hey folks glenn may here with bassresource.com and today i want to
talk to you about how to set up your rod your real and your line and your hooks
so they're matched it's a match set this is really important it comes the bass
fishing because if you got one weak link in there that's usually the thing that's
going to fail on you when you're reeling in that lunker and then you're gonna be
less scratching your head wondering what happens so it's important to have a
balanced system so what I do everything starts off with the hook what size hook
am I using what kind of hook am I using from there it derives from that so for
example finesse fishing with finesse fishing you're using a real thin hook
here I've got a little spider wire spider jig you can see it's just a
little hook hook very well here but it's a small that's about a one-off hook
there it's a thin wire hook a little football jig but it's a real thin wire
hook now if I were to put this on sixty five pound braid with a stout rod if I
set the hook on a fish that little hook is just gonna straighten out and that's
exactly what you're trying to avoid because what happens is your line is
strong your rod is strong you've got your reel crank down all that strong but
you've got a thin wire hook well that's the part that's going to give and
they'll straighten out so you want to match it so in this case what I'm doing
is I'm using six pound fluorocarbon line città fluorocarbons got a bit of a
stretch to it a little bit again but it's super sensitive so when I set that
hook it's not going to put all that pressure on that hook I'm using a nice
light spinning rod it's a it's a medium light power rod lots of flex in it so I
has lots of give when the fish is when not only when I set the hook but when
the fish is fighting them back to the boat it has a lot of give enough fish
does that run and then I'm using a spinning gear in this case this spinning
is I've got the drag set nice and light on it so when that fish makes that run
it just peels right off nice and easy spinning reels by the way have my
opinion some of the best drags out there real nice and smooth which is what you
need when you're using light line and light hooks yeah that give and that drag
is super super important so that's what I'm using when I'm fishing spinning
outfits excuse me when I'm fishing finesse rigs
now going a little bit higher up if I'm fishing say for example a Texas rig
standard Texas rig here I'm fishing this is the jack-of-all-trades of the rod is
a medium heavy power fast action tip rod this you can use it for a variety
situations you can use it for Texas rigging you can use it for spinner baits
you can use it for crank baits top water I mean this is the jack-of-all-trades
you need to have a couple of these rods for bass fishing but it all depends on
the kind of hook you're using so in this instance I'm using a pretty stout hook
as I've been doing some some flipping and pitching with it so I using a thick
hook on it on this Berkley creature hog that I've been throwing you can see it's
brie stout hook it's pretty thick wire hook so if I had a thick wire hook like
that a big one like that on the setup I just showed you and I set up that rods
gonna give that line is gonna stretch that drag is gonna pull and you're not
gonna get much muscle on that fish because the hook just won't penetrate
I mean you've you've you've lost all that energy and that lighter you need a
lot of power to get a thick wire hook set on that fish thin wire hooks don't
take so much energy so you can use that set up but this is real thick so I need
more power to set the hook and says because it's a thick wire hook it's
gonna put up with a pressure of the hook set and the fight back to the boat so in
this instance I'm using fire lined ultra 8 and it's at each strand braided line
30 pound test it doesn't have any give at all
no stretch this rods got a little bit of stretch on the end of it on the tip
which is what a typical medium heavy rod is it's got that kind of flex to it so
that's what you need and then the drag on this thing I'm using the Revo SX reel
I love it and I love is a bugger see Arriva reel
I love these advocacies it's got a 24 pounds of drag on it so I can crank this
baby down really strong and haul that fish out so that's what you need when
you're when you're fishing some of this heavier cover you can crank that drag
down and because I got this heavy rod I've got a strong
hook it's gonna put up with all that pressure now if I order fish and say a
spinnerbait I'd very similar setup because spinnerbaits have four out five
out real thick hooks and I'd use again very similar setups again use a 7-pound
medium heavy rod in that instance I might go to a copolymer line because I'm
not throwing so much and brush or cover like I would with a Texas rig like this
so I don't need all that abrasion resistant resistance so maybe a
copolymer line I'd be using 15 pound test for that because again throwing
heavy cover so it depends on the bait that you're throwing but again it's a
heavier hook so you can use a heavier setup now let's move on a little bit
different let's go for some heavy flipping and pitching this is the stout
setup that I like to use when I'm throwing in heavy cover when it when the
bushes are flooded I'm throwing a heavy by bushes trees I'm throwing in thick
weeds thick milfoil and digging the fish out of it and I got to fight him I got
to work really hard to get him out so here I'm using the seven six heavy power
fast action rod so with that okay again I got a nice stout flipping hook on it
this is a three OTT flipping hook here I'm using sixty five pound seaguar
berated line this is the Seaguar Smackdown braid I really like it it's
very abrasion resistance works great around all those kind of organic type
cover which is logs trees bushes even docks thick weeds perfect for that kind
of setup this hooks going to put up with that it's not going to bend you've got a
good a system a real with real good drag system on it this happens to be the
Helios the akuma Helios real I like the drag system on that if you
notice all my reels are really good that have all Guercio real it's real nice
smooth drag on it that's critical for these type of things because you know
the rod the the braid doesn't have any gift to it so your drag is going to have
to make up for that a little bit so you gotta have a real smooth drag for that
but that's the system that I use for flipping and pitching it works for me
really really well I haven't had any problems with it where I would change
that is if I was throwing in rocks thrown a lot of rocks then braid doesn't
hold up as well under that doesn't matter what brand it is braid just
doesn't isn't designed to hold up under rocks too well or if you're throwing
with the zebra muscles that sort of thing
so in that instance I'll switch over to fluorocarbon maybe a thirty pound
fluorocarbon line something that stiff and that's a little more abrasion
resistance to that type of cover but the same set up and still be using the same
exact setup so again it goes all off of that hook a thin wire hook you're using
thinner line you're using lighter rods lighter reels and then you go up to the
heavy-duty stuff where you've got your drag cranked all the way down you've got
just stout rod you've got flip and hook it all derives off that that size a hook
that house stout that is that has everything to do with my choice of what
kind of line that I'm going to use and what rod and reel I'll be setting up
with that I hope those tips help I'm telling you what one thing I got to tell
you not everything is an absolute and fishing everybody you start off as a
basis and that's why I'm telling you all this it's just your your beginning point
if you haven't fished these before this gives you an idea of where to start but
over time everybody develops their own system that they're most comfortable
with be a difference pound test line but a different kind of line everybody
develops a system where they feel real confident in that and so you're gonna
get a lot of opinions a lot of different ideas so what I just showed you isn't
exactly what you do doesn't mean that you're wrong and it doesn't mean I'm
right or vice versa it's just I fish it a little bit different this is just to
give you an idea of where to start from and then you develop your own system
from there so I hope that helps for more tips and tricks like this visit
bassresource.com
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