New jig rod

Probably going to head over to dicks for my very first jig rod/reel combo. Would prefer spin reel and the total rig price range of 125-150. Any suggestions would be very welcome. Never really jig fished before so it's something I want to start getting into and practicing

not sure the size of jig you plan on but i would recommend a baitcast setup and heavier rod. i would throw them on the crucial i'm selling. it's actually better for jigs than heavy flipping i think.

i just went through this process earlier this year. i've never fished conventional and already had a few spinning reels. i wasn't ready to commit to conventional so i got a bps extreme 6'6" MH rated to thrown 1/4 oz- 5/8oz. i'm pretty happy with it

that being said i think i lost a few larger bass this season from not being able to drag them up and over some heavy pads and grass beds. so i was entertaining the idea about getting a heavy conventional set up.

i think most of the time i'm catching 2-3 pound bass, so i also don't want a heavy stick to take the fun away from those guys.

anyway, food for thought. i would recommend the bsp extreme spinning if you don't want to go conventional. it's not that much more expensive than the bionic blade and i believe the extreme is more sensitive. i would stay away from the tourney special if you're going to go the bps route.

good luck. and bawg hoag jigs are the balls. they've outfished all my other jigs this season.

I have 2 jig rods. 1 is a baitcaster like Sam's. The other is a spinning rod. I use the baitcster for flipping and pitching into trees and floating docks and open water jigging. I use the spinning rod for skipping under suspended docks or way back under overhangs and for dragging the jig over/through pads. Sam's shimano is PERFECT for the flipping, pitching and open water jig fishing. I would not hesitate to grab that. It is a quality rod and comes with a lifetime warrentee. send it back for any reason, and they replace it. Shimano's warrentees are the best in the business. You wont be dissapointed. I have that same rod.
If you want to go the spinning route. I would suggest a 6' medium heavy extra fast or (and I am serious) buy a 6'6" medium heavy fast, bring it home, cut off 4-6" and replace the tip. Now you will have a 6' heavy.... perfect for skipping and dragging over pads.

The "extra fast" and "fast are important because they are how the tip behaves.

Abu Garcia seems to be having a lot of sales lately. My buddy just picked up a good Abu combo at Dick's. You will never go wrong with either a Abu or Shimano combo.

Good advice above about rods. I have some snapped rods that I may retip. I would also say budget in about 15-20$ for some quality line.

St Croix Mo Jo rods at $100 are nice rods for the money. It's a starting point for their rods but they are good quality and well worth the money. Reels, I'm a Shimano guy,the ones I like are going to blow your buget. I'm sure you can find a good setup for $150 though...

Yeah I second that, the St. Croix Mojo rods are really good for the money

I have the st croix mojo. It's a 6'6. I wish I got a 7 footer but besides the length it's a great rod

Thanks for all the info guys i have my hands full for research. What about reels? What do you usually have rigged up? I am just more comfortable with spin rods. Years and years ago I bough a super cheap bait caster and just never got the hang of it, I'm
Hoping more based on the quality than my skill! But it left a bad taste for bait casters, but I can certainly see the upside and probably need to revisit.

I did the same thing with the bait caster. I tried an old reel a friend let me use a few years ago. I never even took it on the water. I was practicing in the yard and couldn't quite get it. I revisited it last season and felt better about it. This year I added 4 more bait casters. Most days I don't even touch the spinning rod. I have 2 BPS pro qualifiers which I love. I also have a BPS extreme. I got the Extreme on sale for 59.99. It's a good reel.

haha thanks for the plug rich. seriously though, it really has great action for both applications. and it has a cool sweet beaver logo on the rod butt. i just happened to upgrade and don't need it anymore.

as for reels, i go with a high speed baitcaster with a lot of drag. i lock it down almost completely. i use an abu garcia revo stx that's 7.1:1. i believe it has 20 lbs. of drag.

higher gear ratio allows you to bring more line with each turn of the handle so that means ripping big fish out of the cover quickly. a longer rod will also pick up more line quicker so a long rod + a high speed reel is ideal for quickly setting the hook and pulling bass in.

I know you want to keep the total price under $150 but you get what you pay for. My fishing partner buys two or three cheap reels at a time and he is always complaining about the bad line. It's not the line Mike it's the junk reel you purchased. He has at least 3 to 4 birds nest a trip and that's his spinning gear. I never have his issues. I buy high quality reels and they last me for years without problems. I still use a Shimano Stradic I purchased in I think it was 1992 I replaced the bail wire 4 years ago. He always gives me a hard time about the price of my gear. I just shake my head and wonder how much more money he spent on the pile of junk he no longer can fish with. You don't have to break the bank but I would say at least $100 for a quality reel.
If you get the chance to use a quality baitcast reel you will find out they are easy to get used to. I only started using then a couple of years ago myself. I now have just as many baitcast setups as spinning.
For my birthday and Christmas my family gets me what I reallly want giift cards to Bass Pro Shop... Hopes his helped, good luck...

I perferr a St Croux 7ft fast tip m/h with Diawa execeller 7.1-1 reel spooled with 50 lb braid.I throw mostly lighter jigs but this set up can handle the heaver ones as well.
Diawa reels are not that expensive and are good quality St Crioux on the other hand.........they have a lifetime gurante.
The fast tip allows you the feel the hit on the fall and it still has plenty of back bone to hores them from the heavey cover
Jack

So thanks to everyone's input and Sam's crucial that I purchased I'm on my way to my new set up. I'll be picking the reel this weekend which is pretty much decided on. Now I intend to use this for flipping jigs and frogging which leads me to a line question. The obvious choice is heavy braid. For someone just learning the bait caster system is there any different learning curve of casting using say 40-50 lbs braid vs 20 lbs fluoro/mono? From what I've read the fluoro would suit the jigs just fine but am I setting my self up for failure by using the 20 fluoro for frogging? I'm thinking of just sucking it up and going with the braid and going trial by fire.

Does anyone use a leader with a jig or frog with the braid?


Thanks all for the help so far!

thanks and enjoy the rod.

i would say it's a lot easier to cast braid or mono in the beginning vs. heavy fluoro as it tends to want to coil up. it's also easier to get birds nests out of braid which are inevitable when first starting out with a baitcaster.

i don't use a leader when pitching anything into heavy cover or when frog fishing. just another point of failure, extra knot, and it doesn't really matter if they can "see it." you're going for a reaction strike anyways. i don't trust a leader when fishing the nastiest stuff with a frog.

if you're fishing clear water and dragging the jig, then i would go with fluoro or mono. fluoro has it's benefits as does mono. i personally only use mono for topwater since it floats. i prefer no stretch and low visibility.