No angler I know doesn’t get excited about a new rod and reel for bass fishing, but with the wealth of options out there and skyrocketing prices, it can be tough to make the right decision – and feel that you got a real bargain.
And with inflation biting into everyone’s paycheck, budget-friendly options really matter. Unfortunately, in the fishing world, “budget” typically means less-than-optimal performance.
But it doesn’t need to.
If you know where to look, there are combos that are amazing buys, offering exciting performance that won’t break the bank. And whether you need a new rod for fishing Texas and Carolina rigs, crankbaits and jerkbaits, or finesse techniques like Ned rigs, we’ve got you covered!
Below, you’ll find reviews of the best rod and reel combos for bass fishing, including a buying guide to get you up to speed quickly:
Baitcasting Combos
Spinning Combos
Table of Contents (clickable)
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Baitcasting Combos
Lew’s Mach Pro Baitcast Combo – Best Baitcasting Combo for Bass
Maximum drag: 15 lbs.
Gear ratio: 7.5:1 (30” per turn)
Capacity: 50/110 (braid); 12/110 (mono)
Weight: ?
Bearings: 9 + 1
Length: 7’ 2”
Action/power: Medium-heavy/fast
Material: IM-8 graphite
Handle: Winn Dri-Tac polymer split grip
Guides: American Tackle Microwave Air guides
Line weight: 12 – 25 lb.
Lure size: ¼ – 1 oz.
Pieces: 1
Lew’s Mach Pro Baitcast Combo sets an incredibly high bar for its competition, and this is a very tough combo to beat for avid bass fishermen.
I’m sure you’ve been disappointed by combos before, as they don’t usually offer much in the way of performance or high-end feel.
Prepare to rethink that!
The reel that Lew’s delivers with this combo is very smooth casting, rivaling proven winners like Shimano’s Tatula. That’s saying something right there, and from the first cast, you’ll know this baitcaster means business.
It uses a magnetic control system that’s easy to adjust and simple to fine-tune to the weight of your lure, and the drag is consistently smooth with no heart-stopping hitches.
From the skeletonized aluminum crank to the graphite frame and side plates, this reel has been built for hard fights and long days on the water. It’s remarkably light, and you can really feel the smooth power its precision-cut, solid-brass gears deliver.
Running a ratio of 7.5:1 that, in concert with the spool, picks up 30 inches of line per turn, you’ll find plenty of speed to keep your line tight.
And on the hookset, this reel’s zero-reverse clutch really kicks in, delivering your hookset’s full power.
That should already be enough to get your attention, but the rod is just as capable.
The IM-8 graphite blank that’s the heart of this stick offers plenty of backbone and hook-setting power for worms and other single-hook presentations. It’s sensitive enough to feel the gentle suck of a bass engulfing your worm, while still supplying fight-winning strength.
It wears premium American Tackle Microwave Air guides that do everything possible to transmit tell-tale vibrations to the rod, as well as offering superb protection to your line in a fight.
And if you’re a fan of split grip handles, this one’s simply amazingly well done.
Overall, the Lew’s Mach Pro Baitcast Combo is an excellent buy for the price, delivering the kind of performance that every combo should, but rarely does.
Pros:
- Excellent cost-to-performance ratio
- Outstanding reel
- Very light reel
- Precision-cut, solid-brass gears
- Fast!
- Excellent drag
- Very sensitive rod
- Plenty of hook-setting power
- Great guides
- Great handle
Cons: N/A
Ugly Stik Elite Baitcast Combo
Maximum drag: 12 lbs.
Gear ratio: 6.2:1 (26.8” per turn)
Capacity: 160/10 130/12 110/14
Material: graphite composite and aluminum
Weight: ?
Bearings: 2 + 1
Length: 6’ 6”
Action/power: Medium-heavy/fast
Material: composite (fiberglass/graphite)
Handle: continuous cork
Guides: Uglytuff polished stainless steel
Line weight: 10 – 20
Lure size: ¼ – ¾
Pieces: 1
Hard-fighting graphite rods are a wonder with single hooks, offering fantastic sensitivity and amazing hook-setting power. But when you’re running a crankbait, jerkbait, or topwater lure, you neither need nor want that hard-pulling blank.
Instead, you want a softer rod with a bit more give, especially at the tip, to avoid pulling those sharp treble hooks completely free – and you’ll often want to soften your drag setting just a touch, as well.
If you’re looking for a combo specifically to throw treble-hooked lures, you can do a lot worse than the Ugly Stik Elite. No, it’s not going to rival Lew’s Mach Pro on any front, but it is a much better rod for throwing crankbaits and the like because of its composite construction.
The reel Shakespeare supplies with this rod is nothing to write home about. It works pretty well, cranks pretty smoothly, and casts just fine. It employs a magnetic braking system that’s easy to adjust, and for the money, it’s not a bad buy.
It can be a tad challenging to dial it in, especially for lighter lures, and some birdsnesting is likely.
Shakespeare isn’t putting a lot of tech into this baitcaster, and you can expect its spool to spin like the Mach Pro: that isn’t going to happen. But it’ll get the job done, and for its reasonable price, that’s all you can ask.
The rod is another matter.
At 6’ 6”, its composite blank doesn’t know when to say “quit.” Legendary for its durability, but not for refinement, the inclusion of a graphite core wrapped in fiberglass marries the best of both worlds, providing excellent sensitivity as well as a properly-cushioned hookset.
That makes it a very good choice as a dedicated crankbait combo.
The guides are standard Ugly Stik stainless steel, but I’ve tested them, and they work surprisingly well to pamper your line in a hard fight. The long, continuous cork handle is nice to look at, plenty comfortable, and more than up to the abuses it’ll see on the water.
Overall, the Ugly Stik Elite combo is priced right for the performance it delivers, and if you need a dedicated crankbait combo, it’s a great buy.
Pros:
- Excellent cost-to-performance ratio
- Fiberglass/graphite composite blank offers cushioned hooksets
- Extremely durable rod
- Effective guides
Cons:
- So-so reel
Abu Garcia Jordan Lee Low Profile Baitcast Combo – Best Budget Baitcasting Combo for Bass
Maximum drag: 18 lbs.
Gear ratio: 6.4:1 (26” per turn)
Capacity: 12/145 (mono); 30/140 (braid)
Material: graphite
Weight: 7.3 oz.
Bearings: 5 + 1
Length: 7’
Material: graphite
Power/action: medium-heavy/fast
Lure size: ⅜ to 1 oz.
Line weight: 10 to 20 lbs.
Handle: split Winn Dri-Tac
Guides: 5 + 1 stainless steel
Pieces: 1
Abu Garcia’s Jordan Lee Low Profile combo can’t rival the awesome Mach Pro, but it’s still a decided improvement on the Black Max, and it’s far, far better than most of the baitcasting combos on the market.
The word on the water is that this reel is AG’s Silver Max dressed up with different decals, but we can’t be sure. If so, that’s simply excellent, as this is a well-respected baitcaster with proven tech.
What we can say with certainty is that this low-profile reel is lightweight, easily palmable, and comfortable cast after cast. Employing Abu Garcia’s time-tested MagTrax braking system, you can expect good casting as long as you set it properly for your lure weight.
It cranks well, no doubt due to the solid-brass main gear Abu stuffs in its guts. Geared for a ratio of 6.4:1, this reel is middle-of-the-road in terms of speed, getting the job done across a wide range of techniques and presentations. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
The drag system is pretty good, offering solid, smooth performance and a higher maximum setting than you’d expect, allowing you to run very heavy braid, should you wish.
The rod that Abu Garcia pairs with this reel is excellent.
Its graphite blank is strong and sensitive, offering excellent feel for worm fishing and real authority on the hookset. It delivers plenty of head-turning power, too, and you can definitely drag a big bass out from cover without worrying about breaking it.
The split Winn Dri-Tac grips are attractive and effective, offering plenty of space and comfortable casts.
If your budget just can’t make it as far as the Mach Pro, this combo will definitely put a smile on your face!
Pros:
- Good price!
- Excellent, light-weight reel
- Great braking system delivers good casting
- Excellent drag
- Solid brass gear
- Very smooth
- Sensitive, strong rod
- Excellent handles
Cons:
- At this price point, it can’t match the Mach Pro
Spinning Combos
Lew’s Mach Pro 30 Spinning Combo – Best Finesse Rod and Reel Combo for Bass
Maximum drag: 14 lbs.
Gear ratio: 6.2:1 (32” per turn)
Capacity: 10/180 (mono)
Material: aluminum body and side plate
Weight: ?
Bearings: 9 + 1
Length: 6’ 9”
Action/power: Medium-light/fast
Material: HM40 high-modulus graphite
Handle: Winn Dri-Tac split grips
Guides: stainless steel with aluminum oxide inserts
Line weight: 6 -10 lbs.
Lure size: 1/8 – 3/8 oz.
Pieces: 1
If you’re looking for a no-holds-barred spinning combo for finesse techniques, you’ve found it.
Lew’s Mach Pro spinning combo is simply awesome, and it really illustrates why Lew’s is the dominant name in bass fishing combinations.
The reel is a size 30, and it’s made from aluminum, allowing it to be strong, stiff, and light all at once. It casts well, even with light lures, and the first crank will tell you that the engineers at Lew’s did a good job with this one.
Expect solid brass “Speed Gears” that deliver nothing short of 32 inches per turn of the crank, making this reel the fastest on our shortlist. Rest assured, your lines will stay tight, no matter how fast the bass is.
The precision with which these gears were cut yields uncompromising smoothness, and you can feel the torque they’re ready to deliver in a fight.
The drag is an excellent carbon fiber system that provides smooth, consistent release with a 14-pound maximum. Lew’s expects you to run braid on this reel, and the drag and spool are designed with that in mind. Go ahead and spool on some 20-pound braid: this reel is ready!
The rod it’s paired with is excellent.
The blank is constructed from HM40 high-modulus graphite. On the water, that translates into even better feel than the Crush, as the sensitivity is just amazing. You can feel the flutter of a paddle tail as it descends, and I just love the connection it gives me to my soft plastics.
In a hard fight, it turns to virtual steel, offering more than sufficient backbone for a medium-light rod.
The guides are very well manufactured, and they transmit vibrations and protect your line really well.
And the Winn Dri-Tack split grips are just great, offering plenty of grip and space for even the worst fight.
Essentially a step-up from the amazing Crush 20, the Mach Pro is probably the best finesse bass combo on the market.
Pros:
- Excellent cost-to-performance ratio
- Outstanding reel
- Very light reel
- Precision-cut, solid-brass gears
- Very fast!
- Excellent drag
- Very sensitive rod
- Great guides
- Great handle
Cons: N/A
Lew’s Mach Crush 20 Spin Combo
Maximum drag: 14 lbs.
Gear ratio: 6.2:1 (31” per turn)
Capacity: 120/8 (mono); 180/10 (braid)
Material: aluminum body and side plates
Weight: 8.6 oz.
Bearings: 10 + 1
Length: 6’ 9”
Action/power: Medium-light/fast
Material: IM-8 graphite
Handle: Winn Dri-Tac polymer split grip
Guides: stainless steel with titanium oxide inserts
Line weight: 4 – 12 lbs.
Lure size: 1/16 – 5/16 oz.
Pieces: 1
While spinning reels shine on windy days, their true popularity with bass anglers is that they can cast light lures far better than any baitcaster. And for true finesse techniques, there’s nothing better on the water.
Lew’s Mach Crush 20 Spin Combo is an outstanding option for bass anglers looking for a combo to fish Ned rigs, weightless Senkos, wacky rigs, and drop shot rigs.
Let’s start with the reel.
The Crush 20 sports an all-aluminum body, making it stiff, light, and durable. It casts well, even when the lure is ridiculously light or the jig head is simply tiny. That’s what you’re looking for with a finesse setup, and you won’t be disappointed.
And despite casting the small stuff with real aplomb, the Mach Crush 20 employs a carbon fiber drag system that can wrangle big bass. Offering 14 pounds of maximum drag, it will allow you to fish hefty braid and work the rod to its limits.
Geared at 6.2:1, this little reel nevertheless picks up 31 inches of line per crank, making it faster than the fastest baitcaster on our list. Tight lines will be no problem at all, and you can count on the gears to take a fight without failing. Precision-cut on Hamai CNC machines, the solid-brass gears Lew’s places at the heart of this reel are smooth, strong, and reassuring.
Needless to say, you can count us as impressed by the Crush 20!
The rod is just as good.
The blank is made from top-flight graphite, making it strong and sensitive. And when you’re fishing finesse techniques, sensitivity is a must. You’ll feel every nook and cranny on the bottom, know when your jig head has lost contact with the mud, and recognize every blade of grass you bump.
Delivering plenty of backbone for big bass, you won’t know what this rod can do until you really get into its length. At about halfway back on the blank, it feels like you’ve hit steel, and I wouldn’t hesitate to fight a monster with heavy braid, knowing that this rod is going to win.
It loads easily with light lures, and really snaps them into long casts.
The guides are stainless with titanium oxide inserts, and they transmit vibration to the blank really well, in addition to preventing friction when the pressure’s on.
And the Winn Dri-Tac polymer split grip is great, offering plenty of space for even the biggest hands as well as all-day comfort.
Overall, it’s very hard to beat this combo, and if your budget allows, it’s an awesome choice for finesse techniques. If you’ve been disappointed by cut-rate combos in the past, the Crush will change your mind.
Pros:
- Excellent cost-to-performance ratio
- Outstanding reel
- Very light reel
- Precision-cut, solid-brass gears
- Fast!
- Excellent drag
- Very sensitive rod
- Great guides
- Great handle
Cons: N/A
KastKing Crixus 2000 Combo – Best Budget Finesse Rod and Reel Combo for Bass
Maximum drag: 17.5 lbs.
Gear ratio: 5.2:1 (21.3” per turn)
Capacity: ?
Material: ?
Weight: 8.6 oz.
Bearings: 5 + 1
Length: 6’
Action/power: Medium-light/mod-fast
Material: IM-6 graphite
Handle: polymer split grip
Guides: stainless steel with zirconium oxide inserts
Line weight: 6 – 10 lbs.
Lure size: ⅛ – ½ oz.
Pieces: 2
If the price of the Lew’s Mach Crush combo is just too high for you, KastKing’s got you covered. And while the Crixus 2000 combo can’t compete head-to-head with the elite Crush, it’s a great buy for bass anglers on a tighter budget.
KastKing delivers the Crixus spinning reel with this combo, which is not a model available in the U.S by itself. It’s a good spinning reel, and it works well for finesse techniques for largemouth bass.
It casts well, even with lures as light as ⅛-ounce, and it’s admirably smooth. At this price point, precision machined brass isn’t going to happen, and instead, KastKing uses zinc alloy for the main gear and solid brass for the pinion gear.
That certainly saves cost, allowing them to get this combo into a very reasonable price point. Each crank delivers 21.3” of line to the spool, and that’s a bit slow for our taste, something we expected from a gear ratio of 5.2:1 and a relatively small spool.
KastKing isn’t reporting the capacity of this 2000-size reel, but in the real world, it strikes us as about standard for a reel of this size.
The carbon fiber drag system used in this reel is plenty strong and smooth, offering 17.5 pounds of maximum tension. That’ll allow you to fish heavy braid, no sweat, and the rod is up to it.
So far, so good. How’s the rod?
IM-6 graphite is solid stuff, and it’s both strong and sensitive. The blank on the Crixus combo can’t best the Mach Crush of course, but it’s still more than capable of feeling the soft suck of a bass taking your Ned rig, and you’ll have a direct connection to the bottom.
The tip is not quite as fast as I’d like, but it’s still very sensitive in medium-light. It loads easily and casts well, and there are no complaints on this front, whatsoever.
The guides are well-fashioned, solid, and smooth, and the split polymer handles are pretty nice.
For a budget combo intended for finesse techniques, the Crixus combo is a very good buy.
Pros:
- Excellent value!
- Solid reel that casts light lures well
- Nice drag system
- Smooth
Cons:
- Zinc alloy isn’t going to perform quite like solid brass
- For finesse techniques, a slightly faster tip would be ideal
What to Look for in a Rod and Reel Combo for Largemouth Bass
If you’re in the market for a rod and reel combo for bass, you need some serious criteria by which to judge your choices and make the best pick for you.
Let’s work through them so that you know what to look for.
Cost-to-performance ratio
Most combos are designed for novice anglers looking to hit the water on a long, lazy afternoon. They’re typically inexpensive, and the rods and reels they supply are at the very low end in terms of performance.
But combos don’t always cater to this crowd.
On the other end, companies like Lews, Shakespeare, Cadence, KastKing, and Abu Garcia – to name just a few – put together combos that range from inexpensive workhorses to outstanding performers. And surprisingly, these “workhorses” don’t need to cost much more than a junk combo designed to catch buyers rather than fish.
The question is how much performance does each dollar deliver.
The combos that made our shortlist deliver a lot for what you pay. That doesn’t mean they’re all expensive, but rather that you really get a lot of bang for your buck, whatever their price point.
And that’s something every god combo should deliver, no matter how much it costs.
Baitcasting vs. spinning
There’s simply no question that baitcasting tackle dominates bass fishing, and there are good reasons for this.
The first, and perhaps most important, is that baitcasters are designed for heavier line, defined here as more than 10-pound mono diameter test. In head-to-head comparisons, you’ll notice a huge difference in casting with the same 20-pound mono on a baitcasting versus spinning reel.
Baitcasting reels also have more mechanically simple and effective drag systems. When you’re fighting monster bass, that matters a lot.
Finally, baitcasting rods typically wear much smaller guides, improving the transmission of vibration to the blank and allowing you to feel what’s going on much better.
But that doesn’t mean that baitcasters are the only game in town!
Some folks just prefer the ease of use spinning reels offer, and there’s no question that they outperform baitcasters in windy conditions.
They’re at their best, however, when they’re casting very light lures or baits, a feat that baitcasters struggle with without backlashing.
If you’re an experienced angler, you’re probably nodding your head right now.
And while you’ll find reviews for spinning combos that folks try to sell you as direct competitors for baitcasting combos, quite frankly, those combos are designed around saltwater angling.
Can you use them in fresh water? Absolutely. But they’re heavy, cumbersome, and just plain painful to cast hundreds of times. After all, that’s not what they’re designed for.
Instead, spinning tackle is best reserved for finesse techniques, where very light terminal tackle is the norm. In these situations, a medium-light spinning rod with a good reel is simply the best possible choice.
Our shortlist reflects that.
Rather than reviewing spinning tackle that competes directly with our baitcasting choices, we’ve reserved the spinning options for finesse techniques. As a result, you’ll notice that the rods vary substantially between these two categories, and the reel sizes we’re looking at on spinning rods are in the 20- to 30-size.
Drag
The vast majority of the time, you’ll be running braided main line for bass.
The reasons are simple.
Braid provides much greater sensitivity and hook-setting power than nylon monofilament or fluorocarbon. Its small diameter means you can pack a lot of line on your reel, allowing you to cut and re-tie without worrying about seeing the spool, too. And of course, you can step way up in strength without worrying about capacity as a result.
The drag on your reel needs to keep up with that increased test strength. And if you’re running 20-pound braid, you want a sensible maximum drag of about 7 pounds. For 40-pound braid, that number needs to rise to about 14 pounds, and you’ll notice that the reels we’ve reviewed cap out at about there.
We’ve looked at combos that are braid-ready, and the drag systems are up to the task.
Smooth, strong gears
While weight is always an issue, the smoothest, strongest gears are precision-machined solid brass.
Solid brass teeth bite well against one another, deliver lots of no-slip torque with each crank of the handle. And they can be made very, very smooth with good fit and finish.
And while very easy to machine in an absolute sense when compared to much more wear-resistant or hard materials, CNC machining still costs a lot of money compared to alternatives.
The best bass reels will have solid brass gears. At the low end, you’ll often find plastic.
Speed and gear ratio
Speed matters.
When you’re fighting a big bass, and she runs straight back at you, if she can win more line than you can recover, it’ll create slack that allows her a chance to spit your hook.
Tight lines are essential, and that’s the main reason to care about speed.
Yes, there are techniques and lures that make use of higher (or lower) speed reels to create different presentations, but generally speaking, speed is all about a tight line.
A reel’s gear ratio can’t tell you how fast it is. I know that sounds strange, but bear with me.
All a gear ratio tells you is the number of turns of the spool per rotations of the crank. Thus, a 6.0:1 gear ratio reveals that every time you turn the crank one full rotation, the spool will have made six full rotations.
But two different reels can share a gear ratio and vary in speed tremendously due to differences in spindle circumference. Put simply, the bigger the spool, the more line it picks up per revolution.
To know how fast a reel is, then, means that you need to know not just the gear ratio, but the actual retrieve in inches per turn of the crank.
Blank materials
While blanks can be constructed from a variety of materials, our short list is dominated by two: graphite and fiberglass/graphite composites.
Graphite is ultra-lightweight, extremely strong, and amazingly sensitive. It’s a premier material, and of course there are different grades of graphite, ranging from the relatively inexpensive to the stratospherically costly.
Graphite rods are pretty much ideal for sensitivity, and their hook-setting stiffness is legendary as well. Worm rods, and finesse applications generally, can be fished at their best with graphite blanks.
Graphite/fiberglass composites combine a core of stiff, strong, sensitive graphite with an outer wrapping of ultra-tough fiberglass. This results in a rod that’s a great deal more durable than pure graphite, but ultimately less sensitive.
At their best with crankbaits and other treble-hooked lures, they can nonetheless work pretty well for finesse techniques.
But I’d stay away from this blank material for worm rods.
Power and action
Power describes how much force is required to bend a rod; action tells you where on the blank it’ll start to bend under load.
You’ll notice that our baitcasting combos are medium-heavy powered rods with fast actions.
This combination is pretty much ideal for fishing with a single-hooked presentation, and whether you’re throwing a big Texas-rigged worm or a meaty swimbait, you’ll want that power and action for hook setting and hard fighting.
Combined with a fast action, a medium-heavy rod will let you feel the details of the bottom and detect a strike, set your hook hard, and drag a monster out of thick cover.
By contrast, you’ll see that our spinning combos are medium-light rods with fast actions.
This combination is built for finesse bass techniques, allowing you to throw unweighted soft plastics or tiny jig-headed Neg rigs and the like. They’ll load and cast well with light terminal tackle, and provide unparalleled sensitivity – exactly what you’re looking for when using a finesse presentation.
Guides
Excellent guides do two things well: they transmit vibration from your line to the blank, allowing you better feel, and they cushion your line under load, reducing friction that can cause a catastrophic failure.
Baitcasting combos enjoy a distinct advantage on the first.
Because line unspools directly and in-line from a baitcasting reel, the guides on the rod it’s riding on can be small. And all other things being equal, smaller guides transfer vibration better.
By contrast, spinning reels spit line far from the center of the blank, making wide loops that are anything but in-line. To feed line down the guides, the first guide – called a “stripper guide” – needs to be big. Each guide after that shrinks a bit in size as you move toward the tip.
Obviously, that decreases sensitivity.
But because you’re using medium-light, fast-action rods, that necessary loss in sensitivity is meaningless; those small-diameter rods are going to allow you to map the bottom as you drag a jig head across it.
Handles
Whether you’re a fan of synthetic split grips or long, continuous cork, you want a handle that is comfortable to cast all day, big enough to provide plenty of space for your hands, and fight-ready.
All of the rods on our list meet these challenges easily.
Final Thoughts
Rod and reel combos don’t need to be “cheap,” and whether they’re inexpensive or not, they should deliver great performance.
Lew’s Mach Pro Baitcast Combo is simply the best baitcasting combo out there, leaving any other brand in the dust.
The reel is slick and smooth, backed by precision-machined solid brass gears. It packs a strong, reliable drag, plenty of capacity, and ultra-lightweight components into a great-casting, hard-fighting package. And paired with an equally remarkable rod that delivers impressive sensitivity, hard hooksets, and head-turning power, you’ve got a winning package that any bass angler will love.
Lew’s Mach Pro 30 Spinning Combo takes out top spot for a finesse rod and reel combo for bass, demonstrating Lew’s dominance in the bass combo market.
The reel on this combo is every bit as impressive as you’d hope for, offering precision solid brass gears that drive a big spool. The result is the fastest reel on our shortlist. And with an excellent drag system to boot, this is simply a great reel for finesse applications. It’s paired with an ultra-sensitive rod that can feel every tickle and bump, while still wrangling big bass to where you need them.
We hope that this article has helped you choose your next rod and reel combo for bass, and if it has, we’d love to hear from you!
Please leave a comment below.
Source: usangler.com