smalljaw67

My flipping stick is 7'6" and my pitching stick is 7'2", if I was going to use both techniques with 1 rod it would be the 7'2" just because I can flip in tight areas with it while I can't pitch worth a nickel with the flipping stick. Everything that has been suggested is good, in fact most rods in the $150 to $200 are going to serve you well so you have to decide on which brand you favor more. My pitching stick is the rod I now use for most of my jig fishing, it is a Fenwick Aetos 7'2" MH-XF, that rod is very sensitive with a ton of power but I use heavy copolymer line for most of my fishing except frogs and flipping which I do with braid and my Aetos is entirely too stiff for braid. To choose a good jig rod you have to look at the cover you fish, heavy, moderate or sparse, and then you have to look at lure weights you want to use and then line type and test, these three things combined will let you know if you should get a medium heavy or heavy power rod and whether you should get a moderate fast action, fast action, or an extra fast action. If you use braid I'd opt for the moderate fast action, for mono or fluorocarbon I'd choose a fast action and for mono or copoly it would either be fast or extra fast as they normally have more stretch than fluorocarbon.

I use heavy copolymer line to pitch with and right now my pitching rod is a Fenwick Aetos 7'2" MH-XF, I can really hit my targets with it consistently and it has a ton of backbone to get fish out of cover but it is light weight and balanced well. Mjseverson24 is spot on, rods with a moderate fast action are pretty much designed for braid, you now see flipping sticks in the same moderate fast action as well and it is like that because braid is non stretch so the rod will absorb the shock. When you want to get a rod to pitch with, figure in all factors like cover, heavy, moderate, or sparse, the line and lures you intend to pitch. These things will let you know everything, the cover and lure type and weight is going to determine the power of the rod, medium heavy or heavy, and the line is going to determine the action of that rod, that is how I choose my rods, the only difference is my frog rod and flipping stick have braid on them but they are fast actions as I still can't get used to the added flex on a flipping stick, but nevertheless, I will never have an extra fast with braid.

For me braid is a no-no for that technique, I learned how to tie a uni to uni knot and the modified Albright knot but I was told you need to be close to the same diameter to keep from slipping. That said, 4 and even 6lb line is too light for my shaky head fishing and using heavier braid just isn't going to work unless you use a heavy wire hook on the shaky head.

It isn't actually the line, it is the debris that the line picks up. Mono and fluorocarbon are smooth so the dirt and little tiny wood bits and other stuff in the water doesn't stick to them too much but it does get stuck on the braided line and that is what makes it so abrasive. Chrome inserts are the softest ceramic insert made, and they will be good for the warranty period, no doubt about that but and it isn't what I would call a bad rod but for the $100 dollar price point they could have used stainless with zirconium or even plain aluminum oxide, both of those are fine with any line but chrome is going to really wear fast unless you don't use braid, then you'll have no problem.

For me that question is complicated because I pour my own jigs and jig heads and so I use different hooks depending on what I'm using them for. If I'm making a 1/8oz ball head to swim a 3" grub in open water, well I will use a light wire hook, the sharpest and least expensive is the Matzuo Sickle hooks, they are cheap but nasty sharp and it is what I like to use on hair jigs and small heads for plastics that will be fished in open water on light line. Right now I'm making some finesse football heads with #1 and 1/0 Owner 5304 deep throat jig hooks, wicked sharp but very strong, I will use this hook for fishing in cover with heavier line, 10# and up.

If you are looking to downsize and you want to go with 1 size of hook, I'd go with 3/0 in all styles, you can use it to rig 4" and 5" senkos, 5" 6" and 7" worms and it works well, the only thing is the drop shot deal, that there depends on what kind of hook you use. If you are nose hooking small baits then it would be a #1 octopus hook, if you weedless rig larger baits it would be a 1/0 worm hook, offset shank.

The only way to know is to try it, the fish may be active and looking for food and if that is the case it would work but more often than not, you would need something else. I found that I can catch river smallies in shallow gin clear water on a spinnerbait , it is a way to get the bigger fish to hit in the warm months but it has to be very natural in color with a smaller profile, those kinf of conditions I like to use a single willow blade, size #4 on a 3/8oz bait with an opaque colored head and translucent skirt and it has to be burned. The other way you can get away with that is on a dark day when it is overcast with a little wind, that will put a little chop on the water which doesn't let the fish get a real good look at the bait, good luck!

I powder coat my heads, Will is in an area with a lead ban so he uses metal with a low melting point thus he can't powder coat so I understand where he is. If you use lead you can powder paint the heads and cure them and it eliminates the need for a top coat on the head and all that is left is the thread but if I use eyes on my hair jigs then I use Devcon 2 Ton epoxy, it takes loker to cure but it is super hard and you would need a hack saw to cut the thread off when you coat that with the epoxy. My normal bucktail jig is between 1/16 and 3/16oz and if I'm not using eyes I'll just have a plain head but for the thread I like to use Loctite super glue brush on, it is very thin for super glue and it penetrates the threads before hardening, a little bottle goes a long way, like 2000 jigs and I still have enough left for 500 more. I will have to look at the polycrylic , how long does it take to set up?

What mold are you using? I'm asking because I only have had it happen on 2 occasions and it was due to a modification I made to the mold to accept a hook that wasn't designed for it. I'm guessing that the hook is either the wrong type or size for the head you are trying to cast.

Your casting distance is fine, I learned on Abu Garcia round reels back in the 80s with no brakes, you had to use your thumb and spool tension knob. That said, I took some rods and reel to the local high school football field, I know the guys that take care of it and I live right next to it and when I asked to make some practice casts for about an hour as they were working, I was told to go ahead. What I did was use a few different lures and reels to see what I was getting in a cast and here are the results. With a spinnerbait and a good roll cast I was hitting 26 yards on average with a long of 34 and a short of 19. With a 3/4oz one knocker lipless crank I had an average of 53 yards wit a long of 62 and a short of 44, the same lure in 5/8oz I had an average of 49 with a long of 58 and a short of 41. When I got into the 1/2oz and 3/8oz it was a different game, I was able to barely hit 50 1 time out of 20 cast or so with a 1/2oz jerkbait with a weight system in it, but on average I was hitting 37 to 42 most of the time, when I tried to heave it is when I would get a backlash, and when I say heave it I mean trying to get that little bit extra. Here is something else that will blow your mind, most of us will tighten the spool tension knob a little extra and maybe another brake turned on to really give it a whip and you get to do that without backlashing but it only ends up as far as a nice easy cast with normal settings, believe me I tried a bunch of stuff and my conclusion is that yes, 60 yards can be made but much more than that on a consistent basis means that the caster is extremely talented or the estimation of distance is exaggerated and in reality 38 to 45 yards is the normal range of casting distance.

There is a good bit of anglers that seem to like them, the problem with them will show in a season or two when the guides begin to fail. The only problem I have with them is the chrome inserts they use, most guide manufacturers quit using chrome inserts when braided line became a staple in the angling world, remember all the adds for rods saying they now have guides that can withstand braid? I remember that in the mid 90s and that is when the use of ceramic inserts became common place on most rods but I'd be willing to bet that the anglers who go out at least 3 times a week and use braided line will see the inserts groove or crack within a year, if you don't use braid you shouldn't have much, if any problem. So, is it worth the money? If you like it then it is, I think the blank feels fine, but for me, I can't get pass the chrome inserts but if you like the look and feel then it will be worth it too you, good luck with your choice.

It isn't the success you have that determines what they keep or not, it is their success in how many they sell which dictates what gets the can and what doesn't. Chances are the top knocker wasn't selling enough to justify keeping it because if it was selling, BPS would not get rid of it, the same think for plastics colors, they keep only what is selling and if you are doing well with a color that nobody else is using, well you better buy a bunch. My advice is to save the plastic bait you want and go to a custom maker, a lot of guys pouring soft plastics will be able to match the color for you if you send them the bait and most guys into that have a stick worm mold so you can still get that worm.

The brown color you have is called copperhead, the thing with those colors of powder paint is you have to really shake the jar after 2 or 3 jigs because the flake will settle. Using a fluid bed will help you with consistency but until you get one try finding a wide shallow bowl that you can put the powder in and when you heat your jig or weight, you can give it a quick swish thought the paint, that will help as well with consistency. Actual paint is harder to do because you need a white base coat or primer put on then when it dries you add your color and then you add a clear on top to keep it from chipping too quickly, also, the best non powder for jigs is vinyl and the fumes may cause severe headaches if not done in an extremely good ventilated area.

Yep, you have a medium heavy and you want to use cranks so get the medium. Now, if you were into it a little more you could get a rod made for crankbaits but that would be a single purpose rod and I take it you are more of a casual angler so a medium power rod will be fine.

My favorite bait and it is very rare that I use a trailer, from my experience a trailer has often been the cause of short strikes.

Football heads aren't good for brush or weeds, the arky style head or a heavy cover jig of some type would work. If you have 3' of visibility I would suggest starting with a small 1/4oz jig, that will get bit but if you have to get it down in water that is deeper than 5' then you have to go with a 3/8oz or 1/2oz.

I use a lot of finesse jigs in the 1/8oz up to 7/16oz and it is hard to believe a jig is finesse when it weighs that much but all finesse really is in a jig is a compact size so they can be heavy. About 2 weeks or so after I don't see any beds, that is when I'll use the heavier jig, 1/2oz is normal for me unless I'm fishing isolated cover in less than 5' of water, also if the water has 2' of visibility, I will still use a jig but it will be either a 3/8oz or 1/4oz depending on depth which is 1' to 3' I'll use the 1/4oz and over 3' I'll use the 3/8oz. Any water with more than 2' of visibility I will use a T-rig worm or creature. When we hit mid July or when the water temp gets around 84 or 85 degrees, that is when I will use the finesse jigs, if I have to get through cover or deep water I'll use the heavier models and again, the water has to have a stain to it, the clear the water the smaller the jig.

I don't T-rig tubes a lot but when I do I use the Trokar TK-190 and rig it the same way Knightiac does, no problems , the best thing is the hook up percentage, awesome hook for tubes.

I use a spinning rod for most of my weightless plastics except the Senko in the 5" variety, the 3" and 4" I use on a spinning rod as well. If I was going to do it on a casting rod it would be a medium or even a medium light depending on where you are throwing them. If you are set on St. Croix then find a medium light, the St. Croix medium power Avid rod is very close to most other manufacturers medium heavy and the medium light will be closer to a true medium which will be easier to throw weightless plastics on.

As iabass8, and jhoffman have said, this for me is 3 rods as well, flipping and pitching could double as a t-rig rod, wacky rig is a medium light casting or spinning, I prefer spinning for that, and jerkbaits, well I like a medium power fast acton usually in a shorter rod length under 7'.

Casting and spinning is 6'0", I have a G.Loomis CR721 GLX and a custom made 6'0 model and these were strictly 1 purpose rods, to cast baits under over hangs in shallow gin clear water.

I have 2, one is for flipping and the other is for toads like my old but reliable Yum buzz frogs that aren't made anymore but I have enough to last a long time. I also use this rod for hollow body frogs, and for fishing Biffle bugs on the hard head.

I like a round head and I don't care too much for a flat bottom. I make my own but before I did I tried a bunch of different ones from Jewel to Buckeye lures and then I bought the Cumberland Pro Lures round shaky head, nothing fancy and it worked as well as everything else so then I had enough info to make my own. I like a round head as I said but it has to be a flat eye hook, that has worked the best for me and like some others have mentioned, I use small weights, I rarely go over 3/16oz with 1/8oz being the most common weight and so it doesn't matter if it is round or football at that weight.

The moss boss is a lethal bait!!! It has been around for years but now soft plastic frogs are all the rage but I'll bet you if you find an area with matted grass or pads that you will do very well, most of the fish haven't seen those. For what it is worth, unless the wind is blowing 30MPH I doubt that it will land with the hook down, I don't ever remember habing it land like that and I have used that bait a lot. work the bait with the rod high as soon as it lands and with a slow steady retrieve bring it through the grass, or hop it on a pad and let it there for a few seconds and then start the retrieve again and when you get to the edge of the weeds you can let it drop and that will often trigger a strike, but don't worry about caching fish with it, they work.

Chances are that in a pond that size that you probably hooked the larger bass on the first pass and with them being sore mouthed the smaller fish were able to get a shot at a larger bait. When you get that many fish on a jig and change trailers and still catch them it is probably safe to say that the fish were feeding pretty good and those type of days you do well no matter what color or type of bait you use as long is it is moving.