smalljaw67

I had some old Whopper Stopper lipless cranks that came with 6 inserts so you could change the color without having to retie a new bait on. They were kind of cheesy but for some reason pickerel loved them, I have since given them away and that was in the early 90s, I think I got those lures in the mid 80s.

Boat flipping a fish, even if the technique is correct, is still wrong and if you talk to anyone who is involved with designing blanks they will tell you that the rod is not meant to have the tip stressed in that manner and just because a rod can handle it doesn't make it right. I talked to a very knowledgeable person who works for St. Croix and I was told they can make rods super light, even lighter than what is now on the market but anglers keep insisting to boat flip fish and it ends up as warranty claims eventually. The OP broke 3 rods, I'd say that is either horrible luck or the angler is doing something to cause it and that can be boat flipping or high sticking. Someone here broke a rod and had a video that showed a classic text book case of high sticking and that person didn't see any problem and that is why it is hard to know if it is user error.

I agree with SenkoGuru on the price of the Dobyns rods, but it isn't because they aren't good. The reason is because they are commanding a price in the same ball park as G.Loomis and St. Croix, and those rods are made here in America with mostly Fuji Components. Dobyns rods are made over seas with Fuji Reel seats but Kigan guides, they aren't bad but they aren't as costly as Fuji, I have no trouble with this as I also like Pac Bay but the problem is price. Being that the rods are made overseas and use less costly components you would thing the rods would be moderately priced but they aren't, they are very expensive for a rod made overseas and not in Japan. Labor cost in Korea aren't as cheap as China but it is still less than here or Japan and that alone should make the rods more affordable, they are good rods or they wouldn't have the following but from the rods I've used in the series and their respective prive point, I'd have to say that they are a tad bit higher than what they should be but if they work for at that price point then fine. I'll state it one more time, this is my opinion and it has nothing to do with rod quality, the Dobyns series of rods is well made, I just feel that the components along with overseas production would make for a little less expense, I think the Loomis GL2 isn't close to what you get and I would say the Saavy is a better rod but I understand that some of the price is due to the labor cost. I don't dislike the Dobyns rods, I've only used the Champion and the Saavy rods and at the price point I can honestly say they aren't for me but it isn't just price, it is feel and they don't feel good to me as I prefer a lighter rod and I'm in the minority in that I don't care for the ECS reel seat that is used on their rods.

I too have a Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth 6'9" M-XF and it is a super versatile stick. I got mine for shaky heads but now I use it for tubes, jigs (1/4oz finesse type), flukes, and shad raps and in-line spinners in addition to the shaky head technique I originally got it for. The new Elite Tech Bass has a 6'9" M-F coming to replace the smallmouth rod and the fine folks at Fenwick told me it is going to be very close in feel to my current smallmouth rod and they did use a fast action as the blanks are a higher modulus graphite so the fast action is faster than the original, not quite extra fast but close. As for a second set up I'd look at a MH in a 7', I like Fenwick so I'd go with an Aetos but really any good spinning rod in a medium heavy fast will be great for those larger jigs and spinnerbaits with big blades.

Right now Tackle Warehouse has the Quantum Catalyst on sale for $108.88, not many care for Quantum but this is a decent spinning reel that will last. The difference is it has the titanium bait wire along with a magnetic bail trip so there isn't any bail springs to break. I have an 11 year old Quantum Kinetic, I got it in 2003 when they came out with the titanium bail with magnetic trip and it is still working great to this day, I got it just because every spinning reel I had up to that point would have bail springs break, so add the 10 bucks, you'll be glad you did.

I put the Saavy in the same deal as the G.Loomis GL2, it isn't a bad rod and would be good if priced around the $100 dollar mark but at the current price you could do a lot better. We all have our favorite rods and most other rods in the $150 - $180 category will be better, it just depends on what you are looking for. You are looking for a rod for jigs, weighless plastics (senko), spinners and cranks well you will be able to get a rod for most of your list but crankbaits is going to be tough to fish on a jig and worm rod. You need to either get a separate rod for cranks or compromise on the size of baits you are going to use and get a medium power rod with a fast action. So take a look at 7' rods that are a medium power with a fast action, they will let you fish a 1/4oz jig and trailer pretty well, a 3/8oz jig with skirt and trailer is going to be pushing it, especially in cover. The same deal with spinnerbaits, willow leaf blade spinners will be good up to 3/8oz maybe 1/2oz if the skirt isn't heavy, and then your cranks are all going to be mid depth but at least you can throw a little of every thing. You best bet would be to get a MH rod for all your single hook baits and a cranking rod for your treble hook baits, and it isn't impossible as you can get an *** Black or a HMG for $100 and grab a BPS Cranking Stick for $70 when there is a sale.

If you go with $99.00 you can grab a Fenwick HMG, with a lifetime warranty and while most rods in that price range will be decent I think the build quality on the HMG is outstanding. If I needed a rod in that range it would be between the HMG and the *** Black but I really like the HMG I have and the lifetime warranty is a plus.

I love mine, I have the medium power, extra fast action but one thing I can tell you is the rod rating is accurate as 1/4oz is the most I would throw on it and it is the reason I got the medium. The rod is super light if you haven't held it and the reel seat is fantastic but the sensitivity on them is incredible for the price, as far as comparing the action to a St. Croix, this will feel much lighter as St. Croix under rated their rods, a ML is more like every other company's medium so if you want something like that I'd say find a medium power. The ML is a true ML in this series, it is rated to 5/8oz and 1/4oz can be thrown comfortably but that is the most I'd go with, this rod is ideal for drop shots when using 1/8oz and 3/16oz weights, it is also good for small shaky heads and jigs with weightless plastics and split shot rigs. I was going to get this for hair jigs but I decided on an Aetos for that but if you found a deal on it I'd grab it.

I like having a moderate fast action that has good flex but not a parabolic bend. I treat wake baits like square bills,it has to be stout enough so I can pull it through grass or pull a big fish away from cover quickly, yet have just enough flex so I'm not ripping the hook out of the fish. Right now I like the Fenwick HMG 7'2" M-MF, it is perfect for lipless cranks, wake baits, and square bills but I will also use my Fenwick Elite Tech 6'10" MH-MF but that rod is a little more stout.

Seriously!!! I use the Owner 5317 on my flipping jigs and never came close to bending one even with 50lb braid, I never tried it with 65 but I don't see a need to go heavier than 50, at least where I fish.

Crankbaits don't need trailers because of the treble hooks they use, short strikers often get hung up on the back treble. What you are experiencing is fish following and then making a quick swipe and normally you feel the tail hit as it turn and sometimes you end up foul hooking the fish but most of the time it seems like we missed the fish. When this happens a change in color, size or both color and size will get the fish to hit rather than follow. This happens with topwaters a lot where the fish hits it and it goes sailing through the air, they turn at the last minute and tail slap the bait but because it is on the surface you see it, with a wakebait you see the swirl and feel the tail hit and we all assume it is a short strike and a miss when the fish isn't close to eating it. If you put a long stinger on the back hook to try and get the fish that do that, you would more than likely end up with foul hooked fish, so change the color, you don't need to run a trailer on a crankbait.

Fish those baits with the weed guard on them for awhile and you'll see why there aren't a bunch of them on the market. They don't work great against snags, they are good for keeping floating grass off the trebles and because they add weight that can hurt action it isn't worth using them for most of us. as far as what hook sizes, I'd say the 3" Splash would take a size #4 and the dawg would be a #2.

A 4lb smallmouth in a river in current hooked with a small 1/16oz in-line spinner on 4lb test mono took the gentleman every bit of 20 minutes to land. I watched it and when I say an ultra light rod I'm talking a 4.5' rod rated 1/64oz to 1/8oz and big bluegill will put a strain on the rod the man was using. I don't exaggerate, I watched it happen and the guy told me he wanted to actually fight a fish but didn't realize our river smallmouth often exceed 5lbs which he admitted he was totally unprepared for. If you never hooked a 4lb smallmouth in a river in a section with heavy current I would suggest you try it, it is fun and fights on MH tackle can take 3 to 4 minutes depending on where the fish hit ans how long the cast was. Rods rated to 1/4oz are considered light action here, ultra lights don't exceed 1/8oz lure rating or 4lb line. It may sound unbelievable to some of you but it is very, very true. My lightest set up is a medium power rod with 6lb line and I use if for small plastics and small jigs fished in slack water behind islands and in slow deep stretches because I fear that a large smallmouth get me in current on that set up and I won't be able to land it quick enough to ensure it lives, in cold water it isn't a big problem but in summer it is a huge problem and I hate to see under powered tackle being used to target a species that commands larger tackle. I can also tell you our river is in trouble, it is now all catch and release with no tournaments and a closed season during the spawn, there were several years in which drought and floods along with disease from farm run off that wiped out several year classes of fish so the population took a big hit and as a result the fish are getting big with limited competition for food. In 1990 a 20" smallmouth was just around 4lbs, now they are close to 5 with some going over, 17" fish barely a pound are now 3lb, and it isn't uncommon to catch a dozen fish in a day in the 4lb to 5lb class, once a rarity now happens all the time, it used to be a numbers fishery with cold water being the time to get a big fish to know getting big fish is a regular deal. I tell you this because it will take even a seasoned angler a good amount of time using ultra light gear to bring in a big female hooked in current on 4lb line, let alone a trout angler fishing the river for bass for the first time.

What are you fishing for and are you catch and release or catch and keep? I ask because if you are going after bass or other fish that size and larger, the use of an ultra light isn't advised unless you intend to keep the fish you catch. It is summer, I watch a man catch a beautiful 4lb smallmouth using an ultra light rod and reel, it took him more than 20 minutes to land the fish and after he landed it he tried to revive the fish and then he left it go, it swam several yards away and then was floating on its side. The fish died from lactic acid build up, the water is warm and has less than optimal levels of oxygen which is stressful to begin with and then using under powered gear for the fish you are after means a long fight which is fun for the angler but certain death for the fish, if you keep them then fine but if you plan on releasing them then get the right tackle. If you are fishing for crappie and panfish then forget what I said.

I'd sell it, that is a deep diving crank rod, it is too long and would make tough square bill fishing and while you can fish spinnerbaits with a moderate action that would probably be better suited for the 1oz ledge buster type spinnerbaits so even those would be specialized. Sell it and get something else you can use or take it with you and use it for a different deep diving bait so you don't have to retie if you want to switch baits.

I'll be honest, I really got into the Fenwick rods back in 2010 and for my money there isn't much better. I got an ET Smallouth rod that I liked and then added more of those and then I got into the Aetos line and those are tough to beat but I needed a new rod last year and got a HMG and it is really nice for $99.00 with a lifetime warranty. They aren't as light as the higher up series but they are still light for the price range but they have full rubberized cork handles that are thinner than some people care for, I happen to like it. If you like the split grip you may want to look at the other rods and that would include the *** Black series. Whatever you choose, make sure it is the best you can afford, but in all seriousness , most rods at that level are going to be decent.

Gamakatsu won't sell it to you but I wonder why everyone likes that hook. I bought 2 of those jigs, a 3/8oz and a 1/2oz and it doesn't seem special to me, it is basically a bottom contact jig with a swim jig profile with the 30 degree line tie. I personally have much more success and confidence in a 60 degree Owner 5304 deep throat hook but that is just me. Anyway, please help me understand what is so good about that hook.

I used to love running Storm Sub warts over submerged grass in the summer, the same thing with a baby and mid 1 minus but then Manns came out with the Waker Elite. Wake baiting was a tactic used in the fall with minnow baits and there are some wake baits made in minnow profiles but I found, by accident, that fat body, shallow running cranks work all summer. The sub warts are discontinued as is the Waker but the new Arashi looks great and the Rapala DT Fat 1 is pretty good too. My favorite is the waker from Manns and if you look you can still find them, the reason I like them is I can reel fast and still make a wake, most other baits will run too deep and speed is the key for summer. If you are using topwaters and getting swirls or missed strikes, try the wake bait, I will often catch those fish as they will take a bait just below the surface but won't fully commit to a topwater. If you want to use them now is the time to pick some up, depending on where you live it is going to get good for both minnow and fat body profiles, right after the first major temp drop in mid to later September, that will stun fish and a Wake bait is killer then.

If you don't have clear water, 3' visibility being minimum for water clarity, then this isn't going to be too good. The bait is subtle, it isn't going to move a lot of water and the triggering qualities on this bait are 100% visual and it has held up so far. We tried it in my waters which are clear a lot but bad T-storms will dirty the water up as will algae blooms in summer. We fished it in clear water in ares we marked fish and have tried it on 8lb line which really hampered the action. We found 6lb was about the best bet but when we marked fish and tried in water with a heavy stain, a little less than 2' visibility, we didn't get a sniff, in fact we used it for about 3 hours without a bump, in clear water it only took a few cast to get bit. After what I experienced I'd say if you aren't in an area with somewhat clear water then it isn't going to be anything more that a space taker or a neat keychain if you remove the hooks.

This is spot on!! You want a rod that isn't going to flex heavy when banging a square bill over rock and wood, when you hook up the rod will flex and keep the fish pinned, it works. I just got a 6'6" ML-moderate cranking rod for small shallow cranks for river smallmouth, I'm over 50 fish with not a single fish lost and while I love the rod, I'd never try to use a square bill around cover with it. I'm throwing small jerkbaits and manns baby 1 minus baits that just barely tick the rock, anything more with a very soft rod and you'll have fits. Use the rod for a bit and when you get a good square bill bass you'll understand why the rod needs to be a little on the stiff side and you'll also appreciate it for ripping lipless cranks out of grass with that rod, use it for a bit and you'll end up liking it.

I never even heard of it, I'm assuming this is sold as a combo at a department store. I'll give you some tips when getting a rod and reel, first, think about what kind of techniques and lures you are going to use the rod and reel for, then get the right rod and reel. For rods and reels stay away from the combos put together for department stores, these are meant as disposable outfits for casual anglers that sit on the bank and drown worms a handful of times a season, being that you are on bass resource I am assuming you are a little more serious than that and would want a little bit better. As for what to use it for I'd say weightless plastics, light T-rigs and some small spinnerbaits like a beetle spin and Mepps and Blue Fox in-line spinners.

I would have chosen the XT because of the abrasion resistance but if you aren't around rocks or weeds the line will be fine.

Too bad it is bass pro shops, you have the right amount for a Fenwick HMG 7'2" M-MF but it is a heavy medium rated 3/8oz to 1oz. The rod is perfect for square bills and lipless cranks, well at least for me it is because I tend to use the larger ones most of the time.

I make my own shaky heads and use a few different style worms and I can tell you that using too big of a hook will hurt the action on the worm. Bass very seldom grab the tail, most of the time they inhale the whole bait, a 3/0 hook in a shaky head is perfect for 5" and 6" straight tail worms.

I really like the Back/red combo in the War Eagle Buzzbait with the silver holographic blade. Now, I don't think that the holographic sticker that put on the blade makes a difference, it is just the thing they do with this color combo but it is a killer. I make my own spinnerbaits because I don't like how they are off the shelf but if I was going to get one it would be in 1/4oz simply because it is the only size they don't over size the blades on. Good luck, right now you may have a difficult time picking up fish on the spinnerbait but the buzzbait has been really good for us so far even in the middle of the day.