Reel and line?

Recently got the desire to learn how to target crappie and purchased a St. Croix Panfish series 7’rod and looking for some quick feedback on an ideal reel and line setup.

I’m leaning towards either the Shimano SH2500FI or the SH1000FI – thoughts?

I’m heading to my cabin in NW WI to put the boat in for the season so I’m hoping to grab a reel today.

Also was looking for recommendations on the best line.

Apologies if these questions are Jr. Just trying to get a direction to head in

– Rich

I would go with the size 1000. 2500 would feel too big imo. Line: 4-6 pound mono of your preferred brand.

Charlie W wrote:

I would go with the size 1000. 2500 would feel too big imo. Line: 4-6 pound mono of your preferred brand.

^
What he said for the reel and line. I’ve used 4pd Trilene XL clear for two decades now and have no thoughts on changing.

By the way, that’s a dandy rod.

I use a 500 Sienna. Probably a little small but I’m usually bobber fishing when going for crappies so I don’t need huge casts. I also like to spend my $$ on other types of fishing setups and go cheap on my panfish gear. IMO it doesn’t make much difference when panfishing the way I do it.

I use a Sedona 1000 with 4# Maxima Chameleon. Works great for panfish. If you really want to have some fun, when you get a reel, take that ultralight to a stream that has smallmouth in it…..

I would use a light 2500 size. Trilene xt, what kind of presentations do you plan to use?

How big are your hands? Small reels are great but if knuckles get wrecked by the bail each turn it’s not to satisfying.

Where did you pickup the rod? Im wanting to help stimulate the economy with my own panfish rod purchase.

I fish a lot of the Shimano 1000 and 2500 sized reels. For the most part the 1000 sized reel suits most of my applications and most of my fishing needs.

I usually only reserve my 2500 or 3000 ones for when shore fishing and needing to bomb a long cast with a larger bobber and weights.

Also some of the older Shimano 1000 size used to be much larger than the current 1000 offerings. That is also true for the 2500/3000 size as well. The current ones are smaller compared to the old ones from 10+ years ago. So while it may sound like a 2500 is big, it’s really just a little more bigger than a 1000 size. The big difference is really in the handle and handle knobs. The larger handle knobs and handle length gives it a different feel.

Sorry I’m late to respond, but I replaced a good portion of my equipment in the last year, and I decided to give a chance to some of the less expensive unknown options for a few of my replacements.
For spinning reels, I went to Amazon and ordered one of the Cadence CS5 Carbon Fiber in 2000 size for Walleye and Bass fishing, and it’s far better than what I expected. Don’t flame me, it’s Japanese and not Chinese (similar to Okuma). I put it on a Shimano Compre 7′ ML rod, and it’s a very nice rig, and for the price I don’t think you can do better. I also have a few of the Okuma Ceymar reels that were highly spoken of here for ice fishing, and while they are a decent deal, they are not as nice as the Cadence for only $10 more.
My primary panfish rod is the St. Croix Panfish 7′ UL and I have a Shimano Symetre on that which is a superb combination, but I intend to add another Cadence in 1000 size to my gear now that I’ve tried one.

Shakespeare Micro Spinning Rod 5.6 or 6.6′ – around 20 bucks/ free s/h
Daiwa SC100A Silvercast A Series 4:3:1 Freshwater Spincasting Reel – 30 bucks / free s/h
KASTKING SUPERPOWER BRAIDED FISHING LINE 150 YDS, 8 lb test/ 2 diam $3.30/ free s/h

Long distance cast, good strike sensitivity and hook sets

Catch many many fish of all species.