sgjackson

I've got eight rods and will carry 7 if I'm serious fishing - tournament practice or just knowing I'm going out for a full day. I built myself a crate out of a modular tool box and it holds six rods - keeping one up front and having the box full is manageable. A lot of times if I'm going out just to fun fish I'll carry two or three rods (the Senko/speed worm rods and maybe one other rod) and a day box rather than the full setup. These five are pretty much always in the yak on a serious day: 6'10" M/XF spinning rod with 15lb braid and a 10lb leader. Most of the time this has a weightless Senko, but I've used it to throw jerkbaits/flukes/etc also. 7'2" MH/F with 17lb fluoro. Texas rig rod, most of the time this has a 3/16oz weight and a speed worm of some variety. 7'4" Mag H/F with 50lb braid: Frog rod. Also throws Big EZ swimbaits, have done swim jigs on it in heavy cover. Basically the nasty cover moving bait stick. 7'4" H/M with 17lb fluoro: Dedicated bladed jig and lipless rod. 7'6" H/F with 65lb braid: Flipping stick. These three vary depending on the season/day: 7'0" that's nominally a M/MF squarebill rod but I think it's heavier than that. I stuck 30lb braid on it and use it to throw topwater. Throws and walks a 5/8oz Sexy Dawg beautifully. 7'0" ML/F spinning rod. Usually has a Ned (really a tiny child) rig, will drop shot when they run deep in the summer. 6'6" M/F spinning rod: This is the jerkbait stick in winter.

That's the SLX I have. Was my first baitcasting rod - got it during one of the old American Legacy Fishing combo sales where you could get an SLX reel and rod for like 120 bucks. Absolutely agree with you on the tip, I think it's more like an XF and it makes throwing a 6" worm with a 3/16oz weight a challenge, but I like the reel seat - fits my hand perfectly with a Lew's Speed Spool on it. Think that's my most comfortable combo, but I'm not sure how much of that is the rod or me just liking the egg shape of the Lew's reels. Hard to do a comparison between the Invoker I have and the SLX in terms of sensitivity since it's a mag heavy but I'd say I get more feedback with the Invoker. I've got a couple of the Jordan Lee Abu rods and I'd say they are less sensitive than both. Part of my curiosity on Falcons is that when Omnia does rod comparisons where they weigh the rods the Falcons are always shockingly light for their price point.

I'm also planning out a kayak upgrade - currently paddling in tournaments, I'm definitely due. Got a spreadsheet pricing out different options and thinking on what direction I want to go - priced out a rough cost on several kayaks with bow-mount motors as well as stern-mounted motors+pedals. My tournament club only allows one motor so it'd be a one or the other deal. Keeping an eye on this thread to see what people think.

I was looking at the Wes Logan and the Essence and I dismissed them for this reason. The Invoker Pro I have is okay, but I feel like it's about as good a rod as my SLX for 60 bucks more. I also don't really like the reel seat on it - it's noticeably less comfortable than my other baitcasting rods due to where the trigger is located. Meanwhile when I got one of the old model Daiwa Tatula cork bladed jig rods for chatterbaits/lipless I felt like it was a much nicer rod for the premium - cork feels nice, bombs the intended lures, keeps fish pinned. It's a solid, purpose-built rod that I never really think about in a negative light. I'm not sure I'd get that from Ark if I went back there, even with the new reel seat. I also just like trying new companies when I get new tackle - it's interesting having a bunch of rods in-hand. Also have baitcasters from each of the big four for this reason.

the hcj sounds like exactly what i'm looking for. also just found a video of jason christie using it for swim jigs in grass lighter than what i'd swim them through.

i've got a neighbor with a victory grunt - think the power's right but i really don't like the reel seat on it. 3/8oz no-jacks and the gambler equivalent, twintail grub on the back. i'll swim through paths in pads or pretty thick kissimmee grass and i've lost a couple of good ones on the slx that the invoker would have horsed out. absolutely doing braid on this rod - probably 40-50lb. also didn't mention this in the first post but in an ideal world i could use this as a pitching rod also for texas rigs that are heavier than the 3/16th oz fluoro speed worm setup but not quite flipping or punching. caught a whole bunch pitching a senko or cut-r into holes in pads, grass, etc where being more subtle than the 3/4oz flipping setup but having more muscle than the fluoro helps.

At the point where I've got all the bread and butter rods and I'm starting to notice when I've got an issue throwing a certain technique. Swim jigs are the one thing I'm throwing more often where I feel like I want to get something more specialized. My main jig/worm rod is an MH/XF SLX that, in an ideal world, I'd keep on fluoro cause I feel like you get more worm bites on fluoro, but I keep on braid cause it does double duty for this. 7'2" is okay for a length but I feel like it could throw a little farther and being only medium-heavy has cost me a couple of fish trying to pull them out of thick Florida grass. I'll also throw them on an Ark Invoker Pro Heavy Cover Special - 7'4", Mag H/F. It's got the length and more than enough power but it is a heavy rod and is kind of unpleasant to shake all day. Looking for something in-between - longer and more powerful than the SLX, lighter than the Invoker, a bit of tip to make it cast farther and easier to shake - for under 150 or so. Also want cork handles, just because I really prefer the way cork feels to EVA and I'm unwilling to compromise on that when enough companies are putting cork on stuff that I can find something. Looking around I found two possible contenders - the Falcon Lowrider Heavy Cover Jig and the Powell Endurance 7'6" Mag MH/F Mag Bass/"Utility" rod. I know there are a lot of Falcon guys here - curious on your thoughts on this for what I'm looking for (obvious comparison would be the swim jig rod). Also curious if anyone's used Powell before, and if anyone has any other suggestions. Thanks all.

Was pretty happy with the Ark someone suggested as a flipping/frog rod out of the kayak so I figured I'd ask about the next hole in my collection. Been having a lot of luck lately ripping a rattle trap through grass but I'm doing it on my MH/F baitcaster with braid and it's been an adventure landing fish on a setup with basically no stretch. Want to get something with a slower action that still has enough backbone to rip through grass and can also do double duty with chatterbaits on the kayak. My current main baitcaster has an SLX with a 6.3:1 gear ratio on it, probably going to move it onto this rod and get an HG speed Shimano to put on the MH/F. Seems like a lot of manufacturers have fiberglass rods as well as composite rods from MH to H power for this purpose, and I've been eyeballing the St Croix Victory Rip n' Chatter, the Ark Tharp B-Hittay, Evergreen Combat Stick Jackhammer Rod, and others. What rod would you get for these techniques and what line would you use?

The Tarpon is only 32" wide and pretty wobbly - I also don't have great balance admittedly and want to stack the deck in my favor

I currently have a Wilderness Systems Tarpon 130X that I got a few years ago and I've never really been happy with it - it's not stable enough to stand in, the seat isn't great and I'm constantly adjusting it, and it's kind of noisy when waves slap against the center pod. One of the seat straps snapped on it this weekend - a new seat is 400 dollars, so I'm chancing a kayak seat strap repair kit I found that specifically mentions Tarpons, but I'm also thinking about just pulling the trigger on a new kayak. I've used this multiple times a week for years and I've got a pretty good idea of what I want at this point. I really only fish on lakes in Florida. Pedal drive that can either handle thick grass like Kissimmmee grass, milfoil, and lily pads, or can be lifted easily to paddle. Stable enough to stand in Light enough that I could toss it on a cart and take it up and down from the lake easily. The Tarpon X is ~80 pounds rigged and I can drag it up the bank no problem without a cart, but I'm guessing anything Pro Angler-sized would be too large. Right now I'm manually using a stakeout pole, and if I get a new kayak I want to get something that cleanly integrates with a Power Pole Micro. I looked around the manufacturers websites last night and my short list for demoing is a Hobie Outback, an Old Town Sportsman PDL 120, a Native Titan Propel 10.5, and a Jackson Bite FD. All these are (probably) more stable than what I currently have, go down to about 90 pounds without the pedal drive for carting, and easily rig up a Power Pole. Curious if anyone has any of these boats, if you've compared them, and what you think.

Emailed the guys at Ark about this and this is what they suggested also - think i'm going that direction. Gonna flip some guitars first then take it out. Thanks for the advice everyone!

I usually fish in a lake in Central Florida from a kayak and I've got a MH baitcaster as well as a medium power spinning rod I usually take out. I've been thinking about getting a heavy action rod so I can go after some of the bass I regularly see aggressively feeding in thick Kissimmee grass and lily pads with a punch rig or frogs. Read through a bunch of the threads here already of people asking for setups for this purpose and I was thinking of getting a 8.1:1 Daiwa Fuego CT for the reel - I like my Shimano SLX but having to take off the side to adjust brakes for wind is a little tedious and I want to try a Daiwa for the external brakes - and I've got a handful of possible contenders for rods (Dobyns Fury 765Flip, Ark Invoker Pro 74FHC, Ark Tharp King Cobra or Okeechobee Special, Daiwa Tatula or Tatula XT 7'4" H/XF). Also have a local tackle shop that stocks Duckett, Favorite, 13 Fishing, Dobyns, Denali, and 6th Sense so I'd consider anything from them also. I'm a little budget constricted so I'd like to keep it around 200-250 for the combo and since I'm space-limited on the kayak I'd like to keep it to one heavy cover 50-65lb braid rod. What would you look at for a setup like this?

Cools down a little tonight and I get six bites in an hour and thirty minutes. Fishing is a mercurial mistress. Thanks for the help folks, got some food for thought here.

Appreciate the offer to fish but I'll pass for now, haha. I'm about an hour or two south of Orlando in a much smaller lake. I'm not sure what kind of plants are under the water - as mentioned above there's definitely reeds and lily pads above the surface in the shallows. I do have some questions since you've installed a fish finder in the same kayak: - How'd you install it? In the Flexpod with some gaskets to run the wires? - What led you to Garmin over Humminbird/Lowrance?

Went out for about 3 hours this afternoon/evening and got skunked again. Saw some fish feeding very shallow (3-5 feet) in weeds/lily pads and some jump out where it's probably 20 feet deep or so. Got some frogs on the way to try in the shallow weeds but not sure what would be best to throw deep.

In the 30 years I've had family on this lake I've never seen a bass boat on it - only skiers/wakeboarders. There's a person who has one on a lift but I've never seen them take it out.

I don't have a fish finder yet but I've started looking. I've got a Wilderness Systems Tarpon X - it comes with a removable center pod that can hold the fish finder, battery, and transducer with a bit of drilling. I've had some success in the past just slinging worms straight off the end of the dock during past summers so I think it's possible they're suspended or on some kind of deep structure. The handful of times I've gone out before 6 I came in drenched in sweat and probably a little heatstroked because I wasn't feeling well. Mornings and late afternoon are really nice, around 80. I usually try to go out after I finish working around 6:30-7 for a couple of hours.

I've only ever bank/dock fished throwing Senkos on a spinning rod, but I recently got a fishing kayak and a baitcaster (MH/Fast Shimano SLX combo) and want to get more serious about fishing. I'm currently living on a small, round lake in central Florida that gets to about 60 feet deep in the middle, with plentiful docks, weeds, and lily pads along the shoreline. I can usually catch one or two bass going out in the late afternoon and hitting the weedlines with a Senko until sunset, but I feel like I could be doing better. I'm thinking of getting a fish finder so I can map out structure in the lake and see where the fish actually are as well as putting braid on the baitcaster to toss frogs or Texas Rigs into the nastier parts of the weeds/lily pads, but what would you guys suggest doing to catch more bass/get better at bass fishing?

Ended up getting the President combo from Bass Pro, some Senkos, a popper, and a white spinnerbait. Threw a Senko off a dock towards a weedline and shifted it every ten seconds, felt my rod twitch, and landed my first bass! Was a small one, not bigger than two pounds, but was such a rush. Thanks for the help guys!

I'm definitely going to be focusing on plastics since the locals I've talked to mostly use plastic worms and live shiners/shad to great success - right now I'm grabbing some Senkos and plastic worms for texas rigging for sure. A few of them also mentioned busting out the Rapala when it's hot to hit the schooling fish.

I used to fish a little bit as a kid - caught a few bass and some saltwater fish - and I'm thinking about getting back into it. I don't really have any tackle anymore, so I'm thinking about hitting up Bass Pro this weekend to pick up some things. I live in central Florida and would be casting off docks towards weedlines/other docks (have two specific spots in mind), and my university also has a pretty big bass/general fishing club I'm going to look into joining. Here's what I'm thinking about picking up, based on doing some searching here: -A spinning reel, gonna play with a Pflueger President, a similarly priced Shimano, and the Bass Pro store brand to see what feels better. -A medium power spinning rod with a fast action -Some 6 pound test fluorocarbon -Some Senkos -Some 4/0 EWG hooks -Maybe some other lures to play with - thinking about stuff to Texas rig curly-tailed plastic worms (this is what we always did as a kid, used purple and black Culprits), and maybe a white spinnerbait and a crankbait or two. I'm not totally sure what kind of stuff I need outside of that - obviously I need something to hold all my lures but I'm not sure if I'm okay with just needle-nosed pliers and scissors or a knife or if other tools are useful also. I think I'd set my budget at an absolute max of 200 dollars for everything, and lower than 150 is definitely ideal. If you have any input for other stuff I should look at or just general stuff I should think about, I'd appreciate it as well.