Icefishing Rod/Reel/Line....What to Buy?

[HunterDave]

I'm headed to WSS and TFH later this week to buy a couple of icefishing rods, reels and some line to put on them. I've always used whatever was cheapest or on sale but I'm starting to get tired of using cheapo icefishing reels. I want to pick up decent stuff (not too expensive) this time. I was thinking about just buying the rod and buying a smaller sized reel that I can also use for trout during the summer......not sure if this is a better option though.

These rods/reels and new line to put on them are only for perch and trout up to about 3 lbs. Four lb test has worked for me in the past and I never paid any attention to what length of rod I used. I prefer a medium action over a light action but I figure that medium light would probably work real good if I could find it.

I did a search of the forum and I noticed Diawa Sweepfire & Mitchell Advocett mentioned a couple of times for reels. I didn't find strong endorsements for rods or type of line though. I've been looking at some H.T. Enterprises and Rhino rods......any good?

What would be a great rod, reel and line type to go with?

Any deals out there right now on good combos? I see that WSS has allot on sale right now but I wouldn't know which rod/reel was better than the other.

With all of the knowledge on this forum I figure that it'd be silly not to seek advice from the membership. Thanks in advance for all responses!

[braxxtonn]

I have a rapalla ice rod and reel medium light, paid $ 60 bucks for it and love it,
put a spring bobber on it and ur good to go.

[HunterDave]

I have a rapalla ice rod and reel medium light, paid $ 60 bucks for it and love it,
put a spring bobber on it and ur good to go.

This one? It comes in Medium Light as well. How's the reel?

http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/ice-fishing/rods-reels/ice-combo/prod242921.html

[BeeGuy]

I have the Bob Izumi medium action from WSS.

I put my summer spinning reel on it and it works great.

Caught tons of fish, including your perch and 3lb trout.

With the heavy reel, the balance is a little funny, but I dont think it matters, and neither do the fish.

Should be about $15 for the rod there right now.

I've used 4lb, 6lb, 8lb, and 10lb on it. It's all gouda.

[HunterDave]

I have the Bob Izumi medium action from WSS.

I put my summer spinning reel on it and it works great.

I didn't see a Bob Izumi online but I'll have a look at WSS when I go. Is it a short icefishing rod? I'm thinking about putting a summer reel on as well depending on the recommendations that I get on here. I have a smaller Diawa or Shimano (can't remember) on one rod that'd probably work well and I could buy another one. It'd have to be allot better than those cheap icefishing combo reels that I've been using.

[tara_13]

I'm headed to WSS and TFH later this week to buy a couple of icefishing rods, reels and some line to put on them. I've always used whatever was cheapest or on sale but I'm starting to get tired of using cheapo icefishing reels. I want to pick up decent stuff (not too expensive) this time. I was thinking about just buying the rod and buying a smaller sized reel that I can also use for trout during the summer......not sure if this is a better option though.

These rods/reels and new line to put on them are only for perch and trout up to about 3 lbs. Four lb test has worked for me in the past and I never paid any attention to what length of rod I used. I prefer a medium action over a light action but I figure that medium light would probably work real good if I could find it.

I did a search of the forum and I noticed Diawa Sweepfire & Mitchell Advocett mentioned a couple of times for reels. I didn't find strong endorsements for rods or type of line though. I've been looking at some H.T. Enterprises and Rhino rods......any good?

What would be a great rod, reel and line type to go with?

Any deals out there right now on good combos? I see that WSS has allot on sale right now but I wouldn't know which rod/reel was better than the other.

With all of the knowledge on this forum I figure that it'd be silly not to seek advice from the membership. Thanks in advance for all responses!

What ever you buy.. double it. Just Pm me when your finished and I'll be over to pick up my loot !!
:thinking-006:

[HunterDave]

What ever you buy.. double it. Just Pm me when your finished and I'll be over to pick up my loot !!
:thinking-006:

:huh:

[mayuan]

I use the Ugly Stick Ice with a regular spinning reel (Shimano for one and Mitchell for the backup).

For the line I use the Berkley FireLine Crystal Fishing Line, this has been great! used it for every type of fishing with no issues.

[braxxtonn]

This one? It comes in Medium Light as well. How's the reel?

http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/ice-fishing/rods-reels/ice-combo/prod242921.html

yup thats the one, wish mine was a light insted of a ml but oh well thats why i put a spring bobber on the end, the reel is great no isuuse with anything,

[buckmaster]

Th rapala reels are garbage. I would go with uglysik or st.croix or fenwik rods and shimano syncopate or quantam energy reels.

[Willowtrail]

Mitchell Advocett reel 500 with suffix 832 ice.

I have a few rods. My latest favorite is the Fenwick Med Light. Seen recently for $22 on sale.I also like the Berkley Lightning Ice rod. Even though they're small I like the fastest tip I can find, ultra sensitive.

[Geezle]

I guarantee almost anytime the Sweepfire has been mentioned it's been by me :lol:

For light rods for perch and trout like you're looking for, I've got two that I like. My favorite is a 24" Light (really more like UL HT Ice Blues, but I haven't been able to find one for quite some time...if you find one, snap it up! My next fave is the HT Shanty Stick...I've got the 18" Light but the 15" UL looked really good too. Only about $11 to boot too :)

This year I did a little experimenting got a spool of Berkley NanoFil and put it on my two light rods, and I've been really happy with it. Low vis, no coils in the line, and it doesn't soak up a bunch of water like some braids do.


Let us know what you end up getting :)

[gl2]

I can give a good review on these rods, the 42'' is a hog. plenty of feel like lots of backbone. It might actually be nicer than my gl2 ultra lite.
http://www.stcroixrods.com/product/premier_ice

My buddy runs the quantum Accurist Pti for his ice fishing reels and they seem to be doing the trick just fine for a low budget reel.

[another fisherman]

Go with the st.croix if you get like a 28in med its perfect for walleye,trout,and big perch they run $24.95 at TFH and last its a good bang for your buck.

[fish gunner]

I have the mitchell avocet, great little reel.I also have a shimano seena in the smallest size both are very smooth,the shimano handled a 12 lb brood rainbow out of phillis lake on 4lb test took the abuse no problem.

[npauls]

I am a big fan of the Frabill quick tip rods for my perch and trout fishing. They have a nice soft tip with quite a bit of back bone near the bottom.

As for a reel I would look into the pflueger trion or president reels.

And for line I have found that the stren ice braid has been my best option for now. I run it in 4lbs test and run a tiny barrel swivel with a fluoro leader.

If I could afford it I would put small pflueger reels on all of my ice rods.

[gl2]

I am a big fan of the Frabill quick tip rods for my perch and trout fishing. They have a nice soft tip with quite a bit of back bone near the bottom.

As for a reel I would look into the pflueger trion or president reels.

And for line I have found that the stren ice braid has been my best option for now. I run it in 4lbs test and run a tiny barrel swivel with a fluoro leader.

If I could afford it I would put small pflueger reels on all of my ice rods.

do you use any of the products you pro staff? i know they don't make ice fishing rods but they do make spinning reels, just wondering why you don't use them? are they that bad?

[npauls]

do you use any of the products you pro staff? i know they don't make ice fishing rods but they do make spinning reels, just wondering why you don't use them? are they that bad?

They don't make any spinning reels small enough for my ice fishing rigs.

The smallest reel size they have for spinning gear is a 30 series. I do have some of them that I will be using for walleye fishing during open water season.

They do have an ice fishing package that you can buy at Costco. I use the rod and reel combo from that package for bigger fish like walleye and pike but it is just to heavy for small trout and perch.

Let me know if you have any other questions about their gear.

[BeeGuy]

I didn't see a Bob Izumi online but I'll have a look at WSS when I go. Is it a short icefishing rod? I'm thinking about putting a summer reel on as well depending on the recommendations that I get on here. I have a smaller Diawa or Shimano (can't remember) on one rod that'd probably work well and I could buy another one. It'd have to be allot better than those cheap icefishing combo reels that I've been using.

Just checked the rod, it is a "Bob Izumi 25" light".

It has caught brookies, rainbows, lakers, walleye, burbot, and whitefish.

No problem with 3lb trout or with pulling lakers from 90'.

Had a whitefish get into my drag pretty good. Fun times.

[BeeGuy]

I guarantee almost anytime the Sweepfire has been mentioned it's been by me :lol:

For light rods for perch and trout like you're looking for, I've got two that I like. My favorite is a 24" Light (really more like UL HT Ice Blues, but I haven't been able to find one for quite some time...if you find one, snap it up! My next fave is the HT Shanty Stick...I've got the 18" Light but the 15" UL looked really good too. Only about $11 to boot too :)

This year I did a little experimenting got a spool of Berkley NanoFil and put it on my two light rods, and I've been really happy with it. Low vis, no coils in the line, and it doesn't soak up a bunch of water like some braids do.


Let us know what you end up getting :)

Yup, it is.

I checked my reels the other day and one of them is a quantum sweepfire. But I hate the casting trigger thingy.
My other one is the quantum optix.

They are both canadian tire $30-ish reels. The optix is the better reel and it has infinity back-stop as opposed to the sweepfire which only has the single back-stop position.

They're both worth the 30 bones.

[horsetrader]

http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a454/horsetrader_photo/Edmonton-20111117-00037.jpg

take your pick...lol



http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a454/horsetrader_photo/Edmonton-20111117-00035.jpg

but this is my favourite Frabill straight line combo with 4lb Tectan

[npauls]

The straightline combo is the same rod that I use. It is the Frabill quick tip rod with a new fly style reel. I was hoping to try a few of them out this season but the budget was low so I held off for now.

Glad to here it is favored over all the others you have. I will have to get a couple of them next season.

[HunterDave]

http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a454/horsetrader_photo/Edmonton-20111117-00037.jpg

take your pick...lol

Are those icefishing reels or regular reels Horsetrader?

[HunterDave]

WSS has a sale on icefishing gear right now and I have a gift card for $50 so I had a look at what they had. There were 3 rod/reel combos that caught my eye. I'm not worried about the rods, it's the quality of the reels that worries me.

Does anyone know the good, bad and/or ugly on these?

http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/ice-fishing/rods-reels/optix-ice-spinning-combo/prod293076.html

http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/ice-fishing/rods-reels/slab-stopper-combos/prod289074.html

http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/ice-fishing/rods-reels/fin-s-combos/prod243517.html

[horsetrader]

these ones a ice reels Flexbite,Rapala,Cromton ice,Frabill but I have some others that I put little ultra lite Mitchell's 1000 on and then use them on utalite cherrywoods in the spring

[horsetrader]

The straightline combo is the same rod that I use. It is the Frabill quick tip rod with a new fly style reel. I was hoping to try a few of them out this season but the budget was low so I held off for now.

Glad to here it is favored over all the others you have. I will have to get a couple of them next season.

Yep same rod might pick up the spinning combo to rod is great

[horsetrader]

WSS has a sale on icefishing gear right now and I have a gift card for $50 so I had a look at what they had. There were 3 rod/reel combos that caught my eye. I'm not worried about the rods, it's the quality of the reels that worries me.

Does anyone know the good, bad and/or ugly on these?

http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/ice-fishing/rods-reels/optix-ice-spinning-combo/prod293076.html

http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/ice-fishing/rods-reels/slab-stopper-combos/prod289074.html

http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/ice-fishing/rods-reels/fin-s-combos/prod243517.html

I like the frabil reels the only thing I find will the smaller reels is the difficulty in getting the bail to kick over on retrieving. But growing up with the old mitchells I'm in a habit of flipping bail by hand it saved a lot of bail springs..lol with ice fishing you don't have that steady cast and retrieve so moving bail by hand is no big deal

[Geezle]

Yup, it is.

I checked my reels the other day and one of them is a quantum sweepfire. But I hate the casting trigger thingy.
My other one is the quantum optix.

They are both canadian tire $30-ish reels. The optix is the better reel and it has infinity back-stop as opposed to the sweepfire which only has the single back-stop position.

They're both worth the 30 bones.

Not quite, I use a Diawa Sweepfire, not the Quantum. No trigger on this one.

https://www.thefishinhole.com/imagesProducts/med/3860724.jpg

Only about $20 too :)

[Hellraiser]

Out of your list, I'd go with the HT or the Frabill. Quantum Optix is JUNK. Or as said earlier, go with a St.Croix.

[HunterDave]

Out of your list, I'd go with the HT or the Frabill. Quantum Optix is JUNK. Or as said earlier, go with a St.Croix.

Cabelas has the St Croix on sale for $40. I had a look but because I have that gift card from WSS I figured that I'd use it. I'll pick a couple of Fabrill or HT's up at WSS and if I'm not happy with them I'll pick something else up next year......St Croix?

[iliketrout]

Do not buy the HT combo. The reel is the absolute worst reel I've ever used. Bought an ultralight setup for perch and small trout, absolute garbage.

[OttCan]

A good ice reel On a budget would be the HT, that is silver in color, and the shaft from the seat has a slight angle towards the first guide of an ice rod. drag pulls out cleaner and I find less tangles. I would not ever buy a combo any more, bought a St. croix combo a few years back, the reels were absolute ****!! Mind you, the rods are some of the best I've had!! Have a 32" light for panfish, and. 24" Legend series, for pretty much everything else, all I have to say is, they are SENSITIVE!! Either rod can handle a 10+lb bull trout...which is saying a lot for the Light action rod!! I was amazed!

Good luck with the search!

[HunterDave]

I just got back from looking at the combos at WSS. I picked up a couple of cheap rods to put my old reels on for backups and they gave me a card for a $20 discount on $100 spent. Now I have to have a look at the more expensive combos and/or individual rods and reels.....lol!

My observations of the 3 rod/reel combos are the same as what has been mention on the thread. I didn't like the Quantum Optix at all, rod or reel, so it's off of the table. In comparing the Fabril Fin-S to the HT Slab, I liked the Fabrill reel and the HT Slab rod. I have to have another look now that I have that $20 card but it's between those 2 right now.

There's more planning going into this than what went into the invasion on D-Day. :lol:

[TROLLER]

Buy the 32" St. Croix rod and combo it up with either the Shimano sahara 50 or the Browning ultra lite 50. Great combo and you can fish the laker in 100ft or the perch in 20 and still feel even the smallest bite.

[CNP]

I don't really know why guys want spinning reels on their ice rods. I see more negatives than plusses with spinning reels. I like bait casters with a drag. Using 6 lb flurocarbon on this reel. I like a medium action rod as well for setting hooks. In the summer I am the complete opposite, using ultra light rods, spnning reels and ultra light tackle. Mainly fishing for trout...

[Heron]

I like fly reels in on my little rods built from bits of broken flyrods. Click drag preferred over a cork disk drag though. The simplicity of the fly reel is hard to beat in cold weather.

[Speckle55]

Dave i was just at WSS and bought a Berkley ice fishing rod and reel combo and also got 8# Cold Water Berkley line to put on .. its a open face reel .. i like to be hand lineing my fishing as i fish Lake Whitefish but if they go outside the hole the reel/rod will help .. Happy Fishing
David

[HunterDave]

I don't really know why guys want spinning reels on their ice rods. I see more negatives than plusses with spinning reels. I like bait casters with a drag. Using 6 lb flurocarbon on this reel. I like a medium action rod as well for setting hooks. In the summer I am the complete opposite, using ultra light rods, spnning reels and ultra light tackle. Mainly fishing for trout...

Because you can set a spinning reel down on the ice and they hang over the hole nice. :sHa_sarcasticlol:

I've always used a medium action rod as well. This week I've been fishing for trout using a light action rod that came in a HT Rod Locker case that I bought. It works great for smaller 12" trout but I've hooked bigger trout with it and both times I snapped my 4lb test line setting the hook. I'm not used to it and I can't feel the hook set. I'm going to stick with a medium rod for trout from now on and I'll use my light rod for perch. I bought a pack of spring bobbers to try out on my medium action rods but, even though the trout are hitting soft, a medium's not a problem if you pay attention.

I still haven't bought anything new but things have changed a bit now that I have a $51 gift card and a discount card for $20 off a $100 purchase. I think that I'll be buying a new rod and reel for the summer instead. Everything that I looked at that was advertised as on sale on the WSS website is out of stock. If I was into conspiracies I'd think that it's the old "bait and switch" trick. For people's info, any price on their website that ends with .66 or .88 means that the item will not be restocked........once they are gone they are gone.

[HunterDave]

Dave i was just at WSS and bought a Berkley ice fishing rod and reel combo and also got 8# Cold Water Berkley line to put on .. its a open face reel .. i like to be hand lineing my fishing as i fish Lake Whitefish but if they go outside the hole the reel/rod will help .. Happy Fishing
David

Thanks David! :happy0034: