skeletor6

The premier is worth the extra money over the mojo IMHO. I also agree with a MXF rod.

Well I went ahead and purchased a Sol. Split decisions it seems between the three. I have a lews tournament speed spool and love it and have no complaints. I'm sure the tp is even sweeter with it being much lighter The SOL I got for $168 about the same as the other two mentioned, but used. I will see how it works. I most likely will be putting it on a St. Croix. Tournament bass or Xtreme MF or MLXF and using 6 or 8 lb diameter line. I will let you know what I think of it. Im working on being able to free spool and cast controlling the cast and presentation with my thumb and cast. It seems the Sol would be good to practice that on. Thanks for everyones help. In the future I will definitely purchase a TP or 50e as they seem to be great multiversatile reels.

Even with the lighter baits? I thought the Sol was better for this

I have a MHXF 7' LTB for my heavier jigs I was wondering if the Xtreme 7' MF would work well for jigs around 1/4 oz and 3/8 oz with rage craw trailer either bitten down to a chunk style bait or a baby craw.....and by weightless I mean wacky 5" Senko or weightless t-rigged rage craws or other creature baits.

Whats the best rod left in the bargain room for weightless plastics and light jigs? The Xtreme 7' MHF?

Thank you, I watched Gene's video on casting light lures and he mentioned a long smooth cast as vital. I will be throwing baits as light as 1/8oz with this reel. I am sure you're core 50 casts very well. Unfortunately, that is out of my price range. Can anyone explain how a Daiwa Sol would cast different from a Curado 50e? I understand the concept of the free floating spool, but ergonomically what type of casting differences will there be trying to cast out a Sol?

I got the St. Croix casting LTB 7' MHXF/11 and I absolutely love this rod. I am looking to buy another rod from the bargain room but I am not sure which one to get. I am going to be using it for lighter jigs, t-rigs, weightless plastics (senko, rage claw) drop shot ETC. I am going to pair it with a curado 50e or a Daiwa Sol. Which is the best rod for those techniques on the bargain room? Also, how much better are the xtremes compared to the Legend Tournament Bass's.? I want something with excellent sensitivity with the techniques mentioned. I have never pondered with paying so much for a rod so I was wondering what benefits would it give me over the LTB and how good the sensitivity would be on weightless plastics and the others I mentioned on Fluorocarbon line? This will be a casting rod, thanks

I really appreciate everyone's responses and learned a lot more about these specific reels. It seems like it would be hard to wrong with either the Curado 50e or the Daiwa Sol. I am really interested in the free floating spool in the Daiwa. What kind of differences would there be when I am actually casting and using this reel? I am new to this whole concept. Thanks everyone! Mike

So it sounds like the Sol is the best for these type of applications, but what would I have to do to a Curado 50e to get it spinning just as well?

The TW sale is over. I agree with you on the mojo, but that is not the class of rods that I am looking at. I want something equal to or better than a St. Croix LTB, that will be able to work well with lighter baits, as I will be using it specifically for light jigging and weightless plastics. I own a powell max, but I found that the St. Croix to be a much better Rod. So should I go with a M/F 7' St. Croix Legend LTB/Xtreme series for these applications? Or is the Cumara or Denali a better rod? From the bargain room what rods would be good to use with light weight jigs (1/4oz) and weightless plastics http://www.stcroixrods.com/shop/catalog/Freshwater-23-1.html ?

Out of these three reels, which one is best and will handle lighter line well? I am looking to use these to cast lightweight baits and will probably put 6 or 8 lb fluorocarbon on it. I am looking for a lightweight setup and from searching it seems that these three are recommended the most for these purposes. Thank you! Skel

Thank you for your response, it seems that you think that I should go with a Medium powered rod with a Fast or XFast. Are those good for lightweight baits and light jigs? I am probably looking to pair the rod with a Curado 50e, Lews Tournament Pro, or a Daiwa SOL How does the Dobyn's Champion extreme compare against the St. Croix Legend Xtreme? Is the Cumara or Recon much better than a powell max?

I have three rods and I am looking for a fourth. I need help on deciding what rod to buy next. Here is what I have already. 1.) Berkley Lightning Shock Rod 7' MH (gets miscellaneous use for crankbaits and what not) 2.) Powell Max 683c (been using it for lighter jigs and my weightless plastics or light plastics) 3.) St. Croix LTBC70MHXF (heavier plastics and jigs and frogging if I feel like it) I am looking to add one more rod to my collection. I am not looking for a crankbait rod as I feel I can get away cranking without one for now. I really would like to buy another St. Croix from the bargain room and the rods they have there, but I do not know what one to choose. The main reason is because those seem like the best deals going on right now. I want something that I can add to what I already have and will allow more versatility to just the three that I already own. Right now, I am mainly looking at the LTB series, due to price, but if the extremes are really that much better I may be willing to go there. So what rod should I add to what I already own that will really improve what I can do. Mainly I am looking for improvement on the lighter baits as I am having a terrible time with sensitivity on those. Sensitivity is my #1 goal with the purchase of this next rod and I will be buying a reel that will compliment the rod purchase. I am open to all suggestions. Please if you give me a recommendation will you explain what the advantages that the rod offers and why it compliments what I already own. Thanks in advance for the help! P.S. I would really like something that is equal to or better than the performance I get from my St. Croix LTB, I am not looking to spend more than $260 I would like to spend $150, I am open to other rods besides St. Croix I just mentioned the Bargain Room since it seems that is where the best deals are right now.

LOL! I said what the OP said after purchasing a Lew's Tournament Speed spool. Then proceeded to buy 30 Siebert jigs, a Powell Max rod, a St. Croix LTB, 10 Rage Craw products, and I forgot to get baby rage's for my finesse jigs, so there goes another $50 order. And I figure I mind as well buy some northstar spinnerbaits so WTH, why not. I think this forum needs a DISCLAIMER: Buyers Beware, buying fishing gear and tackle leads to a high risk of a phenomenon known as FISHOGEAROPHILIA. For short I use the term "FGD" (fishing gear disease). This psychological infatuation/condition has many common side effects, not limited to but including the following. Spousal anger, depleting bank account funds and obsessively refreshing the flea market on bassresource, I also would like to add that one should never buy a higher quality rod and/or reel than what they are used to. It only worsens the condition.

Wow, what doesn't Walmart have? What department were they in if you can remember?

Thank you for your help searching. Is Navionics likely to have a more detailed map then the one I linked to? It seems rather expensive. Thank you for those links. There are some structures that I can see from the satellite view and with the topographical map I may be able to find possible sources where water runs off into the lake. Interesting, I will give them a call and see if it is worth the drive. When purchasing such a map, are they allocated by county, or do you buy one per specific lakes?

So I noticed many people at other lakes have these nice detail-oriented topo maps of their lakes. Some even in color and are very descriptive. Here in Michigan, the only topographic maps I can find for the inland lakes here is on the DNR website. I would really like to know where I can find better maps of my lakes that I fish. After watching Glenn's video on the subject, He mentioned the professional anglers would look at 8 or 9 maps of a lake to get an idea of what they are going to try and do. I would like to just be able to find one map, besides the black and white one . Can anybody lead me in the right direction as to where to find these maps? It would be greatly appreciated and I think it would help me find better spots to fish at. Thanks!! PS. http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/SPATIALDATALIBRARY/PDF_MAPS/INLAND_LAKE_MAPS/MONTCALM/CLIFFORD_LAKE.PDF That is all the information I can find for my lake. It is in black and white and it does not give me a good enough idea for creek channels, points etc. Sure I can see a few, but after watching Glenn's video....I wish I could get a better map.

I agree with all of the replies. It seems that there are so may different techniques and lures that one can try out. Even different color schemes, but in reality it is near impossible to have yourself rigged up with all these different baits and lures even if you have 9 setups. Believe me, I have already went out and bought so many different soft plastics, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, etc. I am now just finding out that I should just focus on just a couple of different techniques and only master those before moving onto the next. Right now I am only fishing with jigs and texas rigs. 90% of the time jigs. I want to learn the ins and outs of how to use this bait and learn to master this technique. I will go out all day and only catch one fish. This most likely has to do with me not being in the right locations, that I also need to improve on, but most likely switching to different baits is not always the answer. I suggest that you take either a spinnerbait, jig, or texas rigged plastic and stick to fishing just those. Master your technique with them and learn how to present them in multiple ways and how to set the hook properly and get a good feel for how the bait is moving and working through cover and such. I mention those because they are so versatile. They can be fished with many different techniques, That way, you can go out and really develop your technique without having to retie and get all hung up on what is the magic bait for the certain conditions.

Strange I got the same one I couldn't see how it could have broke in the tube if it was packaged similar to mine. Is there customer service taking care of it for you? Its clearly not your fault

When I got mine through regular shipping. It was packaged very well with plastic air bags and soft wraps throughout the whole rod. I am sorry to hear that yours came in broke...what model did you get?

Thank you guys for the help. I guess for my price range I want something significantly cheaper than going the route of buying a Curado 50e and the Bargain Room St. Croix LTB69MLXF setup which would run me about $300. Let it be known that I am looking for something that is just for light weight purposes only. I have a Powell 683c which is like a true MH and also I have a St. Croix LTB70MHXF which is stouter and will cover my heavier plastics and jigs and frogs. I heard that spinning gear is best for light weight setups and generally is less expensive so I would want it to be under $200, because anything above that then I would rather just go out and get the baitcasting setup mentioned above. Thank you guys!

Get Daiwa Samurai off eBay. I've had the chance to try power pro, suffix832, and Daiwa Samurai. Samurai went through the guides smoother and was easier for me to manage. I am sure you would be fine with either of the three I listed, but if I had to choose the best for under $25 that would be my choice.

So, through another topic that I made I found it to be recommended that I get a spinning set up. I am completely lost when it comes to spinning gear, because all I have is casting gear. I am going to be fishing this for light bait techniques, such as drop shot, weightless plastics, and inline spinnerbaits and such. I was wondering if you guys could help me get a nice set up for this style fishing. Here's a quote from the member here "The Rooster" as of what I should be looking for... "A good spinning rod in a medium power/fast tip would provide the ability to toss weightless plastics, top waters, inline spinners, jerkbaits, handle some drop shot rigs, shakeyhead rigs, and even work with 1/4 oz. crank baits to some degree. For this, I like a nice, crisp feeling rod with decent flexibility. Not too stiff but not too whippy either. IM7 or IM8 graphite is an example of the type rod I mean." ~The Roosterar As far as price goes I do not have a set price at the moment I am just looking for ideas of rods and reels and recommendations so I can see how much is reasonable to invest. Thank you, Skel

X2

You will forsure lose some lures, but that's part of the game. A buddy of mine was bragging about how he bought braid so it wouldn't happen anymore and lost 8 hula grubs in 2 hours. I try to set the hook before it gets too deep in their mouth, but it is unavoidable and sucks leaving a pike with a hook in its mouth even if they are taking over one of the lakes I fish.