Hot n Tot

3/8 oz white terminator spinnerbait 5" shad color senko black trick worm super fluke gotta have a topwater, probably a Devil's horse or a Tiny Torpedo.....ok, a Devil's Horse if you twist my arm for a decision.... :

i would get this without thinking twice about it. Totally agree, you could also get the Sahara instead of the Symetre and save a few $$. I love Avid rods for the price. And although I have the Legend Tournament in 6'-8" MXF, I have since aquired a few Avids, and would probably choose it over the LT and save a few bucks. All Shimano reels from the Sahara up are nice, I'd upgrade to the Stradic 2500 reel if possible, but the Sahara or Symetre woud certainly serve you well. I have all 3.

I use St. Croix and G. Loomis rods exclusively. My experience is that Medium power St. Croix rods are similar in power to the G. Loomis med. hvy. For instance, a 6'-6" St. Croix Legend Elite is close in power to the med. hvy. Loomis MBR783. But Loomis rods seem to have somewhat faster tapers, in other words a fast action St. Croix doesn't seem quite as fast as the Loomis fast.

I think the Alberto knot is great and easy for me to tie. And I'm not a good at tying knots.

My jig rod is a Loomis BCR803, I think that would be a nice fit for you. Mine is paired with a Daiwa Steez reel.

White Sizmic toad

I would go with a Zillion, maybe the lower gear ratio model (crazy cranker?), or a Revo. Not sure if you would need the STX or just the SX.

Jitterbugs, also Rapala minnows. slow crawl a jointed Rapala slowly accross the surface at night.

That rod really deserves a nice reel. I use a Steez with mine and it's a real joy to fish with. A Zillion would be nice, but it is heavier than a Steez.

I recommend getting the best quality spinning reel you can reasonably afford. I have all Shimano spinning rees, a Sahara, Symetre, (2) Stradics and a Sustain. The Sahara is a very decent reel, and is comparable to the Symetre. When you move up to the Stradic, you can definately feel a significant improvement in quality. Less so from the Stradic to the Sustain IMHO. Still, the Sustain is noticeably smoother and is the reel I use when fishing moving baits.

In that price range, I'd certainly look at St. Croix Avids or Loomis GL3s.

If price is not an issue, get the Loomis SJR782 in GLX and a Steez spinning reel.

Part of the reason why you don 't "see" pros fishing a weightless trickworm is beacuse of TV magic ( video editing ). that 's why you see them apparently catching one fish after anoteher and all of them good size fish. Must be how Bill Dance does it. He catches fish every cast, and none are dinks! :

I have rods from 6' to 7' and use them all. As has been said, longer rods can cast further and you move more line during the hookset. I personally get fatigued much faster using 7' rods, even when using my 843 IMX, so I rotate and use rods of different lengths when I'm fishing all day. I don't seem to notice this as much with spinning rods, for whatever reason. But to me, higher end, 6' rods like legend elites and Loomis GLX and IMX are a real joy to fish with. Much of this proably has to do with having been fishing since the late sixties, as well as how they balance in my hand. Old habits are hard to break, I even bought a left hand casting reel thinking I could use it for flipping, pitching and frogging, but after a few casts decided it just wasn't for me, and returned it for a RH reel.

Legend Elites for $50! are you serious? I'm heading for Park Falls if that is true.

So far this year: 3 GLX rods 2 Zillion reels, 1 Steez reel and I didn't 'need' any of it. It has stopped until I see the next 'must have' rod or reel :

I usually use spinnerbaits for locators, but after finding some fish, I usually slow down and start working soft plastics. If I don't catch anything on spinnerbaits, I typically go to plastics anyway after an hour or so, and start worming areas that I think the fish should be. I seldom use crankbaits and jerkbaits this time of year. I know I'm probably missing out on alot of fish.

This year wacky rigged Zoom Trick Worms are out producing Senkos for me. I have even lost some of that old confidence in the Senko, if you can believe that! It all comes down to what bait you have the most confidence in, because that is what you will have tied on the longest and work the best. IMHO

Zoom is my favorite. Especially for the Trick Worms, Finesse worms and Super Flukes. But I also like Yamamoto alot, they just don't seem durable to me. I'm just starting to use the Rage Tails, and ordered some from Tackle Warehouse that I couldn't find locally.

I like the Loomis CR722 casting rod and use the SJR722 spinning rod. Both of these rods are my main topwater rods as well. I sometimes use the spinning rod for weightless worms and the casting rod for smaller spinnerbaits. Hope this helps.

I agree with this

I have 4 GLX casting rods and it seems to be whichever one I'm using at the time. My CR722 with a Daiwa Steez 103HA feels the best in hand. But the MBR783 might just be more versatile and therefore my fav? I also love my MBR842 and my BCR803.

I use mostly G. Loomis casting rods and St. Croix spinning rods. Although I have Loomis spinning and Croix casting as well. I reels, I prefer Daiwa casting reels. I've tried Shimano and Abu, but personally prefer Daiwa. In spinning reels, I have all Shimano for no good reason. I have fished with a Daiwa that I really liked better than the Stradics, but saw no reason to get rid of them and buy Daiwa. Maybe some day. Everyone seems to be biased toward what they own.

I'm wondering how most guys retrieve the frogs. I'm talking about Sizmic and Horny toad type. Personally, I've twitched them in heavy cover. I'm wondering who has success with faster retrieves. I saw a guy using a fast, steady retieve without pausing. I'm wondering what is the most effective. thanks

Does anyone use this rod for frogging? If so, have you tried it with Flouro? I've always used a 7' MH rod with 50# braid. Just wondering how the jig and worm rod would do. By the way, I've not tried braid with the 803s recoil guides.