The simplest rod-and-reel option, if you simply need something to fish with, is a combo, especially if you’re traveling and just want to be able to jump on a fishing opportunity should it present itself. Buying a rod and reel combo is convenient, but it can also save you money — most combos will pair a good rod with a decent reel, or vice versa, but the set will almost always be cheaper than buying the rod and reel separately.
We got hands-on with as many combos as we could, including a sampling from companies that specialize in combos, as well as single offerings from other companies — plus we polled a group of anglers to get their top choices. From all that, we’ve identified the top performer in each category and within any budget:
Our Picks for the Best Rod and Reel Combos
- Best Overall Spinning Combo – St. Croix GXR Combo
- Best Value Spinning Combo – Abu Garcia Max Elite Spinning Combo
- Best Baitcaster Combo – Shimano Caius Combo
- Best Spincast Combo – Zebco Bill Dance Spincast Combo
- Best for Crappies – BnM Poles Godwin Crappie Combo
- Best Workhorse Combo – Lew’s TP2 Baitcast Combo
- Best Catfish Combo – Ugly Stik GLX2 Baitcaster Combo
- Best Crossover Combo – Toadfish Rod and Reel Spinning Combo
- Best Dock Fishing Combo – Proficiency Flash Spinning Combo
- Best Ultralight Combo – Pflueger President Ultralight Spinning Combo
Best Overall Combo
St. Croix GXR Combo
The 2025 top overall choice rod-and-reel combo is the St. Croix GXR: a high-performance finesse combo for serious anglers. This is a very smooth and solid combo on all fronts built around a lightweight and sensitive carbon-fiber SCII blank, each rod is cured using St. Croix’s Fortified Resin System. This gives it a lightweight strength and results in a rod that won’t twist and stays in line during your casts and fights.
There are three options for the rod including a 6-foot, 10-inch medium-light, a 7-foot, 1-inch medium, or a 7-foot, 1-inch medium-heavy to cover all bass-fishing bases.
All three rod options come with a 3000-size, 8-bearing Seviin reel with a retrieve speed of 5.1:1 and a weight of 8.7 ounces.
Best Baitcaster Combo
Shimano Caius
The Shimano Caius combo features a lightweight, 4-bearing, 7.2:1 Caius baitcasting reel paired with a 7-foot, medium-heavy rod. Even for a 4-bearing reel, this combo casts very nicely and the rod has a nice feel on the cast and the retrieve. It’s a powerful one-piece combo that offers EVA grips and good performance.
This is a solid, no-nonsense combo. For folks that like to just buy a simple and ready to go combo for baitcasting, this is a good option at that middle to lower price point. For more info, read our hands on review.
Best Workhorse Combo
Lew’s TP2 Baitcast Combo
Lew’s TP2 Baitcast Reel is a graphite 7+1-bearing reel with a rugged Rulon drag, 95mm anodized aluminum handle with EVA Pro knobs and Combat Grip thumb bar, and a zirconia line guide. Pre-lubed with Lew’s Speed Lube for ultra-smooth operation.
Lew’s TP2 Baitcast Rod that comes in this combo is built on a high-modulus HM45 graphite blank, crafted of a proprietary blend that results in a rod that’s thin, lightweight, and responsive, yet incredibly strong. Stainless steel guides with titanium-oxide provide good casting and the Winn grips make it a comfortable-feeling combo in your hands.
These are good casting combos but they have really great backbones so you can feel confident they will hold up to whatever fish you hook up with in your travels.
Best for Crappies
BnM Godwin Crappie Combo
This new crappie combo from BnM features a bit of a different approach to casting combos; it’s built to the specs of crappie tournament angler, guide, and TV personality John Godwin of Duck Commander fame. He wanted a casting combo that could throw his light jigs to targets and fish he sees on Live Scope, but he also wanted a super strong backbone that would let him swing 2-pound crappie at a distance.
A light tip combined with silicone carbide guides allows for smooth line-flow for perfectly accurate casts. I will admit, it took me a minute to get used to how this rod performs because it’s built strong like a long jigging rod, but with a tip that can cast light 1/32-ounce jigs. That combo is very unique, and ultra beneficial to crappie anglers who like to cast and retrieve jigs.
The 2000-series reel features 5 bearings and a 5.2:1 gear ratio. The rod is a 7-foot, 6-inch, medium-light model, but I swung several 2-pound crappie on it in my testing.
Best Value Spinning Combo
Abu Garcia Max Elite Spinning Combo
The Max Elite combo features an incredibly compact and lightweight asymmetric C6 carbon-frame reel with smooth performance on 9+1 stainless steel bearings. A smooth Carbon Matrix drag system provides consistent pressure, while the Rocket Line Management system ensures superior line management.
Paired with a lightweight and sensitive 30-ton carbon blank and a custom reel seat, this is a very comfortable and affordable, but high performing, combo.
Best Spincast Combo
Zebco Bill Dance Spincast Combo
This foolproof combo is made for quick fishing and fun catches at an affordable price. It’s a simple spincast setup, and of course, Zebco is the name in spincast fishing reels. This is a 2+1 bearing reel on a 6-foot medium 2-piece rod. It’s a great travel rod for bass, catfish, panfish and trout.
The reel comes pre-spooled with 10-pound monofilament and features an instant anti-reverse clutch. The cover is stainless steel making it a perfect throw-and-go rod. And for $49, you can get fishing fast and on a budget.
These are super popular with folks that come fish here at Kentucky Lake and we recommend them to other folks looking for budget-priced, easy-casting rods for new anglers and anglers who like to keep things as low key and simple as possible.
Best High-End Baitcaster Combo
Lew’s Mach Jacked Baitcaster Combo
After offering a great combo for serious anglers who prefer to just buy all-in-one-packages, Mach stepped it up again with the Mach Jacked series of baitcast combos. These combos feature a 10-bearing reel, with tons of stopping power on the drag. The come in three options from 6-foot, 10-inch length up to 7-foot, 3-inch length. They feature Winn Ultra material on the reel grips and rod handles with premium guides on the rods.
These combos are manufactured to offer premium performance at a price cheaper than putting together a high end rod and a high end reel. So if you’re ultra serious about bass fishing, and just want a few combos, this is a great high quality option. Like I’ve said before, when you buy combos usually you are sacrificing somewhere. But that’s not the case with these. These combos fish like high end Lew’s rods and reels in one much more affordable package. Arguably one of the best tournament ready combos available anywhere.
Best High-End Spinning Combo
Lew’s Mach Jacked Spinning Combo
The same goes for the spinning rod in the Mach Jacked Series. A premium reel paired with a premium rod give anglers high end tournament performance in a combo offering. The spinning reel features 10-bearings with a silky smooth drag not often found on combos. The rod has high end guides, custom Winn Ultra grips and 3 rod lengths to fit all of the spinning rod applications for bass fishing from 6-foot, 10-inch ML Rod to a 7-foot, 2-inch medium rod. These are high end combos built for serious anglers.
Best Catfish Combo
Ugly Stik GX2 Baitcaster Combo
The Ugly Stik combos have stood the test of time. Most of my childhood was spent defying the odds with a couple of Ugly Stiks. Now with the GX2 combos, you get a little more refinement and performance with the same great fiberglass and graphite blends to make nearly indestructible gear. The GX2 6-foot, 6-inch medium combo is a great rod for getaways, camping trips, and more. It’s durable and the performance can handle decent sized channel cats. It works for some bass fishing applications all though the 1 bearing reel is not really smooth enough for more sensitive techniques. But the stainless steel guides make this a great throw it in the bed of your truck and go rod. And at a price point of $59 you can hardly go wrong if a no nonsense durable rod is more your liking.
Best Dock Fishing Combo
Proficiency Flash Spinning Combo
This bright combo is perfect for fishing under the shade of docks. If your an angler that likes to fish off the dock or walk the creek or the bank, this is a great rod and reel combo for that. It features a lot of nice features like a 6-foot, 6-inch medium IM7 graphite blank, stainless steel guides with aluminum oxide inserts, and premium cork split grip handles. The reel is a 2000 series with a fast 6.2:1 gear ratio and smooth 11 bearing system, all powered by an aluminum handle with a comfortable cork knob. It’s a lot of performance and we found the combo to be pretty tough too. So you can bang it around on the bank and dock and not worry with it giving on ya. A lot of high end features packed into a bright combo that holds up to a lot of abuse.
Best Light Combo
Ugly Stik Carbon Spinning Combo
Made to be as much as 30% lighter than other Ugly Stik options, the Carbon Spinning Combos offer lightweight performance with Ugly Stik durability. These are nice rods for panfishing and light duty bass fishing. A great combo for walking the bank and wading in your favorite creek. With upgraded features and lighter weight, this has quickly become a favorite of Ugly Stik fans. These rods feature 24-ton blanks with solid graphite tips for added sensitivity. They are said to be 50% stronger than most other rods and 30% lighter than other Ugly Stik Rods. So these are focused on bringing that Ugly Stik performance to a little more refined and sensitive option. The reel is an Abu Garcia Black Max baitcaster with 4 bearings and 5:1 gear ratio.
Best Crossover Combo
ToadFish Spinning Rod and Reel Combo
This is the second product we’ve used from ToadFish and I have to say I’m very impressed with their offerings. They reel has a smooth drag, casts well, with fluid quiet operation and the rod is tough as nails. It’s actually made as an inshore rod but I found it can handle a lot of braid ready bass applications and makes a great spinning rod for bank fishing, wading, traveling and more. The rod, reel, reel seat, reel handle and guides all have a very high-end custom feel that makes this a very unique rod and reel combo at a middle of the road price point that would work for a wide variety of fish.
These combos have 30 ton graphite blanks, stainless steel guides, patented reel seat with a 5 bearing reel, IPX5 water sealed system, aluminum body and handle with a carbon rotor. And the spool is braid ready. It’s a sweet combo that I think a lot of people would enjoy.
Best Ultralight Combo
Pflueger President Ultralight Spinning Combo
I’ve been a longtime fan of Pflueger Spinning reels having used them for at least a decade. They just perform and this ultralight combo is a steal of a good deal for panfishing, ultralight fishing, creek fishing, trout fishing and more. A lot of trout guys love this combo because it can throw light baits, handle light line with it’s good drag system and offer a great day of fun fishing with light line. It’s a heck of a fun combo. Pflueger has always made great spinning reels and this combo is well worth the money in our minds.
Quantum Optix Ultralight Spinning Combo
The most affordable of all the combos we tested, the Quantum Optix is a nice little combo for barely the cost of two pizzas. You want to go have some fun on a weekend camping or vacation trip, get this little ultralight combo, some Roostertails and some Chatterbait Mini Flashbacks and go to town on trout, bass, crappie, bluegill and more. The 5-foot ultralight rod and 50 size spinning reel is a 2-piece combo that is easily packable. Features 4 guides, and 4 bearing reel for good performance on a budget.
