Best Fishing Rod Reviews 2022 for Passionate Anglers

How To Choose The Best Fishing Rod And Reel Combo – Buying Guide

I have described best fishing rod in the market earlier, best fishing rod brand, fishing rod and reel and moreover some best fishing rod and reel combo in this article.

While buying a fishing rod and reel combo saves you from the hazardous hard work or presumption involved when compiling a rod and reel outfit on your own. Do you still want to do that? Ok, if you are a newbie it will be a challenge picking the right combination of rod and reel for where you’re fishing, what you’re catching, how you’re catching it.

Or if you are expert enough, you have the option to set reel with the rod. But yet you have to how they are working.

Different types of fishing rods are available in the market. From those saltwater fishing, rod & bass fishing rods are selling most.

Understanding how a pole’s and reel’s features and specifications improvise its performance when fishing will help you choose the right fishing gear for your needs. Here we included some checkpoints when buying your reel and pole set to ensure you get a good one that will serve you well.

When deciding the fishing pole in the combo, deliberately look into the pole’s action, power, responsiveness, and guides as follows:

Action

The action of a fishing pole means where a pole bends when there’s the load applied on its slope. It describes how hard or flexible the pole is, where it begins to bend, how much it flexes along its length and how quickly the slope returns to normal when pressure is removed.

A pole’s action may be slow, medium, fast, extra fast, or in between. It is affected by the pole’s taper/thickness, length, and blank material.

A pole’s action affects its catchability and the level of control you have over the fish. Different types of action are better suited to different types of lures, baits, and fishes which are as follows:

Extra Fast Action

Extra fast action poles are the least flexible and bend just at the tip with very little bend throughout the pole length. With their toughness, they are quite sensitive at the tip and can put a lot of force on a fish. They are best suited for larger lures, larger fish and fishing in heavy covers such as vegetation.

Fast Action

Fast action poles or poles are more flexible and bend in the top third or less from the tip. They provide both power and bend and are more sensitive. They are very good for short to long casting distance, single hook lures as they set the hook hard, top-water baits, plastic worms, jerk baits, and spinner baits. They are great for pike, musky, and large mouth bass and can handle large game fishing and heavy cover or weeds.

Moderate Action

Medium or moderate action poles bend in the last half from the tip all the way to the middle. They offer great control for forming beyond and offer a lot of hook setting power making them great for treble hooks such as top water lures, spinner baits and crank baits, as their slower action enables a hard hook set. They are also versatile and suitable for a variety of species and fishing situations.

Slow Action

Slow action poles are the most flexible and bend uniformly throughout the pole length. They’re best suited to smaller fish, lighter lures and baits, and soft or live baits. They also act as shock absorbers for light strokes ensuring the hook does not tear out of the fish’s mouth when using multiple hooks.

Power

The power of a fishing pole describes its lifting strength/force and how much weight it can sustain without nipping. Pole or pole power is described as heavy, medium-heavy, medium, light, or ultra-light.

Pole power determines the fishing line pound test and lures weights you can use with it and the fish species and fishing situations it can handle.

Ultra-light and light power poles are highly responsive but don’t have a lot of lifting power. They’re suitable for small bait fish, lightweight fishing lines and lures, freshwater fish, and fishing in clear, open water.

Heavy power poles are strong and have the lifting power to handle heavy and large fish. heavy fishing lines and lures, deep-sea fishing, surf fishing, and fishing in thick, heavy cover.

Medium power poles are versatile and can handle a range of small to larger fish sizes, line and lure weights, and light to moderate cover.

Responsiveness

The responsiveness of a fishing pole describes how it flexes under load to store energy and how quickly it releases this stored energy when casting.

The materials the pole is made of, its weight, and modulus/stiffness all play a part in how responsive the pole is.

The lighter the pole, especially at its tip, the more responsive it is. High modulus poles store and release energy more efficiently, which enables them to cast more efficiently and accurately effortlessly.

Guides

Guides are positioned on the pole’s shaft to hold the fishing line away from the pole blank and control its movement. They allow the line to flow smoothly and with minimal friction allowing the angler to cast better.

The guides should be placed properly to spread out the stress applied to the pole blank when fighting fish. Poles in bait caster combos have the guides located on the top side of the pole while spinning poles have the guides located on the underside of the pole.

The more guides a pole has, the better it performs, as pressure is applied more consistently throughout the pole utilizing its full strength when casting and fighting fish. Fuji Guides use this system to increase casting distance and reduce line twist. However, more guides mean a higher price tag.

The material used to make the guides and quality of construction of the guides determine how durable and corrosion-resistant the pole is.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is considered the best material because of its super-smooth surface which minimizes friction on the line making it possible to cast farther and retrieve quickly and extending the line’s lifespan. Alconite, aluminum oxide, titanium, stainless steel, and ceramic materials are also used.