Looking For Good Light Crappie Combo

[kevinpa]

got a lot of arthur itis in my shoulders and elbows,need some good ideas for a lighter (not necc. ultralight) open face spinning reel and rod combo for crappies, I fish out of a boat so don`t need anything to throw a lot of distance, but when I throw it a couple hundred times a day my elbow and shoulder don`t kill me,thanks

[crappieman]

Were it me, for all around tossing I'd be looking at a custom rod built on a St Croix or Loomis blank in a 6 footer lite action with a Telexium Tennessee handle. Many fine lightweight reels out there today.

[karpbuster]

I use a 6' Daiwa graphite UL rod and Abu Garcia 300u UL spin reel. Very light setup and I really like it for crappie fishing. You could use the STD 10' pole and line and drop it in instead of casting, not sure if that would help.

Good luck.

karpuster

[stinkycat]

I picked up a Mr. Walleye Series Gary Roach MWS601ULS, 6' Utlralight, 2-8lb line, 1/32-1/4os Lure.

I have quite a few panfish rods and this is becoming my favorite. Lots of feel with light over all weight and great balance. I currently have a Shimano 1500 on it and it works great. Casts great but I am going to try one smaller size for the reel.

Hope this helps.

[Bill Krejca]

Besides changing to a lighter outfit, perhaps consider casting two handed, take a few aspirin to alleviate the pain.

Bill Krejca

[no1son]

I got no arthiritis, but my favorite crappie set up is a 5' ultralight with what are usually considered ice fishing reels. I tend to go inexpensive, because I like to carry three or four pre-rigged outfits, and I can't afford to do that with high priced equipment.

The Cabela's 5' IM6 house brand ultralight rod at about 20 bucks is quite nice. There are others very much like that. Some of the "off-brands" are every bit as good, and may be a few dollars cheaper. But if you don't know quite what action you are looking for try the Cabelas first.

My favorite reel is the Shakespeare ALPHA-225UL at maybe 15 bucks sometimes less, if you can find it. I spooled 4 pound Gamma clear copolymer. The whole deal is about 40 bucks ready to tie on the hook or jig. The reel body and spool are graphite and the drag is smooth enough that this rig beat a 38" musky last April who thought a 1/32nd ounce jig was food, plus a number of plus size pike and largemouth in the past year, too (by plus size I mean heavier than line test). Where I fish crappies, there are often "bonus" fish, sometimes of quite respectable size.

I like to carry interchangeable pre-rigged outfits and this is about as inexpensive as you can do that and still have dependable performance. I swap the reels out onto the little sticks for hard water, but then I also tend to go down to 2# line for panfish on the ice; so I use these reels year around. I actually keep em rigged and in the back of my vehicle and very often will fish for a couple of hours on the way home from work; so they stand up to some pretty "casual" handling, too, and I can afford to keep backups for any that fail. Honestly, you can't expect that level of material to last forever.