Leaky

The only luck I've had is with earthworms on 4 pound line with nothing but a #6 baitholder hook attached. I catch a few 12" - 14" bass, and a lot of sunfish and tiny bass. I'm hoping that my new rig will get me near the bigger fish I see jumping around. There's a lot of fishing pressure where I live, but not many people fish in the weeds where the big bass live.

It turns out the lighter crucial 7'11 swimbait rod is quite good for my application. I can throw the bait as far as I want and I have no fear of weeds. The rod does in fact have more flex than the St. Croix, especially at the tip.

You think it will be stiffer? Oh man... hopefully I wont have to send the new rod back as well. I picked the lightest version of the Shimano Crucial rod , which is rated for ½ to 1-½ oz lures and 15 30 pound line. The St. Croix I returned was a musky / saltwater rod rated for ¾ to 3oz lures and 20 50 pound line. I was hoping that the Shimano will be 20% less stiff than the st. croix and add 20' to my casting distance, yet still rip through weeds with authority.... well I'll see how it is when it comes.

So I took my new setup out to the lake and it didn't take me long to have second thoughts. The thick St. Croix pole was very stout, and so it easily riped through the weeds, which was very good. However it was clearly way too heavy of a pole for bass fishing, I felt like I should be on the ocean, not a pond. Also, because it was so stiff, I wasn't able to cast as far as I would like. Finally, the reel was, as rooster pointed out, a size or two too big. I returned it and ordered this online: Shimano Crucial Swimbait Cast Rod 7'11" Md Hvy Shimano Citica Casting Reel 200E Hopefully this will give me what I want a super long distance, weedless rig. On the good side, I caught two bass with my $19 ultralight 4.5' pole. I've really have had more luck with that than anything else...

Thanks for the input, Rooster. So I went to Dicks to do some recon and ended up buying a rod and reel. I went with a St. Croix premier casting 7' med-heavy / fast action rod. It's a brute of a rod, and should be able to rip through some ugly cover. I matched it with a Corvalus 400 reel I know nothing about reels, but feeling how smooth it was in the store drove me to purchase it on the spot. The rod, reel and 40# braided line set me back about $210. Hopefully I can adjust to this new setup from my light spinning rigs. If I can cast it 100' I'll be happy. If I catch bass with it, I'd be even happier. Look out weeds, here I come!

Hi all, This is a great forum, I'm glad I found it! So, I'm looking to by a rod / reel and I need some help. The ponds local to me have large areas overgrown with very heavy cover. Not surprisingly, that's where all the bass are. Boats and waders are not allowed, so I have to cast from the edge of the pond. To get to the prime bass spots, I often need to make truly long casts. So I need a super long casting pole that can rip through heavy weeds. I read as much as possible, and this is what I came up with: 1) I need a heavy pole with lots of backbone to cut through weeds. 2) I need to use something like 25 lb. braided line and that means I need a baitcaster. 3) A fast action will cast a little further than a very fast action, but will still be sensitive and help me rip weeds. 4) An 7'11" pole with a 2-handed casting grip will help me launch my lure a mile. So I have two questions. A) Is my thinking about my rod / reel needs correct? Which poles and reels should I look into (I'm looking to spend about $150 $180 combined)? I'm still a very new bass angler, and I don't even know which brands are the best for my money. (Is there anything at Sports Authority or Dicks that I can look at?)