Help with gear for trout and salmon (non fly)

r1chy · Mar 30, 2013

Looking for some advice/help

have a 9ft (5-20g) Wychwood true spin rod for my generally spinning for trout. Looking for a new reel for this and looking for options. Was looking at the Okuma Trio FD and a few shimano's.

I am also looking to buy n new rod to generally use for spinning and bait fishing in lochs etc for trout and salmon. My questions for this is what size rod would be best? Was thinking 10ft or 11ft. Looking at the Diawa Whisker but is there a better suited rod and also options for a reel for when bait fishing?

I know there can be a different rod/set up for every type of river, loch, weather condition etc and the shopping lists could be never ending.

Cheers

geoffmaynard · Mar 30, 2013

I use an old 2.25TC Whisker carp rod for spinning on the Wye. Needless to say it gets more action with pike than salmon but the same rod has tamed catfish to 44lb so I'm quite confident about it. It's coupled with a 3500B baitunner which I brought back from the USA and loaded with 15lb mono.

The trout gear I use is only fly.

jacksharp · Mar 31, 2013

It's been nearly 40 years since I spun for trout, being a flyfisher now. However, I do spin for salmon, pike and plug in the sea for bass with a Shimano Exage STC 5-piece, 10/11ft, 20-50g. Used at 11ft it's a really nice action for casting Tobys and Rapalas. If you want it to be altogether more pokey for Dexter Wedges and big plugs, replace the butt section with the 12" dolly and at 10ft it stiffens up.

One going on Fleabay this evening, PM me if interested.

Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC} · Mar 31, 2013

jacksharp said:
It's been nearly 40 years since I spun for trout, being a flyfisher now. However, I do spin for salmon, pike and plug in the sea for bass with a Shimano Exage STC 5-piece, 10/11ft, 20-50g. Used at 11ft it's a really nice action for casting Tobys and Rapalas. If you want it to be altogether more pokey for Dexter Wedges and big plugs, replace the butt section with the 12" dolly and at 10ft it stiffens up.

One going on Fleabay this evening, PM me if interested.

Interesting that you use a rod of that length for lures Jack. The trend nowadays seems to be for much shorter rods. I'm no lure expert (Despite having numerous rods and reels I find it extremely boring after more than an hour or two.) but I wonder if that trend wasn't initially begun with the rise in popularity of jerk-bait fishing where the rods obviously do need to be very short and very stiff?

---------- Post added at 07:45 ---------- Previous post was at 07:42 ----------

r1chy said:
Looking for some advice/help

have a 9ft (5-20g) Wychwood true spin rod for my generally spinning for trout. Looking for a new reel for this and looking for options. Was looking at the Okuma Trio FD and a few shimano's.

I am also looking to buy n new rod to generally use for spinning and bait fishing in lochs etc for trout and salmon. My questions for this is what size rod would be best? Was thinking 10ft or 11ft. Looking at the Diawa Whisker but is there a better suited rod and also options for a reel for when bait fishing?

I know there can be a different rod/set up for every type of river, loch, weather condition etc and the shopping lists could be never ending.

Cheers

As I said Rich I'm only a dabbler with lures, but I've found that for boat fishing a relatively short rod makes it much more comfortable to work lures. I'm guessing you may be fishing the lochs from a boat?

Apologies if I'm talking cobblers.

jacksharp · Mar 31, 2013

Yes Chris, the modern trend, particularly with bass, is to use 8-9ft rods. However, as I spin for salmon, it needs to be 11ft IMO then the 10ft gets used for bass and pike plugging.

Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC} · Mar 31, 2013

jacksharp said:
Yes Chris, the modern trend, particularly with bass, is to use 8-9ft rods. However, as I spin for salmon, it needs to be 11ft IMO then the 10ft gets used for bass and pike plugging.

I suppose with the bass the general lure size is smaller by comparison with pike? I know when I lived in Jersey the locals were big on the Rapala minnow baits.

Do you use a FS or Multi? I use both but tbh, other than fishing jerk-baits, which I rarely do, I cannot for the life of me see the advantages of a multiplier over the much maligned coffee grinder. I find the latter far more expedient in terms of casting and playing fish. (Cue the purist rant.

)

Sorry for hijacking the thread Rich.

jacksharp · Mar 31, 2013

Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC} said:
I suppose with the bass the general lure size is smaller by comparison with pike? I know when I lived in Jersey the locals were big on the Rapala minnow baits.

Do you use a FS or Multi? I use both but tbh, other than fishing jerk-baits, which I rarely do, I cannot for the life of me see the advantages of a multiplier over the much maligned coffee grinder. I find the latter far more expedient in terms of casting and playing fish. (Cue the purist rant. )

Sorry for hijacking the thread Rich.

On the contrary, a 5lb bass has a gob that can easily engulf a tennis ball and I generally fish flies of around 4" and plugs around 6" for them. I use a Shimano Baitrunner 5000 with 15lb braid for all my spinning, plugging. I find the bit of flexibility that the free-spool gives is handy, plus it's a great reel anyway. Beach and boat fishing though I only ever use Abu multipliers. Small, baitcasting multipliers for lure fishing seem more the preserve of the Yanks.

Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC} · Mar 31, 2013

jacksharp said:
On the contrary, a 5lb bass has a gob that can easily engulf a tennis ball and I generally fish flies of around 4" and plugs around 6" for them. I use a Shimano Baitrunner 5000 with 15lb braid for all my spinning, plugging. I find the bit of flexibility that the free-spool gives is handy, plus it's a great reel anyway. Beach and boat fishing though I only ever use Abu multipliers. Small, baitcasting multipliers for lure fishing seem more the preserve of the Yanks.

LOL Yeah, I was thinking more of lures like Mag-Dawgs and the like. Some of those are over 12" long. In pike fishing terms I'd consider a 6" lure to be small.

I don't know about the 'yank' thing, I don't know a single UK pike-fishing lure angler who uses a FS, apart from me.

I'm not great with multis on the beach. I think my casting action must not be smooth enough. I've got a Daiwa 6HM but very rarely bother using it. I have to tighten the tension screw so far that it hampers distance, and given that most of my beach fishing is done at night I can never see how you know when to dab the spool with your thumb on the cast as it lands in the sea.

I'd better leave it there, it wasn't what Richy was asking after all.

jacksharp · Mar 31, 2013

Last one then, Chris. For beach fishing I slack the end tension off so that there is the slightest sideways play. I use an Abu 6500 Mag Elite CT with 2 brake blocks engaged in the end-spool. At night, if you put the mags full on, you don't need to hear the splash, all you will get is half a turn of slack as the lead hits the water and hardly any decrease in distance. Foolproof multiplier fishing and I would never look beyond Abu for sea multipliers, having also owned Daiwa and Penn.

Hijack over!

nicepix · Mar 31, 2013

The rod I now use for zander and catfish inland, and for bass in the salt is an 9 foot Ugly Stik that I bought predominantly for plugging off my kayak. When a decent fish dives under the boat you need a rod that will bend to the reel seat rather than break into little pieces. That is the beauty of the Ugly Stik. It will handle large fish but also is not too harsh on smaller stuff.

The Ugly Stik gradually became my 'to go' spinning / plugging rod for all occasions and it is paired up with an ABU 6500 C3 and 15lb line. It has landed cats to around 20lb on the river, bass to 6 or 7lb and zander of around the same weights. This year I'm hoping to accidentally catch a salmon they are recently introducing into the Vienne

I can recommend this rod as a good compromise for the type of fish you are expecting to catch.

r1chy · Mar 31, 2013

Thanks for all the replys.

Bought an okuma trio 40 for the wychwood rod.

Still unsure what rod to look at for the baiting at lochs etc that can also be used for salmon. Looked at the diawa whisker 10 and 11ft but is heavy action so unsure if it would be to stiff. The guy showed me a savage bombarder (i think) and said that would handle trout, salmon and pike so i left with a head full of mush lol.

Dont do alot of sea fishing but do have a 10ft ron thomson sea rod for when we do go mackeral fishing about twice a year and a reel (can't remember make) to go with it

Help with gear for trout and salmon (non fly)

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