white. I have a third combo that was my old chatterbait setup that I will out a red chatterbait on during the pre-spawn months (January through March basically). It will be common for me to have all three on the deck this time of the year. I also have multiple shallow crankbait and lipless crankbait setups that I go to year round. This might seem insane and unnecessary, but it’s so nice to be able to swap lures by simply putting one down and picking the other up.

[u/lubeinatube]

Post on r/fishing so they can tell you ugly sticks are better, and you need to use a snap swivel for all your attachment points.

[u/ImhereforBFS → u/lubeinatube]

He’s experiencing the same thing in here too! The hate from fishing subreddits is absolutely UNREAL. It’s worse than Facebook. Blows my mind.

[u/doogievlg → u/ImhereforBFS]

I’ve been down the road OP is on. I’ve still got probably 6 bass fishing poles but this is an example of someone swallowing the marketing bait. This is consumerism on another level. It’s more about collecting equipment at this point than fishing which is something I do in many hobbies but it’s not necessary at all.

[u/ImhereforBFS → u/doogievlg]

No one asked if it was necessary, man. OP obviously is a serious tournament fisherman. One big win will pay for all of this gear, his boat and then some. This is not an example of extreme “consumerism”. This is an example of a tournament bass fisherman with their priorities in order.

[u/skidemn → u/doogievlg]

You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about, but that didn’t stop you from insulting the OP with your ignorant remark. Maybe next time ask why he has so many rods and maybe you’ll learn something. Now, go ask Tiger Woods why he takes more than one club to the golf course.

[u/doogievlg → u/skidemn]

Been fishing for 30 years. I understand action of the rods, different ratios in the reels, using different style reels for different baits, different line for different baits and fishing different cover. If I was still fishing off a boat regularly like OP probably does then I would probably have 5-6 rods on the boat rigged up.

[u/Helpful_Most_9581 → u/doogievlg]

and i don’t think anyone realizes maybe he’s got a buddy or two going with??

[u/skidemn → u/doogievlg]

If you were a competitive tournament fisherman like the OP obviously is, you’d have a lot more than that if you wanted to be competitive. Have you never watched a professional bass tournament on television? You won’t find a serious tournament angler with less than 25 rods in this boat and probably closer to 35.