daiwaguy

I think it looks great. And they can only get better from there so atleast you have that to look foward to.

I prefer to use a rod with as close to a fast taper as possible. Usually with treble hooks I want a moderate action to help keep the fish on, but with a Jerkbait it is just easier to get the action you want with the faster action. I just make up for it with new stronger/bigger treble hooks to keep the fish buttoned. I guess I should add that Since I am a really tall guy I prefer a Rod around my height or a hair shorter so I dont hit the boat or anything else with the tip So I shoot for a 6'6" to a 6'8" in M/F.

There are alot of good options in the 100.00 price point. If you are limited to BPS I would say check out the Carbonlite and some of St Croixs lower end stuff. By low end I do not mean they are poor quality. But I am with alot of the other guys here on the matter of putting more money into the rod than the reel. For bottom contact baits you are going to want a high quality rod for sensitivity and for durability. Not to mention a good warranty just incase something gets broken.

Contact DVT on the right of the screen and see if he can help you out.

I would say the STX is more than he is wanting to spend considering he mentioned $99 reels and not $199 reels. Unless he finds a good deal on a used one.

I use a palomar knot for just about everything, If the bait is large with lots of treble hooks I make sure to spray some line conditioner on it before I tighten it down to make sure no line gets damaged. You do not want to sinch that large of a loop down with the line dry because it could cause line damage. Even on small loops with this knot I will moisten the line.

I would go Exceller because it has some really nice features and you can pick them up for alot less than a PQ right now.

I think this would be a better plan because you are not going to want to throw buzzbaits or poppers on your Frog setup expecially if you are throwing it with braid. It would work good for heavier jigs in brush and grass too.

If I know I plan on throwing buzzbaits I will load up a 6'6" MH/F for around and behind docks, and a 6'11" MH/F for long stretches of grass. I always have the 6'11" on deck.

I was wondering if you were going to jump on that. I would. It is a great rod an for 140 I dont think you are going to beat it.

Do you have a shot of the entire lake? Looks like a good climb from deep water to a nice flat/ledge before coming back up to the shallow flat.

Welcome! Enjoy all the great information.

Actually it is about 10 ft deep there and the bass had taken it around a stump. So I dove down to unwrap the line and as soon as I did it took of in my hands. So needless to say hand over hand I went till he was lipped.

Thats what I am talking about RW. MIZ

Not sure why I am just now getting around to doing this but here it goes. My name is Eric and I live in Columbia Missouri. I started fishing Tourneys my senior year of high school in 06'. I have made the state tourney a few times through our club the Mexico Bass Masters where I am the current Treasurer. As you can tell by my user ID I am a huge Daiwa fan though I do own a pair of Revos. This last May I married my best friend of 6 years and we bought our first home together in June. The funny thing about our relationship is I am 6'7" 255lbs and she is 5' even and about 105 lbs wet so it makes for alot of interesting conversations. She supports my fishing which I love about her, but she was not real happy when I pulled up with a bass boat behind the truck the month after we bought our house. I am still not sure why she was upset, but she liked the lights on the trailer so that was a plus. I read alot of material on this site before becoming a member and learned so much that I had to become a member. I have even been using the sponsors of this site for all of my recent purchases. I sent Ron at Valley Sports an order for 4 rods at the beggining of the month and the transaction went great. I fish alot of Missouri lakes suck as Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Wappapelo, Truman, Pomme De Terre, Mark Twain, Clearwater, and Stockton, but most 75% of my time is spent on LOZ. I fish alot of different techniques with my Favorites being bottom contact(T-Rig, C-Rig, and Jigs) and Traps/squarebills. One technique I rarely use but am really wanting to get into is the swimbait. I am also wanting to get into some smallmouth fishing considering my house is less than 1 mile from River access and a 1 hour run to some good smallie streams. Anyway that is my Introduction and I am looking foward to getting to know all of you. PS- The fish in my Avatar was a weird day. I was retrieving a lure from a stump when the line in my hand started to run.

7'6" is another one in my aresonal. I mainly use it for fishing in the thick stuff.

Well I am tall so I prefer a 7' to 7'2". Only time I opt for a shorter rod is when I am in close to docks flipping under them then I go for something in the 6'6" to 6'8" range.

I usually do not use that terminology I just look at whoever is fishing with me that day and say " So did you just see that"?

Sometimes I use them If I am using a "bleeding" style shallow crankbait or Trap. I will swap out the belly treble with a red one. I am not going to say it makes a difference but it gives me confidence and I have caught alot of fish on them.

Well with the Crankbaits I would got with a composite rod around 7' or a graphite rod with a slower action. Swimbaits is something I do not throw all that often, especially the heavier ones so I dont have a rod just for swimbaits. I use my Heavy Action 7'3" frog rod in the rare occasions I throw one. I am looking to get into the whole swimbait presentation though I know it produces some monsters.

What kind of fishing do you typically do? That will help us give you some options that suit your typical outing. You will get alot of opinions here and there are already some good threads about similar topics. But remember these are opinions and you should take them into consideration but not base your decision solely on what you read here but take all the opinions and go try them out at your local tackle shop to get a feel for how it feels in your hand. Some people might like a rod with a trigger and that same rod might dig into your finger depening on how you hold a rod. Just lots of things to Consider. That being said I am going to recommend something bottom contact since Bass9Man has alrady mentioned a cranking set up(though I have never heard of a Stella rod he may mean Sellus). I would go with a 6'6" to 7' MH Daiwa T rod with a moderate action because these rods seem to be more mod/fast to me. I would pair it with and an original model Daiwa Exceler reel in 6:1 ration. The Road can be had for about 69 to 75 dollars and reel is on closeout at alot of places for about 45 or 50 bucks. Not being brand loyal here either.

I use War Eagle, Stanley, KVD and Terminator Titanium spinnerbaits. This fall i bought a Booyah to try because it was on sale and I liked the skirt with a tail. Never again will I make this mistake. On my first fish I noticed the top blade was missing and the swivel was broke in half so I replaced both. Next fish had the wire so bent that I couldnt tell if it was the spinnerbait I had been using or not.

Do you know the boater?

I use a Daiwa Viento for alot of my flipping and pitching. I really like it and the twitching bar adds a nice action to lots of different baits.

Sorry this came out wrong. What I meant was I heard braided line was rough on the guides not the guides are rough on the line. And I would Imagine it would be with a ton of use pulling hawgs out of the thick if it happens at all.