Wanting to learn / target whites, hybrids and stripers. What is your preferred rod & reel set up and your preferred method of fishing? I"m not sure my crappie rods will handle the stress of the bigger fish. Thanks in advance for your replies.

JackieF I use a 6ft st croix rod and a phflugger president spinning reel with 14 test line I mainly fish for sandbass using slabs

Thank you Luke. So a 6 ft ugly stick with spinning reel will work for sandies then.

It really depends what you are doing. If you are slabbing, you will want a baitcasting reel because a lot of the time, they hit it on the way down and you can't feel that hit with a spinning reel. If you are live bait fishing or casting to them, a spinning reel is fine. There really is no reason to go out and spend a bunch of money, but 7' medium heavy spinning rod with a nice spinning reel and 12-14 lb mono is great for casting. Slabbing, I tend to go a little heavier with 15-20 lb mono. Just my 2 cents.

Yes that will work fine a good place for slabs is sand Johnny here on the forum he has the ole ugly slabs and rooster tackle and RSR just to name a few

about what every you got will work fine, Sat I counted 9 rods on boat all but 1 with braid, all baitcasting reels, most rods med/med heavy, I had both, used med most as all casting

I run Berkley Cherrywoods 7'0 MH

Thank you all for the responses. This forum is so full of knowledge, I have learned alot.

Your Crappie set ups will be fun for Sand Bass. Depending on the line, you may have to upside for Hybrid.

Medium-heavy rod is good for striper/hybrids when casting jigs and swimbaits. You can go a lot lighter for white bass.

For vertical slabbing, you might want a heavy action rod since those slabs typically weigh an ounce or more.

Baitcast works best for vertical slabbing and live bait. A built in line counter is really helpful since depth is really important here.

Live bait will be your best bet, especially during daylight hours. Catching them on jigs or swimbaits is a lot more fun though.

Live bait- ugly stiks and garcias

Everything else- Med or Med Heavy rods. I usually use braid but have some mono set ups too. I just adjust accordingly to lure weight. As in, if I throw a 3/4oz head with a 5" bait then I throw the medium heavy rod. I like Falcons personally.

For Sand bass, mostly light-medium stuff. Spinnin reels with mono.

Here is a link to some decent cheap rods. They are very low on spinning rods but has a few casting rods. I got ordered 3 Fenwicks from them last year. 2 casting, a medium and a medium heavy. 1 spinning medium light for my crappie fishing. Great rods for dirt cheap. The Medium Heavy has landed many big hybrids already.

http://www.ffo-tackle.com/ffo-rods/

Why are they so cheap I wonder?

I have two of these (one conventional, one spinning), but the majority of my sandbass/striper rods are Ugly Stiks matched to Ambassadeur reels. Both types of rod are very economical and perform quite well.

No need to spend lots of money on pricey gear for these fish.

Shakespeare get r done