The Best Crappie Combos of 2025, Tested and Reviewed

Sometimes, agonizing over the perfect reel to pair with a technique-specific rod is fun. Other times, you want to buy a complete setup and go fishing. That’s where a crappie combo comes in handy. It’s a rod, reel, and usually line that’s designed to throw the best crappie lures and get a papermouth to the net. 

I fished six of the best crappie combos while targeting pre- to post-spawn slabs. I tried out each with a variety of lures and techniques to test their strengths and find their hidden talents. Throughout my testing, the Lew’s Crappie Thunder was the best overall because it excelled in a wide variety of techniques. It’s great at shooting docks, pitching to cover, accurately casting jigs, and throwing a float and jig. If you want a rod just for casting a jig, the Crappie Maxx QuickTip was the most accurate combo I tested, and it could throw tiny trout magnets at Road Runners. The Shakespeare Crappie Hunter is the ideal rod for dipping cover and pulls double duty as a vertical jigging rod. If you want a vertical jigging specialist, check out the Mitchell AvoSlap, which has a little more sensitivity and a faster action for jigging.

Best Crappie Combos Comparison 

The Best Crappie Combos: Reviews and Recommendations

Best Overall: Lew’s Crappie Thunder

The Lew’s Crappie Thunder is the crappie combo that can do it all. It shoots docks, accurately casts a jig, and even casts a float and jig. It’s an ideal setup for catching slabs when you need one rod to cover various tasks. 

This combo has a fast action that’s great for making accurate casts, secure hooksets, and detecting subtle bites. I was really impressed at how well this combo worked for dock shooting, which is one of my favorite pre and post-spawn techniques. I easily threw an ⅛-ounce jig 60 feet, which ended up being the key to catching spooky fish in shallow water. 

Best for Casting: Crappie Maxx Quick Tip

Casting is the most fun way to catch crappie, and the Quick Tip is nearly perfect for that technique. A 7-foot rod is the standard for casting, and I prefer that length. Yet, this 6.5-foot rod was the most accurate combo I tested, and it rivaled my premium 7-footers. This is the combo you want for placing a jig right on a piling, stump, or opening in a brush pile. It’s not going to cast as far as a long rod, but it will be just as, if not more, accurate. It’s also an awesome dock shooter and it’s speced out perfectly for that application.

The weak point of the Lew’s combo was its reel, but the Crappie Maxx’s reel is really nice. I had no issues with wind knots or line slipping under the spool. The reel balances very well on the rod, which makes the whole combo a pleasure to fish. 

Best for Dipping Cover: Shakespeare Crappie Hunter 

When you’re dipping cover, you have very little line out, so you need a rod that’s flexible and can absorb a crappie’s initial run. The Crappie Hunter has the perfect action for dipping and is a light, well-balanced combo. The result is a rod that makes your job easier and ultimately puts more fish in the boat. I also like this rod for pitching a float and jig rig for spawning fish. This combo is also available as a 12-foot rod if you want more reach. 

Best for Vertical Jigging: Mitchell AvoSlab

The AvoSlab has a faster action than the Crappie Hunter, which makes it a great rod for vertical jigging submerged brush piles and flooded timber. It has an orange tip so you can easily see the lightest tap. This rod also excels at trolling (pushing or spider rigging), and it would be perfect for shore anglers who need to make longer casts. While this rod isn’t pinpoint accurate, it casts a jig and float/jig very well for a long rod. 

Best for Panfish: Pflueger Monarch 

This rod lacks sensitivity because it has a deep parabolic bend. But that soft action also makes it ideal for fishing light line, treble hooks, and keeping ol’ paper mouth hooked up. I think this is a great rod for catching panfish of all types, so if you like catching bluegill and shellcracker as much as you like crappie, this would be a fantastic set up. It excels at throwing very light lures like a Trout Magnet, larva imitators, and 1/32-ounce hair jigs.

This is a rod I’m stowing away for my son because kids often fight fish with jerky movements and the deep bend in the rod will act like a shock absorber. The shock absorption also made it hard to detect bites. I caught a few fish at the end of long casts and I didn’t even know I had a fish on until the rod loaded up. The good news is those fish were securely hooked and made it to the boat. The reel that comes with this combo is my favorite of the test because it was so smooth and trouble free. 

Bass Pro Extreme STK

• Lure Weight: ⅛ to ½ ounce
• Line Weight: 6 to 12 pounds
• Power: Medium
• Action: Fast 
• $50

This isn’t the perfect crappie combo, but it is a good all-around freshwater rod that could be used for bass, catfish, and crappie. Why isn’t this a good combo for crappie? It’s heavy and not ideal for throwing light lures. But if you’re fishing a float rig or live minnows under a float, this set up would do well. I exclusively fished it with float, and it cast great. When some small bass ate my crappie jig, this rod was more than up to the task of getting them to boat. 

Make Your Own Crappie Combo 

Pre-packaged combos are a great value, but if you’re particular about your gear, you’ll ultimately want to choose a separate rod and reel. Here are three rods and three reels of various price points that are more expensive than a crappie combo but will give the fine-tuned performance that you’re after. 

Great Rods

St. Croix Avid Panfish – 6 foot 9 inch ASP69ULF

If you’re looking for a premium crappie rod, then the St. Croix Avid Panfish is unbeatable in all metrics. They cost $200 to $230. 

ACC Crappie Stix

ACC makes technique-specific rods that are specially designed for crappie. I’ve used several of their casting rods and they are fantastic. 

Ugly Stik Carbon Crappie

This rod costs around $100 and comes in lengths from 5.5 feet to 11 feet. So there are models available for everything from fishing tiny creeks to spider rigging in deep water. 

Learn more about the best crappie rods in our buying guide. 

Great Reels

Shimano Vanford

The Shimano Vanford is going to give you smooth, long casts and years of reliable surface. They cost around $250, so they’re definitely an investment and not recommended for casual anglers. 

Daiwa Exceler LT

For around $100 you can get this fantastic reel in a 1000 size. It balances well on longer rods (7+ feet), but will be too much reel for smaller, lighter rods. 

Lew’s Speed Spin

The Speed Spin is my pick for a reel around $60. It’s frankly all you really need for most crappie fishing.   

How to Choose a  Crappie Combo

The reels that come on crappie combos are already matched to the rod, which makes your job of choosing the right combo a little easier. All you need to do is find the right rod specs for your type of fishing. 

Rod Length

5.5 to 6.5 feet: Good for making accurate, short casts and fishing around low-hanging branches. This is also the ideal length for dock shooting. 

7 feet: This is the standard length for rods that specialize in casting. The longer length allows for long casts, yet the size is still manageable for accuracy. A 7-foot rod can also shoot docks with the right action. 

9+ feet: Long rods are great for dipping (think cane pole fishing), vertical jigging, and trolling. A 9-foot rod could also be used by shore-bound anglers who want to make longer casts. 

Power

Most crappie rods will have an ultra-light or light power. This optimizes them for the light line and light lures used to catch crappie. When choosing a rod power look at its lure weight rating to be sure the lures you plan to use fall within the spec. 

Action 

Action is how a rod bends. A fast action will bend most at the tip. A moderate action will bend in the center of the rod. A slow action will bend throughout the rod. Fast-action rods are sensitive, provide a lot of backbone for fighting fish, and are perfect for fishing a jig. A moderate action will protect light line, keep fish pinned with treble hooks, and are great for techniques where you don’t have a lot of line out (dipping). 

Final Thoughts on the Best Crappie Combos

The best crappie combos provide convenience and value to anglers who want to spend more time fishing and less time contemplating their next setup. I think most anglers will like either the Crappie Maxx or Lew’s combos. Unless you primarily fish techniques like dipping, trolling, and vertical jigging where the Mitchell and Shakespeare combos shine.