TheBassfish3r

What I have figured out is, 99% of the time a bluegill takes your bait, you will feel multiple little bumps. Sometimes they will pull and it may feel like a bigger fish but it is just the bluegill trying to not let the prey get away. If it was a bass, you will feel heavy weight that doesn't move. as soon as you feel the weight and start to pull up slightly to figure out if it's a fish or not, it will pull back much, much harder then a bluegill. One thing I have heard that has really helped me is "hook sets are free, don't be afraid to set the hook. Use them as much as possible". If you set the hook, I tend to pull straight up instead of going to the side. Setting straight up will guarantee a hook set instead of a side hook set which has the chance of pulling the bait out of the mouth of the fish.

Your thoughts on the rods sound great! I prefer at least a 7' rod for both baitcaster and spinning. for baitcasting, I would use a medium heavy power with a fast action, and for spinning I would use a medium power with an extra fast action. I find those two to be the most versatile rods. for reels, I would use something that has a 6:2:1 to a 6:4:1 gear ratio for the baitcaster.

I use a 7'6" Heavy Fast action rod for my Hollow body frogs. With this rod, I would use it for burning soft plastic frogs across the water. That's what I do a lot of the time.