smalljaw67

Stick to the aluminum frame, if you're going to spend that much money get something you know is going to be strong enough. Graphite frames weaken over time, they hold up for a bit and depending on hard you use them will determine how long they last. My buddy retired an old Shimano Bass One reel that was graphite and never had a problem with it, he got a Caenan and the second season the frame flexed a bit and the gears never lined up right again and now it sounds and feels like a coffee grinder. Get the aluminum frame because you'll always wonder if your going to have a problem stuck in the back of your mind.

Do you mean the "craw tube" ? I'll assume you mean the tube and I'll give you my take on this. These are quite different baits, the Yum Craw Bug comes in 2 different sizes and looks like a craw, while the LFT Craw Tube is a tube with craw pinchers attached and only comes in a 4" size. I use the Craw Bug is clear water and I use it as more of a finesse bait with an insider type jig head while the Craw Tube is going to be used in stained water Texas rigged and pitched and flipped into and around cover. I think both have a time and place but make no mistake, these aren't baits you can substitute for each other, while both can be used in similar situations, the bug is going to be better in clear water just because it has a realistic profile and it can be downsized while in stained water the tube is going to get through cover better and will accept a larger hook than the 3.5" bug so having both can help your fishing.

Most of this depends on priority, I know guys that don't have a boat and fish from the bank in ponds with Megabass Lin 10 reels and Evolution rods which makes for an approximate cost of $1600, if that was me I'd be using something a little more affordable and putting the rest of that away for a boat. I'm a firm believer in fishing the best you can afford, if you can afford a $150 dollar rod and instead choose to fish a $50 dollar one, that is fine too because I know those guys who can afford good gear but don't find fishing a high enough priority to spend their disposable income. For that reason I don't assume someone using less expensive equipment is broke or doesn't have too much, most of the time homes, children, cars and other daily things in our life take priority over where money is spent, for most of us on this board, fishing is a serious hobby that we like to spend money on. I have a couple custom rods along with quite a few high end rods but most of them I got when you couldn't get a rod in the $125 to $180 range that was light and sensitive and performed well, the bad economy has forced companies to make lower cost rods but with some many rods out there most tried to separate themselves by offering higher and higher performance at lower and lower cost and so now you can get a really good performing rod and reel for $200 that will last and you won't feel like you're using cheap equipment.

The pro max is a small graphite framed reel, if the pike you get are of any size it won't take long for the frame to flex. You would be better off getting a round casting reel or a larger size low profile. The Daiwa Millionaire-S is affordable and should be strong enough to handle larger baits and big pike and you won't have to worry about the frame flexing.

If you want to fish a jig with that kind of bottom you need to use a lighter weigh, what it sounds like is the place you are fishing has a soft mucky bottom with weeds and the 1/2oz jig is getting buried in the muck and pulling the weeds with it. Try a 1/4oz or 3/16oz finesse jig and instead of dragging it you can slow hop it, just like fishing a Texas rig, you simply lift the rod to pick the jig up off the bottom and then as it falls you simply follow it down with your rod, depending how cold it is, you may want to let the jig sit for 10 seconds or so between movements.

I'm guessing you are fishing from shore, if not I apologize but I say that because shore anglers that are trying crankbaits typically have a hard time with them for the reasons you stated. Not every crankbait is going to work in your water, for example, if you are fishing a pond with a muck bottom, a deep diving bait isn't going to be your friend, instead opt for a bait that will call fish to the middle of the water column like a lipless bait. The best cranks and most effective for shore anglers, and beginners in general are shallow divers and lipless baits, while it takes some skill to get good with a square bill, that type of bait can be fished around the stuff you find close to the bank and it makes it easier for the beginner to understand what the bait is doing and how it feels. We all get snagged with them but when you start using them more and begin to catch fish, you'll begin to notice that most of your bites happen when pulling the bait free from weeds or after hitting a rock, it is pretty neat how you are just chucking and winding and you feel the bait banging bottom and then all of a sudden you the bait hit into a big rog which makes it run funny for a second and before it even gets back on track your rod instantly loads up and you have a fish on the line. What happens is the wobble and/or sound got the fish interested in your crank and it begins tracking it only to see it get to the rock and instantly change direction and that change in direction is what triggers the fish to bite as it mimics a minnow or baitfish trying to escape the predator. So start with a shallow diver or a lipless crankbait and try to master those because they will catch fish anywhere at any time and are easier to work if you happen to be a shore angler.

You aren't crazy, you're an angler plain and simple. I love mid-tier rods and reels even after having high end because of the the very same reason you stated, the worry that is in the back of your head every time you put your rod on the deck, you walk on egg shells being careful not to come close to the rod and you even put it down on the deck lightly to avoid a possible nick in the rod blank or road rash on the reel. Now that mid-tier rods and reel are lighter and better performing than they were in the past, fishing is a lot more enjoyable, the only difference would be if you have enough disposable income that a NRX or a Stella reel isn't really much of an investment, if you're in that income bracket then you can focus on fishing without worrying about equipment.

The Storm Twitch stick is becoming a favorite of mine and it is cheap! I find the size 10 suspends pretty decent but the smaller size 8 I went with the exact same KVD Triple grips 2X short 1X strong and it suspends well now.

Smithwick Rogue, go to Cabela's and get their exclusive G-finish Rogue, these are killing it already!!!!

All have a time and place but there are a few things I learned when it comes to skirted jigs. The first is size, skirted jigs present a larger profile and at times it will produce more fish but more often it produces bigger fish. I had a friend fish just trailers, a Berkley Power Craw to be exact, he T-rigged his and I cut some of mine off and threaded the rest on my jig, the end results were he caught more fish, 17 to my 11, hi average size of fish was 13.5" with his largest going 16" and the average size of my fish was 15.75 with my largest being 20.25. We have done this a few times and it normally comes out like that, the 2nd deal is the movement, when I use skirted jigs for smallmouth, I get more bites dead sticking a skirted jig than just a jig head with a plastic bait on it, I attribute this to the skirt material moving with very little current, but it could also be a product of larger profile. Skirts can do a number of things for you, it just depends on where and when, in my smallmouth river it slows the fall of my jig and gives off more movement but it could also be a deterrent, but I like using skirted jigs over a skirtless jig head most of the time.

I have a Quantum Smoke 7'MH-F and it is 3.76oz in weight and incredible strong. I keep an open mind when getting rods, the Smoke rod I have has given fits to a good fishing buddy who hates Quantum anything with a passion. He reluctantly used my rod for a half day on the water and when he gave it back to me he cussed me out because he could not find fault with it. I'm not brand loyal except for my trucks, I drive Rams and that is all but fishing rods you may say I'm bias toward Fenwick, I was impressed and still continue to be impressed but the actions, weights and everything else really fits my fishing, I was lucky to find a production rod like that but I still look at others and get to use a bunch because my friends all have varied taste. If you have no preconceived notion of the rod I'll bet you will like it, just about everyone does like it as it is a solid rod and on sale it is a steal so enjoy the rod and catch some fish.

You will do well with just about any rod in the $125 - $150 range, the important thing is to make sure the reel seat and balance is to your liking because even the most sensitive rod won't be good for you if your constantly moving your fingers or changing grip to make it more comfortable to hold, it takes your focus on what your feeling away. If you have a place close by with a varied selection of rods I suggest you go there and hold ones with different reel seats and handle lengths, this will give you an idea of what feels the best to you. Then you'll be able to narrow down the rods you are looking at because we all have our favorites and the answers you are going to get might be more confusing than helpful.

I only use braid for frogs and really heavy flipping, copolymer monofilament for everything else. I'm not going into a tackle choice lesson here but when using mono type lines and even some fluorocarbons, a good rod is a must, braid will make even a $20 walmart special feel like a sensitive tool which is why sensitivity debating is flawed because no stretch line will allow you to get away with a rod that doesn't have much natural feel to it. If you are aren't feeling very much using mono with a lipless crank, I'll assume the rod is a Cherrywood or something in that class, most rods in the $100+ range will give you good feed back on a lipless crank with mono.

I make my own, I use a round head with a 60 degree flat eye hook so my finesse jigs look like the Eakins jigs which I purposely copied as they work great. There are 3 finesse jigs that I like and if I didn't make my own these would be the ones I would use, the Siebert Outdoors finesse jig, the Jewel Bait Finesse jig, and the Ezee Jigs Finesse jig. I tried a lot of different head styles and weights when trying to find a good finesse jig and when I used the Eakins jig, well that was great and it was perfect to fish in the places that I throw a finesse jig like shallow rock flats and boat docks, the edge of grass flats and shallow drop offs where the water changes depth. The 60 degree flat eye provides a good pull point while keeping the knot off the bottom, my favorite weights are different that the Eakins jig which is why I started making my own, I like 1/8oz in cold water but after that I like the 3/16oz to 5/16oz range the best.

It depends on the depth, cover, and worm size but normal worms in the 6" to 8" in moderate cover in 2' to 5' I usually opt for a 1/8oz or 3/16oz but if I'm on a deeper weed line in 10' to 15' or if I'm using larger worms then 1/4oz to 3/8oz, I only use 1/2 oz bullet weights on 12" worms which is very seldom. So I guess my normal range is the same 1/8oz to 3/8oz.

7' MH-F and it is due to the cover, once you said heavy cover that dictated the rod choice but it isn't bad considering how heavy Senkos are, at least the 5" and the same thing with a Fluke.

I tried it on the fluke and unless you are fishing it on a scrounger head or something similar then it doesn't do a good job. For those wanting to make their own MJ rigs, buy some size #10 crane swivels, medium size hitch hikers and size #3 willow leaf blades or size #3 Indiana blades and a pack of split rings and you can make a bunch in no time.

I didn't do it until this summer, a friend showed me how effective a 4" Chigger Craw can be on a shaky head. I was always a worm guy when it came to shaky heads, then the same friend who taught me the Chigger Craw this past summer showed me how well a beaver and a brush hog work on the shaky head. Those last two were so good I got some larger EWG style hooks to make my shaky heads with for just those bulkier baits but those were doing something a little different, I'd put them on a shaky head and pitch them to sparse cover with lighter line, usually boat docks or eel grass. The Chigger Craw we used in the same areas as worms and the fish were eating it, I was impressed with how well that worked considering we had a hot day with a tough bite going, the fish didn't want the same chigger craw with a 1/4oz weight flipped and pitched to cover so we went off script and started finesse fishing using the craws on a 1/8oz shaky head with a 3/0 hook and caught fish, great bait for a shaky head.

X8

I use the Palomar for all and when I use to use braid and leaders I used a uni to uni to attach braid to fluorocarbon but the lure or snap attachment no matter the line is always a Palomar for me.

I will use a 6.4:1 or anything in the 6 range for any technique you can think of but if you are looking for specifics then the faster the better for topwaters. The reason is slack, you can pick up a lot of line faster with a higher gear ratio but it also depends on the IPT so the size of the reel will come into play. For 100 to 150 size casting reels, a 7.1:1 or equivalent with 28" to 30"+ IPT is what I would use as a dedicated reel for topwater. You need to get use to it for walking baits, a guy I fish with uses a 6.2:1 reel for spooks and walkers in general because he is so use to it that any faster will mess up his rhythm so be aware that there might be a learning curve with using a different gear ratio reel.

The KLX has a lot of fans because the blank is made by Gary Loomis's company, North Fork Composites and the blank is very good. The Carbon Steel is built on a dense, heavy generic blank and is made overseas, being free you got a good deal, those rods would be ok for spinnerbaits and frogs but if you need to feel light bites the carbon steel won't help much but the KLX will. The problem with Kistler is they have a bad reputation for not standing behind the product and this is the reason the KLX rods aren't $200 or more. Back in the early 2000s Kistler was doing real well, he came out with an awesome rod, the Helium LTA, it didn't have a fore grip and it had a revolutionary hook keeper we now call a Texas rig hook keeper. Anyway, these were expensive rods but guys were buying them and then he expanded the line and had the Argon and Magnesium rods and all was going well until they decided to make some money and change the blank from one developed by Batson I believe, to a cheap imported one that wasn't tested. What happened is rods were breaking all over, and instead of trying to fix the issue they just said it was angler error and refused to deal with customers or answer questions and it was hard to even get anyone on the phone. I know 2 guys who ended up with $400 and $600 worth of broken rods who know how to fish and understand about high sticking and all that can cause a rod to break, these same anglers told me that Kistler could come out with a rod better than an NRX and sell it for $5.00 and they wouldn't buy it, and to this day there is a large number of anglers who will not buy Kistler and a large number of friends of those anglers who witnessed what happened and those anglers will not buy Kistler either. The KLX has got Kistler back in the game but he has to sell it for well below what he could have sold it for based on who made the blanks but a lot of angler have no trust. I would buy a KLX if they would use something other than the Fuji ECS reel seat, I'm sure I can get it custom made but then I'm paying more than if I just bought a rod I liked already made with the reel seat I like. Overall I think you'll like your KLX rods and you'll more than likely appreciate the Carbon steel just because of the fact that you can't get a rod like that for free, and with free shipping you made out, congrats and enjoy your rods.

I mentioned in my post that I didn't use the stock hooks, I got a pack of KVD elite 2X short shank triple grip hooks in a size #6 and put them on. I have these hooks but I always buy them when there is a sale because I change almost all my hooks out on cranks and I stand by my review. You may not like the way that bait looks, I have blue chartreuse, shad and glimmer shad and while I will admit they aren't the prettiest bait but don't knock it until you try it. I thought the same thing as you, there really wasn't anything to it until we got to fishing, the larger fish were absolutely chocking that bait and not just once or twice but consistently for over 20 fish, between me and my friend we got 50+ and his all came on that bait, I switched up and threw other baits to keep catching fish but everytime we got 1 over 19" it was on the XTS. Then a few days later a coldd front came through and killed the crankbait bite, I managed some good fish on a jerkbait and a tube but my friend was still using the crankbait and he caught 5 smallies and 2 walleye, I was using a few different cranks and to no avail, I couldn't get a bite. Take that bait and fish with it, I got a half doxen now and I'm happy I have them, they may not look like much but the fish found them appealing.

While I don't use St. Croix anymore, I am familiar with them and the MH is what I would use if you are crashing your square bill through cover. When it comes to lipless cranks I like the yo-yo retrieve and I'll use a glass rod when in open water but late fall, like right now, I love ripping lipless cranks off of weeds and a moderate action rod makes it tough to do so I use a moderate fast. That said, a 7' medium power, fast action would be the most versatile but if you intend to use regular diving cranks like DT-6s or similar then a MHM would work better as you'll have more backbone but if it just for square bills and lipless cranks, the medium power, fast action may be the better choice, it all depends on what other uses you have for it.

I was a Norman fanatic back in the day and they are hard to beat for the price, the only thing is you may have to tune a bait every now and again right out of the box. Grab a Flat Broke and fish that during the prespawn, it is also good in mid June when bluegills get on beds, one of those seldom talked about crankbaits that gets fish more than fishermen.