smalljaw67

Being a river guy myself I can tell you that I find when the smallies are on them a 1/2oz bait is hard to beat. Now I know it is tough when the water is low but Bagley just came out with a rattle bait in 1/2oz that they make in 2 different versions. The make a rattlin B+ for deeper presentation and the Rattlin B- which is a 1/2oz bait with a slow sink for shallow water, I already grabbed a couple of both versions, it could be a game changer. I do use a floating rattle trap every now and again but it limits how deep I can get it because it floats, a slow sink will allow the same shallow water use but it will also let you let it fall into deeper holes.

Majorcraft Don Iovino Signature Series casting rod, 6'10" M-XF. It comes in at $120 but it will be one of the very few options close to your price point.

Of all the rods you listed here I may be able to eliminate some. The first one to go is the Phenix Recon Elite, they are new but the Recon and Recon 2 while nice are not going to be more sensitive than an Avid X, probably less because Phenix rods tend to be slower in action than others. The legend Tournament is a little crisper feeling but you are paying for the K- series guides as they have the same alconite inserts and are around the same weight of the Avid line, sensitivity level isn't beyond the Avid line. The last one would be the Megabass Orochi Stinger Shot, if you intend to fish other finesse baits that aren't a completely exposed hook then you won't want that rod. The tip is really soft as it is designed for nose hooking soft plastics and drop shot fishing in general, you will see the strike with that rod before you feel it and it is designed like that as most drop shot specific rods are. The choice is up to you, I think going to a high end rod is a good way for you to go, but if you want to have a real noticeable difference in sensitivity you can mull around with rods that are in the $180 to $250 range, you either go with something in the same category as the Avid series and get a good reel to go with it and have a solid set up with above average sensitivity or you go a little lower on the reel and go with a GLX or Legend Elite or Extreme where you will have a noticeable difference in sensitivity but you aren't going to get even close to blown away with anything under those.

The standard is the 2/0, anything larger kills the action. Now I will fish them on a fish head spin or underspin as it is called with a 3/0 hook but the idea is not to have a ton of action.

What exactly are you looking to feel?? I ask that because you may be reading into a lot of hype when it comes to sensitivity. I've been bass fishing for more than 30 years and I've had the opportunity to fish a lot of rods the difference between high end rods and good mid tier rod when it comes to sensitivity is noticeable but not mind blowing. The biggest difference I feel when fishing a GLX compared to say an IMX isn't what I can feel, it is the way it feels, when I drag a jig across the bottom and it goes from a hard bottom to soft bottom, I can feel it with both rods, the GLX I can tell a little faster than the IMX. If you have a St. Croix Avid X I fear you won't be "blown away" by any rod in your budget or even close to your budget, as I said, you'll feel the same stuff, the difference will be the more sensitive rod you may be able to tell whether your bait is hitting rock or wood right away once you get use to it. Now line choice helps, braid will make any rod more sensitive, but the part I'm trying to emphasize is that you are fishing with decent stuff already, if you were using an Ugly Stick or a Cherrywood then I'd say you might be blown away by the sensitivity of a better rod but while there is a difference from say a St.Croix Avid X to a St. Croix Legend elite, it isn't as stark as you might think, it is a crisper feel but you won't feel like you are feeling things you never felt before, it is just a little more crisp and I'm not saying this to discourage you, I'm just trying to keep you from expecting too much and being disappointed, my buddy went from the IMX to a GLX and expected it to be awesome and while he loved the rod his one remark was that it wasn't too much different from what he was using, so understand that the rod may be more sensitive but don't expect to be blown away.

If the fish are bedding then they aren't eating it but just hitting it to get the bait away from them as Bluebasser86 has mentioned. If that isn't the case I found that either going to a swim jig or a chatterbait is the best option when the fish are hitting the blades. In the past I change the skirt color, something brighter or off color to try to get them to hit the body, that worked but not as well as a swim jig.

Normally when you go up in size the line capacity goes up a lot. Take a Daiwa Ballistic, the 2500 has a 170yd capacity of 8lb line, the 3000 size has a 240yd capacity, The Shimano Stradic goes from 140 in the 2500 to 170 in the 3000, that is a 30 yard difference and pretty much what you see from others. If you look at the Pflueger Supreme it goes from 130yd in the 30 to 185 in the 35 size, and that is the point I was trying to make, it seems strange that the next size up reel only holds 10 yds more line but it is because of the braid ready spool, that is what is different.

Uh, most tournament anglers fish them as they are, they just use lighter line and rods. The thing that makes the Vision 110 so good is that it is precisely weighted, it doesn't suspend, it slow flats so you can get away with a slight upsize on the hooks, normally just the front and rear but go too heavy and it ruins the triggering qualities. Certain baits you just don't mess with and that is one that you don't need to, just use some drag and light line and play the fish, simple.

I just picked up that very same reel on sale at Cabela's. The braid ready spool makes the line capacity confusing, I have a 30 size Supreme MGX that is smaller but holds 130 yds of 8lb mono while the Patriarch in the 35 is larger but only holds 140 yds of 10lb mono. I will tell you this much, if this reel fishes any better than my Supreme MGX, I may end up using only one brand of reel in the future. I have at least 1 of every major manufacturers casting reels, but the only one I liked so much that I ended up buying an identical model was the Pflueger Supreme XT casting reel, I can see myself getting another Patriarch but I have to use it for a season before making that decision.

I have several cranking rods, from a MH glass rod for deep divers to a ML for finesse cranking. Out of all the cranking rods my favorite happens to be the least expensive, a Fenwick HMG 7'2" M-MF. It is rated as a medium but the lure weights are listed as 3/8oz to 1oz and it can handle 1oz but you can tell you're at the end. I was using it for square bills as the tip is soft but transitions to the backbone really fast so it lets me work a bait through cover with no problems. The thing is that the rod does a great job at handling cranks down to about 10'-12' so I find myself using it a lot, even for lipless cranks. That is by far the most versatile cranking rod I ever used, lighter than glass and handles such a wide range of baits, the best $100 I ever spent on a cranking rod.

Storm Twitch Stick is the best value bait and to be honest fishing a tournament doesn't mean using a high end model. If I had to choose just 1 model for a tournament I'd go with an X-Rap, it is the most versatile jerkbait made in my opinion.

Nothing wrong with that!!!! Years ago I made a bladed swim jig with a double split ring set up and it worked great, what the split rings do is they cause the bait to hunt wildly. After using a fixed blade I can honestly say I like the split ring better, much more erratic action, right now I'm pouring the same head as Bluebasser86 that uses a heavy wire flat eye hook so it only needs a single split ring to attach the blade but what you have will work well for sure!!

To catch numbers in all conditions my 4 would be: 1. - 5" Senko 2. - 4.5" straight tail worm on 1/8oz shaky head 3. - 1/8oz finesse jig with Tiny Paca Chunk trailer 4. - 1/4oz spinnerbait Now these aren't my 4 favorite baits or presentations but I know that I would be able to get bit on one of these in just about any type of condition other than ice fishing.

No, they are far from the same blank. The 802jwr is what you want if you intend to use other techniques besides the drop shot. The drop shot specific rod is 6'10" and has a really soft tip section, much softer than the 6'8" JWR in the 2 power, a guy in our club now has all of his spinning rods converted over the E6X series, I got to fish them to see if I could find a hair jig rod I liked from them and I didn't care for any of them. I'm not arguing but maybe across other series but the DSR rod is very different from the JWR in the E6X spinning rods.

If it is nose down to the point it is almost vertical the bait has a problem. I'm willing to bet the weights for the weight transfer system are getting jammed in the nose or some other issue. I say that because 110s are slow rising baits, they don't suspend, I have had the original Japan models that suspend and then the American versions that are slow float. Most jerkbaits will either sink slowly or rise slowly, so I categorize a suspending jerkbait by how fast it floats, if it takes longer than 5 to 7 seconds to float up 1' it is a slow float, if it takes longer than 7 seconds I consider it suspending and the 11 falls into the slow float category. Now changing out the light wire hooks to a heavier hook will make it suspend and it will do so in a slightly nose down position unless you only add the heavier hook to the back but why would you only change that one. Anyway, if it came right out of the package I'd either contact Megabass or the place you purchased it from because the bait is malfunctioning.

I love my Rattlin' Rogues and I have more than 30 of them in both floating and suspending models.

Jig rod for sure, it would also be a good rod for swing jigs.

There are 2 wakebaits that have been really effective for me. The first is my favorite, the Mann's Waker Elite which has been discontinued years ago but I have a good stash. The second is the Arashi wake crank, the Mann's works better at high speed but the Arashi can make a lot of noise at a slow pace. The only thing I don't like about it is that at faster retrieves the bait will blow out to the side sometimes but I now know how fast to go and it catches fish. I fished with just 1 to try out but I now have several, that noise and commotion, it moves a lot of water, is just a killer in dirty water.

I purchase custom color baits because the areas I fish will often get a large amount of pressure. I also custom make my own jigs and spinnerbaits and I normally do well. I think a lot of the reason customs seem to work better in certain situations is because they are seeing something that is different, I believe it depends on the area, my water is high pressure and clear enough most of the time that colr often makes a difference.

Too many different lines that could load differently.

It depends on which generation of the GL2 and the price. The old style GL2 wasn't bad but when they updated the series they really missed the mark. The styling was nice and I loved the reel seat and grips but it was heavy, most every $100 rod was lighter and I think every rod in the $150 range had better guides. Now, if that rod was priced at $100-$120 I would have thought that it was a decent rod at that price and if you are getting one that was used, don't pay more than $100 for it. Don't get me wrong, it is far from a bad rod, I just think it was over priced because the blank was on the heavy side and it had the basic aluminum oxide guides which are fine but if you get a St. Croix Avid, you get a much better rod at the same price point.

I have the Supreme in a 30 and a Patriarch in a 35. The 35 Patriarch holds 10 yards more 8lb line than the Supreme but it is due to the braid ready spool. The 30 size has served me well for good size smallmouth exceeding 5lbs, I have 3000 size reels from other manufacturers that are larger but if you aren't needing 12# line on the spinning reel the 30, which is more like others 2500, will be more than big enough.

I like 1/8oz and 3/16oz the best. There are two kinds of finesse jigs, micro finesse that range from 1/32oz up to 1/8oz and the more common type like the Eakins style that goes from 1/8oz up to 1/2oz. I use the micro finesse in cold water and during the middle of August, those times a 1/16oz skirted jig can get good bites but by far the 1/8oz Eakins style finesse jig with a small craw trailer is the most versatile.

A lot of it will depend on what baits you are going to use and which models of the rods you're looking at. The Ghost rods I eliminate as I am not a fan of hardened chrome guides, especially if you plan on using braid. The Falcon BuCoo rods are nice but the actions are different compared to other manufacturers in that they use a lot of mod fast tapers so the rods are the exact opposite of the Abu Garcia rods in that they flex more than most. Now this is where the types and sizes of baits you intend to use comes into play, the BuCoo rods are more technique specific because of the actions, the weight ranges are usually spot on but say you are looking at a 7' MH rod, with the Falcon you are going to be getting a moderate fast taper, a little stiffer than a cranking rod but too much flex for big heavy wire hooks on baits like jigs. The Veritas is on the stiff side but they work, I have a medium power Vendetta casting rod in the first generation series and while it is stiff, it is far from a broom stick and I'd say it is maybe 1/2 power more than a medium or what some call a light medium heavy. I know it is a lot of info but it isn't just about brands, by knowing the baits and weight ranges you intend to use along with the rod lengths or models you want will help get you a better opinion on what you should get.

Go with the 843C, Loomis specs are a little confusing but the numbers are pretty straight forward. I have no experience with the E6X but I know the IMX MBR rods in the 843C and 844C have a big difference. The mag bass tapers are excellent and they are fast actions but there is some nice tip with the 843, the 844 will feel stiffer and I'm more comfortable with a 3/8oz weight with the 844. For me it would be simple, if I'm spending most of my time slinging lures in the 3/8oz to 1/2oz range I'm going with the 843, the only way I'd go to the 844 is if the fishing was going to be in moderate to heavy cover most of the time and I'm not just talking some grass, I'm thinking thick grass and heavy brush. I think the 843 will be more versatile for pond hopping, it will allow you to use a wide selection of baits in a good size range for ponds with the ability to use treble hook baits with much more efficiency than the 844.