Bass Fishing Rods: The Six to Own, in the Order to Buy Them

An angler sits on a pedestal seat in an aluminum bass boat on a misty lake at sunrise, his rod held out over the water, dead tree stumps standing in the fog behind him — Photo: Cdwarren01, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Our picks at a glance

Best under $100Fenwick Eagle Bass Casting
Eighteen casting models at $99.95 each, from a 6 ft 6 in medium-heavy to a 7 ft 5 in extra-heavy, with the 7 ft MH fast, the 7 ft 1 in medium moderate-fast and the 7 ft 3 in heavy fast of this buying order.
Best under $100 with glassDaiwa Tatula XT
Sixteen models at $99.99, two of them 7 ft glass casting rods. In Outdoor Life, Kristine Fischer lists the Tatula XT casting rod for the 7 ft medium-heavy fast, and Derek Horner picks the glass medium-heavy for chatterbaits.
A technique name on every rodSt. Croix Mojo Bass
Twenty-one SCIII graphite models at $180–205, each named for its job, from the 6 ft 8 in Jerkbaits to the 7 ft 6 in Flip'N, with a 5-year warranty. Owners rate the series 4.1 of 5 from 128 reviews.
Made in Park Falls, 15-year warrantySt. Croix Victory
Twenty-two SCIII+ models at $210–295, built in Park Falls, Wisconsin, with a 15-year warranty. The 7 ft 3 in medium extra-fast spinning VTS73MXF was Pete Robbins's best overall spinning rod in Outdoor Life.
Toughest under $100Ugly Stik Carbon Casting and Spinning
100% 24-ton graphite at $99.95, six casting models to a 7 ft 6 in heavy and ten spinning, with Ugly Stik's 10-year rod warranty; fewer technique options than the Fenwick or the Daiwa.

The first bass fishing pole to buy is a 7 ft medium-heavy fast casting rod. It throws jigs, Texas rigs, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, and Outdoor Life’s Kristine Fischer calls it “your bread and butter.” Then add a softer rod for treble-hook lures, a spinning rod for finesse, and a heavy rod for flipping and frogs, in that order. The order below is built from the advice of named pros and the makers’ own model charts; the rods were not fished for this page.

Bass Pro’s Robert Robbins on crankbaits: “the heavy action will tear the treble hooks out of the fish.” That is why the second bass rod is softer than the first.

Which rod first, for which angler?

You are new to baitcasters. Buy the 7 ft medium-heavy fast casting rod first, ideally as part of a baitcaster combo with a reel you can learn on. Abu Garcia’s Max X combo, at $84.99, pairs a reel with a 7 ft medium-heavy rod. Skip it if you have never fished before; a beginner’s 7 ft medium spinning combo is easier to start with.

You fish clear water or pressured lakes. Move the spinning rod up to second place. Drop shots and Ned rigs catch bass where heavy lures do not, and a spinning rod casts them.

You fish grass and wood. Move the heavy flipping rod up to second. Fischer’s own caution: anglers who fish big fish in heavy cover or slop should consider a longer, heavier rod, a 7 ft 6 in heavy or extra-heavy.

The six rods, in the order to buy them

Each step gives the rod, what it throws and why, then a model in a $100 series and one in St. Croix’s Mojo Bass. Model codes are the makers’ own: on a St. Croix, JOC71MHF reads as Mojo casting, 7 ft 1 in, medium-heavy, fast.

Six bass rods in buying order on a length scale from 6 ft 6 in to 7 ft 8 in, with the length of each $100 and Mojo Bass model named for the step: the models for rods one to three run 7 ft to 7 ft 3 in, the heavy rod 7 ft 3 in to 7 ft 6 in, the cranking rod 7 ft to 7 ft 5 in and the jerkbait rod 6 ft 8 in to 6 ft 10 in

7 ft medium-heavy, fast, casting. Jigs, Texas rigs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, weightless plastics and buzzbaits; a frog in a pinch. Robbins’s first rod is for single-hook lures and “should be as heavy action as you can comfortably use.” At $100: Fenwick Eagle Bass 7 ft MH fast, or Daiwa Tatula XT 701MHFB. At $190: St. Croix Mojo Bass JOC71MHF, which St. Croix names “All-In.”
7 ft medium, moderate-fast, casting. Crankbaits, jerkbaits and treble-hook topwaters, plus spinnerbaits in open water. Fischer: the softer rod “will absorb the shock better to help keep those fish pinned.” At $100: Fenwick Eagle Bass 7 ft 1 in medium moderate-fast, or the Tatula XT glass 701MRB-G. At $185: St. Croix Mojo Bass Glass JOC72MM.
7 ft medium, extra-fast, spinning. Drop shots, Ned rigs, shaky heads, weightless plastics and small tubes. Fischer’s third rod; the extra-fast tip casts light baits farther into the wind. At $100: Fenwick Eagle Bass 7 ft 1 in medium spinning, Ugly Stik Carbon 7 ft medium spinning (fast), or Daiwa’s Tatula XT 7 ft medium spinning rod (fast). At $190: Mojo Bass JOS73MXF, 7 ft 3 in. The spinning rod page explains the guides and the reel.
7 ft 3 in to 7 ft 6 in, heavy, fast, casting. Flipping, pitching, punching mats and frogs on 50–65 lb braid. Length and power give the leverage to move a big fish out of cover. At $100: Fenwick Eagle Bass 7 ft 3 in heavy fast, or Tatula XT 731HFB. At $205: Mojo Bass JOC74HF “Slop-N-Frog,” or, in a moderate-fast action, JOC76HMF “Flip’N,” rated 3/8–2 oz.
7 ft to 7 ft 5 in, medium-heavy, moderate, casting. Deep crankbaits and lipless crankbaits ripped through grass. A moderate rod loads with a big diver and keeps trebles in a fish on a long cast. At $100: Fenwick Eagle Bass 7 ft 5 in MH moderate-fast, or the 7 ft Tatula XT glass 701MHRB-G. At $195: Mojo Bass JOC72MHM, the “Carbon Cranker.”
6 ft 8 in to 6 ft 10 in, medium, fast or extra-fast, casting. Jerkbaits and walking topwaters, worked with the rod tip down. Wired2Fish’s Sam Hudson: “Use a shorter rod for techniques where you need to jerk the rod tip downward like a jerkbait or a topwater lure.” At $100: Fenwick Eagle Bass 6 ft 10 in medium fast. It is rated only to 3/8 oz; for heavier jerkbaits, Fenwick’s 6 ft 6 in medium-heavy extra-fast is rated to 5/8 oz. At $185: Mojo Bass JOC68MXF, named “Jerkbaits.”

Rods one to three are the three-rod start Fischer gives in Outdoor Life (her text labels that first rod spinning; the models she lists under it are casting rods); Robbins’s two-rod start is rods one and two. Pro anglers carry far more. Fischer counts “20 to 25 rods on the decks” of many pros’ boats, and most of those pros are sponsored.

What matters, and what does not

Power and action first

Power is how much force bends the rod; action is where it bends. The working rule, as Outdoor Life’s guide puts it: fast for single hooks that need a hard hookset, moderate for treble hooks that need a cushion. Fischer adds a warning: powers and actions are not the same from one maker to the next, so a medium-heavy from one can be a medium from another. The rods hub has the power chart.

Three rods pulled down by the same weight: a fast rod that bends only in its top third, a moderate rod that bends from the middle, and a slow rod that bends in one curve from the handle to the tip

What length bass rod?

Length comes second. The six rods above run 6 ft 8 in to 7 ft 6 in, and Robbins “wouldn’t go shorter than a 6-foot rod and would prefer you use 6.6- to 7-foot rod.” Longer rods cast farther and move more line on a hookset. Shorter rods are easier for skipping under docks and for downward jerks. Bait finesse (BFS) casting rods for light lures run shorter and lighter. St. Croix’s two Mojo Bass BFS models are 6 ft 10 in and 7 ft 1 in medium-light. Daiwa’s Tatula XT bait finesse rods are 6 ft 5 in light.

Glass for some jobs

A fiberglass or composite blank bends deeper and slower. Derek Horner, in Outdoor Life, picks a medium-heavy glass rod for chatterbaits for its “more moderate feel,” keeping the backbone for a thick hook while still feeling the thump.

Price, less than you fear

Two $100 series in the table, Fenwick’s Eagle Bass and Daiwa’s Tatula XT, each have a close match for rods one to four. The best spinning rod for bass under $100 in the table is Fenwick’s Eagle Bass EGLB71M-XFS at $99.95. It is the only $100 spinning model here with Fischer’s extra-fast tip on a 7 ft medium. The step to $200 buys higher-grade graphite (St. Croix’s SCIII on the Mojo Bass against SCII on the Bass X) and, at St. Croix, longer warranties: Victory and the Legend series, built in Park Falls, carry 15 years.

Eleven bass rod series compared

Prices are the makers’ list prices on October 17, 2026; owner scores were read again on October 30. “Models” counts the lengths, powers and actions on the maker’s chart.

Series	Price	Models	Blank, warranty	Named pick or owner score
Abu Garcia Vendetta casting	$94.95	11 casting, 6 ft 6 in–7 ft 6 in (2–2.3 m)	Graphite	None found
Fenwick Eagle Bass	$99.95	18 casting, 8 spinning	Graphite	None found
Ugly Stik Carbon	$99.95	6 casting, 10 spinning	100% 24-ton graphite; 10-yr warranty	None found
Daiwa Tatula XT	$99.99	16, two of them glass	Graphite; glass on two	Kristine Fischer, Outdoor Life: 7 ft MH fast rod; Derek Horner: chatterbait rod (glass)
St. Croix Bass X	$135–165	14	SCII graphite	Owners: 3.1 of 5 from 90
Fenwick HMG Bass	$169.95–179.95	21 casting, 8 spinning	Graphite	Pete Robbins, Outdoor Life: budget casting rod at Bass Pro
Daiwa Tatula	$179.99	23	Graphite, cork	None found
St. Croix Mojo Bass	$180–205	21	SCIII graphite; 5-yr warranty	Owners: 4.1 of 5 from 128
St. Croix Victory	$210–295	22	SCIII+, Park Falls; 15-yr warranty	Pete Robbins: best overall spinning rod (VTS73MXF)
St. Croix Legend Tournament Bass	$320–370	22	SCIV+, Park Falls; 15-yr warranty	Owners: 4.6 of 5 from 93
Fenwick World Class Bass	$519.95–559.95	20 casting, 9 spinning	Graphite	Sam Hudson, Wired2Fish: best crossover spinning rod

The picks in detail

Fenwick Eagle Bass, $99.95

The broadest chart at $100: 18 casting models from a 6 ft 6 in medium-heavy extra-fast to a 7 ft 5 in extra-heavy fast, and eight spinning models. It has a model for every step, the 7 ft 1 in medium spinning rod for step three included, and two casting models come in two pieces. Above it in Fenwick’s line sit the HMG Bass at $169.95–179.95, Pete Robbins’s budget casting pick at Bass Pro, and the Elite Bass at $279.95–299.95.

Daiwa Tatula XT, $99.99

Sixteen models at one price, and the only $100 series here with glass: a 7 ft medium for crankbaits and a 7 ft medium-heavy that Horner uses for chatterbaits. Fischer names the Tatula XT casting rod among her picks for rod one, the 7 ft medium-heavy fast. The code reads like St. Croix’s: 701MHFB is 7 ft 0 in, one piece, medium-heavy, fast, baitcast; Daiwa’s chart lists the two glass casting rods as 701MRB-G and 701MHRB-G. The step up is the Tatula at $179.99, with 23 models and cork grips.

St. Croix Mojo Bass, $180–205

Each of the 21 models carries a technique name on St. Croix’s page, which makes the buying order easy to follow: All-In, Carbon Cranker, Slop-N-Frog, Flip’N, Jerkbaits. The blank is SCIII graphite, built in St. Croix’s North American plants, with a 5-year warranty. Owners rate the series 4.1 of 5 from 128 reviews.

St. Croix Victory, $210–295

St. Croix’s least expensive series with a 15-year warranty, built in Park Falls, Wisconsin. Its 22 models include the 7 ft 3 in medium extra-fast spinning rod, the VTS73MXF, that Pete Robbins named the best overall spinning rod in Outdoor Life’s test. For rod three in the buying order, it is the upgrade.

Ugly Stik Carbon, $99.95

All graphite, unlike the glass-and-graphite Ugly Stiks, at $99.95 for every model. Ugly Stik’s 10-year warranty covers defects for the original buyer. The chart is shorter than Fenwick’s or Daiwa’s: six casting rods, with a 7 ft medium-heavy and a 7 ft 6 in heavy, and ten spinning rods. Choose it when you want a $100 rod that is hard to break and need only rods one, three and four.

Which line and reel go on each rod?

Line follows the rod. For Texas rigs on rod one, Matt Allen ties 40 lb braid to a 12–17 lb mono leader. For jigs he goes to 50 lb braid and 15–20 lb mono. The crankbait rods take straight 12 lb fluorocarbon; rod three 10 lb braid to a 6–8 lb fluorocarbon leader; rod four 50–65 lb braid with no leader. The best fishing line for bass page matches each lure to a line. On the casting rods, the baitcaster page’s gear-ratio table applies: 7:1 and faster for jigs, worms and frogs, slower for crankbaits. The spinning rod takes a 2500 or 3000 reel. Where each rod earns its place over a year of bass fishing is on the bass hub.

How we chose

The buying order starts from Fischer’s three rods and Robbins’s two. It is extended to six with the rods the pros in the sources give their own techniques. Each step was then matched to a model on the makers’ own charts at two prices. Prices, model counts and warranties are from those charts on October 17, 2026; owner scores were read again on October 30. No rod was fished for this page.