The end of the year signals a time for people to reflect and look forward to what's to come. For the bass angler, that usually ends up looking back at the good trips of the year and it's also a time to start planning for the next season, whether you are a tournament angler or not. Bassmaster Elite Series pro Scott Canterbury is doing that now and recently posted on social media about some of his top setups from the past season.
His arsenal includes seven rods that got the bulk of the action during the year, all part of his signature series with Halo rods. He used these rods for various techniques across the country and all he had to do was change up his baits and swap out line as needed.
6'10" Medium Heavy Casting
This shorter rod gets plenty of work for Canterbury when fishing jerkbaits and small topwaters like poppers. It also doubles as an excellent squarebill rod.
"The rod fishes all of those baits really well and does a lot of things for me," he said. "When fishing a small topwater like a popper, I use 17 or 20-pound P-Line Topwater High-Performance copolymer. It's a monofilament and casts and performs great."
When fishing squarebills around shallow cover, the shorter length of this rod helps him make tight casts to targets and not worry about overhanging trees and other objects.
"I used this rod at our tournament in Knoxville and caught just about every one of my fish with it," he said. "I used to be a monofilament guy for shallow crankbaits but have switched to 15-pound P-Line Tactical. It has a touch of stretch, which I like, and casts great."
7' Medium Heavy Cranking Rod
This all-around crankbait rod is what Canterbury uses for all crankbaits that dive less than about 12-feet deep.
"You can throw a bunch of different baits on it and all I'll do is adjust the line size," he said. "It may be 8-pound Tactical fluorocarbon with small baits and when I want a bait to dive deeper. I'll also go up to 12-pound, which is a great cranking size in general."
7' Medium Heavy Casting Rod
This size and power is one of the most popular in all of bass fishing and you can do plenty of techniques with a rod like this.
"You can use that for so many techniques and the line size for each of them varies so much," he said. "It could be ten to 20-pound fluorocarbon or braided line and the rod will handle it all."
One of his top uses for this rod is for walking topwater baits and he prefers braid for them.
"A good, thin braid like 40-pound TCB 8 is a good choice and you'll get great casting distance with it," he said.
7'3" Extra Medium Heavy Casting Rod
Moving up in size and power is another of the 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year's favorite rods. He says it is nearly as versatile as the previous one.
"It does a lot of things well, but it's a perfect ChatterBait rod," he said. "I've never been a fan of using a glass rod for them like some guys do, and I want a little more power. I like to fish them on 17 or 20-pound P-Line Tactical fluorocarbon. It also makes an excellent buzzbait rod and I like to use braid for that and go with 40-pound TCB 8."
7'6" Extra Medium Heavy Casting Rod
Canterbury can do it all, but he's deadly with a swim jig and he designed a rod specifically for it. He's also a fan of using braided line for these baits.
"I'll swim a jig with 50 or 65-pound TCB 8 braid," he said. "The rod is great for swim jigs but it is also very good for throwing a big worm, and I'll be using 15 to 20-pound Tactical fluorocarbon for that."
7'5" Heavy Casting Rod
Next up is Canterbury's rod for flipping and pitching jigs and soft plastics. He says it is ideal for anything less than ¾-ounce.
"I don't fish that rod around grass too much, but it is perfect for flipping laydowns, wood, and docks," he said. "For those techniques, I like the original P-Line 100% fluorocarbon because it has less stretch and a little more abrasion resistance."
6'10 Medium Heavy Spinning Rod
The final of Canterbury's signature series of rods is a versatile spinning rod that can do many things. He's a fan of braid to fluorocarbon for his spinning needs.
"The new Spin-X braid and fluorocarbon are great because it has small diameters and the right sizes," he said. "Most of the time, I am using 12-pound braid and like leaders that are between 7 and 13-pound depending on the technique and cover."
As Scott Canterbury ran through his top setups for the Year, he said a handful of rods would be enough to cover just about any fishing situation. "Those rods can do just about everything besides deep cranking," he concluded.
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