At seminars and follow-up emails, and phone calls I am often asked what rods and reels do I prefer for Walleye and Salmon and Trout trolling. In the interest of answering this question I tried to demonstrate my desired combinations and the application it is used for. What you see in this list is not necessarily rod and reel combos sitting and waiting to be used in the rod rack at home, instead they are a mix and match and then taken apart and put together in another combination to achieve another purpose. Re-purposed. I have developed my own preferences in rod length, rod power, rod action, length of rod butt, line weight, line type and a slew of other attributes. My desired combination of rod and reel will likely be different than yours.
The most notable difference you will likely find with my rod, reel and line selection is my attention to satisfy my charter customers and provide fish fighting enjoyment. These are not combos designed to winch in fish in the hands of a Tournament Angler. On the big lake a derby angler may beef things up for the purpose of boating the biggest fish in the lake, looking for one big bite and not losing it when they hook-up. My approach focuses on more bites and less on focused effort toward the big bite. If I have to sacrifice brute strength in my equipment so I can instead turn more bites, I’ll do it.
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I grew up in an era that preached scaling down to gain bites when others will not get bit on heavier line and equipment. As a young teen fishing Chinook salmon off the piers, I would cast crankbaits and stickbaits on light line using medium action spinning rods. Our typical lbs test line was 8 lbs test so we can fit enough line on the reel at the smaller diameter to allow those kings to run. We would still get spooled at times, but the light line helped get a few more yards on the reel and let us cast a country mile. But most importantly the light line got us far more bites. I remember my personal best line catch for a salmon was 26 lbs on 4 lbs test and it was the first week of September as those fish were still fresh coming in from the lake full of energy. I was no hero that evening as I landed only 2 and lost 3. But other anglers stop fishing to come over to see what the difference was.
Outfits are personal preference and even more so when your expectations of your catch comes into play. Telling this is no secret, in fact I can’t say the same list will remain this way as I refine techniques, exposure to new products, or that conditions dictate necessary changes. Take it or leave it, you can opt to mimic or dispute my selections, not unlike TV, turn the channel if you don’t like what you’re watching.
A few concepts I wish to clarify first. When talking about rod action I am referring to the amount of bend in the rod when under pressure.
When describing rod speed, it is the speed the rod blank will return back to straight. Faster speed rods will have the tip return to straight (neutral) very quickly – snap back. Slow, Medium and Fast speeds will be used in describing rod speed.
Lastly when we talk about rod power we are talking about the rod’s performance and flex in pulling against a force using the proper line rating. Light, Medium and Heavy power descriptions will be used to describe.
Reel- Coldwater 303 with 40 lbs Test Mono
Rod – Blue Diamond 8ft 6in (BD-C-862MHa) ¼ Action Bend, Medium-Fast Speed, Medium Heavy Power.
Reel- Coldwater 303 with 17 lbs Test Mono
Rod – ClassicPro GLT 8ft (CP-DR-802M) 1/2 Action Bend, Medium Speed, Medium Power.
Reel – Convector 20 D
Rod – Convector GL 7ft (discontinued but consider Blue Diamond 7ft 6in BD-C-762MLa) 3/4 Action Bend, Medium-Slow Speed, Medium-Light Power
Reel- Convector 30D
Rod – Deadeye Leadcore 7ft 6in (DE-LC-762M-T) 1/2 Action Bend, Medium Speed, Medium Power.
Reel – Convector 20 D
Rod – Convector GL 7ft (discontinued but consider Blue Diamond 7ft 6in BD-C-762MLa) 3/4 Action Bend, Medium-Slow Speed, Medium-Light Power
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Reel - Convector 30 D
Rod – ClassicPro Leadcore 7 ft (discontinued but consider Deadeye Leadcore 7ft 6in DE-LC-762M-T), 2/5 Action Bend, Medium Speed, Medium Power
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| From Misc |
Reel - Convector 45 D
Rod – ClassicPro Leadcore 7 ft (discontinued but consider Deadeye Leadcore 7ft 6in DE-LC-762M-T), 2/5 Action Bend, Medium Speed, Medium Power
Reel – Convector 20 D
Rod – Deadeye 10ft (DE-PB-1002M), 1/3 Action Bend, Medium-Fast Speed, Medium Power
Reel – Leadcore; Same as above, Copper; Clarion 453 for up to 400 ft
Rod – Classic Pro GTL 8ft 6 in (CP-CL-862M) ¼ Action Bend, Medium-MediumFast Speed, Medium-Medium Heavy Power.
Reel- Coldwater 303D with 30 lbs 7 strand wire
Rod – Blue Diamond 10ft with TwillieTip (BD-C-1002MH) 1/2 Action Bend, Medium-Slow Speed, Medium Power.
Braid Divers for Salmon and Trout and Walleye
Reel- Coldwater 303D with 30 lbs braid
Rod – Coldwater 10ft 6in with (CW-C-1062M or MH) 2/5 Action Bend, Medium Speed, Medium Power.
Reel- Coldwater 303D with 40 lbs mono
Rod – ClassicPro DD 10ft 6in (CP-DD-1062M) 1/5 Action Bend, Medium-Fast Speed, Heavy Power.
There are always trials with new techniques and coincidentally efforts are made to matching up with different rods and reel combinations to discover the most desired combinations in refining or craft. Desired combinations can also be named favourite rod and reels for the job, or most trusted, or most preferred. Regardless of what you like to call it, you will develop your own combinations you are most confident in. Your list will take on its own shape, it will morph as conditions change and your trials teach you more of what you like and dislike. Why do we go through this effort to finding the right combination? To build confidence. A confident angler is Kryptonite to fish. The Rod and Reel is the Superman “S” on the crest.
If you like to try out some of these listed examples, by all means. It’s a starting point to a list of desired combinations you will modify as time passes. Keep in tune, be aware and enjoy that time to develop your own confidence in your equipment selection.
Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com
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