Quinte Fishing

This year marks my first year fishing for walleye, and I'd like some suggestions on gear. I spent the end of last year fishing for mostly bass on light tackle and gear, but want to make sure I'm "properly" rigged up for the Giants in the Bay.

Any suggestions?

If you are trolling I would get a line counter reel (shimano tekotas are nice but $$$, diawa accudepths were just improved and are a good value) and for a rod I like the bass pro walleye angler series 7.5 to 8.5 ft. planer board type(they collapse for storage, sensitive, and a good $) .

Planer boards: offshore and church brands are good.

For bottom bouncing I like a baitcast type reel with a flippin switch that will allow you to let line out and stop it with one hand paired with a bass pro walleye angler 7' bottom bouncer rod.

For casting and light trolling a 7' medium baitcaster rod with appropriate reel. The shimano curado is a nice reel.

For spinning gear you could use a 6.5 to 7.5' that is good for both casting and jigging to save a few $ or get a couple set ups: one designed for jiggin and one for casting.

The trend seems to be going towards longer and longer rods 9'+ for casting(better distance) but remember you need to land fish with it which in a small boat can be tricky and you need to store them somewhere.

You don't NEED all this stuff but it should help get you started depending on how you plan to go after the big mamas.

Hooked Up

Out of curiousity what are you looking to spend on a combo and are you planning on using planer's ? There are good combos to be had for around $100 but really nice ones will cost you a little more. I agree that with in-line planer's a 7-8' M to MH power moderate action rod with line counters reels is a must but I like to use planers off a mast so I can use lighter tackle. My favourite combo is a Diawa series reel with a Loomis walleye series rod but it's an expensive combo I also have a 6'6" St Croix L power fast action with a pfleuger president reel that is a very affortable combo and is awesome for jigging or trolling lighter tackle in the summer. Again if you are looking to get one or two combos then it depends on what kind of fishing you plan on doing most. But a good multi purpose spinning combo would be a 7' fast action medium power rod with a decent reel. For the money I really like the pflueger president which costs about $55 - $80 depending on the model. I've looked at the Gander Mountain guide series rods that I'm 90% are made by St. Croix and are much cheaper, they are a great buy.

we use :
cabelas "depthmaster trolling rods 7'6"
okuma catalina ct-15d line counter reels
the combo cost us $109.00 [us] 2 years ago
so far we have had no problems and they are really nice for trolling
mostly use them in the fall of the year for the biggies.
blue
ps
the reels are spooled with 14# fire line [6# diameter]

Thanks folks for the help. I'll let you know what I end up with.