Canga

there is a few good crankbait spinning rods out there, Phenix makes the X series (iirc there is 3 spinning models in it) , good components, quality blank, $199. problem with them, is i have never seen them for sale anywhere online, and they dont have a dealer in my area, so i cant comment past what is posted on the phenix site (which doesnt load for me anymore, so i dont remember a whole lot about it) fenwick has a couple HMG's that work great for cranks (i have a 7' M/MF, works very well) also good components, and while its not a super light rod, its not overly heavy and works good for small soft swimbaits on 1/8 and 1/4oz jigheads. widely available and relatively cheap, $110ish my personal favorite, as i have2 and use them extensively for walleyes and smallies, the pre-2011 st croix legend tournament walleye "deep crankers" its a 7' mh/m. being a mh made me weary about buying the first one, but its a great rod, can cast lures from a #5 flicker shad, on up to a #11 clackin minnow, and anything in between. problem with these rods is that they are out of production, and in my experience are VERY hard to find. they also made a m/m version of this rod (the "shallow cranker") which is also out of production, and hard to find. im sure there are other out there as well that would work well, but these are the 3 i looked at when i got my 2nd st croix (picked it up from the factory store as a B stock, it was used towards an upgrade to something else and was in terrific shape!) hope this helps

i was at the bps in gurnee il yesterday, and they had a couple of the new revo spinning reels in, the s and sx, probably, i didnt get a chance to play with them as i noticed them as i was being shoo'd out by the family, but they had them in stock.

i have been using 832 in both 6 and 10lb, and in all 3 colors almost since it came out (almost 2 full seasons) and i havent had a single problem with it so far. no problems with abrasion resistance, line strength, smoothness, wind knots, line twist, nothing, it doesnt hold its color all that well, but to me thats not a major thing. that said i decided to give the 10lb timber brown pps8 a try about a month ago, and it, too, has been great. in fact i caught my PB walleye on it the first trip out (a fat 27" about 7.5lbs) and no problems landing that fish on the weeds. not too much of a difference between the two, imo. the pps8 is a bit thinner than the 832, at least in the smaller lb tests, the 10lb 832 is .20mm where the pps8 is .15mm, but i dont think it makes a huge difference in casting distance or line visibility. both great lines, and until something better comes along i will get whichever of the 2 i can get cheaper at the time, they are that close in performance.

last fall i was looking for a replacement (not a direct replacement, mind you, but something cheaper and similar) for a lost 6'9" mlxf st croix legend xtreme, i didnt have the money to go that high end so was looking in the 150-200 range, heard the great reviews on the dobyns rods and found the only dobyns dealer in wisconsin to be fairly close (about 40 miles away) so decided to give the 692 savvy a try. i got the rod for mainly jig/minnow and jig/plastics both vertical and pitching for walleyes. the rod balanced amazingly well with whatever reel i put on it, and i was very excited to get it on the river. soon after getting it out on the water my excitement faded, to me there was just NO sensitivity in the rod what-so-ever, couldnt feel a thing with it. i switched to my avid, and could feel every rock, stick, fish, whatever, with the savvy it felt like i was dragging my jig over straight sand. i returned the rod and ended up getting a clearanced 6'9" mlxf legend tournament. could not be more happy. not saying dobyns arent good rods, just would think twice about getting a savvy for bottom contact.

i have that same rod (with a pflueger arbor 7430 on it) and its a great rod, while i only use it for vertical jigging for walleyes, and occasionally pitching jigs as well (have a 6'9" mlxf ltb for pitching, mostly, and that works as a good vertical rod too) its very sensitive, light, and casts pretty well for its length. it has a short handle so the portion of the rod from reel to tip is decently long for its length. i like a rod with a little more give for spinnerbaits and swimbaits (i dont rig weedless usually, its on a jighead.) so have been using my fenwick hmg 7' med/modfast, but u ised a 6'6" mlf hmf (and fenwicks fast in this rod is closer to xf than f) this spring for spinnerbaits and swimbaits and it works great, so i dont think you will have a problem with the croix. on a side note, i know a lot of people on here will likely laugh at throwing 1/2oz spinnerbaits on a medium light spinning rod, but it worked very well, to the point i dont recall losing any fish on it.

i used the 8lb nanofil this spring and had the same line breaking at the reel issues as a lot of people, been using that reel for a 2ish years now and never had any problems, went over the roller, bail and surrounding area with a q-tip and didnt find any burrs, so i dont think its the reel (reel was a pflueger supreme xt 9035, the gold model). otherwise i like the line. i decided about 2 weeks ago to give it another, and last, try. went with 10lb this time, hoping that would stop the breakage issuse, spooled it up on my patriarch 9530, and so far havent had any problems with it. the only thing i dont like abou the line is the memory, berkley claims it has zero memory, BS, stuff is coily as hell. its great for moving baits, but for bottom contact i think the coils would bother me. for my jigging and dropshot stuff, ill stick with 832 and super slick power pro.

one thing to consider about the orra SX is that the standard spool is a shallow spool, so its line capacities are less than similar sized reels. personally i like something in the daiwa 2000/pflueger 30/abu 20 size. a friend of mine has the 30 in the orra s and its a little larger than i would like. he likes the reel so far, i think he has had it out about a dozen times so far, no problems. he is an abu fan, and the reason he got this reel is because he sent in a cardinal 700 series (model before the soron, which is the model before the orra) for some factory tlc, and instead of fixing what might be wrong with that reel they sent him a brand new orra free of charge (not even shipping) pretty good customer service IMO. he and another guy i know have had that experience a couple times with abu, and it has me looking at an orra sx in the near future, havent been able to find one local to get a feel for it though. based on your wishes for the wife i would go with the 20 size, use the shallow spool for some braid and the deeper spool for whatever else you wish, or just use the deeper spool for more line capacity for those carp!

i have used both the 10lb and 6lb, i havent noticed too much of a difference in casting distance. i use the hi-vis in 6lb and have no problems with line watching it, and havent had any problems at all with wind knots or how it handles on the spool... used it on a pflueger arbor and patriarch, and a daiwa fuego, all with great results. its also held up well to big smallies (to about 5lbs), as well as rough fish (carp, sheepshead) and catfish (nothing huge), dont recall any break offs

i have a 6'3" mxf avid and a 6'9" mlxf ltb, at first i liked the avid better, but it turns out it was just a lack of use with the ltb (both rods are used for the same purpose, jig/minnow and jig/plastics for walleyes and smallies)... i used the ltb exlusively for a while this spring and have fallen in love with this rod, and i would definately go ltb over an avid. the avid is a terrific rod, but to me, the ltb is more sensitive, and with a patriarch 9530 it balances very well (plus is there a better color match rod/reel out there?!) i will eventually upgrade my avid to a LTWS 63 mxf, just a matter of time now. i would say that yes the LTB is really worth the extra cash.

amazon.com has the fenwick elite tech smallmouth series for something like 75-80, its normally a $130 rod, and i have yet to hear a bad review on it. that would leave you a fair ammount for a nice reel to go with it for another 70-80...lots of reel choices in that category (another thread atm about best spinning reel under $80 so i wont go into that here!) i have not fished the elite tech, and have only seen 2 in person, a 6'3" mh/f spinning and i think it was the 6'3" mh/mf casting, they are extremely light wight, read on another site that the 6'10' mh/mf casting rod is like 3.6 ounces, dont know if you can beat that for the price (even at full retail)

imo, if your willing to go up to the price of a symetre, for the same price you could also look at the pflueger supreme mgx... magnesium frame and rotor, about an ounce (maybe a bit more) lighter in similar sizes compared to the symetre. very smooth and a nice drag as well. also right at the $100 price tag is the orra sx, which is just that much nicer than a orra s. one great thing about abu garcia seems to be their customer service, i have two different friends that earlier this winter sent in cardinal 800 series reels (pretty much a soron without the braid-ready spool) for some factory tlc, in both cases they sent back brand new reels at no cost to the senders (not even shipping), in both cases the reels were well over 3 years old. i think one got the same size soron and one got the similar sized orra sx, very nice to see that from a company.

for under $80, as many have said, its hard to beat a Pflueger President, for 2012 its all new, and a bit lighter than the previous model, plus it got rid of that aweful wooden knob, and got a nice soft touch knob in its place. i cant say how the drag works on it, for 2 reasons: i havent bee able to have it out on the water yet, and i had a junked gold supreme xt laying around and the spool from that fits perfectly on the president (same size reel, of course). i cant say that the president is as good as the patriarch or fuegos i have, but for the money its a VERY solid performer.

posted this on your post on tackle tour as well, but figured id post it here in case others were looking for a similar rod to yours! i also only use spinning gear, and went through the search for a crank rod last year, i came across a couple options. (i alsu use braid for cranks, which isnt that uncommon in the walleye world, as it is in the bass world!) first, the one i wound up getting, a St. Croix Legend Tournament Walleye series 7' MH/mod. this rod is out of priduction as of now, with the introduction of the 2012 legend tourney series, but there should still be some around if you look. (cabela's had them online, but not in store in my area)... this rod is very light and while its rated at 1/4-3/4 oz it has no trouble throwing light baits all the way up to its 3/4 upper end ( i throw #5 berkley flicker shads on it, which are very small lures) there is also a M version of this rod rated for 1/8-3/8 lures. while it was $230 i find it to be worth every penny! cabelas did have the Falcon Bucoo spinning rod, i think it was the BCS-4-17 model #, which is a 7' M/mod. i didnt buy this rod when i held it in store, because i wanted to see the st. croix first, but it seemed like a nice rod, a bit heavier than the croix, but for $110 thats to be expected. one that i have found out about since then, and if i ever break my st. croix before the make a new version (THEY BETTER MAKE ONE!) is the Phenix X series, there is, i think, 4 spinning rods in the series, which is made for cranking, there isnt anywhere around me to handle these rods, but the specs on the phenix site have me very intrigued. phenix composite-x blank, nice cork split grip with a fuji reel seat, fuji alconites, $50 no-hassle replacement, along with the lifetime warranty, and the ability to upgrade (pretty much the same as st. croix's warranty, VERY nice!) and a $199 price tag. the other option is to go with something like a medium-light/fast rod, should be soft enough to not tear the hooks out on a crank, but they are usually rated for too light of lures for my taste.

i too own a few st croix's and find it disappointing that the quality control on the rage series has been so poor, i havent looked at very many, but didnt see any misaligned guides, but i didnt like the handle, way too small on a 6'10" mlxf rod (thats the only one i have handled) and with most places having the 2011 LTB rods on clearance for the same price as an avid (or less) thats the way to go. far better guides, sc4 vs sc3, lifetime warranty vs 5 years, more comfortable handle, built in USA!, etc.

i would have to go with the smallmouth rod, i have heard many good things about it and none bad so far... that and i do not like the recoil guides at all, even with 832, which is a pretty quiet braid, they sound like a band saw, and i am pretty sure they would still bend if stepped on or whatever. when i was looking for a spinning rod for cranks i was about to buy the "jerkin stick" in the original elite tech bass series, it was very nice (though it has alconites, not recoils!) that being said, i have not even held an elite tech smallmouth, but i briefly owned an elite tech walleye (sold it because i had to, not because i disliked the rod) and other than color they should be the same blank (walleye series has fuji alconites and a full "TaC" grip, smallie has titanium framed zirconium guides and a split cork grip) and it was just as sensitive and light as my st croix avid. i think either would be a terrefic rod, just depends which feels better, and balances better witht the reel you plan on using with it. good luck to you sir!