thehooligan

Agree totally with these two. St croix cant compete with the fenwick smallie rod until you step up to the avid line...

The 6'5 Cumulus is that rod for me. It can do a little bit of everything for the style of fishing i do. Plus, its under 3oz so makes for very lightweight combos...

How did I forget the Calcutta.... lol

I've always done well with braid & copoly leaders. For the clear water quarries I fish the green mist fluorclear has always worked really well for me and its a lot cheaper then a quality flouro....

Quality Shimanos that you can usually scoop up on the forums for cheap money is the chronarch 50mg, any e series curado, and curado d series. All solid workhorse reels that will last a lifetime...

Chasing snakeheads, hooked up with one and lost em on the jump...

Another fan here of split grips, especially Eva.

I think everyone pretty much covered it. 1. 7ft or longer rod go with the 2500/3000 2. 8lb flouro or higher go with 2500/3000 3. 6'10 or shorter rod go 1000 4. 6lb flouro/10-15lb braid go 1000 I started with 2500's and 8-10lb line years ago and slowly worked my way down to 1000's with 10lb braid and flouro leaders. Absolutely love the 1000 paired with a 6'8 cumara...

Nice combo Dwight ^ One more here that will just order straight from japan, you save alot of cash. Im really trying to hold out for the 50 series next year, but id love that 101 for crankin....

^ How you like it ?

Love buying used gear, especially from Trusted board members. Ive scored some really nice rods & reels on the boards at a great price. You do get burned here and there but its bound to happen.

Sold all my Swimbait gear to buy more finesse gear.... Its very addicting !!

When fishing clear water, i typically only add a leader when finesse fishing. Topwater, cranks. and jerks get straight braid. I do fish a very clear quarry that gets no pressure and have caught numerous bass on straight yellow braid. Didnt add a leader out of pure laziness and was still getting bit. So typically it comes down to where im fishing. If its a heavily pressured lake, you better believe ill have a leader tied on.

I hear ya, i have it on a majorcraft corkish right now, would love an expride or adrena though but its not in the budget... Would defintely give the new crucial in a 6'8 medium action a shot.

x2 I always liked the older cork crucials, so i like the fact they brought the green back. Hoping they have a good variety of lengths & actions, id like to find a home for my conquest...

I tried my pxl-r on all of my cumulus rods at one point. The px on the 7'1 made for a sweet froggin combo.

Yea, but im using aftermarket shallow spools. In my regular casting reels that arent for finesse fishing i typically use 8-12lb line

Ive been throwing 1/16oz shakeyheads and cranks up to 1/4oz on 4lb mono & 8-10lb braid. Works Great

I agree completely with this. I had that rod with a core51 on it and it was a bit tip heavy. Id bump up to something in the 6-7oz class. ci4, core 100, new curado, chronarch/curado e

I stocked up on line. Got some at TW, and ran over to dicks yesterday. Deal was take an extra 50% of the clearance price. Scored pxx for about $3.50 a spool.

I used to throw buzzbaits and frogs on a medium heavy cumara, 1000 size sustain with 20lb braid. Works fine, just prefer a baitcaster for it now.

Wow, you stocked up cheng. Nice reels, is that a zpi spool in the top one ?

Another fan here that prefers the core over the ci4. Its so light and palms so well...

Thanks guys. I'm really looking forward to the new conquest 50 series for 2015. That thing is gonna be a beast.