smalljaw67

I think the guides on the Aetos are pretty decent, titanium oxide inserts that are deep pressed meaning there is almost zero chance of the insert popping out of the guide frame. As for hearing problems with them, I only read one bad review on Cabelas sight that had any mention of a bad guide but we all have our favorites. I owned an Avid and I'm very familiar with St. Croix rods, and having fish both the LTB for a good bit and now owning 3 Aetos rods, I can tell you the legend Tournament Bass is more comparable to an Aetos than the Avid, the Aetos is more responsive and lighter than the Avid and it is a very noticeable difference.

If that ever happens do not be afraid to contact the company and see if you can purchase old stock. I had that happen with the Manns Waker Elite, it is a big body wake bait and it awesome because you can reel it pretty fast and it still makes a wake. Anyway, I only had 2 left and so I was looking around and I was able to find some but not in the colors I wanted so I contacted Manns and they were able to get a bunch in the colors I wanted.

My biggest problem with wake baits were most would dive to a foot or so when retrieved at more than a moderate pace. That said, just about every wake bait is made to go just under the surface to make a pronounced bulge, some you need to go slow while others are ok unless you go too fast and heavy mono helps in the speed department.

I'm going opposite and say Aetos just because it is far above an Avid it terms of light weight and sensitivity, at least to me. I owned an Avid, very good rod but the Aetos is different, if I had to compare it to a St. Croix I'd say it is comparable to the LTB but even light than those plus I like the Fuji SK2 reel seat on the Aetos, the Avid istill uses the ECS which a lot of people like but to me the trigger is too wide and it causes my hand to be sore by the end of the day. As for what power, it all depends on what small plastics and senkos means. If you are talking 5" Senkos around cover then medium heavy is what you want, if you are looking at 4" senkos, and some weightless or maybe no more than 3/16oz sinker with 6" to 7" worms then a medium will work fine but add cover to that mix and you will want the medium heavy which I think is more versatile anyway.

This^^^^^. Sit at home with you reel and a bait on and press your thumb bar down and then let it go, if it comes back up then the flipping switch is on, when it is off the thumb bar will remain in the down position. As Paleus already mentioned, flipping is done with line already out so it only helps when you want to get a little more distance, without the flipping switch you press the thumb bar down and then move the handle to engage the reel again. I don't like it for flipping but I do like it when I'm pitching to targets although I no longer have a reel with a flipping switch.

Poppers, most topwaters, jerkbaits along with finesse worms and small jigs but topwaters and jerkbaits are going to really good with that rod.

I love the manns 1 minus series, I use it to fish shallows and to buzz over weed beds but for wake baiting, it is different. For that I like to use the Manns Waker Elite, it is discontinued but Mr. Lanny Deal hooked me up with some old stock and I got enough to last quite awhile now. Those only dive 3" and they have a big body so they will create a wake at much faster speeds than other wake baits. Speed is the deal for using wake baits in summer and then in the fall when slower works better then I use the Rapala DT Fat 1 and a Storm Sub Wart which is also discontinued.

It is kind of hard if you don't have a brand you like or you can't go anywhere to hold them in hand because there are a lot of rods in that range and most will be good. Start by process of elimination, what kind of baits are you going to throw? What line size? Once you know that, you can look to see which rods you're interested in fit it terms of length, power, line and lure weight ratings and cosmetics, this will narrow your search to a few rods and make your decision easier. I can help with the Fenwick, the smallmouth rods are getting hard to find as they are discontinued and they only have 1 model that is in the lengths you wanted, and that is the 7'4" medium power, fast action rod and just the fact you need sort of an all purpose rod, this isn't going to be what you want as the rod is more for dragging tubes, it doesn't have the right tip for moving baits with a good bit of resistance. Go to Tackle Warehouse and look under spinning rods and look at the brands and see what rod is going to work for you because everyone here is going to list their favorite in this price range and it may end up confusing you more than helping.

I think that is fair, the rods were broke accidentally, it would be different if they broke due to defect. That said, I also applaud the OP for honesty and telling them what happened, most would make up a story of how the rod broke on hook set just to score a new rod for free.

Most of the cheap reels will perform pretty well, what separate better ones is the longevity, that cheap reel may perform well now and it may do well for a few season if you don't go out but once a month. If you fish that reel for an hour or 2 twice a week it will last one season, what happens to them is either the gears begin to get out of alignment if you are catching a decent amount of quality size fish, or the bearings will begin to fail. I hate saying that too you but I've watched this happen to friends of mine, and I was with a friend when he had his Shimano Caenan out and a hard hook set with heavy braid was enough to make it grind on retrieve but it depends on how you use it, these are made for casual anglers and aren't meant to be fished for 4 to 5 hours at a short but maybe you'll get one that holds up, good luck.

Here is the lowdown on the Katsuage outbarbs on the Vision 110 , which, by the way, happen to be made by VMC. If you watch that Aaron Martens video he tells you he switches out the hooks because he prefers to use heavier line and that is key because that bait was designed similar to the spy bait deal, light line, in Japan the anglers are fishing pressured waters and clear water so they use light line, lighter than what we normally use. The hooks were meant to be used with 6lb to 8lb line max, so if you bend them it was because of heavier line and therefore, too much pressure. That said, I replace the Katsuage hooks with the same size VMC Barbarian outbarb, thay look similar but the VMC brand is made with slightly larger diameter wire so they can handle 12# line and it doesn't affect the action but I saw some guys wondering why there bait wasn't working too well after they put Owner Stinger ST-41 hooks on, well even the ST-36 have more weight so it will affect it.

I really like the Xcalibur one knockers but I also like the Rapala Clackin' Rap and the new Rippin Rap. There are days I really like the old school Rat-L-Trap and if I need to go slow but still make noise I reach for the Cotton Cordell Super Spot. I don't really have a favorite as I found that out of all the brands there are times when one will really do well while others not so much. As I said, Super Spots if I need to go slow as they work better as slower speeds than the others but there are times a one knocker is just the ticket so my favorite you can say is all of them as they all work and some better than others under certain conditions.

3/16oz finesse jig with chunk trailer.

I'm from that area and I fish the Susquehanna river a lot, I know where the Swatara creek flows into the Susky at as I fished it a lot. I make my own jigs and I use finesse type jigs when the water is up, the fish go to tha bank at that time and you can fish a jig in an eddy or in slack water pools very effectively. Try 3" Senkos on a ball head jig, in fact there is a bait specifically for this, it is from River Rock Baits and it is called a PC> Ringer. It is a little more slender than the 3" Senko, just a tad bit but when used on a 1/16oz ball head it is a deadly combination. The key to fishing the plastic in the current is the right weight as DVT suggested but when I was out last week the 1/16oz with the small stick worm was the ticket for numbers, bigger fish came from a Super Spook Jr. and a buzzbait.

The Ghost is light but so is the *** and the HMG from Fenwick, yes, I'm a Fenwick fan, it is hard to beat what you get with them. The ghost is the lightest of these with the HMG the heaviest but not heavy, the *** has the biggest following and is possibly the best rod in that range but the HMG offers the best warranty as it is lifetime for $99. Truth be told, most every rod at that price point is going to make you happy so whatever you get it is going to be good.

Very labor intensive and made here which makes them more expensive. Yes, the GL2 is heavy and it would be ok at $100-$115, same category as a Dobyns Saavy, not too good at the current price point but at that same deal wouldn't be bad. Before you bash me and tell me the Saavy is cheaper, well it should be as it is made overseas, in fact every rod in their line up uses Kigan guides and is made overseas which means they are way over priced. I agree with Loomis rods, GL2 is over priced but they use Fuji guides even is the inserts are basic aluminum oxide which is plenty good for bass fishing, and they are made here with much higher labor costs. I have older MBR rods in the IMX series and they are really good rods, I also have a CR721 in a GLX which isn't made anymore, that rod, when it was made, was far superior than what was available up to about 2008 or 2009, that seem like the time everyone else learned how to make blanks. Seriously, I'm not a young guy and I've been at this since the mid 80s and when the IMX came out it was incredible, and it was the first rod to dethrone the Fenwick Iron Feather rods but it didn't stop there, the GLX was introduced and there was nothing even close as far as sensitivity or weight was concerned, in fact that is the rod that spawned the "weight weenies" , you know, guys that have to have light rods and reels like myself...LOL. Actually the Revo Premier 2nd generation is what turned me into that but anyway, there wasn't anything close until recently. I will also say Abu Garcia spawned the cheap rod wars by making the Vendetta, they made a decent rod that was cheap for what you got, and trust me, a rod that was that good in the mid 90s wasn't around, well at least that was affordable to the masses as we don't realize it but we are the fishing minority, most casual anglers would tell us $80 is pretty expensive for a fishing rod. I'm just glad I don't fly fish, I just saw a hand crafted cane rod made in Japan that retails for $3,250, talk about diminishing returns.

I've come to the conclusion that this is going to be a niche bait for mostly northern anglers as you need light line and clear water. The 30/8 pp is not going to work for you, it is to heavy and too buoyant so it will not allow the bait to free fall and thus it will lose action. I've tried this with mono and fluorocarbon and it is one technique I actually think fluorocarbon is the best line for it but light mono works, I can tell you from experience 8lb mono was too much, 6lb seemed decent but the light fluorocarbon seemed to have the best natural free fall. The other thing is while the bait is heavy enough for casting gear, you won't want to use it and adding braid into the mix is a no-no, you will bend the hooks out so quick, truthfully I don't see it possible to land a fish on braid and the balance on these baits is very precise, changing out hooks to a stout hook would probably kill the subtle action it has and render the bait useless. Remember these points and you'll be fine: 1. Clear water. 2. Light line-mono or fluorocarbon. 3. Spinning rod - medium power with a moderate to fast action, needs to give which most medium spinning rods do.

My favorite wake bait is the Manns Waker Elite but it is discontinued so I'm going to try the Arashi series. I also like the Rapala DT Fat 1, it puts out a big bulge but the Manns can be burned and will still only dive to 3".

They work well for bass, a fishing friend who has past away used to use them for river smallmouth. He said he could cast them further than in-line spinners and the had just as good of a flash and he caught fish. He even caught largemouth with it in lakes but the way he worked them was different, he would make a long cast and let it sink to the bottom on a tight line and then he would rip it with a sideways sweep of the rod and then reel up the slack and rip it again, it worked and seemed best around rip rap.

Thanks for that review, I'm going to grab some myself.

The Spinning rod I'd choose at that price point for shaky heads would be the Fenwick HMG either the 6'9" ML-F or the 7' ML-F, both are rated right in the wheel house for weights you are going to use plus it has a lifetime warranty.

Choporoz is right on the money!! Finesse worms T-rigged weightless or with a small weight, wacky rigged or on a jig like a shaky head. If I need a bite and this fish are ina negative mood I use a worm that I shouldn't say here but I will just because most won't care. I use a River Rock Baits 4.25" Night Crawler rigged on a 1/0 worm hook with a BB split shot put on about 6" to 8" above the worm, it is called a split shot rig and it produces fish and while I have caught a few good fish on it, the majority are in the 12" to 15" range, it really is a numbers bait. If they are even snubbing that I go to the smaller 3.75" Night Crawler but most of the time the 4.25" works. I get that worm in a color called oxblood, in that color they look just like a living worm and it gets bit like one also.

You will often hear the word "crisp" to describe the feeling of a rod blank and action and it is pretty hard to put into words exactly what crisp means. However, put that rod with the crisp feeling in your hand and you know exactly what crisp is and you pretty much get what you pay for when it comes to rods for the most part. Pick up a $40 dollar Ugly Stick and then pick up a $70 dollar BPS rod and the difference is amazing, then pick up a $150 dollar rod and the difference between that and the BPS rod is equally amazing but once you go from $150 to $300 you will also have a difference, it isn't as spectacular but it is quite noticeable but that is when it get blurry. Once you hit $300, the difference between that and a $400 may be only in components or cosmetic treatment because $300 makes a nice blank with nice components, there are exotic graphite blends and resis systems and all kinds of other good things out there that add to the cost but the difference in performance isn't going to be quite as noticeable as it was when jumping up from lower level rods. I'd say that $150 - $225 the major differences are normally components and detail, the blanks are going to feel that much different but at $250 there may be a slight difference and at the $300 level there will be a good deal of difference but not like it was going from $70 to $150. Now, that is just speaking in general, there are some rods that are well above their price point and yes, there are examples at every level but generally, the trend is the high the price the bigger the difference you feel until you hit a cetain spot and then you get into the law of diminishing return. That is basically saying that a $350 dollar rod isn't $50 different from the $300 dollar rod, to some a slight cosmetic difference may be worth it but there is a point that were the price goes up but the performance doesn't meet the same level and you have the diminishing return. The best way to find out how different rods are from each price point is to go to a place and pick them up and feel in hand, or better yet, join a club and get to fish with a bunch of people who use different tackle in just about every price point. The best thing to do is buy the best you can afford.

a jig head with a grub can be considered a swim jig so yes, you can use them without the skirt. I make my own and I can tell you that I often will leave the head untied and just use it to fish a large grub or swim bait but in stained water a skirt and trailer can really make a difference.

River Rock Baits http://riverrockbaits.com/ They make the best tubes money can buy and the rest of their line is just great, high quality plastic makes the baits more lively. I discovered them by accident 4 years ago and now 95% of the plastics I use is made by them, the SM KIller is the best worm I ever used on a shaky head and it was also the first worm I ever caught a largemouth on in water that was in the mid 30 degree range, just really good baits.