I'm also a recent inductee into Crappie fishing. That said, ive been an ardent fisherman for most of my (almost) 82 years.
I was a licensed captain and guided reef and bay trips mostly in the keys for a few years.
Age and condition has caused me to give up my license and preference for salt water.
My suggestion would be go slowly before deciding to buy things you don't really need or maybe find you later don't like.
My question would be do you like to catch fish? Or, do you prefer the fish to catch you? Using multible rods as in spider rigging
can be a productive method. But I contend it also loses some of what I personaly like. That being what is known as the thump.
Plus it can be pricey to rig a boat properly for spider rigging, especially if you later find you don't like it.
Id suggest you go with someone who is experienced a few times in order to establish your taste for different methods.
I hired a local guide last spring to go along with me on my boat. I was somewhat shocked to find the only things he brought along
was 3 BnM telescopic rods and a box of jigs. He also brought a long handled rake for making holes in the weed beds.
It was an eye opening experience for a (supposed) old salt like me lol. I now own a nice selection of those type rods which have
become my favorite. A 10 footer can be bought for a whole 6 bucks. Ive even taped small reels on a couple of them.
Don't laugh until you've tried it, and they are great for bluegills also.
Check out a few of Whitey Outlaws tapes and see how basic it can be. I bought one of his version BnM rods from Grissley and like it
very much. But that dosent fold up like the others.
