A lot depends on how many poles you can and want to run. If pulling off the side and 4 poles I would do the 2 8's and 2 12's.. Off the back and say 6 poles I'd run 2 each 8-10-12 and stager. Like Ducker I have 2 of the little 410 rods and I run them as inside off the rear and sides which ever I am doing that day. Just look at your finances and buy according to what you can afford. Do not let all the chatter on here get you to over complicate this for you. My neighbor catches as many crappie as anyone I know pulling cranks. He uses 6 cheap spinning rods and cheap spinning reels nothing complicated about his system. He will throw a bait out as far as he can then 4 arm length pulls of line puts it in the holder and catches fish.