Thread: Why do you like the rod you use to crappie fish?

Originally Posted by Les Young

When i looked at walmart believ it or not the (Cost Effective) shakespeare micro series was by far the best feeling 7 footer they had so i bought it. (Reasonable & Affordable) can definitely be better.

Not the spelling and capitalization () but fixed it for Ya!

Originally Posted by keeferfish

Not the spelling and capitalization () but fixed it for Ya!

I have kicked this around in my mind the last few days since starting this thread. I know I want to buy a spinning rod for casting to crappie. Probably in the 6 to 6-1/2 foot range. I feel like it should be a fast action, as opposed to moderate fast, but I don’t honestly know. Also don’t know whether to go with a light power or ultralight power.

I don’t have any docks on the lakes I fish so I don’t need to worry about casting under them. Mostly I’ll be casting to the shoreline and to flooded timber, whole submerged trees, in open water. There’s a lot of those in one lake I have here. The other two lakes, one has a lot of large rocks below surface, and the other, the water is gin clear with 10+ feet of visibility any day of the week, and more on a sunny day, and is filled with tall grass on the bottom. So this will basically be open water fishing, but when casting towards shore there sometimes are low hanging branches. I think a 6 foot rod would be best for accuracy and getting up under the branches, but a 6-1/2 rod would be best for distance casting. I’m opposed to a 7 foot rod of any kind, they always feel too long to me. All my bass rods are 6-1/2 feet. I’m used to that length, but I’m normally throwing a 1/4 to 1/2 ounce bait, sometimes as heavy as 1 ounce. Downsizing to 1/16 is gonna be a real change. I’m wondering if an ultralight rod would load and throw a bait that size better than a light would. What about the moderate fast action vs fast? Any advantage or disadvantage?

Rods I’m considering:
Shimano Sensilite 6 foot L/F
Shimano Sensilite 6-1/2 foot UL/F
Cadence CR5 6 foot L/MF
Cadence CR5 6-1/2 foot L/MF
Handing Magic L 6 foot L/MF
Handing Magic L 6 foot UL/F

I was considering another St. Croix Premier like the medium light I already have, but that’s $160 and I think I’d like to keep the cost lower on this. Honestly I could get two or three of any of those others for that cost. I think I’m also gonna save some on a reel and go with a Piscifun Flame or Viper X in a 1000 size. Maybe I should buy both a light and an ultralight.


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Walmart has a 6'6" M Falcon EVO for $79.95 .... light and sensitive, I have 3 EVO rods now and one even replaced a high dollar G Loomis rod ...... and that new KastKing Zepher 2000 feels well worth the $46

Hey, Rooster .... have a look at the 6' ESP Power Lite rod specs : ESP™ High-Performance Ultra Light Rods – Norsemen Outdoors

(Disclaimer : if you intend on using this rod for slip floats ....forgetaboutit !! ... micro guides ain't havin' it )

Also ... the 6'6" version is the same rod as the 6' version, but has a 6" handle extension. And Grizzly Jig has a lower price than Norsemen (like $10 lower).

I have four rods I use for casting, all are 6'6"- 7'2", two are UL and two are L. I cast jigs from 1/32-1/4oz. Be prepared to buy several rods as you expand your fishing methods, I have rods for casting, spider rigging, two poling, pitching jigs and single poling, from 4'6" to 14'.

Originally Posted by justinp61

I have four rods I use for casting, all are 6'6"- 7'2", two are UL and two are L. I cast jigs from 1/32-1/4oz. Be prepared to buy several rods as you expand your fishing methods, I have rods for casting, spider rigging, two poling, pitching jigs and single poling, from 4'6" to 14'.

I figured as much. I do that now for bass fishing. I managed to cut down to 5 rods that cover the range of baits I currently fish but I’ll end up expanding that again.

To get started in crappie fishing, I already have a St. Croix Premier 6-1/2 foot medium light with a Daiwa Exceler 2500LTD-XH. I found where I can buy spare spools for this reel on FishUSA for $15. Gonna get one and wrap some 4 pound mono on it and try to make it work. It seems there’s several on this site that use a ML/F rod with up to 8 pound line. That’s what’s on it now so I might even be good to go on that rod. I figure this rod would do well for moving baits like a Roostertail, Underspin, or Beetle Spin. Maybe heavier jigs.

Then I want to set up a second rod and make it a light or ultralight. Use it for small jigs 1/16 or lighter, with a little plastic body on them. Might have to go ultralight on that. I want something that can go as low as 2 pound line to give me a broader range than what that Premier will cover alone. I had thought the Shimano Sensilite 6-1/2 foot ultralight might work for that but I saw a couple of videos of people using it and they said it wasn’t sensitive enough to detect the thump when a crappie sucks in the jig. They had to wait for the line to move or feel the weight of the fish to know that it was there. Watching those videos is how I discovered the Daiwa Presso. THIS rod might be the one! A 6-1/2 foot ultralight Presso for 1/32-1/16 ballhead jigs with a tiny tube, marabou jigs, and Crappie Magnets. What do you think?


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IMO, the line plays in sensitivity too, it seems I feel bites easier on braid than mono. I have reels spooled with braid and some with mono, different weights too. The purpose is to change the fall rate of the jigs.