rangerjockey

Loomis still makes blanks in Washington.

I really like the Powell 734..If you have more room in the budget the Cara Amistad is a great 5/8-3/4oz. football head rod.

I use locally made one called the graduate school..It's well made and reasonable. He will ship.

In the $ 150 range I really like the Powell max 734. It will handle 5/8oz. and makes a nice paddle tail rod as well.

Like Bluebasser I use a bunch.But if I had to choose just one,for where I fish it would be a speedcraw.

I'm a big fan of the max 3d in the 723 as well..If your throwing 1/2 oz up I like the 714.. American Legacy just recently started selling Powell, They are great to deal with.

I would add a shakey head and ol' ned ,especially if you don't have any wind or clouds.

Seems like a lot of rod for a Sammy, but there's one way to find out.

The first time I saw salt in plastics was as a kid when Gene Larew owned the shadrack inn on Table Rock. He must have been making them there at his house.. They had salt everywhere in the bags. He believed that the salt made the fish hold onto the bait longer and eventually came up with a way to inject the salt into the bait . Other people must have thought it worked too because they copied it and it ended up in a lawsuit as I recall. I don't think Mr. Larew lived to see the outcome of the suit ,but I drive past his old place every time I go get in my boat and can't help but think of the history made in that place.. Wish I had some of those old plastics.

Personally, I don't think you need to get too specialized for the plopper. The 90 I throw on the same rod I would throw a walking bait like a spook on. With 12 lb. mono. The 130 I throw on a heavy jig rod, currently it's on a falcon Amistad. with 17lb. line. Any 6 or 7 something : 1 ratio reel will work fine.

For moving baits Assassin is fine. I don't think it handles quite as well as Sniper ,but I've used it a bunch on my spinnerbait ,squarebill ,and diving bait rods and have no complaints. Personally, I never use and kind of conditioner or spray. As was said, its less expensive that sniper and the spool is 25 yds. larger.

Pro Tungsten

I'm a fan of the NXS as well. For me on 8lb. line it's about a 15 ft. bait. The 22 about 17-18ft. If you need more look at the Profound Z Boss or 8xd. For me, if I need to get deeper than that I'm going to a swimbait..

I've used the first 4 on your list a lot, and like them pretty much equally. If I had to choose...probably Mcoy's mean green.

Bass x 3/16 oz. head and zoom finesse worm or a speed craw.

Black with black blade most of the time.. I use some that a local guy here on Table Rock makes, or if I use store bought, I buy crock o gator. Sometimes pull the skirt off and put a horny toad on it..Casts great in the wind and planes easy.

I like a shorter quicker rod for for topwater like spooks poppers ect, because I don't want to feel like I'm dragging the bait.. More like a jerkbait rod. I throw the plopper on a heavy jig rod. .. Thats a good buy on a great crankbait rod.. well worth 40 bucks.

I like 10lb. invisx or 8lb. capps and coleman mono also on my deep crankbait rods..

What part of the lake ? There's been a top water bite early, and some shallow fish. Other than that I'd be looking deeper, football jigs, shaky heads and ned rig ect. . Flipping a spoon in some deeper dock stalls would also be on my agenda. This time of year there can be a deep crankbait bite ,especially up the James river.

To me thats really 2 different rods. I have a St. Croix ML in the eyecon series that's a great dropshot/ ned rig rod but it's awfully soft for a shakyhead rod..Maybe the Mojo has more power ? I live in Lews country and they are great folks but I'd stay away from the spinning reels....for now.

I saw FFO has the Aetos 6'4'' medium xfast for $75 plus a additional 15% off.. Seems like it will make a jerkbait/topwater rod.. To me it seems like a odd length for bass rod these days,I wonder if it was made as a walleye rod. Does anyone have any experience with it ? Thoughts ?.

I like the Chompers and Bass x .

4/0 TK130 also.

I never throw the 10xd ,but for the 5 and 6 ,DD22, Z boss ect. I use a mojo big crankster along with a curado E5 and 8 lb. Invisx.

You don't have to launch at the marina. .Last year my partner was staying at a resort in fisher creek, so we launched there and ran over to port of Kimberling. There was a bunch of boats running in the dark also, so lots of folks do it.