Tuckman

On thier website they say that they dont disclose the materials that they use to build the rods. I wish that I knew what blanks they use that allow them to keep such a low price

Spro bronzeye hands down IMO...I used to hate frog fishing because of the low hookup ratio (esp. in tournaments!!!) would fry my nerves , but my after my little brother started stompin bass out of the back of the boat on a bronzeye jr while I was flippin up naught, I decided to give them another try, I have tried at least 4 major brands and after I tied on a full size bronzeye in the barney color about mid summer, I havent looked back...I do throw a black color when its overcast and alternate between sizes depending on how well they are gettin in thier mouth tho. I'm telling you his barney I use is a whole 'nuther animal, sometimes It seems he dives down under the slop and drags fish out on his own!...I am a hopeless frog convert

Zoom,Zoom,Zoom 8-) white superfluke, grn/pumpkin fat albert, watermelon redflake baby Brushhog

Do you think that the All Star pro staff use the Team All Star rods, or the Platinum series rods?($Which are still a good deal$)... I know that Tim Horton uses both All Star and Pfleuger Rods. On the other hand Falcon's Clark Wendelent has used the Lowriders for years and hes a destroyer on the FLW tour.

If you record a voiceover of someome shouting BOOHYA!!! and play it everytime your lure lands in the bucket you could sell this game for 99$ at bass pro!!! 8-)

Oh man, I was just about dead set on the team all star but now the last few post almost have me leaning towards the lowriders...Argggh! good thing the lakes are still frozen over up here so I have time to mull it over

Agreed...ESPN's Coverage allways seems to suck until the last day when they are finally forced to cover the people who are actually catching the fish...They should have at least put a camera in Scott Rooks boat, hes the only qualifier who considers the Red River home turf.

I like both the Citica E and the Revo S but I dont see why neither company can offer them and a range of gear ratios. Now I have to use the old citica D for crankin, and the curado for burning traps...I will say that with 65lb braid on my revo s and a flippin' stick I can uproot a goodsize boatlift and usually land it with no problem

Shimano Citica E for sure...fishes almost exactly like a Curado. I just wish they would offer more choices in gear ratio!!!

Watkins Glen, I spend all summer competing in open tournaments all over the Finger Lakes and southern tier, but I recently graduated from college and need to find a real job so who knows where that will take me with the way things are now

Thanks for the input! I was up at bass pro last week and handled a whole bunch of rods to see what felt good, I thought that the St croix mojos were a bit top heavy and I am not a fan of split grips because alot of my casting is two handed for long distance, I liked the st croix premier but they felt like they would snap on a big hookset, I was also looking into the Shimano crucials, but It seemed they were expensive compared to other rods that felt just as good, I liked the shimano compre though. I thought that the Team all star rods felt great for an 80$ rod, but I was also liking the Falcon Lowriders for a little bit more coin. I am pretty sure that I will pick one of these two, but I would love to hear from people who have used them. I need a rod that can stand up to heavy tournament fishing and lots of hard hooksets!!!

I throw a Bass Pro Enticer Smallie bucktail jig with a Zoom tiny chunk on back when the ice melts here in the rocky finger lakes of NY and the big green bass will just munch it right up. This works best up until the water hits about 45-50, then a pumpkin-red flake zoom baby brushhog on a 1/8-3/16 owner ultrahead just anihilates them right up untill (and through) the spawn!

A hair jig is absolutely deadly right after ice out, even for huge largemouths. The Bass Pro Shops Enticer smallie jig with a Zoom Tiny Chunk is dynamite on both green bass and smallies alike until the water hits 50. A Zoom baby brushog on an 1/8-3/16 owner bullethead will decimate all when the water is between 45-60

I am looking into a new fleet of bass rods for the upcomming NY bass season. Like most other ppl, I am not made of money right now so I am after the highest quality rods in the mid-price category. I have been running a fleet of BPS bionic blades for the last 4 years and have to say that I love them, and most of them are still running strong, but I think its time to update and try out some of the lighter more sensative rods made by smaller rod companies. I have narrowed my search down to the Falcon Lowrider series rods, and the Team All Star Series and was wondering if anyone has any opinions on this??? or maybe someone has a better rod suggestion??? Thank you.

Seems like every time I get ready throw a crankbait at heavy cover, a flipping stick with a jig just magicaly appears in my hand. I think its a sickness but I dont think Ill bother getting it checked out 8-)

My fav has to be when it gets cloudy and spittin rain and the smallies up here in the finger lakes come out of hiding to eat jerks and cranks...I also like it after a hard rain muddies and raises the water and puts the green fish on wood tight to the bank though.

I live right smack dab in the middle of the Finger Lakes region and have put in many a summer day chasing the brown bass around Keuka. The smallies on Keuka will usually be headed out deep after the baitfish by the forth of july, but you can always find a few hawgs in shallow eating crayfish early in the morning, there are a few spots on Keuka that hold smallmouth year round, my favorite spot is the large cove in front of willow grove on the far northeast side of the Penn Yann arm, which has a large rocky flat that always has few big smallies roaming it early in the morning, and once the sun gets up they just pull off in the middle of the cove and suspend over deep water. The bluff is another spot that holds bronze year round. In fishing the bluff the best thing you can do is idle around it from about half a mile down on each side and around the tip in about 8-10ft of water and memorize/mark the spots where you see patchy sand/rocks breaking up through the weeds. Many of these spots are only as big as a boat but if you return there first thing in the morning and make long cast over these spots with soft jerkbaits, there is usually a hungry smallie hanging around lookin for something to eat. Once the sun comes up these smallies pull out deep but can still be caught, if you go out in front of that bouy on the very tip of the bluff in about 15-35ft of water and start making passes in that area you should find fish on your graph. The bottom is solid huge rocks down there out to 40ft and I dropped an aqua view down there last year and you can see packs of smallies that will just scare you. As far as lures go, the best bait I have found for any smallmouth in the fingerlakes is a zoom fluke, and all you need is white. When those smallies go out after the baitfish, Ive pull them up to the top over 100ft of water on a fluke. The other bait I rely on is a green pumpkin zoom fat albert on a 1/8(shallow water) and 1/4(deeper) jighead, somedays you have to fish it really slow, but sometimes they wont let it get to the bottom. My secret tactic that I use on Keuka when nothing else seems to work is to make a very long, very high cast with a junebug yum dinger rigged wacky on 8lb test flouro and then just let it sink, The key is for the bait to make a big splash a long ways from your boat, the fish will swim up to investigate and just cant seem to let that dinger wobble on by.I have no idea why they like junebug so much on a clear lake like Keuka, but all 5 fish that I weighed in on my last Keuka tourny were caught this way. I use this tactic as often in 30ft of water as I do in 8ft. Dont forget about the huge largemouths on Keuka either, when they get to hiding around the docks grab a flippin' stick and a jig and go to war! Good luck!