In some parts of the Midwest spring is upon us earlier than usual. A lot of anglers are visiting sporting goods stores to look at fishing stuff. One popular item this time of year are fishing rods. It’s good to go to a store that has a wide selection of rods so you can feel and shake the various offerings and determine which one best fits your needs. Following are some ideas for selecting a rod that will serve you in as many ways as possible.
First of all, you don’t need a bunch of rods, and you don’t need to spend a lot of money on a rod, although you certainly can. There are some rod models that are technique specific. In fact, there are some technique specific rods that are specific to a certain species of fish. Walleyes for example: There are rods out there that were created specifically for use with light jigs, or specifically for live bait rigging. These are outstanding rods and do the job they were designed for extremely well. If you’re a hard core walleye angler, you might want to investigate these specie specific rods. However, if you’re like most of us, you want to have a few rods that will work for a lot of different techniques. Here are some suggestions for accomplishing that.
Lots of anglers across the Midwest like to fish for walleyes, and there are a lot of techniques that will catch walleyes. If you’re going to chase walleyes effectively, you’ll probably need some different rods, but you don’t need to break the bank to do so.
The first rod you’ll want to consider is a jigging rod. Jigs are a great way to catch walleyes throughout the open water season. To simplify your walleye rod selection, consider a jigging rod that is medium action and six foot six inches or seven feet in length. A rod of these dimensions will be very good for jigging, but will also be very good for live-bait rigging, slip-bobbering, and trolling or throwing small to midsize crankbaits. It will also work for panfish and for jigworming largemouth bass, and will also serve well for many smallmouth bass techniques. This is really a versatile rod.
The other rod you’ll probably want for walleyes will be a trolling rod. Most trollers like a longer rod, say seven and a half or eight and a half feet in length, and either telescopic or two piece for easy storage. You’ll use this rod for trolling with boards especially, but also for flat-lining larger crankbaits and spinner rigs. Throughout the year, this rod will see a lot of use.
As mentioned earlier, you can spend a lot of money on a fishing pole, and many of the more expensive rods certainly are worth the extra cost. You can also get some very nice rods at a very reasonable cost. Cabela’s has developed an arsenal of rods that cover the entire price range. The Fish Eagle 50 and Tourney Trail series of rods are outstanding, yet very affordable. If you’re looking for a trolling rod, check out the DepthMaster rods. After using any of these rods you’ll be convinced of their effectiveness yet very good value.
If this is the year that you add a rod or two to your collection of rods, keep the above ideas in mind to help simplify the rod selection process a little bit.
PHOTO CAPTION—Choose the rod that best fits the techniques you practice the most. Leech Lake expert Dana Pitt took this nice walleye on a light jig in shallow water.
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