How many rods do you need?

double post

On a serious note…do you need 3 rods for “bassin”?

More the merrier IMO. So many lures and colors to try and I don’t like having to take time to retie or switch baits if I don’t have to do it.

Your dentist will agree with you that you need many many rods so you don’t have to retie and bite the line so much.
PM me if you need to ship to my house Frydog I live in Farmington. I enjoy meeting IDO members and you don’t need to bring me a 6 pack.

I think the answer is 5-6, assuming you don’t fish muskie.

1. Finesse rod: 7-7’6″ MLF or MLXF spinning (drop shot, drifting, unweighted senko) – This rod should be one of the spendy ones that you can feel everything with.

2. General Purpose: 6-7′ MF or MLF spinning rod (jigging, light spinnerbaits, casting light rapalas, or for loaning to your buddy who says he wants to try fishing)

3. Crankbait/spinnerbait rod – 7′ M/MH Moderate action casting… key is that the rod needs to be relatively slow action due to using the reel to pull the bait through the water. Still want decent power though.

4. Jerkbait/pitching rod/swimbait 7-8′, MH, fast action… fast tip to sense and transmit power rapidly, enough backbone to yank fish out of pads/brush.

5. Trolling rod/Leadcore rod

6. I think you could use the finesse rod for panfish, but a L/UL moderate action rod would likely be more fun.

If you are adding muskie to the list, I think you could probably use 2 more rods.

As Matt Moen said I believe I am with him more fishing less rods, makes a mess and I have yet to say I could not get a fish because of my rod. Thanks NHamm for the pics on organizing rods working on it right now.

I probably own 15-18 rods and generally keep 9 rods in the boat at a time in the center floor storage. I do a considerable amount of trolling though. If it’s an application I know will not involve trolling, I dump those 5 rods out to make room for gear of guests.

x2 leadcore telescoping rods

x1 leadcore shorty

x2 trolling rods with fireline

x3 medium action spinning rods (1 rigged for casting cranks, one rigged for lindy rigging, one multi-purpose backup)

x1 ultralight (rigged generally for slip bobbering/power corking if I come across a school of white bass or crappies)

I fish P4 probably 98% of the time. I’m exploring the idea of getting into planer boards to efficiently pull 4 lines and for shallow situations, but that’d likely mean picking up another couple long limber trolling rods to spool with mono

mrpike1973 wrote:

I have yet to say I could not get a fish because of my rod.

Ummm I wish I could tell you how many $350.00 rods were sold at a certain bait shop on the river. “Here, take this one out and compare with the rod you’re using now”.

These folks didn’t come back holding their credit cards out just because they wanted to spend money. I didn’t ever think I wanted air conditioning either…until I tried it.

FryDog62 wrote:

Is there a way to order a rod but not have it delivered to your house where your wife will say… “You didn’t order another rod!!”

Gotta be smart….. I have them delivered to work.

Everyone says I have a problem I disagree.We carry 32 rods in the boat at all times. That doesn’t include the ones we bring and don’t keep in the boat which is probably that and the ones we leave at home.

Chris Messerschmidt wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FryDog62 wrote:</div>
Is there a way to order a rod but not have it delivered to your house where your wife will say… “You didn’t order another rod!!”

Gotta be smart….. I have them delivered to work.

Or the neighbor’s house…

All I know is I have more rods than my wife has shoes.

Chris Messerschmidt wrote:

Everyone says I have a problem I disagree.We carry 32 rods in the boat at all times. That doesn’t include the ones we bring and don’t keep in the boat which is probably that and the ones we leave at home.

I have a minimum of 33 in the boat at all times.
I tried having 32 but I may as well have been fishing in a parking lot.

mrpike1973 wrote:

Hi all, so here goes I have a small boat more than 5-6 rods and something is going to get broken.

As much as I would like more rods is it better to just have a few set up for what I need and switch out when I need it.

I don’t think I can afford a bunch of rods for just certain applications.

I bass fish 90% 3 baitcasters 1 for cranks 1 for spinnerbaits 1 for jigs or worms spinning rods I have 3 mostly all for wacky rigging small jigs or for the other 10% I use them for panfish.

I do catfish some but small ones and the wife uses the spinning rods just fine. So asking the professionals on here what do you do with limited space.

I finally got over the fact I’m not a professional and don’t need 10 rods clanking around broke 4 last year when I fell in the boat $500 bucks worth of rods hurts quick. Thanks all.

You don’t need a lot of rods. You can throw spinnerbaits, cranks, worms all with the same rod. 1000’s of people have started out that way. As your income /situation increases your boat size will also increase as will the amount of junk we carry in that boat.
I found using rod socks helped alot. You are able to let the rods hang over the bow or sides of the boat without tangling. That moves them further away from you for when you wanna fall and break them.
You will also need to know this phrase and use it if you want to continue this addiction. When you hear your wife say……”You don’t NEED another __x___.” You reply, ” I didn’t NEED a wife either, but I’m happy to have one.”

So, after reading this thread you know why so many of us have all the time in the boat as it seems we do. We are addicts.

About 12 years ago a young sporting goods manager. Made a decision to ” close out ” local stores inventory of fishing rods at a 75-90% discount. I had tagged along with wife on her grocery trip. I kept noticing guys carrying a fishing rod or two.

I went to investigate as odd for that time of year. Indeed there were still a ton of stuff to pick from. I bought rods that were marked 39.99 and up. Almost everyone had the 90% off final price. So that a 40.00 sold for 4.00 and a 90.00 rod sold for 9.00.

I forgot exactly how many I bought. But I do remember the money total was just under 300 bucks. This was at a local WAL-MART and I have never seen that kind of sale at any store anywhere since. No doubt that young firebrand was canned for that idea.

Before I bought this huge bundle of rods. I had two 24 rod racks full. My garage rafter had a dozen up there. Forgot how many were in the boat. Fixed up friends, relatives and fishing buds. Finally had a huge garage sale and moved almost all of them

. I am sorry what was the question ?

In my boat I keep 4 rod/reel combos for myself.

1) lindy rig set up
2) bottom bouncer set up
3) slip bobber set up
4) trolling/ casting line set up