Crankbait Rod & Reel Combination

[Mumpy]

I'm looking at purchasing a Rod & Reel Combination that I'll use specifically for Crankbaits. Everything from KVD 1.5's to DD20's

What Rod and Reel (Ratio as well) Combination would you suggest?

Thanks in advance guys

[Tavery5]

Finding the perfect crankbait combo can be very tough, there are glass, graphite and composite (mix of both) rods on the market. You will get strong cases from anglers about the benefits of each, but generally one will feel better to you.

One cranking rod to cover the whole spectrum of crankbait fishing is like owning 1 pair of shoes. Rods that throw the med deep and deep divers usually don't cast the lighter 200 and 300 series style baits well.

If it were me and I was only going to buy 1 rod, I would base my choice off of what depth of water I most often fish in. With all of this said two rods that I had the pleasure of trying recently were the Dobyns Champion 705CB and 805CB, both were fantastic, and of the two I preferred the 805CB it was able to cast and retrieve med deep to deep crankbaits to perfection.

In general take a look at rods that are at least 7ft in length, moderate to moderate fast actions, and let the weight of the baits help you decide which power rod you will use.

Reels are a little easier, many prefer reels with a lower IPT and gear ratio somewhere around the 5.1:1 range. Crankbaits are often associated with long casts and reel with centrifugal or dual brakes make for nice casting.

There are a number of reels out there that fit the bill, some of them are the Lews Speed Spool series, The BPS Pro Qualifier and Carbonlite, if you want to up the game some look at reels like the Abu Revo Winch, and the Daiwa Zillion Crazy Cranker.

Lots and lots of choices as far as equipment go, I would def. put my hands on and use as many rod and reels as possible when deciding on a crankbait combo, in my mind it is one of the more difficult decisions in rod and reel selection.

[carolina-rig-01]

I have two rods that are custom builds that I got for throwing squarebills like the KVDs on. They are both 7' rods and do a pretty good job. However I find myself throwing them more often on a 7'6" deep diver cranking stick when I am not fishing in tight spots where a long rod is a problem. I just like having the extra 6" of rod to help me steer the crankbait towards cover, plus it helps control fish better once they are hooked and steer them away from cover. Honestly in most situations for most anglers a 7' rod is perfect for squarebills, I just find that when I can use the 7'6" I really like it. For a squarebill rod I would look for a 7'mh rod with a moderate tip on it. And for the deeper stuff I like a 7'6"mh rod with a moderate or moderate fast tip. I know a lot of guys don't like medium heavy rods for crankbaits but I had some real problems with losing crankbait fish on medium powered rods and once I went back to a medium heavy rod the problem went away. If you had to use one rod for both applications I would just make sure you found one with a soft enough tip to all the rod to load when casting lighter baits but make sure it has enough backbone not to be overpowered by the deeper diving crankbaits.

As for the reel, there are a ton of good choices out there. I use Revo Winchs for almost all of my crankbaits, with the excepion of using a Revo SX when I need a higher speed reel. A cheaper option is the BPS Pro Qualifier, it comes in a wide range of gear ratios and isn't too expensive.

[Mumpy]

Tavery and CR1, Thank you for this. Very good information here.

Thanks a lot!