bigfruits

very true. HigginsFishingMO - what exact rod are you considering?

if you have a sit on top it should not be hard to lean the boat and go off the side. the end is a little tricky, i use my reeling hand as a splash guard and quickly dunk it in the water (upriver from bubbles!) before the 5 sec rule. 1. rudder, anchor trolley, sonar, soft cooler, pfd, rod holders on tracks, milk crate with vertical rod holders, paddle (plastic blades,carbon shaft), paddle holder and the most important besides a paddle: a comfortable seat (w/frame) 2. jigs! like mentioned above, you cant do downward twitching on a kayak when sitting. i rarely do jerkbaits but walking topwaters is doable. when i get out on my friends bass boats, i tend to throw alot of frogs and poppers a little longer than i should when theyre not working for me.

was going to recommend the nrx 852 or 872 but im not sure how they would handle the 3/8oz + tube. They are not as powerful as the 68mxf LE or Avid and I assume the mojo is similar. many people in the great lakes area fish tubes with the 872.

quanjig - I assume you are talking about the crews teams in the Occoquan reservoir. in this day and age, cant they use headsets and get rid of those bullhorns? noise pollution at its worst.

for jigs around 3/8oz plus plastic I like a rod around 7', MH/XF and a fast reel (8.x:1 or 9.x:1)

NRX 843 is great for lipless and small frogs (baby kahara!). haven't tried a whopper plopper yet. also love it for squarebills.

get one s crank and a lure retriever instead of the kvds. im joking, the kvds are great. yeah, from shore pricier cranks might not be a great idea. pop x?

havent fished the big one but the 1.2 and 1.5 are my go-tos. i try to pick up a few if i order a jdm rod or reel to save on costs but worth the money even when bought in the states. you probably need the MB grenade in your life too.

yum craw papi might fall in between the action of those two baits. i like both sizes. also, try a 5" DT hula grub on a jighead.

sun, high wind, high humidity, heavy rain, freezing temps, bugs that bite, crew teams and getting back to the launch before the park closes.

a sandwich or two from home and a banana if I have any. coffee and chips and/or cashews from gas station/7-11 on the way to the launch. water and sometimes beer.

full cork on BC, split on spinning is my preference.

nope. i fish st croix, loomis, megabass. would love to try dobyns and kistler. youd think i was brand loyal if you saw my shimanos but i keep trying other stuff and coming back.

id give up the sport for the most part. id still fish a few times a year but it would be random outings. probably involving a lot of beer.

sorry spoonplugger1, i was not clear in my post. i have a rod that i love but dislike the grip. i am either going to have it rebuilt or sell it. if i send this rod to a builder to have all of the components removed so that it can be rebuilt with new components, how much more will it cost me than if i just sent him a blank?

Hello, About how much more expensive would it be to send a complete rod vs a blank to a builder to have a custom rod built? In other words, how much extra cost would it be for them to take the factory components off of a rod to start a custom build? A very rough estimate is what I am looking for. Thanks! -Z

learn normal jig techniques if you dont already know them. good size fish (as well as small) will bite and there are many days when i dont pick up another bait. swimming a jig can be done with any jig, a swim jig is just made to move better when reeled than a arky, football etc. usually a skinny cone like head with the line tie at a different angle. a 1/4oz jig with a 3" trailer like a baby rage craw should inspire some confidence.

a few strange things that i cannot explain myself and a friend are fishing same bait - different color. one of us is landing fish, the other skunked or close to it. (this is rare) same scenario as above. the productive bite stops suddenly and the guy who was getting skunked starts getting bites. (this is very rare) i was teaching a friend to fish and he had a spinnerbait sitting on the lake bottom at 30 ft and he was just twitching it. He pulled out a 4lber (this is a decent fish in VA). I was not having luck dragging football jigs in same location. another noob at the time friend of mine was t-rigging a topwater zoom toad with a 1/4 worm weight and landed 5 1.5-3lb fish in about 30 mins shortly after i laughed when i saw his rig. I caught 1 fish in 4 hrs that day on a 1/4oz jig. Sorry to go off topic. 30 more mins and i get out of work.

looks good but dont get too stuck on any "rules". for example, ive caught fish on spinnerbaits on calm, sunny days in clearish water on more than several occasions. you will notice that many variables affect what the bass want and two identical days (weather, time, lighting, wind/current, location,moon etc) could vary greatly as far as what lure produces more fish. agreed as mentioned above that a swim jig can work anywhere at anytime of the day or year. can even be pitched, hopped and dragged for more versatility when you come across a laydown or some isolated structure. rage menace on a grass jig works well for this. a couple more notes for LMB: darker colors for soft plastic/jigs in darker/muddier water vibration and/or noise in darker/muddier water natural colors in clear water (smallmouth will often go after chartreuse in clear water - go figure) fish slow when water is cold again not laws of nature but more of a way to find out faster what the fish want that day/hour/second.

I tend to like XF rods with the pop-x and F for everything else that is topwater.

if/when you end up with MH, put a 1/2oz chatterbait + paddle tail in your ammo box. im liking the Picasso shock blade + keitech fat.

I got this stuff today. Ordered it from jpangler in Japan on Saturday night and rcvd it Wednesday! Kazu from JPAngler also replied to 3 separate emails of mine within minutes.

nice rod! what exactly do you want to throw with this rod? where are you fishing? in my experience a M St Croix will be almost but not quite half way between a M and MH GLX Loomis. Almost a 2.3 or 2.4 Loomis if they did fractions. An NRX medium is less powerful than the GLX (at least in the upper section!). You can see what I mean in the variances between different models of the same manufacturer. id guess that a St. Croix Medium is a little heavier than most manufacturer's mediums. dont quote me on that. if you ever wanted (not that you needed) a little bit better MH rod for bottom contact as well as 1/2oz+ moving single hook baits, you could get a MH Avid and keep the Mojo for shallow cranks and smaller single hook moving baits. Weightless plastics?

yep. id choose a M St Croix over a M Loomis if i had to choose 1 medium versatile rod. what rod did you order?

IMO a MH is going to be better for things like jigs/plastics, 1/2oz spinnerbaits/chatterbaits/lipless and heavier stuff. Id even grab a MH over a M for those applications in open water (maybe not the lipless). Thats what I throw the most of in NoVA. I use Meds for smaller cranks, small paddletails, finesse plastics. But as long as cover allows, its all personal preference. But if you ever paddle in the Potomac (Mattawoman creek maybe) youre going to be glad if you have a MH. If exchanging the rod is a hassle or you plan on buying a MH soon anyway, keep it. Also keep in mind that when comparing two brands (and even two models of same brand) the power rating's can be very different.