Robert Riley

As most have said, 5:1 is great for deep cranks. I use a 5.4:1 for 10"+ cranks, but I prefer a 6:1 for squarebill and traps.

I use 15lb Red Label. If I go night fishing I sometimes use braid (with no leader) bc i throw buzzbaits as well.

Very versatile rod indeed. I have a similar rod (medium) that I use for topwaters, jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. The major advantage to a shorter rod is casting accuracy. I generally use mine when I go to a local pond that has a lot of shore cover, so there is not much space to cast when bank-fishing.

When fishing open water, I usually cast from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock and repeat about 3-4 times before I move on. If it;s cover, I do 2-3 times and make at least 3 different presentations (like different angles or physical approaches), As far as how many lures, I fish from the shore, so I only have 2 rods at a time. These are usually a reaction bait and a finesse bait. Start with the reaction first. That's my method to the madness!

I will do weightless as a follow up bait to top water strikes. I've also fished it on a carolina rig.

I caught this in a subdivision pond in central Illinois, never seen anything quite like it.

I'd pick up a 7:1 Lews Speed Spool or jump up to a Tournament Pro. I find it's usually easier to slow down than it is to go faster. The set up would work well for spinnerbaits in tight quarters when you need to be accurate. I don't see a need for switching hands like that. If you happen to have better action with one hand over the other, do it, but I don't see the need to learn.

Yeah, thats what I do. I use an 8lb Invizx leader on my finesse setups.

Good review!

Looks good to me!

Veritas MH haha

My mistake, I should have said 734. Buddy has one and I've used it, seems like a good spinnerbait rod. I use my spinnerbait rod, a st Croix, for lipless. On another note, glass is always tricky, some like it and some dont, it's a different beast. Go buy one, try it out, if you don't like it take advantage of Dobyns amazing customer service

Gear ratio is proportional to inches per turn. So lower ratios will stay in the strike zone longer; higher ratios are obviously faster, so you'll want that for plastics, topwaters, anything where you need to reel in slack line very quickly. Kind of like a car, lower gears will have more power, so high resistance baits, like swimbaits or crankbaits call for a lower ratio. Generally: 7:1 plastics, jigs, topwaters 6:1 squarebills, spinnerbaits (personally swimbaits) 5:1 cranks, swimbaits

I'd honestly say the 735, I prefer the faster tip for lipless and squarebills. But if the 705CB is a bit faster than the 705CBMF.

Spot on. 5.4 is good for openwater cranks, but if you are fishing shallow or cover, you're gonna want a little more speed.

Keep us posted! It's on my list!

I often find EVA gets slippery after awhile. I've put reel grips on both my EVA reels and I just don't really use my EVA rod haha. Not to mention that cork looks a lot better in general.

Lew's Speed Spool on a Dobyns Champion, is a little over your price. Veritas rods are pretty good too.

Topwater is higher, like 7.1:1, I use 15-20lb braid. Jerkbaits are like a 6.3:1 and I use Fluoro. So I have two different reels, if you had to pick one I think it'd be safer to use a 7.1:1 with mono, or maybe braid and use a fluoro leader.

I've been having a lot of luck with canethumpers and skinnydippers. You use the Pitbosses at night?

BlueBasser86, do you but a trailer on when you go nightfishing? I just picked up a bluegill and a white zman original and a white zman elite today at Cabela's/

We have a bogo bin, and it's just some trolling rapala's and some storm swimbaits, that's all it's been in the 8 months it's been open. I'd like to see something like terminal tackle, some plastics, or maybe some other stuff like tackle boxes or reels.

Yessir I am! I feel the same about gander, I like their selection, but nothing is ever on sale, they dont even have a "bargain cave." I think I might be 30% of Gander's business.

I'm bored, so I took pictures of all my stuff haha. Here's my new one, and my baby, my pride and joy.

Any big stores that will have them? I'm driving from Chicago to Louisville in a few hours and I would def make a stop to try them.