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What Rod For Smallmouth Bass

One shape covers more smallmouth bass fishing than any other on this site. It is a rod about seven feet long that is middling in stiffness and bends only near the tip, with the reel hanging underneath. The label reads 7'0" medium, fast action spinning, rated 1/8-5/8 oz and 6-14 lb. That weight range spans most of what these fish are caught on, and that line rating clears the roughly 10 lb their fight and cover ask for. It is still not the right rod for every method below.

Rods That Fit

Each reason below comes from the same rule the rest of the site uses. Four things are asked of a rod. Does the bait's weight fall inside its rating? Does the action suit the hook? Does the line rating survive the fight and the cover — the weeds, wood and rock fish hold around? Does the rod belong in this water at all? Only the first can make a rod flatly wrong. The rest make it a rod you can fish and should not.

  • 7'0" medium, fast action spinning

    Length
    7'0"
    Power
    medium
    Action
    fast
    Casts
    1/8-5/8 oz
    Line
    6-14 lb

    Its 1/8-5/8 oz rating covers a 1/8-3/8 oz tube jig. A fast tip reads the faint knock of a bite and sets an exposed jighead — a hook with its weight molded on at the eye — with a short jab on a fast-action rod.

    Under-powered for pulling a fish out of matted vegetation or heavy timber.

  • 7'0" medium-heavy, fast action casting

    Length
    7'0"
    Power
    medium-heavy
    Action
    fast
    Casts
    1/4-1 1/4 oz
    Line
    12-20 lb

    Its 1/4-1 1/4 oz rating covers a 1/4-7/16 oz light paddle-tail swimbait. A fast tip reads the faint knock of a bite and sets an exposed jighead with a short jab on a fast-action rod.

    Wrong for treble-hook baits, where the stiff tip tears small hooks free during a head shake.

  • 6'9" medium-light, fast action spinning

    Length
    6'9"
    Power
    medium-light
    Action
    fast
    Casts
    1/16-3/8 oz
    Line
    4-10 lb

    Its 1/16-3/8 oz rating covers a 1/16-1/8 oz ned-rigged soft plastic. A fast tip reads the faint knock of a bite and sets an exposed jighead with a short jab on a fast-action rod.

    Not enough power to pull a fish out of grass, timber or dock pilings.

  • 7'0" medium, moderate action casting

    Length
    7'0"
    Power
    medium
    Action
    moderate
    Casts
    3/8-7/8 oz
    Line
    10-17 lb

    Its 3/8-7/8 oz rating covers a 1/2-7/8 oz medium-diving crankbait. The rod bends well down its length and keeps small trebles — three hook points sharing one shaft — pinned through a head shake on a moderate-action rod.

    Cannot drive a buried single hook, because the tip gives before the point moves.

If You Already Own a Rod

Buying is not the first answer. Tell the Finder the length and the word printed above the handle — how much it takes to bend the rod's lower half. It sorts what you can throw at smallmouth bass into what works, what is marginal, and what the rod will not cast. For anything in that last group it says what shape would throw it instead. Most rods sold as general-purpose already cover more of this fish than their owners expect.

Where This Decision Goes Next

  • Smallmouth Bass

    Everything else about gear for smallmouth bass, in overview.

  • What lure for smallmouth bass

    What to tie on for smallmouth bass, by technique, with the reason for each.

  • Narrow these rods to your smallmouth bass water

    Five questions, four of them skippable. Say where you fish and what you already own, and this list shortens to the shapes that suit your water — or stops being about buying anything at all, and starts being about what the rod in your closet already throws.