3 rod walleye arsenal?

[Cal]

Just wondering what you guys would choose if you were to fish walleye an entire season with the same 3 rods in the boat to best cover a wide variety of walleye fishing? Untill this year I fished from a canoe and it was my practice to take either two rods when I was alone, or just one when I had someone else along. With only one or two rods along versatility was key and as a result most of my walleye rods are very similar, mostly medium power fast action spinning and casting rigs. Now that I have a boat I just might indulge a little and take 3 rods, I think with that many I could have the rods a little more specialised for a specific tasks. So what would make a good 3 rod arsenal?

[Deano85]

A jigging rod, trolling rod and a slip bobber rod.

[chubbdarter]

3 rods is a tough call

1- 9 foot medium tip trolling rod with a line counter filled with 7 colors of leadline and a box of snap wgts.

1- 6'6" jigging rod/spinning. lots of tip recovery.

1- 7'6" light tip all purpose bobber/lindy spinning

and sneak in a 7' crank/jigging spoon/sonar/poggie rod in a top drive

[Cal]

I almost always take a 7' Ugly Stick rigged with 10 lb mono that I use for trolling and rigging and a usualy a shorter more sensative graphite rod rigged with braid for jigging or drop shotting. In the early season I'll often trade the jigging rod for a casting setup with more backbone that I like a little better for trolling cranks. Never done much slip bobbing for walleye, mostly because I never have a rod rigged up for it, what exactly does one want in a slip bobber rod?

6,6" medium fast spin for cranks if high quality and sens can use for jigging
7'6" trolling rod for bottom bouncers. Got a special brand just for this at bp in Calgary


So u only need 2. But your first one will cost same as 2 or 3 cheap ones


Expect to pay 500 for both

[JohninAB]

7'10" baitcaster medium heavy with moderate tip for casting/trolling crankbaits

6'8" spinning jigging rod spooled with flourocarbon

8' heavy baitcaster for bottom bouncers

[RapStaff]

1) jigging rod
2) lindy rig set up
3) trolling set up

Depending on the day I may swap one of these out for a slip bobber set up.

[bang_on_sk]

I only ever use my 6' 6" medium ugly stick, even tried it ice fishing (unsuccessfully) one time. So I guess I'm sitting at one rod (I do have a bunch more I never use though)

[slivers86]

I wouldn't have the foggiest clue why to use different rods. I own 2 spinning rods (Ugly stick and a shimano clarus) one for big fish, one for little fish. If you ask me, I got a little bit to learn

[RapStaff]

I take at least 3 rods with me sometimes 5 if I'm by myself.
This gives me the ability to change techniques on the fly and not leaving me down while I change setups.
If I'm banging fish with one technique I set up 2 identical rigs and swap out in the event of a bent hook or a break off. Thus no lost time.

[TROLLER]

Cleaned out the boat not long ago and low and behold there was 10 rods in there.

so now I only have 6 and I am gonna stick with it.

[Cal]

Ok, to put it another way I have 3 favorite rods that I use alot right now, do these make a good 3 rod arsenal and if not what would you change?

One is the 7' Uglystick Light spinning rod that I use for trolling, bottom, bouncing, and rigging. Its got a tip thats a bit on the floppy side with decent backbone.

The second is a Fenwick Eagle Claw with a fast action that I use for jigging, drop shotting, and anything else that requires more sensitivity.

The third is a medum casting rig, its got the fastest action of them all and the most backbone. I usualy use it for trolling cranks and bottom bouncers as well as some vertical jigging and casting bigger lures.

It just seems like these rods all kind of cover enough of the same ground that any two of them pretty much makes the third rod redundant.

[bobalong]

6'8 bouncer rod
5'9 jigging rod
6'6 lindy/bobber rod
all fast action

[bardfromedson]

8-9ft trolling rod with levelwind and line counter 15lb braid for trolling plugs.
7ft med-heavy baitcaster for bottom bouncing 12lb braid
7ft spinning rig light action for lindy rigging, jigging, slip bober. 8-10 lb braid or mono. use with forocarbon leaders
if i had the option for more then i would get another spinning outfit on top of this one. i would so you don't have to retie to change what your using for a setup. no need to get heaver than the light action for the spinning outfit. you want it as sensitive as possible. if your looking to cheap out do it on the trolling rig and the baitcaster rig where sensitivity isn't as important.spend as much as you can afford on the spinning rig. i have landed 2 walleye on my light action spinning combo at tobin and that was while drifting at 2mph with 6 pound forocarbon leader. walleye don't fight all that much so getting them on the hook is the important part.

[Jamie Black R/T]

I COULD get by on 3 rods....but WHY!!

im rigging my boat up right now and i had to move 9 rod/reel setups out of my way lol

[TJG]

X2

Originally Posted by RapStaff

1) jigging rod
2) lindy rig set up
3) trolling set up

Depending on the day I may swap one of these out for a slip bobber set up.

[TJG]

X2! No need for line counters unless u are in deeper water.
Bottom bouncers and/or long lining.

Originally Posted by bobalong

6'8 bouncer rod
5'9 jigging rod
6'6 lindy/bobber rod
all fast action

[chubbdarter]

Originally Posted by TJG

X2! No need for line counters unless u are in deeper water.
Bottom bouncers and/or long lining.

i cant effectively troll cranks on the boards without a line counter. by mid summer and up till freeze up its what i do 100 percent of the time.

how do you target suspended fish in open water?

[Cal]

Originally Posted by chubbdarter

i cant effectively troll cranks on the boards without a line counter. by mid summer and up till freeze up its what i do 100 percent of the time.

how do you target suspended fish in open water?

My baitcasting rig has an Ambasedeur on it, I can troll a specific depth pretty acuratly by keeping track of how many times the levelwind moves back and forth while I feed out line.

[chubbdarter]

Originally Posted by Cal

My baitcasting rig has an Ambasedeur on it, I can troll a specific depth pretty acuratly by keeping track of how many times the levelwind moves back and forth while I feed out line.

too much math for me. i like to be as short off the board as possible and still hit the desired depth. Leadcore and linecounter for me

[TJG]

Originally Posted by chubbdarter

i cant effectively troll cranks on the boards without a line counter. by mid summer and up till freeze up its what i do 100 percent of the time.

how do you target suspended fish in open water?

Most lakes I fish open water, are no deeper than 35 feet, this is central Alberta!
All the cranks I own have the ability to hit 35-40 feet with enuf line out.
Late August till late Sept do I find deep walleye, and thats in Sask.
I mostly live rig, bb and crank in Alberta. I fish by feel mostly, when I do find suspended fish biting, I mark my line with a bobber knot or I use tracer line on my cranking reels. If Im bb, I just adjust my floating rig setup. Live rigging, Im on the lake bottom, 100% of the time.

[bobalong]

Originally Posted by Jamie Black R/T

I COULD get by on 3 rods....but WHY!!

im rigging my boat up right now and i had to move 9 rod/reel setups out of my way lol

[chubbdarter]

Originally Posted by TJG

Most lakes I fish open water, are no deeper than 35 feet, this is central Alberta!
All the cranks I own have the ability to hit 35-40 feet with enuf line out.
Late August till late Sept do I find deep walleye, and thats in Sask.
I mostly live rig, bb and crank in Alberta. I fish by feel mostly, when I do find suspended fish biting, I mark my line with a bobber knot or I use tracer line on my cranking reels. If Im bb, I just adjust my floating rig setup. Live rigging, Im on the lake bottom, 100% of the time.

i dont have any cranks that will run 40 without snaps and i dont target them passed 30 geet down .
I find most deep divers dont have the action to catch big summer eyes in our resovoirs.

Thanks for the tips.

i still like to be as vertical off the string and use a shallow diver

interesting thread

[TJG]

I have sometimes trolled a three way rig with a #9 rap or a lil ripper,
but in late august, on Last Mountain, a big ripper on 10/4 Fireline
will slam the bottom very good. A few cranks and shes up off the
floor and any good 10# plus andwalleye will rise for that. I do own a
line counter, but the rod is so heavy, in weight and action that
I find my self leaving it in the rod holder and become bored. A
GLoomis 6.6' - 7' baitcasting rod and good baitcasting reel, peferable
with a flipping switch to let line out in an instant is a combo I
have in my hand 99% of the time now. A 1000 Simano CI4 and a
Cabelas prodigy 6.6' is my live rigging rod now.