djmax22

I thought I read in Bassmaster that Fenwick is coming out with an elite 7'1" heavy rod that is capable of throwing small swimbaits. Might want to check it out.

IMO the only problem with the 705R is that it is too long for working pointers. Especially if you tend to throw pointers all day during the winter month. I prefer a shorter rod to keep the tip from smacking the water. I am also looking for a rod that will work the 128. I have been looking at buying one of lucky craft pointer rods (6'10" rated up to 2oz) for this purpose, but I am not sure of the action and durability of LC rods. I have used the buzzjet with the 705R with no problems.

Why not pair it to a New 09" Fenwick Elite Tech Bass rod? That would be a sweet setup.

I use the Lamiglas SR705 for the medium cranks. I highly recommend this rod to anyone. I also used it for deep divers until I picked up a Dobyns805CB. I hear Powell make a great CB rod as well.

Get the Loomis 904. You be able to throw anything from a mission fish to a triple trout with no problem. I have the 955 and 957 models and have had no problems to date. Awesome rods.

I think you will be please with the Okuma. I use 7'11" rods, but I admit having a 7'6" would be nice for working a top water swimbait like a Wake Jr or MS Slammer. Now all that is left is getting a swimbait reel!

I agree with the other posters Okuma is the best value for the money. You can pick one of these rods up used cheap if you want to save some money. Whatever you decide I'm sure you will be happy. You can't go wrong with either choice IMO. You might also want to check Ebay. I got all of my Loomis swimbait rods off Ebay for around $160 shipped.

I have the Loomis 853 and I wouldn't throw the Mattlures Baby Bass on this rod. It would be way too heavy for it IMO. I would buy a swimbait setup that could handle the Mattlures series up to Wake Jr. At this time I would jump at the chance right now to pick up the Dobyns Mike Long 795ML swimbait rod for $139 at Delos. I have heard nothing but great things about this rod. I am thinking about buying one myself and I already have 2 Loomis swimbait setups. As for swimbaits I suggest the Wake Jr, Lunker Punker Jr, Mattlures Bluegill and 6" and 8" Huddlestons.

I tried CXX last year after some recommendation from this forum. The good news it was really strong line. The problem for me is that this line has way too much memory which became unmanageable. I really like the P-line fluorocarbon and use it on my a few of my baitcasters.

The core at that price!!!! If paying retail the MG is the way to go (even when it was priced at $250). Great deal!

3:16 Wake Jr. - Ayu pattern

Loomis rods will also be going up to after Jan 1 according to newsletter I received from American Legacy. >

I make a trip to BPS during their spring sale or whenever they have Lucky Crafts on sale. Other than that, I find that they are way overpriced and have done most of my shopping this year on EBAY and forum like this one. Also I have the staff at BPS to be completely full it when it come to tackle expertise.

LC Pointer 100SP LC Staycee 90

WOW!!! Don't miss a chance to get one of the worm/jig glxs. I would suggest the BCR854. If you do a lot of flippin I would pick up the BCR894 GLX as well. I also own 2 Loomis swimbait rods (955 and 957). I think the worm.jig would be the better value here, but if you do decide to go with the swimbait rod I can recommend the with 955. It works any thing from a mission fish to a 8"HUD.

I have had guides fall out of both my St Croix Glass Premiere. I own a few St Croix LTB and report no problems with these rods.

Loomis has extended their GLX line to include spinnerbait, crankbait, dropshot, and shakey head models.

I have heard that Dobyns rods pairs nice with the Zillion. You can probably find the old models on clearance for around 140.

I suggest the DD22. They are by far my biggest producer in the summer and I do a lot of deep cranking. A close second is the Fat Free shad (couple of patterns: foxy shad and sparkle shad) Not a big fan of the Rapalas DT16 although their new DT20 series looks promising.

Yeah I have the Falcon crank boxes too and I used them for most cranks. The only exceptions are FAT cranks (you can fit them the FTO Deep driver box, but there is a lot of wasted space). For fat cranks (Manns-4, wiggle warts) I would suggest picking up the Plano boxes.

I would go with the 7'6" for top water swimbaits like the punker. Dobyns is coming out with a swimbait rod for this purpose early next year (I will be buying this rod). You might want to wait, if not go with the 7'6" okuma. I currently use the Loomis 955 which IMO feels a little awkward walking the punker. Just my two cents.

Although oil is a volatile commodity there reason to believe that the price of oil will remain high as investors turn to commodities. Couple this with increasing demand from China (oil imports up 11.52% from August of last year), increased pressure on the dollar, hurricane Ike, oil production being trimmed by Saudi Arabia since the start of September, and many oil producing nation themselves being unstable leads one to conclude that oil prices will remain high in the foreseeable future. Like Fourbizz said it isn't going to keep me from fishing.

:o So much for oil settling in the $80 range.

Change hooks and speed up the retrieve.

Your Fenwick will handle the wake baits, but I perfer something a lot shorter for jerkbaits. Soemthing around 6-6'6" so I am not smacking the tip of the rod on the water. A shorter rod makes fishing jerkbaits much more enjoyable.