Your rod/reel setup

Just wondering what kind of rod/reel setups you guys that mainly target sandies/hybrids/stripers use. Looking to add to the arsenal and was just curious what everyone else was using. Most of mine are the old greeny curados on all different kinds of rods (falcons, 2ig, st. Croix). Disclaimer: these were all bought from a friend of mine probably 15 years ago who was a serious bass tournament fisherman at the time and he sold me a bunch of that stuff as a lot. Anyway, just wondering what you guys use.

Big gulps, huh? 😂

Most everybody just uses Bass gear what you have will be fine

Ok let me rephrase that....if you guys are going out to buy a new rod and reel, what is your budget if your only buying to fish whites/stripers? Just a curiosity question.

I LOVE my setup and don't know if I would change it even if budget was unlimited which I pretend mine is when it comes to fishing sometimes lol.

GX2 ugly stick 7 foot single rod medium or medium heavy. I dare you to try and break the rod! I think it is impossible! Rod costs maybe $39 at Academy. I have ZERO issues with these rods unlike the other handful of rods I have tried. Never looking back!

I pair it with the Lews Mach II spin cast reel. Amazon sales them for about $55 versus Academy sales them for $75. Buy the largest one they sale on Amazon.Has a nice over sized handle making it easier to reel in the big boys! Pair it with 20-30 pound braid and you have an unbreakable setup that any rookie guest on your boat will try and be unable to break.. Plus can make it a left handed or right handed reel in seconds which is important to me.

This is the "client proof", "guest proof" rig.

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering how those lews reels were 👍🏻

my new all round favorite is a 6 ft 8 inch pro qualifier from basspro shop med light paired wirh a shimano3000 from academy total cost was 1oo bucks/ this is a lightweight strong and super sensitive rig perfect for finesse rigging and sandbass baits in the lighter weight class/ also a great speck rig- just my opinion- put 10 pound braid and a mono leader of about 5 ft and go gettem

my above post is a spinning outfit

Well there’s an idea....almost all of my rigs are baitcasters. I probably could stand to beef up the spin cast department. Thanks y’all

I use the GX2 as well, I use the 7' heavy for stripers and hybrid and the medium for sandbass. I actually buy the combo so that the reel is only $10 I sppol it with 20lb mono on eht heavy and 20lb braid on the medium so I can use it to cast swimbaits when the striper are on top...

I use three basic setups-

Live Bait- Ugly Stick Gx2 7’ Medium, and ABU 6500’s. I still have some old Ugly Sticks with the gold thread on them that are better than the new ones.

Vertical Jigging/Throwing swimbaits and large top waters-
Falcon 7’ MH and Lews BB2 inshore and a few Revo Inshores

For Sandbass-
Any thing works, I use those Academy Ethos 7’ Medium rods and some Diawa lexa reels I got on clearance at BPS for like $27.00 or something. I figured they would last one season, but I have not broke one yet. They are getting rough feeling though.

Im not a fan of Spinning gear, but I do have two nice rigs collecting dust.

I noticed you mentioned Curado! Shimano has come out with a DC braking system and they are fantastic. I have been a Lews guy for a long time and they are still great reels. I have 6 of them, but I have Recently got a Curado DC on a 7.5' Curado rod Medium Heavy and it out performs the Lews by far. This thing cast great. It will cast small baits with no troubles and haul in 10# stripers easily. It is pricey too, but if you look hard you can get it fairly cheap. So my number one rod and reel (300 +) Curado DC and my 2, 3, 4 and 5 are Lews with assortment of rods. The Ugly sticks are really good rods for 40 bucks.

I fish on the La and TX coast a lot and prefer custom rods for reds and trout. They work just fine for stripers, hybrids and sandies. My current go is a Laguna Liquid 6’6 medium rod w a fast tip and a 7:5:1 Lews Custom Lite reel. 12 lb fluorocarbon line. This is an insanely light rig and it really helps with feels the hits. I don’t dare add up how much I have invested in fishing gear, but it’s a little bit... 😂

Shimano Curado baitcast reel with a 6’6” medium heavy rod. They are very easy to cast, taught my wife to cast one. Caught and released lots of whites, hybrids and striper over the past 5-6 years and not one problem with them. Use 12# mono. Light enough to feel the bite but heavy enough to land big fish.

Another vote for Shimano curado, but I like allstar rods. 7' med/heavy

Using the Mepps technique, the best combo is a very smooth-reeling bait casting reel like Lew's or Curado and a shorter medium action rod, which for me in the $15 Shakespeare Durango 5'6" rod or the $15 Tournament Choice Angler 5'6" rod sold by Academy. The shorter rods don't shake as much as I reel the Mepps with the rod pointed toward the line - the most effective way to work the Mepps. The Angler rod is very light weight making casting all day for whites less tiring.

Yea I love my curados and would like to get new ones but dang they’re expensive.

I have a few different rigs, but my choice is a inexpensive Garcia Ambassador bait caster, on a 7'med/heavy rod, using 17-20# mono line. I use basic stren. I prefer floro, but i am to cheap to buy it. I like the garcia because of spool allows for alot of line. I usually troll for stripers with umbrella rigs. I let out 100-150 yards of line. The battle is great.

My old set-up was a 6' 6" MH Bionic Blade mated with a Curado e7.

Now I normally grab my 7' 3" MH Kistler Argon mated with a Curado K CU200XGK 8.5:1.