Rod or reel??

[Vollmer]

Which is more important?
Good quality rod with an average reel, or a good quality reel with an average rod?

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Reels, meh... cane poles n bottom bouncers is the ticket.

 

[DirtyMike]

Depends a broomstick can pull cranks. I’ll bite if someone tries to take my jiggin rod. But I’ll also take a tekota over a scheels line counter

 

[dschaible]

rod on ice, reel in the summer.

 

[KDM]

The reel, no question about it. A smooth drag, smooth line deployment and retrieval, quality components, gear ratio, as well as how well a reel fits in your hand lend far more to catching fish than the rod. A quality reel will make up for the shortcomings in a rod by a large margin. Of course this is just my opinion.

 

[guywhofishes]

wow - that’s a tough one!

 

[Bfishn]

Totally depends on what you are fishing for and what method of fishing you are doing.

 

[Yoby]

I put is the reel. I have had good rods and put a moderate reel on and end up not using it because it just doesn't seem to function nice. I have placed a nice reel on a mediocre rod and use the crap out of it.

That being said I think it really comes down to what you are fishing for and the method you fish. Trolling vs casting, catfish vs walleye. Try using a catfish pole for walleye.

 

[Fly Carpin]

Totally depends on what you are fishing for and what method of fishing you are doing.

Exactly. We talking light biting crappies in 40 FOW, or bull sharks in the surf?

 

[LBrandt]

Reel, just cause.

 

[Allen Gamble]

Depends on the style of fishing I'm doing. As some said, if I am pulling cranks I'd prefer the reel for when that big one hits it hard. Pitching jigs, rod has preference for me. I've had a couple really cheap ice reels and it came to me real quick how many fish I was losing. Also had a cheap reel on my deadstick for open water, that wasn't much fun either.

All that said, I don't have a rod/reel combo that ran me more than a $100.... Too many other bills to get crazy with it right now.

 

[Wallike]

I'm a jiggin' man so it's all about my rod...

 

[H82bogey]

Totally depends on what you are fishing for and what method of fishing you are doing.

+1 on this. You can pull cranks with an ugly stick and a quality reel, or crappy for that matter. But I would prefer a quality rod and decent reel for vertical or pitching jigs.

 

[Callem'In]

I say rod in most situations. I have some really good rods (both store bought and custom made) with OK reels. I catch more fish jigging a really good rod because of sensitivity.

 

[Fishmission]

given a modest reel, I would rather the rod be the item I spend in the bucks on. You can control casting distance and so many variables with the right rod. If pulling cranks it’s the complete opposite. Cheap semi whippy $40 rod and a smooth reel

 

[JayKay]

Casting, the rod. I use my rod/reel/waders a lot, and I could pull my line back in hand-over-hand if I needed to. The rod is what catches me the fish. When I took the jump from a $40 rod to a "good" rod, I couldn't believe the difference.

Granted, it's a headache when a reel wears out. And I've worn out a few.

 

[shorthairsrus]

Walleyes ? ND ? if MN a rod. ND depends on the situation.

Biggest issue with Reels - drag is tightened all winter long and they go flat. Rods - depends on the situation - jigging and rigging you need a good rod. I guest i would say Rod.


I think the question is how many rod/reel combos do you think one needs for walleyes in ND? How many is to many?

- - - Updated - - -

how many do you have in your boat when you fish for fun?

 

[BDub]

Vertical jigging - rods are way more important.

Raps and bottom bouncers, reels that don't strip gears on a snag.

 

[Bauer]

Im gonna have to say rod, but like above, it is also dependant on what I am doing.
Ive made the jump from 70$ fenwicks to 200$ 13 Fishing rods in the last year and haven't looked back. Whether med-fast for jigging raps or med-light for small jigs, there is a very noticeable difference in the spine and sensitivity of the rod. I do see the need the for a mid range reel just for how smoothly the whole system works together, but im spending <$100 on reels.

In these methods, its all about transmitting that feel from the tooth of the fish to my arm. How I get it up to the surface is mostly irrelevant.

I do agree that cranking brings a different game, cheap rods and quality reels come into play here. I am running scheels and cabelas rods, cheapest I could find to suit the bill. I have diawa sealines on them for reels. I never spent more time cussing in the boat than I did while trying to use a scheels line counter reels.

 

[Captain Ahab]

Jigging you could put two nails on the but of the rod I could wrap my line around on the retrieve...rod all day.

Trolling you could give me two Snoopy rods spiced together to make a Super Snoopy rod...reel all day.