How many rods do you need to catch BASS ?

Went to Lake Bonham on Sunday Morning found an area that had cuts into a point from main lake into a small cove . Point 3' to 4' water dropping into 12' , there before sun up bugs getting slurped, shad flickering ,fish rolling on top and couldn't buy a bite.
I had 13 rods out on front of boat top water , crank , jerk ,spinner ,chatter , jig , worm , creature , and a frog. I guess my question is I would throw a bait 5 to 6 times rethink and change, throw 5 - 6 times and so on not given any a real chance. Should have I just picked a couple of different baits and stuck with them instead of tripping on so many rods on the deck ?
TRING TO LEARN
Thanks for any help
Monte

I'm learning too Monte, from what I've found and been told in situations like that is if there are bass there and actively feeding, it shouldn't take several different lures to get bit, most likely the fish just aren't there "where they are supposed to be".

AND

If your experience at Bonham was like the several I've had, those fish rolling on top were catfish and carp, I thought I was in for a 100lb MLF day the first time until I couldn't buy a single bite either.. cause they weren't bass.

It's a transition period and the bass are moving. I'd give a location no more than 20 minutes, throwing search baits (moving baits) until I had moved to find more active fish.
Sounds like you threw some of the right things.

What I have confidence in this time of year to search for active bass.

Lipless crankbait
Spinner bait
Medium depth crank
Sq bill
Spoon
Chatter bait
Spook and other topwaters

Once you've found more active bass you can then start using slower presentations
Jerkbaits
Flukes
Swimbaits
Jigs

Three - Top (braid), plastic (rigged), and spinner/crank/jerk (w/swivel).

Any more for me, is just in the way.

Looking at my rod racks I must think I need 30.But I use 6.

If you would have had a 14th rod you would have caught em!

I only use one, at a time. I may have 8 to 10 on the front deck.

Some days I use 2 or 3 all day, some days I use 15. Some days I wish I had more to use lol

I generally try to plan out 8 rods based on the lake and weather conditions. Tie on everything perfectly how I want. Align them all nicely on the deck of my boat. I make 5 casts with a top water, then throw my favorite soft plastic on the same one rod all day thinking "if they don't bite this they wouldn't bite anything else anyway."

"How many rods do you need to catch BASS ?"

Usually one more than I have with me...

4

a rod and reel combo is just a tool. gotta use the right tool for the right cast. could be once, could be a 100 times.

"it ain't the arrow, it's the indian"....

Only one but you just have to run through the other 30 to find that one. As far as spot time if I see fish I am not leaving to go to a spot similar to the one I am on. If I leave it is a tactic change. That brings the other 30 rods below deck into play.

Clearly one more than the 14 or so I've used the last couple of trips. Thank goodness deer season starts in a couple of days.

Well, I have 12 in the boat all the time and I'm still not catching them, so I must not have enough in there yet....

13 sounds about right. A lot of it has to do with how big your deck is and how you can comfortaley walk around without stepping on them while casting and then fighting your fish.

Less is more. Try to develope a particular craft or two. You don't need 50 rods to catch fish. You just need confidence in what you are throwing.

I have 5 confidence baits that I have won all my tournaments on. They are each specific for the time of day. If I am not getting bit then it is time to move.

- Spook - first two hours of day light. There will only be 3 great spots on the whole lake and it takes many trips to find those 3 spots. Once I do find them then I can cover all 3 if I have to in that two hour period. My partner will be backing up my Spook on every busy that I park the Spook beside. Sometimes they just don't want to blow up on it; but will get excited and take the Pinch Weighted Fluke.

- Spinner Bait - The 3 and 4 hour is fished slow rolling my spinner bait in the mid range depth of 5 to 10 ft. just out from where I caught the best top water fish. My partner will be throwing a Short Crig 1/8 oz. with a Ring Fry or Fluke.

- 1/2 oz. Crig. - One is dragging a big Brush Hog and the other a small Brush Hog. At 11:00 we are going deep from 20 to 30 ft. on Irregular Contours that are close to the shallow water spots that were producing fish. It takes time on the water to find these spots also. I will spend one hour or less on each of these 3 deep water spots that have produced in the past.

All of us have gone through the same no catching days that you had. Working and learning a lake is not easy. It takes commitment to just that one lake for a long time which is usually a year for me. I have to fish on the average of 60 top water spots to find 3 good spots. You have to do the same to find the mid range spots for mid morning and another 60 spots to find 3 good deep water spots for the afternoon. I work every lake the same and after a few years you begin to recognize these best spots as you study your paper maps and Nav. Maps. Then the learning curve begins to shorten some. It still takes fishing a lot of spots to find the fish unless you carry a LUCKY Buckeye in your pocket.

Always 1 short

The more , The better

Sad truth is, all you NEED is one.... Texas rigged watermelon red trick work/baby brush hog will catch bass all day.

Matter in fact, I was screwing around one evening just fishing a local pond here in Pearland. There was a girl there that was maybe 10ish years old with a stick, line, and a perch hook with a blue trick worm. She would just flip it underneath trees and around drainage pipes and I she had to pull out at least 10 or so. Nothing big, but solid 1-1.5 pounders.

When I saw that it really got me to thinking about folks having 20 rods on deck that are $400 a piece trying to catch fish, when you got this kid with a stick and line tearing them up.

Anyway, I usually have 6 on deck. Spinnerbait, plastic, jig, topwater, diver, and a rattle trap. However, in all reality, I only use probably 2 of them throughout the whole day and catch as many as the next guy.

I'm not talking down to the folks that do have 20 rods laid out on deck, but the reality of it all is that you only need one..

Sounds like a good place to start with lots of activity. However, bass don't normally "roll on top" if they are feeding. It is an aggressive slashing sound when they are feeding and chasing shad or bluegill on the surface. If you are seeing fish rolling on the surface, it is most likely some type of rough fish.

When bass are chasing bait near the surface, there is no mistake that they are feeding.

With regards to your question about how many rods do you need to catch bass?

I would start with a rod with a small topwater like a shad colored Yellow Magic on one. A rod with a 3/8 oz chart & white spinnerbait on the other or a small 1.5 size shad colored squarebill crankbait and a white Fluke rigged weightless on another rod.

Those three will get you started at daylight. If you don't get bit on one of those, find another spot.

I usually have 8 to fish different depths and structure and 5 more rigged in the rod box. Hard to change rigs and run the trolling motor at the same time especially if it's windy and I'm fishing alone. I don't have Talons or an Ultrex so it just makes sense to try and be prepared for different situations. The logical answer to the OP's question is it just takes one rod to catch a bass but if you're fishing all day you're gonna need more or else keep re-rigging.

Wired 2 Fish has an excellent set of articles on the 6 rod system, along with the reels to match. I sat down one day and read through it, matched up what I owned and realized that 2-3 of each was not nearly enough! Actually it made me think more about what rod and reel combination I used, made a couple of adjustments, but I still may have 8-10 out when I am in my boat. Where it really helped me was when I fish as a co-angler, I try to look at combos that are mult-technique and not just on application.

Years ago when I used to fish tournaments I thought I needed 20 rods and actually had more than that rigged and ready. As I mellowed with age and just fish for recreation I've narrowed my collection down to 8 rods and I probably catch more.

I have 11 on deck, 12 in the rod box, and my wife has 6-7 at the back of the boat. I have fun fishing a lot of different baits so I keep a variety tied on all the time.

'bout 80

Yeah, "need" doesn't have much to do with our obsession... I "like" having 12 rods in my collection, down from the 24 or so I once had. I could probably get by with 4-6... You can Google the 6 Rod System online and get a pretty good idea of one approach.

I started with 2 or 3, moved up to around 8 and was having a few good days but many 1 fish days in the Summer. I dropped it down to pulling 2 and sometimes 3 out and fishing those all day and my numbers really went up. Now it is rare that I'll ever pull out more than 3 on a trip.

one, a MH 7'.

anything else is just for convenience and time saving. truth is we'd probably all be better if we just had 1 rod and really worked a particular lure hard before cutting it off and trying something else.

now, to quote Troy Aikman: "having said that", I have 8 in my boat with a different lure on each...

I keep about a dozen in the boat, but how many are on the deck depends on the season. During the fall I keep 6-7 on the deck all with different types of bait as the fish are usually active and I can figure out fairly quickly what they are on that particular day. During the spring and summer I only keep a few rods on the deck (flipping rod, jig rod, rattletrap rod, jerkbait (depending on temp).

U only need one to catch a bass but at least 15 to go fishing

I like to have four

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/12450373#Post12450373

Do y'all still need 20 rods on deck to catch bass?

According to my wife one is all you need. When I ask her how many horses can she ride at one time the conversation ends.

Have 7 on deck , always end up using only one .

If I don't bring that one rod, "because I won't need it", I will always "need" that rod.

I only bring 2 or 3 with me & have never felt I should have brought more..

My boat holds 25 rods so I'll give you one guess how many I carry. I also carry around 75# of tackle. I counted 84 jigs in my box. I need a a little more weight in the front, boat rides better

Just one more! At least that is what the lady at CPA Rifles tells me about rifles.

Rather have what you don't need than need what you don't have

I had like 20 out yesterday prefishing for a tournament

As many as I own until I find the one that works for that spot or that day.

as Midway USA always says just one more LOL

The one who dies with the most toys, WINS!!!

back in early 70's,we formed a bass club in Greenville,ms....for about a year we fished against each other then we scheduled a tournament on ross barnett against the Vicksburg,ms. bass club....
at the time I only had one rod and reel....a red ambassador and a 5 1/2 ft true temper glass rod....I went to Otasco and bought another outfit just like it....I believe I paid $39.95 for the reel and $4.98 for the rod...I went no boat and guy I drew out with had one of the original skeeter bass boats...stick steering with a 35 or 40 hp Merc...he complimented my "matching outfits"...a few years later they came out with graphite rods and I bought a skyline 5 1/2 ft pistol grip to go with an ambassador 5500C that I had won in a Walmart big fish contest.........

....then your surviving family members liquidate all your hard earned "toys" to pay for your funeral. Ha.