Bass fishing gear

[tlbradford]

Carl,

Your Abu's and shorter rods will work fine, especially throwing heavier lures like 1/4 oz spinnerbaits, and 1/4 oz crankbaits.  You will catch fish on the edges structure and find out if you like it or not. 

[BLKBEARKLR]

Carl

Dont buy the gear until you play around a little, like mentioned there are rods for the techniques that you are fishing and like you said you can spend a ton of money on it. I have well over 10,000 in rods, reels and tackle. So if you want to come out and try it let me know.


Joe

[Fishhunt223]

The fish really dont care what rod you use.  Just use something you are comfortable with.  Here is a pic of one I caught in february last year.  The lake was still half covered in ice and the bass were extremely lethargic.  This fish didnt even care that I was using an ugly stick or cheap shakespeare real with cheap line.  This one weighed in at over 5 lbs.

I have caught lots of big bass on all different rods and reels, in all types of water.  Fish with something that you are comfortable with and that matches the type of fishing you are doing.  You dont need a fancy levelwind reel are a g loomis rod.  I am in to rod building, so I can build whatever I think fits me best, but there are plenty of decent inexpensive rods out there that will be perfect for you.
Travis