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I have the BPS rods, mine are branded Wally Marshall but I think they are the same exact rods only Wally and BPS parted ways so they rebranded them CrappieMax. They have worked fine for me, I've spider rigged and pulled cranks with them without any problems.
I started out fishing BnM West Points 12'ers.I am fishing some 14' Firecast rods that scottv turned me onto from Grizzly Jig. I still have and use both.I have caught a ton of fish on both.The BnM's were $20 and the others were $19 ea.I use a rear seat 11' Ozark jigging pole. I have never broken the tips off any of these cheaper poles. The 14' Ozark trolling pole that I won at camp I broke twice.These guys on here have the experience to lead you in the right direction as far as crappie fishing is concerned.If you have the money, invest in the best. It will more than likely save you money in the long run.When I first started spidering years ago, I didn't even have any pole holders. Just fanned them out in front of me on the deck and still caught fish.Good luck with your purchase.
For all those who didn't suggest Southern Crappie rods must have never fished them. I like some of you have had them all but none even close to the Southern Crappie rods. I didn't believe it until I purchased two 14' and placed them beside B&M,BPS,Pinacle, etc. The bite recognition was so superior to the others and the feel with a fish on was unbelievable. Nothing but Southern Crappie for me.
What Capps cousin said..then I use PSTs for all cranking...haven't got to try the new Southern Crappie heavy wt. Yet
No. Capps and Colemans 14'. Discussion over.
Wannabe..,
I did try some Southern Crappie rods.....I like my BnM Capps and Colemans a lot better.
All of mine are the cheap telescopic 14 and 16' rods. I bought most of them in pairs and they all catch fish. I can't remember all of the names, maybe part of the names.
Slow Troll 14' $7, Slow Troll 16' $9, Uncle Buck 14' $12, Uncle Buck 16' $14, Peanut Lure 14' $11, Peanut Lure 16' $14. 10 other Slow Troll 16' rods with reels for $5 each from a retiring crappie fisherman. He gave me 4 rods that need new tops.
I used a rod very similar to the Slow Trollers(and had several of those too). It was made by Hi Tech (I also bought some of the blue and silver ones from Peanut. Same rod, different color). I used them to power troll with.Quote:
Originally Posted by canebreaker
We took the 16'ers and cut off a foot of the tip, then stuck a piece of the tip end back inside the rod tip end and gorilla glued them in. We glued all the sections together where they wouldn't collapse also. We took a 1' piece of 3/4 PVC and glued it in the butt end of the rod so it would fit the rod holders better than the fat end on the rod (we left the rubber stop on the butt end out, but left the threaded piece on them). We used 5 baits on each rod and an 8oz weight and headed down the lake at 1-1.25 MPH. We WORN THEM OUT on this setup.
That rod can lift 2-4 fish and the weight without any problem when done like this. We quit using them when the baits per pole went to two baits. We also had to tape the reels in the reel clip because the reels would come off sometimes when the clip popped loose. Good inexpensive poles!!! We only used the 16's.
I hated the cheap slide up eyes on them tho. The inside of the eyes break out pretty quick.
B & M PST: Power trolling with weights over 1oz and pulling cranks. PSTs are good all around poles and these were the rods that we started out with. If I only had one set of rods it would be PSTs. You can use them for all types of crappie fishing just a little stiff for some situations but they are still a good choice if wanting to have one set of rods for spider rigging and pulling cranks.
B & M BGJP's or Capps and Colemans for spider rigging with jigs or weights less than 1oz. BGJP's are not covered for spider rigging but you can see the lightest bite which is key some days. They are not stiff enough for heavy egg sinkers for power trolling. Capps and Colemans are just a tad stiffer than BGJPs but still great for light weights and detecting a light bite.
B & M BGJP's and Roger Gant's in various lengths for long line trolling.
I have tried a few other makes without problems but for some reason I just seem to stick with B & M's. I like the Sam Heatons for single pole jig fishing. Lots of good rod choices out there but this is just what we have and how we use them. I hear a few people complain about breaking PST tips. We have snagged stumps and had them pulled all the way under the boat so tight that you can barely get them out of the rod holder and have not broke one yet. We bought our first PST's about 7 years ago and they are still going strong. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen but we have been tough on ours and have not had any problems.
Really comes down to personal preference. Good luck with your choice.
I was running 6 hooks with a 2 or 3 oz sinker before the rules changed on the big 4, Our last few trips to Tunica cut off produced more carp and gar than crappie, haven't been back.
One of the blue/silver Peanut rods broke in the center section on a 20 lb gar, save it for parts.
One BnM rod broke in the second section on a gar. I called, they wanted $35 for the section for a $13 rod, $10 was shipping. I cleaned the tore area, slid the top into the bottom and glued. A bit shorter, doesn't have the same arch, but still catches fish. Some of the tips have broke, I replaced with a larger top and keep fishing.
Those plastic add on guides weren't any good. I never could get a rod to balance out right in the arch and some would snap.