Angry John

Super spooks and larger topwater I use an avc66mhf. If they are walk the dog. My large wake and punkers I run on a avc74hf. Also my frog rod.

That's msrp but I have 3 out of 15 rods I have paid msrp on. Picked mine up on the auction site for 108 shipped

For a jerkbaits and squarebills the avc66mf is hard to beat. See them for sale on th e forum now and again. If you use smaller topwater baits like Sammys and poppers it's great for those also. One of my most versatile rods. I run a daiwa sol or alphas on it to stay daiwa

I do and it's ok. Fish seem to hold tight to the bank. Do ok sometimes and crap others. Best in some type of craft like a yak or canoe

If you have problems get a sv103 and be done with it.

8 carrier should be more round smooth and make very little noise threw the guides. 4 carrier will be more rough and should cut better for frogs and punching in thick mats. Brands vary on how they do these things.

I have tried and will not buy below an avid ever again. One avids are all American. I prefer the standard avid casting but the avid x spinning. Like the x spinning handle better. Not against Loomis rods but they are shimano with a different name.

Braid is strong but does not do well with impact. The first time you swing for the moon with a decent fish on a frog it will be gone. JMO

When your tired of braking boxes all the time these dont seem so expensive. I fish with kids and seems i had to add one or two plano boxes to my order every time. That gets expensive and kids will be kids.

I am guessing that your a spinning only guy and that you want to be able to do it all with two rods. This sounds a lot like a lot of the kayak guys like me that dont want to haul the entire garage with us. Some people do and were all different. If it were me i would pick up the MLXF for dropshot, wacky shakey heads and a lot of the lighter stuff. This will not make a great cranking rod but does do will with small spinners in my experience. I also like it for small jerkbaits at or less than 1/4. I used mine a lot for trout before i moved out of the north and it did great double duty for trout and bass. I would choose the MHF as the second rod because you can run the larger worms and jigs you mentioned. It will also work good for spinner baits and t-rigs. The part where i am stuck is top water for two reasons. I like a short rod for topwater and thats not what i like for jigs or worms. The smallest version of the spro popping frog would work good if you ran braid in the 30 pound range. The second reason is i fish all my topwater on a medium power fast rod. There will be compromises no matter the choice but having the largest weight range in lure coverage on 7 ish foot rods i feel will do the most.

Funny that they feel close as they are in the same price range as compared to the primer which is not at the same level in cost. Were comparing a 200 dollar offering to a 130 dollar rod.

I am not an all or nothing kind of guy. I have alot of YHB on my casters for running spinnerbaits/chatters small swimbaits 4.8 size and super flukes. I crank with either 10lb YHB or braid to leader. My jerkbaits are 10 lb YHB and topwaters are 14lb mono to braid. So many options and tools to be all one way. My heavy setups for frogging and punching are 50-65 strait braid. No reason to use anything else in the slop... Currently all my spinning rods are braid to leader.

I have had mixed bag with fenwick. The smallmouth series was sweet. I had a reel seat fail on the new bass series. I have looked at the hmg's and I might give them a try. If you get to the 200 mark I agree the avid x would be my choice.

The size of the worm here is everything. 5 inch and larger casting no problem. Even without a smaller reel. 4" worms is where I make the change. I love me a 4" dean rojas cane thumper. I can and do throw it in open water on a 2 power rod alphas and 6lb line. If I am skipping that same worm a mlxf spinning rod is way easier. I don't have any Loomis but the avs69mlxf avid x is great.

My top 3 that go most often are 610mlxf spinning with 10 lb braid 2000 reel 70mhf casting 15 lb flouro baitcaster Avid 66mf sol reel 10 lb yhb. I sub out the line on the 66 avid to go dedicated topwater sometimes. If I am headed to a good frogging punching area I will leave it behind for a heavy setup with 65lb braid

Well seems like the fish in your area are not chasing a moving bait, might want to try a worm or shaky head. No idea about those reels

The weights are designed to slide off if hung up giving you back the rest of the rig. The hook is your choice as i have used a lot and a few good ones. Are you running a standard nose hook or texas rigged on a heavier setup. I sometimes run the gamy finess wide gap with the weed guard.

Me and my best friend talked about doing that trip before i moved. Would love a long version of the story if you have time...

I have used nail polish to touch them up a bit and it worked great. They also have some clear that i add on top and helps it last longer. I will not say i have stolen my wifes to try out and the battle that came after says its just not worth it. I have my own in two colors black and a green pumpkin color. Good luck finding a green pumpkin label on any of them i took a while in the girl isle to track down something close

Just what i was thinking and not the worst place to start with what he has already

That line might be good for swimbaits if you have a rod that will support that amount of weight. A 10 inch hudd will go a long way with heavy line like that. Can you shift that reel to a swimbait or flipping/punching settup

well that sucks as i own 3 and just sent one out for repair. Decent rod but that makes it a pain to deal with!

I fish the 1.5 90% of the time and go down to a 1.0 in the spring. I have a couple of 2.5's but they seem to spend a lot of time in my box.

I second the fluke idea as they are reacting well to it right now. I have made it my lure to learn this season. The best i have found for not hanging up is a 2/0 ewg on a normal fluke and 5/0 ewg on the super fluke. The smaller one seems to do well for me in weeds and just lays on top. The superfluke has a worm like fall and i get bit a lot just after the cast but no so much on the smaller fluke. They are cheap and fun to learn so might be worth a shot. A keitech easy shiner 4" on a 3/0 weighted swim bait hook is a great shallow water bait as well and can be kept shallow very easy and still worked slower.

I understand that the air uses a different spool than all the other alphas so swapping to the many options available will be a no go. Dont know if your into mods or have any other plans to change the reel.