These 3 rod-and-reel combos will catch almost any fish in Canada

Imagine Tiger Woods or Brooke Henderson showing up at a golf tournament with just one club. That’s as preposterous as thinking you can cover any fishing scenario with just one rod-and-reel combo. Selected judiciously, more is always better, which is why I always keep at least a dozen set-ups at the ready in my boat’s storage locker. If I were forced to pare down to just three spinning outfits, though, I would definitely keep these three combos on board…

#1  FINESSE PITCHER

The first outfit is a 7′ 4″ to 7′ 6″ medium-light-action rod and a 2500 series reel spooled with four- to eight-pound gel-spun line. It handles all my finesse presentations, such as marabou jigs and Ned rigs, for bass, walleye, crappies, perch and trout. I can cast any light finesse lure a country mile with this set-up, and because of the needle-sharp, light-wire hooks, I can achieve surgeon-like hooksets by simply lifting the rod to tighten the line. Since the rod bends lithely, never springing back or recovering too quickly when fighting a fish, I also recommend this set-up for drop-shotting.