Hey y'all, I'm new to the forum but not to bass fishing. I just bought a boat last year so I'm trying to get into some local tournament fishing and I'm wanting to build my rod/reel arsenal. With all the new lures and techniques available today, I'm driving myself crazy on what rod/reel setups I really need. I'm in MS so shallow lakes are mainly what I fish (Ross Barnett). I've lived here my whole life so Barnett is the lake I grew up fishing but I'm not a fan. It can be a very tough lake to fish and it fishes really small. Anyways, I understand I need to have some technique specific setups. However, I want to be as universal as possible because I'm on a budget right now. This is probably a loaded question but I'm going to ask anyways...if you could only bring 6-8 rods/reels on the water, what setups would they be? Any and all advice welcome...

Thanks in advance!

For a mostly shallow less than 10� environment.

7�2�- medium square bill rod with a 6.4:1
7�2� Medium Heavy 7:1 for texas Rigs 7:1
7� medium heavy moderate tip for spinner baits 6.8:1
7�6� Heavy for flipping/pitching 7:5:1
7�3� medium heavy fast tip 6.8:1 for just about any technique you want or extra rod

Shimano reels and rods

I do not have a boat and am normally a co angler in tourneys (not that I fish a lot) I normally have 4 bait casters and a spinning setup. Crankbait, flipping/pitching/texas rig, weightless stickbait or fluke, spinner bait, and my spinning rod is normally set up with a wacky worm or something finesse.

If I brought more I would set up a carolina rig as well as a topwater.(depending on time of year). maybe a second cranking rod

I fish out of a kayak most of the time and pair it down to 3 rods total.

I am no expert so take what I say as a grain of salt

Falcon bucoo series has a setup for pretty much everything you need. Don't need to break the bank to be successful starting out. I could use any rod I want but I have lots of bucoos and use them all the time.

I'd get some 6'10, 7, 7'3 in varying actions. Get some Lew's, Shimano, or daiwa reels in the 60-$80 range and you'll be set for a long time. If you have an academy store close I'd suggest buying there and keep receipts. You can always return both if there is an issue.

I have 12 rod/reels on boat! Usually use no more than 4 in a tournament

For a budget, I would suggest Ducketts or the falcon bucoo rods in the above mentioned powers. For the reels, the Shimano Casitas or the revo X are great budget reels that perform well.

Thanks, y'all! I appreciate all the input. I've been looking at the Abu Garcia Revo X and the Lew's Speed Spools. The rods I've been looking at are the Lew's, Duckett, and Abu Garcia. I've never used a Falcon rod but I'll probably look hard at those from the above mentioned comments. Has or is anybody using the Wright & McGill cranking rods? They seems like a reasonably priced glass rod. Cranking is not necessarily my forte but it's very productive and catches fish so I figured I'd add that to my list.

This is open discussion so keep the comments coming. All is welcome. I like hearing from different anglers on what they're setups consist of.

For a good price, can�t beat the cabelas ZX rods. They have a nice worm rod, spinner bait rod, and crank bait rod for around 100$ each

I fish from a kayak so I only have 6 combos I use.

Topwater
6'8" MH with a 7.5:1

Spinnerbait/swim jig
6'10" MH with a 5.1:1

Crankbait
7' MH with a 6.4:1

Shaky head/finesse worm
7'2" MH with a 7.3:1

Fluke
6'7" MH with a 7.5:1

Flipping
6'10" H with a 7.3:1

All rods are Falcon and reels are Lew's except for two Pflueger's