Hogsticker

You don't want a light action rod for throwing all that stuff, trust me. Most medium light rods are designed for true finesse fishing, and what your doing does not fit that criteria. A medium powered rod with a moderate fast or fast action would serve you well. Not sure about the 2 piece rod. I have rods up to 6'10, one piece I can fit in my car. Look at the St. Croix Triumph series. I think they make a 6 foot medium rod for like 70 bucks.

Get a few natural colors with a few "clear" ones in the mix. Add a few bright colors (I prefer green and orange) and you will be set. Don't read into the color thing to much.

Dying bait fish will turn a pinkish white color. Perhaps this contributed to your success.

Original floating raps, Pointer 78's, tubes, senkos, poppers, Joe's inline spinners are really good too. Oh yeah, River2Sea standn Yabbies can be fantastic as well..

Various areas of Idaho (close to you) and Oregon. Smallmouth and Steelhead trips. I wish it were closer to where I live now.

I agree. I prefer a reel that picks up 23-28 inches per turn, 19-20 for large cranks. I can always speed up, but I find it a real bear to slow down. Impatient I suppose.

I have smaller hands so I prefer a smaller reel, 50 or 100 size. The only heavy reel I still own is a Zillion, but it palms well and is a beast. You could ask 100 people what they think light weight is and get 50 answers.

That's should do it!

The Snake is awesome. Small top water poppers right at daybreak, lipless crankbaits throughout the evening. Daytime try this in the current. Peg a 3/16 to 5/16 ounce bullet weight 18 to 24 inches above a 2/0 worm hook. Get some 3.5 inch tubes and slip some ear plugs inside them before rigging them. Toss it out and let it sit while the tube suspends in the water. Green and orange are good.

I figured this would be the place to ask. Seems a lot of folks on here are throwing them. How's the hardware on them? Good, bad, ugly?

I've never used any of the H2O baits, but in my experience it is worth the extra 2 bucks to buy a bait that has some decent hardware on it. The BPS stuff is a must change IMO. Spro and Xcalibur are a few brands of several that come with quality split rings and hooks that you won't need to swap. I hate changing those suckers

The sky is the limit with a chunk of plastic

Correct me If I'm wrong, but only a Daiwa reel with a "fixed" inductor can NOT be turned off? With that being said, I feel that the whole braking system truly depends on the design itself. I don't think mag force Z can really be beat. It's pretty awesome, and the dial is in the perfect location. I don't need to remove the side plate. Heck, I don't even have to adjust my hand location. Magforce V works great if you wanna cast some lighter stuff as well. The ONLY Cent. system I will use is Shimano simply because the side plate stays attached. IMO dual systems are over rated. But hey, it has both so it must be better....right?? 21 Farms pretty much summed it up in his 1st post as he usually does. VBS is great for no fuss beginner type applications, and it flat works. But for the guy who don't carry 50 rods and wants to make quick adjustments, magforce is where it's at.

I really like it in 8 to 20. After that it gets a little stiff. I prefer smoother, limper braids in heavier tests.

Make sure you spool it on tight. When you were trolling it is possible the line spooled back onto the reel with some slop. 832 will dig into itself if the line is pulled off the spool with a super tight drag. If it does not get noticed it can reach nightmare status. The only braided line I've used that won't dig no matter how hard I try is Samurai and PB in lighter tests. Just be extra cautious and you should be fine.

Kistler KLX. More than a few threads regarding how nice these rods fish. Good luck!

I think you would be very happy with 20 lb. Sufix Performane Braid. 11 bucks for a 100 yard spool. Plenty to fill a spool with s a little mono backing. Great line!

He's referring to keeping the bow out of his line created by the wind. The bait sinks, but with the bow in the line their is no way to keep solid tension on the line, making it very hard to detect a strike or take

I think the important thing here is keeping your rod tip down, close to the water. Keeps the loop out of your line. When jigging for walleye in the wind this is a must or you will never know when a fish picks up your bait. Casting is pref., whatever works

Personally, I would spool up with the heavy braid to start with...gotta learn sometime. The two lines are going to behave different so no need to learn all over again after switching from mono to braid. Its actually hard to backlash heavy braid imo. Learn the reel, that's the trick. High breaks and tight spool tension to start. After 20 to 30 casts back off both and keep minimizing as you progress. Braid nests are pretty easy to pull out.

Polish the spool lip and loosen up on that spool tension knob

It will cast heavy weightless plastics fine, very similar to the Curado. Smaller, lighter weightless plastics, not so much. I thoroughly enjoy TackleTour, but I think we need to keep in mind when reels such as the Lexa are reviewed regarding casting light baits, the comparison used is generally "The Pixy"

Personally, I would never spend over half that on a crankbait rod, but I know people that do. I think you may need to be more specific as to what you're looking for to get some quality responses.

Dragging a football jig and creeping a 6 inch swim bait like a bbz

If you have a hundred bucks to spend, why not get the Falcon Bucoo? Much better/lighter rod than the "Original" series. I think every Wal Mart in the U.S carries them now.