0

Best Spinnerbait Rod 2023 – [Buyer’s Guide]

Spinnerbaits despite their odd looks can one of the most reliable lures for bass especially on overcast days or when bass are less active.

Throwing spinnerbaits around different types of covers and structures allows you to cover a lot of water during a day out.

With a day spent casting you need to make sure your choice of rod is perfectly matched to how and what you are fishing.

The best spinnerbait rods will have a medium to heavy power rating, a fast action and be roughly 6 to 7 feet in length

A common mistake is using you favorite crankbait rod!

But why?

Crankbaits need a somewhat slower action than a spinnerbait, I’ve found that larger crankbaits with their big treble hooks not only move better but you’ll loose less fish with the softer action.

Spinnerbaits however do tend to fish a lot better with a fast action and setting the single hooks will be a little more reliable.

Whereas something like a jerkbait rod won’t have a heavy enough power rating to handle the bigger drag that spinnerbaits tend to produce when retrieved.

Best Spinnerbait Rods

1. St Croix Mojo Bass

The St Croix Mojo Bass is easily the best spinnerbait rod for the money. The 6’8 model with a medium power rating and fast action is the one to go for.

This rod is constructed of high modulus SCII graphite, features a Fuji ECS reel seat with a black hood, and also comes complete with Kigan Master Hand 3D guides that have slim but tough aluminum oxide rings plus sleek black frames so things look good but also perform at the standards great anglers expect.

With over 70 years in the business, we would expect nothing less from St. Croix. One of their construction techniques is that of Advanced Reinforcing Technology (ART) which is their way of providing 10 times the strength to the blank with no increase in its diameter. This means that the rod won’t deform when faced with a heavy load.

The rod is also a bit stiff for its rating, we would put this in the M and MH category when comparing with other rods. If you finesse fish, sensitivity is important, and this rod delivers on that too. I also was impressed by the weight and quality of build.

At first you might feel a bit worried if you get caught in a fight-we were fighting a bass that weighed about 5 lb. and feared we were going to break the tip.

It went fine and handled the bass with ease. We handle fish and snag lures pretty easy with this rod.  Pitching and flipping is also doable with the St. Croix Mojo. In one instance, we even used a willow leaf spinner bait to nab a pike measuring about 28”.

The casting distance is decent but if you want serious yardage, we would recommend a different rod that has a bit more whip. This rod really delivers on backbone and of course sensitivity but is also light and easy to use. This is the one to take fishing all day long as you will not get tired.

Specifications:

• SCII graphite rod blank
• Kigan master 3D guides
• Fuji ECS reel seat

---

2. Ugly Stik Elite

This rod is a great price, first off. You can’t beat it. The quality is there too.

The graphite construction is durable but is lightweight and will have you feeling everything, from a bite to a small nibble. The guides are of strong stainless steel, and they are ever so durable and also eliminate insert pop-outs.

The reel seats are made with cushioned stainless-steel hoods and are blank style. The cork grips feel good and they also have the Ugly Stik logo emblazoned on them, a nice touch.

We liked how lightweight this rod was. It also has a very fast tip. You could use it for bottom fishing like one of our crew members did, or even flipping when you want to catch some bass.

You can do this all day long and the rod won’t tire your arm or hand out. Small fish are a breeze to catch with this fella and we even landed a redfish that measured 30”.

The action is really fast. It might just be one of my top 5 favorite rods. It feels good to hold and even some of the more advanced rods can’t compare to it. The construction is one-piece, and the backbone is super strong. It’s light and is seriously easy as pie to cast. You can tell this rod is designed for bait casters, and the price is at or lower than rods that promise the same outcome.

Freshwater anglers of all walks will really like this, whether you are a novice or a vet. The Ugly Stik is the way to go when you need a careful balance between quality, performance, and pricing.

Certainly, these are not top-level rods, but they are not junk either. Heaven forbid you lose the rod on accident; you won’t be out heaps of cash.

Specifications:

• Ugly Stik Clear Tip
• Ugly Tuff one piece stainless steel guides
• Lightweight graphite rods with great sensitivity

---

3. Dobyns Rods Fury Series Casting Rod

Anglers need rods that are sensitive, strong, lightweight and of course balanced. These have everything you want and more in a rod.

There is a high modulus graphite blank, Kevlar wrapped guides, so nothing gets tangled or out of place, AA grade cork grip, and a Fuji reel seat. The Dobyns casting rod is going to make you the envy of all the others.

This rod has super action and is very pleasant to hold. It is light and made very well as we have come to expect from the Dobyns brand. We decided to use this rod for shallow spinnerbait work as well as medium depth.

We think the action of this rod is the highlight of them all especially when bringing in the bait and going through the act of setting the hook.

The tip would be the next greatest part of this rod. You can feel every bite, bump, nibble and more with this thing-I even felt a fly land on it. Yeah.

Setting the hook on a bass bite is pretty good with this rod, and it has heaps of backbone so the hooks will dig right into the mouth of the bass but still remain soft enough to let the spinner bait not get pulled out or stick to something you might be pulling it around (like a part of a dock).

One thing I would like to note is that the reel seat threads are pretty darn short. The screw never did come off while we were trying it out, but it is obvious how short those threads and reel seat are. However, this rod is great, and we do recommend it if you need a casting rod at a good price.

Specifications:

• High modulus blanks
• Fuji reel seat
• Kevlar wrapped guides

---

4. Wright and McGill Skeet Reese Spinner Bait

This Wright and McGilll rod is made just for spinner bait and worm fishing. 

It was created by Skeet Reese, a Bassmaster Classic Champ and Bass Angler of the year. The 7-foot graphite rod’s construction is pretty simple, but it works.

We will start off by saying that the zirconium micro guides reduce the overall weight and make that cast go even further. That was the thing we noticed the most about this particular rod-that and the supreme sensitivity this rod possesses. You can feel the quality right in your hand.

The S-curve blank construction means business. The lifting power and strength of this rod will blow you and your target right out of the water. The butt is pretty big and durable. The molded rubber handles feel good on the hands and will guide you through even the toughest fights.

The rod feels and looks great; the yellow and black design is a sharp one. It is not as stiff as some other rods we’ve tried out in the past. We put a Lews reel on ours for testing, and it fit well with the reel seat. We cast it out and were impressed, even worked a spinner bait all the way back to the boat.

For our purpose we used Finesse spinner baits weighing in at 3/16 oz all the way up to a half oz and found this rod to be just perfect for this application. The balance is great, and even though stiffer rods may be better they can sometimes load up too fast, from our experience.

The only thing you are going to have to deal with is stopping yourself from buying more and more tackle to go with this rod.

Specifications:

• Zirconium guides
• S-Curve construction
• Split handles

---

5. Ardent Denny Brauer Pro Series

If your goal is to make those fish nervous, this is the rod to do it. Denny Brauer is back at it again with a quality rod that is beautiful to look at as well as to use.

These are made with IM8 Graphite and also features aluminum oxide line guides. The rod is a slick blue and looks as good as it works.

The cork split grips make this a real pleasure to hold in your hand and the Fuji reel seat keeps things just where you want them. The rod is sensitive, has a great backbone, and is of course comfortable.

We decided to test this out using larger size spinnerbaits as well as some small umbrella rigs. It held up pretty well as we tried it out. We put on a Daiwa Tatula reel and found the rod was still balanced and easy to manage. It was a real pleasure to use.

To give you some reference our tester is about 5 foot 6 and weighs in at about 140 lbs., and even though it is a pretty solid rod (read: not the lightest) he still managed with relative ease.

One thing we noted about this rod is that the guides are placed just a wee bit to the right of the reel seat than what we would have preferred, and you can certainly feel this in the performance of the rod, especially if  you are casting to a nearby fish.

All in all, this is a pretty good rod for the money. It could even double as a pretty good swimbait rod.

Specifications:

• IM8 graphite rod blank
• Pac Bay reel seat
• Aluminum oxide Fuji guides

---

6. G. Loomis IMX-PRO

This is one of those “bucket list” rods as I call them. This rod comes at a real premium, but you will soon see why.

The components of this sleek black rod are suited for serious tournament anglers that demand the highest in performance and technique.

The ever so subtly tapered rear grips give you the feeling of a split grip but provides the comfort of a full one. The line guides are Fuji Alconite Rings and eliminate tangles. The reel seats are of course top-quality Fuji ECS. It works best with lures weighing in at 3/ 8 oz up to .5 oz and works best with 10-17 lb. line.

You can always tell G. Loomis is innovating, and the quick load, fast reaction and ultra-sensitivity of this rod are the greatest of all time. The high modulus graphite is the reason why and the high-tech material they use brings the weight down by as much as 18% compared to other G. Loomis models.

The strategically placed scrim placement during the building of the blank was no accident, it’s the way that better tapers can be achieved and thus give serious fishermen the flex and power they need to use jigs, soft plastics and other bottom-fishing tools.

This rod delivers the greatest in lure and line control, not to mention serious enjoyment of fishing.

We find that these fishes up the big bass with relative ease. Even if those fish are in heavy cover, they cannot hide from you. Any fights you encounter with these fellas will be easily won because this rod is flexible.

You can hold onto the cork handle all day long with no concerns and the lightweight nature of the rod means your arms aren’t going to be tired from the day’s work.

Specifications:

• Fuji Alconite Ring guides
• Fuji ECS reel seat

---

Spinnerbait Rods

A dedicated spinnerbait rod should form part of your core rod selection.

Technique specific bass rods exist for a reason and that reason is that the work best for the given style of fishing or lure.

Is it possible to buy a good spinnerbait rod under 100 ?

Yes it sure is, there are lots of high end brands that can fit all of the attributes of what makes a good spinner bait pole but you really do not need to spend a fortune.

Use the following ranges as a guide for choosing a the best rod for spinnerbaits:

• Type – casting rod, occasionally a spinning rod for very small lures
• Length – Anywhere from 6′ to 7’3″ in length, but the sweet spot is between 6’6 and 7′
• Action – fast action all the way
• Power – medium to medium/heavy

The majority of spinnerbait poles will be made from graphite or some kind of graphite carbon blend.

E-glass poles will not have the sensitivity you are looking for.

Type

Spinnerbait rods will generally be baitcasting rods although you can use a spinning setup if you are using smaller lighter spinnerbaits.

But for a most part the majority of anglers will usually choose a casting outfit as the best rod for spinnerbaits.

In an ideal world you really only would need on one rod for every kind of lure, but alas no such rod exists.

The best spinnerbaits for bass will be of a size that requires a rod and reel combo that can handle up to four large Colorado blades spinning which creates a lot of drag.

A baitcasting rod and baitcaster reel are going to be your best bet for casting spinnerbaits all day long.

Having the ability to stop your lure with pin point accuracy by applying some thumb pressure on the spool is the best way to work a spinnerbait around or near the structures where you think bass will be hiding.

Length

When fishing with spinner baits you need a pole that is long enough to give a decent casting distance and yet can allow you to fish in tighter places if you are pitching up lose to a specific area.

Poles for spinnerbait fishing will mostly lie in the 6’6″ to 7 feet range. This is generally considered the best length rod for spinnerbaits.

A good rod for 1/4 ounce up to about 3/8 ounce spinnerbaits will be the 6’6″ with a medium to heavy power rating.

If you are throwing larger lures of 3/4 ounce to 1 ounce then you can opt for the longer 7′ rod with medium/heavy power rating.

The shorter will generally give you better feedback and will be much better when working at short distance from your boat.

A longer rod does get a better casting distance and it is usually more suitable for larger lures as it will have a bit more backbone to it.

Action

The action that a rod has is used to describe how and where exactly on the rod blank the natural bend starts to happen when the line is weighted.

The rating will usually fall some where between slow, moderate and fast. There are however a lot of crossover actions such as slow/moderate.

A fast action rod will have it’s bend start considerably higher up the rod blank than a slow action.

These types of rods have much greater sensitivity. The fisherman can get a lot more detailed feedback through the rod and handle than on a slow action rod.

Slow action rods start to bend down in the bottom one third of the rod blank nearer to the reel seat.

The slower action rod blank will generally be less sensitive but will will have the ability to cast further than a fast action.

It can also make slower softer hook-sets than a fast action. The best spinnerbait rods will have a fast action.

Power

The correct power for a spinner bait rod will be a medium to medium/heavy rating. You’ll need a rod that has enough power to set the hook and still be light enough to be able to feel the fish hot the bait.

Once those blades start spinning on the retrieve you do need a bit of backbone in your rod so a light or medium light power is rarely used for spinner baits.

It is because of the fact that a lot of spinnerbaits are heavy and the drag that they create when moving through the water from both the blade and the skirt that you will need a medium power as a minimum.