Teal

Another vote for the daiwa xt. If you can swing an extra 10 bucks, you can get the regular tatula that retails for 159, sportsman's has them 109.

I start around 7 foot or so..length of the rod. I carry a folding box cutter with me. I use it to cut

Right now? SOBRIETY. Drinking got the best of me for several years. It went from a way to relax to a daily fixture in my life. 75 days sober. Sorry to be a buzz kill on this thread... bit saw beer thread and still found myself running toward it lol... yall proceed with the beer talk. I was bud platinum guy but would drink anything. Free was my favorite

I tried it...and it was hard. So I went back to what's been working for me for 10 plus years. I'm sure it's all its cracked up to be but theres definately a learning curve to it and I cannot do it quickly. I've tried them all but double uni works fine. I've broke off plenty of fish at the lure, but I've never in 10 plus years of fishing with braid and leader, broken off at the leader/braid knot. It's just knot been a problem. PUN INTENDED.

Occasionally thrown one on a 7'6. Its ok. It serves a purpose

Hard to diagnose the true error with out seeing it. But like one of the guys said, if there was any slack at any point, that's a "no-no". If I know the fish is bigger, I have to tell my self to be patient and take my time. Tom's advice is solid. You are gonna be in for a fight, keep the fish in front of you, keep the rod loaded and if he wants to pull drag, then that's fine as long as you putting up your own fight when hes done. I very had fish, especially striper, go on a run with my line, then I get to a point where I can turn then and get all that line back and more. When I'm bank fishing with the kids, if I'm in position to beach a big fish, I typically do it.

I got 7 on the spinner bait yesterday evening. I went out at 130pm and at 430 I was about ready to go beciase I hadn't caught anything. So pulled into a little pocket off the main lake to put my stuff up, I made one cast ( out of desperation) 9over a grass line and caught one.... between my 10 year and my self we caught 11. All 7 of mine were 1/2 oz war eagle in sexy shad. My son got 3 on a kietech easy shiner and 1 on chatter bait z. We were basically working parallel with the grass line and we were getting bit mostly when we pulled it free from some grass. Running about 8 foot of water, windy day, basically inside a pocket that comes off a long point. Bass were holding the milfoil and hyrdrilla.

Thanks that's something I was concerned with..mine run pretty straight on the jig heads and belly hooks.. heck, I have flukes that spin if they arent perfectly straight.

I typically run mine just over the bottom too with a weight.

I didnt want to high jack another thread so I figured I'd ask it here. Typically with soft swim baits, namely rage swimmers, keitechs, yum money minnows, etc, I rig them with either a 1/8 or 1/4 swim bait jig head (exposed) or a weighted swim bait hook... lately, the Berkeley Fusion hook that has a screw lock. I have some gammies too. But I see some of you guys rigging them weightless or even t rig weighted. I dont run them weightless. Should I? What experiences do you have with them? I may try ot later today when I go back to the lake this evening. These days I run the swimmers more than I spinner bait. It's like stealth mode.

I had one tied on my new Tatua 6'10 MH fast this morning. 50lb Daiwa J braid, 15 lb Assassin Floro. I think it was the chatter bait Z. With all that said, its what I'm used to... however my girlfriend wanted a cutie rod not too long ago and the only quality rods I could find in a cute color that she liked is couple Duckett inshore rods. She has 2 7' MH. They are both like a moderate taper, spooled with 15lb floro and we have both caught spinner bait fish on them and I do think the mod and Mod fast tapers are perfectly fine with them. I can tell a difference of where the rod bends. The only thing I like better than my set ups is the way her two rods load up with a 3/8 ounce bait. Very effortless. With the same reels I can probably cast them a little further with hers.

I hear ya sam. That's a long day

Old school here. Powell 723. Its an extra fast. Occasionally I'll toss em on a powell 714 xf or 744 Dobyns extreme rod. It's a single hook bait, with the braid and floro set up, it almost sets the hook itself. The only issue I've ever had was on straight braid using vibrating jig or spinner bait that has a stout hook, I've had to modify my hook set and gently sweep the rod, cuz Instead of a good puncturing hook set, it's like the hook sliced a big gash in the fishes mouth. I'm sure I've lost a couple fish over the years but overall a very small percentage. I've only had this issue using straight braid and even then not too often.

So I guess it sounds like he prob needs to invest in a better reel and Berkeley rod? Lol. ? I took this on like challenge to find a quality frogging set up for 150 and its sounding harder than I thought. Lol ? Personally I have a Powell Endurance rod and lews tp for mine. And my other rod that I do it with is a tatula with a One Three reel. Mine is fine but way over the 150 budget.

@BaitFinesse sorry bro... I didnt know that reel was less than desirable. I dont own one. I just saw a dawia at a good price forthe mans budget. I probably shoulda looked closely at it. Really didnt see any lews or other reels at the 60 price point I knew of or would reccomend. I made the mistake of assuming that it was a good product. Back to the drawing board I guess. That xt frog rod for 89 is ? tho.

Sportsmansoutfitters And I made the budget within 2 cents. They didnt charge me tax or shipping on my last order

Here ya go buddy. Did a little digging. I think this would be a quality set up that almost anyone would proudly use. It fits the purpose for you budget and it is a fogging specific rod backed with a 5 year warranty. Note: that rod runs 120 reg price and I think the cr80 runs 80 bucks. That's a good combo that you could also use for alot of other stuff.

I think you can get away with a heavy action rod in the 50 to 80 range... your not looking for a super sensitive rod, just a heavy rod with good guides and will flex enough in the tip that you can toss a frog. When in doubt, look at daiwas and shimanos offerings at your price point. I'm sorry your having a tough time, I'm sure if you go on sportsmans you can find a good 7footer heavy and reel to go with it under the 150 budget. Or clearance page on tw

Past year or so I've simplified everything. One of the measures I took is only buying 2 spools of mono. I got a big spool of 8lb big game and some 12 lb big game. I have some 20 already but hardly ever use it. Everything else is just braid. With the exception if a few rods with floro. I may still have some sunline supernatural and suffix seige... they are good lines but once they are gone, they are gone.

I can agree with that statement about the daiwas running a but higher than the listed power. I've used daiwa on and off for years. Even backntonthe light and tough days. Every one I've had seems like the mag version, it could just be that the tapers are very fast and you just dont initially see alot of flex when you shake the rod. But to be honest, I like it. I think the 7/m/r would be good for what he wants.

Sportsmans outfitters has them for 139.

I have 6 lews tourney pros. Good quality reel. A good value for the money. I've had most of mine for several years. They are still getting it done. If I had @jbsoonerfan money, I'd have a new line up of pro-ti or hypermags. ?? I have a bb1, got it when it came out. It's a good reel but all the years later and I still like my tourney pros better. But if you like a centrifugal breaks reel.. then look at it. The new bb1 pro has dual breaks I think. I'm sure you can find them cheaper than 200. Other than the wide spool, I'm not super impressed with the lews super duty I bought a long time ago. It's a good reel and will serve you well but I personally just dont see it as a HEAVY DUTY reel. But I think they have revamped them and worked out some of the issues Another good steal, Speed spool which is 99 but u can find it for 70 all the time. Mag breaks with a aluminum frame. Solid work horse. Two of the best values in reels period. Lews tourney pro, and lews speed spool. That is all alot of info, but if I had to go buy another reel tmw, if I buy lews it's a tourney pro.

Oh yeah, we have more bass too, but we have a plenty healthy population pickrels...I def catch more bass... but some times o just find myself on s pot where the pickerel are packed in there

I got two in the last month. I like them as much as any rod that I've had, including a dobyns extreme. All my powell rods are 7 to 9 years old and I wont go back... no knock on the powells.. I paid more for the powells and daiwa just keeps pumping out good products.. that you can find in the most random places for good deals. That and a 5 year warranty is pretty nice.. they even have that for the xt. The xt is pretty nice too and can be had for 80 bucks. I got one for my son.

Sportsmans has them for 109 right now. Tatulas are the truth. Just a dang good rod. Easily performs like a 200 dollar rod. I like the soft tips and actions for those rods. I beleive they make 7'0 medium regular taper. If nothing else look in the the tatula xt.