TackleTour

Hi Guys,

Looking to possibly get into swimbaiting (and glide baits for that matter) this year which would require buying a rod to throw those heavy baits. Since I live in NJ I will be throwing mostly smaller swim baits in the 1-3oz range. I don't see myself throwing any of the monster 5 and 6oz baits. I'd still like to be able to catch some of the 2-3lb bass.

So my question is what swimbait rods should I be looking at? I don't want to drop a ton of money since I'm not sure if this is for me but I think I want to give it a shot.

for around a 100 you can go to bbc and find a used one. if you perfer a new you can get a bunch of selections just about a 100 more or so.

Get a Okuma Guide Select. I have never used one, but it is quite popular entry model, and it will do the job well without breaking your bank.

you can find that Guide select for about 115.00. It is a good rod.

I have to say that the Guide Select IS a very good rod with one caveat that you might not be able to find out until you use it, like me. The rod has a split rear grip and it's a different experience tucking a rod like that under your arm vs. a full grip. It's obviously a preference thing and you'll see a lot of people don't mind it. But it's something that I learned that I couldn't stand after owning that rod. I used it however until I was able to cycle it our of my collection and it's a really good stick otherwise, I caught my PB Small on it in fact w an 8" Hudd. Aaaaaaaaand......I just realized this post is from 8 months ago, lmao.

Dobyns Fury 795 is a dang nice rod for the price.

These might be worth a look for smaller swimbaits:

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/ONE3_Fat ... -CRBC.html

I really like the irod 1-4oz swimbait rod. They're $149.99, but are included in Tackle Warehouse's black Friday 20% off sale. It's a very lightweight and sensitive rod.

I have a Okuma 7-11 heavy swimbait rod, it to me is amazing and for the price its unbeatable...

Powell inferno 765 or 3d 795

I third on the Okuma Guide Select. I gave one to my dad and I wanna say it's like 5/8oz to 5oz lure rating, something like that. It's light, sensitive, and definitely worth it.

St Croix make some nice rods too, and you can find good used ones on eBay.

Have a look at the iRods. Wait for a sales and get one.

The original Daiwa Tatula rods are awsome. You can find them around $100....with some luck, Amazon may have them for even less. Got a 6’8 M for under $69 shipped before they raised the price.

I use a Daiwa DX Swimbait rod and have been impressed with it so far. I got the 8' Extra heavy and for the length and power of the rod its surprisingly light. It has a 23 1/2" handle that's full cork. the sensitivity could be better but for $109 It is pretty good.
I have thrown 5" jenko booty shakers all the way up to the 8" Huds and it handles them just fine.