Don’t really visit the dark side much but need to ideas on new gear. Did our first high school tournament yesterday and quickly realized we brought a knife to a gun fight. Time to upgrade rods and reels and hope for less issues. What’s some of the good stuff these days? Trying to not break the bank in one trip but upgrades need to happen before the next tournament with some time to practice beforehand.

Still weighed in but equipment issue’s definitely cost a couple of fish.

What are you using now.

Fishing tournaments is an expensive hobby.


You can buy decent fishing reels in the 100 buck range that feel good but the longevity of them will not be great.

Best reels have been shimano for a long time, diawa makes one as well but higher end and repairs aren’t as easy. Lews makes a fine reel then abu Garcia.

I don’t know anything about all the newer things like 13 fishing etc

My son has a cheaper lews combo that did ok, but he picked up an academy brand baitcaster and it gave him hell all day long. I made him take my old trusty daiwa setup and it’s on its last leg but ironically everything he caught was on it. I don’t mind spending the money but I’d really rather not go crazy either.

I like Lew's on reels.
St. Croix and Falcon on rods.

T Line, mono and Power Pro braid.

Fresh or salt?

Check out the Garcia Max x reels. My granddaughter is on her high school bass team and I got her 2 left hand from tackle warehouse she really likes them. $49.99 . What division or you in ? We have our first tournament at Texoma this Saturday.

If you can make a trip to scheels, they always have deals on some sort of rod that is pretty decent. I go once a summer, never disappoints me. Last summer I was there, they had lews rods (usual retail $100) on sale for $20 a piece. I bought 5 just because I know how hard I am on my stuff. It was their "jig" rod but I have found they throw spinnerbaits and topwater REALLY well also. I always stick with Daiwa reels, they fit my hand really well and they have outlasted any other reel I have owned within the same price range. The daiwa CC80 has always been a solid reel for myself. You can go one step further and get the CA80 reels and they have been outstanding also. These are what I started with and surprisingly still going strong after 8 years of really fishing consistently. Rod wise, I have a slew of 80-100 dollar rods that I still catch fish on and feel bites on, but I am slowly stepping up into nicer stuff. Dobyns rods are hard to beat for their price point but it could get out of hand in a hurry if you are not careful, especially trying to overhaul a new set. I wouldn't overlook the Daiwa Aird x line either. THEY ARE NOT bottom contact rods by any means. They have a lot of parabolic action but I bought 2 of their 7' med rods that throw crankbaits REALLY well for the price and I have 2 of the 7'3" rods that I throw chatterbaits/spinnerbaits on and they are outstanding for that application. You will miss bites dragging anything on the bottom with them though. Personally, the lews entry rods are much better for this application.

If I was to go out and buy new rods today and wanted to piece together 4-5 rods to cover most applications, I would go with 2 rods in the 7'-7'3" range that were med heavy fast tips. Lews carbon fiber blanks with the CC80 reels. This should cover anything bottom contact (Jigs, texas rigs, tokyo rigs, etc)
I would get 1 rod that was 6'8-6'10" for jerkbaits
And I would get 1 of the aird x daiwa 7' for small crankbaits (will retrieve crankbaits all the way down to 15' comfortably)/squarebills, etc, and 1 aird x 7'3" for spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, swim jigs.

Hope this helps, this was the setup I kind of started with when I was fishing tournaments out of my duck boat and just having fun. I placed top 5 in most of those tournaments. It has become a lot more serious since then but I made it happen with 5 rods and I know you guys can too. Good luck and happy fishing.

Shimano slx reels are quite nice for the price.

We are in the east division, had lake Palestine this week. Lots of teams didn’t even weigh in from what I heard and even with one fish he did better than many. He was nervous since it was his first one and being a freshman. I’d bet from here going forward it gets a little easier on him.

Thankfully he’s got a good experienced captain because of it was on me we would have probably not even caught fish yesterday. I had to be an observer since his partner couldn’t make it and I’ll say this even I learned a lot.

Shamano reels are hard to beat. I have 2 citicas that are 20 years old and still work great. The curados are are a little more expensive but good reals also. I’ve always used Falcon rods but I’m sure there are others that are just as good or better.

My .02 cents is any Shimano Model that begins with a "C" is damn hard to beat and will put up with a lot of abuse. And you can get them serviced and brought right back to new when they do start to mess up. Lot's of good rods out there these day's. Added a Dobyn's to the collection in the spring and seems to be a touch more sensitive than other similar price rods.

My Curado’s are 15 ish years old and in great shape. I wish they got more use though.

Oxner?

Bring you pond scum reel down to the coast big boy

Flashman gave you a lot of good advice on equipment that you can use. I will add that too much equipment for a youngster learning can be a handicap. Since you are in East Texas you might be better off to start with fewer techniques and master them before getting a pile of equipment. Flipping trees, frogs, buzzbaits and hydrilla requires a long heavy 7'6" duty rod and high speed reel with braid. Next would 7'3" medium heavy with a fast tip worm rod and high speed reel for spinnerbait, chatterbait, and football jigs. Another 7'3 composite rod with a 5 to one gear ratio reel for cranks and topwater is needed. A designated worm rod in the 7'3 range with a high speed reel is a must. Last is a 6 1/2 to 7 foot spinning set up for shakey heads, smaller jigs and drop shots. As far a line 50 pound braid is heavy enough for the flipping rods and I would go mono for the others. I prefer big game over flouracarbon as it is more forgiving of nicks and abrasions and line weights can be adjusted to the water clarity but go as heavy as you can get away with. A good net is a must and learning how to use it will land you more fish than trying to flip them in the boat like the pro's. BTW I prefer Lew's reels and Falcon rods.

Catching is the easy part finding them is the difficult part. Might try looking a this guy's packages on TFF to help you for practicing in your upcoming tournaments. He has a pretty good reputation. https://texasfishingforum.com/forum.../contour-study-maps-50-each#Post14445484

Last thing is since I don't fish the lakes in East Texas that much any more I have some old paper maps you can have if you want them. The spots I have marked on them may not be any good any more but the maps are fun to look at instead of looking on the computer maps. PM me your address if you want them.

Just saying I’ve not heard of a Dadgum high school bill fishing tournament.

Fresh

If you're boy weighed in, he should be proud. My nephew is a Senior and has been on the fishing team since he was a freshman. He would weigh in a little over half of the time. He ended up accumulating enough points to qualify for the regional tournament at the end of the year. I like Lews, and my son likes his shimanos. Id follow the advice of the two guys about that seem to know what they are doing.

Shimano Curado for reels

Poles are per person choice

First of all congratulations on the event. There are definitely a lot of options out there and some good suggestions. When I first started in bass clubs I used the Basspro Extreme combos exclusively and worked just fine. Once I was comfortable with those I went and upgraded to better rods and reels. I personally was a Abu Garcia and Revo reel guy and Falcon rods. I would recommend getting 3-4 good combos for the following ( Texas Rig, Spinnerbait, Small crank bait and maybe a Shakeyhead ) you can use a spinning rod for the shakeyhead or even a bait cast , we used both. Watch the TFF for some deals on rods from time to time. You can find deal on good rods for anywhere from $75-100.

What school you fish with?

Good luck

Obviously you don’t live on the coast….

I’m more of a crank telephone guy on fresh water.

I can’t image going wrong with higher end shimano, Dawia , concept 13 etc then match rod action to lure

In my opinion, no need to break the bank. I’ve known many good fisherman (including guides) that do very well with relatively cheap rigs. If it were me, I’d be looking on FB marketplace or Craigslist. People often give up on bass fishing or guides upgrade their stock and try and unload their used equipment. Personally, I’ve had good luck with Lew’s reels. A good fisherman can catch all day long on an inexpensive setup.

go to duckettfishing.com - buy a rod over $100 and get a free reel (you can get a $330 combo for $140 right now).