One rod for all or Several set ups?

[Ratty46]

How many set ups you guy taking when out and about?

i seem to fish so much better when ive got just one rod with me? like a multi M/H set up,rather than a heavy and medium set up seperately.
i most oftne use fair size ave 60gr+, but sometimes do want to scale down to say a 5 inch shad, just feels all kinds of wrong on a Heavy set up!
gettomg annoyed with carrying two rods, but sometimes you just dont know what the pike will want!

[JoeNickel]

Two. Normally boat fish, so it's less of an issue carrying two rods and a big range of lures. (And three bait rods!)

When I bank fish, I struggle to reduce the gear to something sensible for carrying....

[Ratty46]

Two. Normally boat fish, so it's less of an issue carrying two rods and a big range of lures. (And three bait rods!)

When I bank fish, I struggle to reduce the gear to something sensible for carrying....

the other thing with two, is save chooping changing lure, can fish two diff sizes an styles?

oh i learnt a while ago, i dont liek having loads of gear on me, lure wise i pick for the water im fishing, depth, make up, fish size etc i take 1 large savage box, thats it.

[Iain Gillies]

I would take 2 rods but at some places the risk of it getting trod on or someone walking off with it is too high so just make do with one.

[Oldskoolfool]

Normally two - medium spinning rod with a fixed spool and a jerk rod with multiplier - both on braid. Sometimes just use one if I'm focussed on one technique or lure size etc. Its way easier in a boat but I tend to take too many then! Same with lures - you dont need that many to be successful

[Mike J]

One rod if Im going to walk long river distances, a P2 and fs if its bait, a Westin xxxh and multi if its lures.
If its a stillwater I can walk around in a morning I will take both and use the P2 for spinners, plugs and the odd bait.

Anything else 3, a float rod with a pin, and a quiver tip and a P2 with fixed spools.

KISS

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[JoeNickel]

Two. Normally boat fish, so it's less of an issue carrying two rods and a big range of lures. (And three bait rods!)

When I bank fish, I struggle to reduce the gear to something sensible for carrying....

the other thing with two, is save chooping changing lure, can fish two diff sizes an styles?

Normally I'll start on medium sized soft plastics - pig shads, wolf creek, mcpike, mcrubbers. If that's not working I'll have a ponder why and change it - poor visibility, and they need more noise/vibration, I might move to a plug or spinnerbait. If I think they're not really feeding, and might need more extreme action to trigger an attack, I'll try jerkbaits. Maybe they need a bigger meal to make it worth feeding, so I'll move to something like an 10-12" lure. If I have no idea, I've tried everything else, and I'm starting to think about selling all my gear and taking up golf - then I'll try a spoon.

[The predator]

One heavy and one 'lighter' and sometimes a third thrown in for perch.

[MANO]

I've got in the habit of just taking one rod due to my sessions being relitively short and not wanting to cart a load of gear about.

I take 4 lures - a medium Jerk, a spinner bait, a swimbait and a pig shad Jr, and adjust the colours to suit the conditions on the day.

That said, I've booked the day off work this Thurdsay to fish a medium sized lake which holds some decent fish. It's been a while since I've had a full dawn to dusk session so I'm going armed with 2 × P1s for baits in the morning, and my heavy jerkbait set up for some lures in the afternoon.... if the deads aint getting any joy.

[Mark Phillips]

On the bank, always one rod. In the boat, four or five, but can be up to ten or more, just depends where I'm fishing, how and what for.

[bacon]

What dictates what weight setup you take Mark for bank fishing?

[Ratty46]

I've got in the habit of just taking one rod due to my sessions being relitively short and not wanting to cart a load of gear about.

I take 4 lures - a medium Jerk, a spinner bait, a swimbait and a pig shad Jr, and adjust the colours to suit the conditions on the day.

That said, I've booked the day off work this Thurdsay to fish a medium sized lake which holds some decent fish. It's been a while since I've had a full dawn to dusk session so I'm going armed with 2 × P1s for baits in the morning, and my heavy jerkbait set up for some lures in the afternoon.... if the deads aint getting any joy.

sometimes i do do this, if i know the venue well even more so, take minimal lures one rod.
only hing with one rod, is if they arent having it you often think, hmm i should have bought the lighter rod with smaller lure or two

[Ratty46]

What dictates what weight setup you take Mark for bank fishing?

thats good question, i liek to have option o two, liek a light and heavy as others suggest and do, can never decide, i think you definetly fish better with one rod, ie less faffing cast cast keep casting

[bacon]

Thank you, I ask as I am still very new to pike fishing, having caught only a few pike so far.
I currently have 2 pike setups, one is a 9ft 7 to 35g re-purposed bass rod (hto nebula) and the other is a 6ft 6", 2 to 6oz daiwa powermesh jerk bait rod which I picked up as a full setup locally used. Rather 2 ends of the extreme.

On one hand I can target perch and pike, the other is dedicated pike setup. I prefer using the heavy setup as I'm enjoying trying to catch with larger lures and find the baitcaster more accurate for this little river, but I know the largest pike I'm likely to encounter in this local River is around 15lb. Majority are smaller jacks, so common sense would dictate that I should be using the smaller spinning rod....I'm reluctant to carry two setups so I pack both into the car and swap around if I fancy a change when get back to the car before heading to the other side of the bridge to fish the other stretch.

[MANO]

I've got in the habit of just taking one rod due to my sessions being relitively short and not wanting to cart a load of gear about.

I take 4 lures - a medium Jerk, a spinner bait, a swimbait and a pig shad Jr, and adjust the colours to suit the conditions on the day.

That said, I've booked the day off work this Thurdsay to fish a medium sized lake which holds some decent fish. It's been a while since I've had a full dawn to dusk session so I'm going armed with 2 × P1s for baits in the morning, and my heavy jerkbait set up for some lures in the afternoon.... if the deads aint getting any joy.

sometimes i do do this, if i know the venue well even more so, take minimal lures one rod.
only hing with one rod, is if they arent having it you often think, hmm i should have bought the lighter rod with smaller lure or two

I know what you mean about wishing you had a different set up, whether it be lighter or heavier. There's always that nagging doubt in your head on slow days.

However, after years of carting far too much gear around on bank sessions, I've come to realise that one rod and a few choice lures with different actions is, in most cases, more than adequte for a short session.

If I blank, I put it down to the fish not being on it, rather than lure choice, and go home with my back and shoulders intact.

[Mark Phillips]

What dictates what weight setup you take Mark for bank fishing?

The lures I will be using - say it's a late Spring session on the pits, I'll be packing jerkbaits and surface lures, so that's a MH 6'6" jerkbait rod rated to 4oz. A day on the drains? Almost always a DL Fooler, here I am using spinnerbaits, cranks, small jerks, topwaters in early or late summer... day walking the rivers? Usually I take a 7ft L/M baitcasting rod (St Croix) rated to 3oz, lures are small jerks, swimbaits, spinner baits, cranks... day out chasing zeds on the drains? 8ft spinning rod rated to 1oz, lures are small cranks and jigs... nip down the local river (Chub and brown trout, odd perch)... that's a 6'6" Fenwick spinning rod rated to 20g, lures are mainly small cranks and inline spinners. I never take two rods on the bank, just gets in the way of it. One rod in one hand, landing net in the other, rucksack on back... that's it.

I would add that if I plan to fish different waters on the same day, I sometimes put a second rod in the car, along with lures for that, then just swap everything over when I drive to the next water. I've done that a lot when fishing pits in the Fens and then moving onto a drain or two later in the day. I know a few people who do that... horses for courses. I just can't be doing with carting loads of rods when lure fishing from the bank, almost defeats the purpose of it. A bit like lure fishing when deadbaiting - been there, done that - I concluded you either do one or the other. The most common thing I see when people do that is unattended bait rods - as they wonder off with the lure rod, receiver in pocket. Not good for the pike at all... I've always packed the bait gear up, put it in the car, then... gone lure fishing.

[Danoutdoors]

One Rod to rule them all, One Rod to find them, One Rod to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them, think Tolkien said it about right just the one for me when out n about I only like catching on big baits so makes my choice pretty simple.

[Mike J]

Thank you, I ask as I am still very new to pike fishing, having caught only a few pike so far.
I currently have 2 pike setups, one is a 9ft 7 to 35g re-purposed bass rod (hto nebula) and the other is a 6ft 6", 2 to 6oz daiwa powermesh jerk bait rod which I picked up as a full setup locally used. Rather 2 ends of the extreme.

On one hand I can target perch and pike, the other is dedicated pike setup. I prefer using the heavy setup as I'm enjoying trying to catch with larger lures and find the baitcaster more accurate for this little river, but I know the largest pike I'm likely to encounter in this local River is around 15lb. Majority are smaller jacks, so common sense would dictate that I should be using the smaller spinning rod....I'm reluctant to carry two setups so I pack both into the car and swap around if I fancy a change when get back to the car before heading to the other side of the bridge to fish the other stretch.

Your Daiwa Powermesh is a rod for life, they are one of the best lure rods made and are highly sought after.
Bass (sea) rods designed for lure fishing are referred to as shoregame rods by Shimano and other Japanese rod makers, they easily double up as freshwater rods as most have a reserve of power in the lower section, I use mine for both pike and salmon as well as bassing with lures and baits.
Carrying a second rod can be a bit of a pain but its often worth it, I just chuck my spare onto the reeds when Im casting the other rod, the problem is remembering to pick it up when I move off.
Fishing a small lure on a light rod when everything your catching is small stuff is tempting fate, never think a big fish isn't around, somewhere

[Burnyburnside]

I'm if out on the boat I take 3 set ups one heavy set up and one jerkbait set up and the third is just a spare incase accidents occur. If I'm out and about in the bank I just take one all rounder rod just I can be mobile and not have my hands full.

[andrew_nagel]

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[bacon]

Thank you, I ask as I am still very new to pike fishing, having caught only a few pike so far.
I currently have 2 pike setups, one is a 9ft 7 to 35g re-purposed bass rod (hto nebula) and the other is a 6ft 6", 2 to 6oz daiwa powermesh jerk bait rod which I picked up as a full setup locally used. Rather 2 ends of the extreme.

On one hand I can target perch and pike, the other is dedicated pike setup. I prefer using the heavy setup as I'm enjoying trying to catch with larger lures and find the baitcaster more accurate for this little river, but I know the largest pike I'm likely to encounter in this local River is around 15lb. Majority are smaller jacks, so common sense would dictate that I should be using the smaller spinning rod....I'm reluctant to carry two setups so I pack both into the car and swap around if I fancy a change when get back to the car before heading to the other side of the bridge to fish the other stretch.

Your Daiwa Powermesh is a rod for life, they are one of the best lure rods made and are highly sought after.
Bass (sea) rods designed for lure fishing are referred to as shoregame rods by Shimano and other Japanese rod makers, they easily double up as freshwater rods as most have a reserve of power in the lower section, I use mine for both pike and salmon as well as bassing with lures and baits.
Carrying a second rod can be a bit of a pain but its often worth it, I just chuck my spare onto the reeds when Im casting the other rod, the problem is remembering to pick it up when I move off.
Fishing a small lure on a light rod when everything your catching is small stuff is tempting fate, never think a big fish isn't around, somewhere

It's the Powermesh X Jerk bait Special PM-XK 66JB, unsure if this is the same rod you are referring to or not, if you are, then great! I bought it without knowing a huge amount about it but the whole deal was decent and worth a punt. I'm enjoying using it, find I can throw all my lures which go up to 150g without issue. Seems to throw some smaller than 50g ones no bother as well.

The HTO nebula is a great bass rod, it's a fast action rod so great for long range casts off the rocks, it's actually a spare as it snapped on its first cast, they sent me a replacement rod and let me keep the damaged one. I repaired it by bonding in a extruded section of carbon UD rod and whipping the eye with a longer than normal wrap to cover the joint. It does have a slightly stiff section 1ft from the tip, but in use it's not noticeable, if anything I may have beefed up the casting weight a tad.

I'll try carrying a spare rod on a session and see how It goes....I'll know soon enough if it's for me or not :)

[peteren]

I usually take 3 setups with lures to match, in the car; light for perch / chub / jacks; "light - pike"; and "heavy pike".
But then only one setup to the bank. I've tried two, but find it gets in the way, and can distract focus. Better to try one setup properly for 2 hours or so, then switch from car if wanted.

[Ratty46]

i went out the other day for a morning , taking just my heavier multi set up and lures to match, i didnt catch but i did find them
and it fet a lot easier than taking two rods! probably actually foshed better instead of swapping so much between two set ups.
i dont have a car so i cant leave a set up in there till its maybe needed, i have to decide what im taking and go with that, i jut bought a rod that should do almost everythign for me, will be able to cast or get away with using much lighter or smaller lues than i can on my multi.