Angry John

If you plan on night fishing and want to develop a good diversity in your box i would recommend a spro rat or slammer in black. Medium sized wake baits draw a lot of strikes if there on topwater and the smaller ones dont take special gear. I run the 40 rat and the 7" slammer and there great at night when you want slow action and great water movement and noise. I also like white. One last bait to check out is the R2S popper. They are good quality and dont cost a bunch.

This has been my frustration for years. Speed and power are relative terms for each company that can and do vary in each lineup. My dobyns dx743 rods are supposed to be fast but they are the slowest fast rods i own. Slow enough to make good crank bait rods. The power of croix rods are touted to be above other companies but feel just right to me. A st croix medium, fast is a lot faster than my dobyns 743 medium, fast.

Using a high end rod for frogs only may be excessive but what about the idea of a rod that can be used for a lot of techniques. Why carry 10 rods when 3 will do the job. If you are into nice gear and see no reason to have the most rods, it may be best to find a few that cover everything you want to do. Would i buy a steez or MB rod for one technique only hell no. But the rods mentioned will do a lot. Frog, pitch California swim jigs, small to moderate swim baits and the list goes on. I yak most of the time and dont like to carry more than 3. I have a lot more than that and i try to decide which rods would fit the situation the best while giving high coverage for the techniques i plan for that day. If your using multi purpose rods then thats less reels to buy also. I am a huge fan of tackle tours search for the one, and single technique rods are a huge expense in not only initial cost but maintenance and space in the boat or on the yak. I dont know that i have ever seen a factory handle 16" other than on a slant bridge. My 70hf avid is a custom build for this reason just to get a 12" handle. Where are you measuring the handle from??? I have 12" of cork and my builder was very wary of that idea.

Arguably one of the best frog rods around. Another good all around choice is the steez xbd rod. Great from frogs to heavy jigs.

Arguably one of the best frog rods around

Hate to say it but the rod your looking for is the mb XX perfect pitch.

Be careful at places with dogs

I have two 7' LEC70MHF rods and they are wonderful. Unless your trying to punch the mh will be the ticket. I have an avid 74hf and that rod is very powerful. I do frog and punch with it. If your dealing with heavy cover the heavy is sweet but way overkill for most of the year.

Order from tackle warehouse and save a good load of money. They also have a program to try out reels. If your big on round reels I would say check out the luna 103. Fits all the good spools so you can change the casting a lot as your needs change. For a first rod in a long time I would recommend the fenwick hmg. Great rod not a killer on the bill fold. Modern copoly lines are wonderful. A spool of yhb or p-line cx will treat you right.

I use the natural gray color in the 40 size. It does good but it's the only color I have tried. The natural look is ok for me in any condition, but bill simatel uses the 50 in morning dawn

So there I was putting in work with my spro rat, and I get a suicidal one pounder that comes off after the second jump. Well that's a start. Two hours later still frothing the water and I cast to the shore and from nowhere this chocolate lab gas my rat in his mouth. I have two labs so immediately I freak and tell the owner what is happening. Almost as a reflex I hit the spool release and he jumped the bank and dropped the lure. Heart attack later I continue fishing thinking it was done. The next cast he almost had it again. I decide I am done with all this but now the dog is following me down the lake. I have to tease him with the lure back to the owner and hand them my rod so they can get ahold of him. Way more skipped beats than I was into and I made good pace across the lake and out of view. ALMOST as exciting as my eagle catch but that's a story for another day.

I like a nice big spro rat. Tons of water movement and good sound. Color me diffrent

Watch out for flying motorcycles while you fish. Spent a lot of time out there as a kid and people go out there and loose their minds.

Big fan of all the spro frogs. I hAve one bully WA and it's nice.

For topwater on this rod I use a sweep set. No reason to go wild.

IMO the line and rod work together to keep a fish pinned. You want some give its just where it comes from is up to you. I don't fish x fast rods with braid in most cases because there is very little give. This rod mixed with a line with a little give is sweet. I use the spinning rod for my son because he has a 8 year old Hooksett and I try and help him out.

I use this knot 7 up 5 down. My own way I guess.

I use the Alberto and started with the double uni. Both work I can tie the alberto faster but had a few learning slips along the way. I have never had a uni problem and in the beginning before I figured out the Alberto I went back to the uni as a confidence knot.

I know we as fishermen repurpose lures all the time and I was caught out with no topwater baits. So what did I do in a pinch grabbed a double tail grub and worked it like a frog. Seems to work ok and found they were not as intrested as I thought but may work in a pinch for those that don't take all they own on every trip.

7.1 is decent all around but 7.9 is not. 6.3 is what I use most and love it. My smaller alphas has a 7.2 and that's good but the spool is so much smaller

I don't do a lot of pitching or techniques that take advantage of a very high raito. The 7.9 is the fastest reel I have and imo it's more specific in application than a good all around speed. If frogs and pitching is on a dedicated setup the I would be all for it.

I use 6lb yhb or 15 lb 832 to leader on my dx 743

All the pros are fishing for money and speed and landing every fish is critical to that paycheck. They re-tie and always use fresh line. They have a ton of gear and just change the setup if required. I love more powerful rods but how you fish and your goals are inportant. I would carry a ml and a medium to cover the range. I like an ml spinning and medium casting for river work. Conditions change a lot on the river so having two setups keeps you prepared.

I think I see a Norman crank that's a keeper along with that shadrap

Have 2 and like the 6.3 waaay better. Would like to pick up another.