Soft Bait Fishing Combos
The ability to perfectly pair the rod & reel to ensure it is fit for purpose requires some know-how. A few things to consider include line weight, rod weight, rod action, cast weight & more. This is where we come in. Each year our expert team sit down with the best in the industry and maps out our hand-selected combo programme. Our goal; provide you with the most comprehensive range of combos for each application at a range of price points.
When it comes to soft bait combos we take additional care & responsibility to ensure each reel is perfectly matched with the appropriate rod. Not only is this important with it comes to performance & balance but we consider all aspects of product warranties. We like to look at soft bait combos in four primary categories – Ultra Light, Light, Medium & Heavy. Each weight class has its characteristics therefore it’s important to appropriately match heavier rods with the correct reels.
As soft bait enthusiasts, we don’t settle on a combo offering set by a global catalogue. We have taken the extra time to apply our experience in every way we can to build a combo offering you can trust. A great place to learn more about the art of soft bait fishing is over on our buying guides page where we deep dive into new products, product categories and plenty of forms of fishing. Check out this great read on the ultimate buying guide for soft bait lures in NZ!
When selecting the perfect soft bait combo, there are a few things we encourage you to consider. As mentioned above, we often break out soft bait combos into four main categories. Let’s run through them together.
- Ultra Light Soft Bait Combos: You may have heard of the newly found craze of micro-baiting. This form of soft baiting is simply a down-size in equipment including reels, line, leader, jig head & of course your fishing rod. We would consider anything in the 2-4kg class, ultra-light and this is a great way to target snapper during the anchovy season along with making a sport out of smaller model snapper.
- Light Soft Bait Combos: A perfect option for the angler who likes to enjoy the fight a little more than most. These 4-6kg rods are also great options for both salt & freshwater crossovers. Still powerful enough to harness a solid snapper but light enough to enjoy the fight of a good-sized trout.
- Medium Soft Bait Combos: In our opinion if you are going to have one soft bait combo, a medium weight set is the best all-round option. By definition, a medium-weight rod would be 4-8kg & consist of a 3000 or 4000 size spinning reel. Most commonly, your rod would be either 7ft 6 or 7ft 10 in length. In recent times we have seen the market shift towards the longer rod alternative which provides several key benefits. When looking for combos, ensure you use our size filters to easily narrow your search.
- Heavy Soft Bait Combos: This is our favourite group of soft bait setups. Mainly because we are hell-bent on chasing XOS Snapper on soft baits in shallow water. What does this mean? We are going to need some stopping power! Generally paired with a 4000-size spinning reel these 6-10kg combos are perfect for when you are fishing shallow or in tough terrain. Lock up your drags & hold on – we have you covered with some sets you can lean on.
Although we do all we can to build the perfect combo offering, we appreciate that sometimes you would prefer to purchase in individual units. Or more than likely you have either the rod or reel but just require the other. Check out our full range of individual rods & reels below. Don’t forget to use our filters on the left-hand side of the page which is a great way to narrow your search.
- Soft Bait Reels: Although baitcasting reels are often used for soft bait fishing, here in NZ spinning reels are still the most popular for conventional soft baiting. At Land & Sea we stock NZ’s best range of both spinning reels and bait caster reels. Our selection of Shimano Spin Reels, Daiwa Spin Reels, Okuma Bait casters & Penn Spin reels provides you with all the options you will ever need. If you’re looking for a full rundown on fishing reels check out our buying guide here for everything you need to know about buying a fishing reel in NZ.
- Soft Bait Rods: Matching the right soft bait rod with your new reel can be tough & there are a few things to consider. As mentioned above it is important to match the weight of your rod with your selected line & ultimately your reel. Our team have taken a lot of the thought process out of it and pulled together a buying guide on the best rods in NZ. Check out the full article here.
Now you can only get so far with a rod & a reel but I’m glad we could help point you in the right direction. There are a few other items that we recommend pairing with your soft bait combos so let’s run through a few of them.
For those who are interested in more than soft bait fishing, we have some great buying guides to check out. Here is a list we have pulled together for you:
Why shop at Land & Sea
For too long the fishing industry has been an old boys club that thrives on what we call a ‘Spot X’ mentality. Information flowed from the mouths of shop staff only to those who were in the know or part of the club. We don’t believe in old boys clubs! We don’t withhold information & knowledge from anyone wanting to participate in the greatest recreational activity our country has to offer. Land & Sea vows to open the book on how-to’s, share everything we know about the outdoors & inspire a generation of Kiwi’s! Our team work tirelessly to build buying guides to educate our valued customers to make informed purchasing decisions. Our buying team work closely with the world’s biggest brands such as
Shimano,
Daiwa,
Penn,
Okuma,
Accurate & more. We are committed to your next adventure, not our own.
