ItsTig

Live in good ol Champaign currently.

Nice to meet ya! I would say welcome, but I am just as new here and wayyyy more new to fishing than you, so just seems odd! I am from the good ol capitol city, but live in east-central IL now. Haven't used a Pflueger yet, but feel like I've pretty much always heard good things. Curious to try the Trion, President, and Supreme in time.

I am hoping to check it out this year, but I have never been there yet. It is an hour and a half away from me, give or take. Need to give it a good look on Google Earth first though to see where I would be able to get to from the bank. Don't need a ton of shoreline, but if I'm going to make the trip I want to have a few spots to move around to, not be confined to 1 area. Just noticed it's your favorite lake, so you must like it a lot. How do you think the bank fishing would be? Definitely curious any other insights/info you have of the lake from your experience on it. Thanks.

I looked around a bunch last year and was going to buy some Merrells. Looks like they would have been a good choice. However, i got some Salomons as a gift, and have been real happy with them. I had never even heard of them before. I have the XA Pro 3D Ultra 2GTX, they are a mountain trail shoe, and have been perfect for bank fishing. I definitely recommend them for anyone trekking along the banks and looking to stay dry. Good all season, just need some nice warm or extra socks in winter if I can get out.

That is pretty neat, I like your design. I like the jig head in your design more than the finished, but if it works that's what matters. How has it worked for you? I would want a different color combo, but the long red strands are great. Your original jig head, black, blue or green for the short skirt material, no secondary skirt or color, and then the 2-4 long red strands. Fun stuff, thanks for sharing!

I have only been fishing for a year and a half or so, and I started with an Ugly Stik. I have a 6'6 medium Ugly Stik Lite, and I like it quite abit. I've caught crappie, bass, and a few catfish on it. It is a good feeling not really having to worry about a rod breaking. I've been walking and buried the tip in the ground like a derp, hooked some nice fish & branches, and tossed it in/out of the car a bunch. Only shows a few minor scratches around the hook keeper, but looks great otherwise. The rod is still nice and straight, no problems with the guides, or tip breaking. It can be abit whippy when casting, so harder to hit tighter targets for me, but I like how hook sets work for me with it. Sensitivity is less than an all graphite rod, but I have my finger on the line and use that more to detect bites usually than feeling a bite through the rod. I can't say I've ever lost a fish because of the rod, it has brought a lot of fun to me. I like my 6'6 medium St. Croix Triumph, which is stiffer, if I am trying to cast to a tighter spot. That and the Ugly Stik have served me great so far. I'm still very new, so lots of things I haven't experienced yet, but I think Ugly Stiks are a good deal. A reliable, inexpensive, tough pole that will work for anyone/everyone. That said, it's like anything, I could buy xphone that has 10gb, calls, & pics. It's a phone, does everything it should and works fine. But I'm really into my phone so I want one with 64gb, calls, pics, internet, video, apps, etc. I think that makes sense? The Ugly Stik is great but generally you will move on & up as you refine and add to your demands in a rod.

I don't really understand how they can have a product that says limited lifetime warranty on it and then when you go to their site the warranty has changed. They should be required to remove the warranty labeling on their rods or honor what it says on them. Doesn't seem like it would be too hard to tell retailers to remove the label or send reps around and do it. Anyways, not a huge deal just a little grumble, it was a minor annoyance when I noticed the policy change. Also, does anyone else not like the 30 day warranty deal? If you buy a rod now and can't use it for 2-3 months what good is that warranty? The Express Service Plan sounds like a pretty nice deal at least.

East-Central Illinois, or not Chicago to most of you. :]

I appreciate all of the responses and input. I ended up going with the Shimano Clarus 6'6 Medium Light Extra Fast 1 piece rod. The factors that pushed me towards this rod were that it was in a local store, so I was able to hold it and get some feel for it. Feels nice, and the more I handled it the more I liked that it was extra fast. The value seemed hard to beat, I got it for $49.02 and I was out the door and home. $100 was my max, so getting a nice rod for half that was a big plus. Also, there were no detractors from this rod, and a few postive reviews so that was good to see. A lot of you guys mentioned getting the HMG, which I will keep in mind for the future for sure. A problem for me was that the HMG is not available in a local shop so I have never seen or handled one personally. It was also at the max of my price range, plus shipping. The rod clearly has a lot of fans and hopefully I can check one out sooner than later. This is only my first spinning rod so the HMG sounds like it would make a good second if I go looking for a medium. Thanks again everyone!

I'm very new here, but haven't seen anything about it yet. I'm down to join if you start one up. I am in B.A.S.S. and FLW fantasy fishing.

Thanks for all the responses so far. All the suggestions do help. Funny everyone says just take your reel in and put it on a rod. Around here tho, all the rods have secuirty tags and excess bs on them so i would need a salesperson to follow me around to take off secuirty tags on and off & watch me fooling with everything. Not in my comfortablitiy really. Sirsnookalot- Thanks, I will have to go in store again and compare the Medium & Medium light some more. I liked how the Clarus felt. You must too, if it's your main bass rod. Ever tried a sellus? I also liked those, but think the ones I saw were all medium & medium heavy. Edfitzvb- I drive a Toyota Camry. A 6'6" rod will fit in my trunk with the backseat down, but much longer and the rod will be in the front seat. Most of the time I just leave the seat down and have a pole in the car. A two piece rod would be great, and I'll get one eventually, but sounds like I should go for 1 piece for now. WIGuide- I really liked the TriumphX. I would probably not be trying to toss cranks more than 1/4oz on this setup. I will have to look up the Fenwick HMG's, sound like a good deal. Have not seen them sold in store anywhere locally, so if I go that route it's a little scary not getting my hands on the rod first. I did like the other Fenwicks I handled tho, and if it is reccomendded from here I am sure it works well. Thanks again for any info & personal expereince guys.

I just got my first spinning reel, a Daiwa Lexa 2500, and now I have been looking at a rod to pair it with. I fish from the bank so I would like to stay in the 6' - 6'8 range. I will mainly be using it for weightless wacky rigging & shakey heads, but I also like to toss small/shallow crank/wake baits from time to time. I am looking at medium light rods for the most part, and also trying to decide if a 2-3 piece rod would be ok for this type of fishing or I should stick to 1 piece. Here are the current options I have been chewing on: Shimano Clarus 6'6 medium light (can't remember fast or extra fast)- $50 Fenwick Eagle 6' medium light moderate fast- $60 Fenwick Eagle 6'6 medium light fast- $60 St. Croix TriumphX 6'6 medium light fast- $100 Abu Garcia Veritas 6'9 medium light moderate fast- $50 I just fish for fun so I would like to be around $75-$80 mark, $100 is really the max I would be comfortable with. Any help is greatly appreciated. I am the worst at deciding, I am always overanalyzing. Thanks!

The free preview on YouTube did MLF no favors or justice. It was probably 5 minutes of fishing and 13 minutes of talking. Terrible free preview, would never make anyone want to watch. However, I caught the final this morning on CBS and thought it was awesome. I like the format of counting every fish. I disagree with people who say all the small fish are boring, but MLF could always increase the length of scorable fish if it became a big problem. IMO it humanizes the pros more when you get to see all their catches and struggles out there in this format, they're just like us(kind of :] ). Suggs was shaking out on the water, and it reminded me how I've felt the few times I've had a good fish on. They could make some tweaks for sure, but overall I like what they're doing with MLF. Hope it will be on CBS more.

Thinking about going to the East Peoria, Illinois BPS tomorrow. Anyone been to that one yet by chance? I got some gift cards to burn, and now is probably the best time to do it. I Don't need much, but when has that ever stopped anyone? Curious to see what they have for clearance Carbonlites, and the PQ deal is very enticing, especially since they come well recommended here. Also on the look out for a 2-3 piece travel rod, but need to decided what length/strength/action I want first. The one thing I do really need is a spinning rod, thinking a medium light, to go with the Daiwa Lexa I just got at DSG on clearance. It's not good for my health seeing what everyone else has got so far, I want I want I want, some great pickups. As MichiganBass80 pointed out, still 2+ months until this spending is of any use, so sad!

Thanks for the pictures Wayne, that looks pretty awesome, and better than anything I was imagining. It would be great to have all that information stuck on the bank. Did a quick price check, and it's surprisingly affordable. Do they update it frequently to keep it running smoothly with the latest phone updates? I will definitely look into it some more, thank you for the great recommendation.

I just fun fish from the bank, but I am curious if there are any helpful phone/tablet apps that anyone might use. I downloaded an app called Fish Cacher on my phone that looks/sounds nice from details, but curious if anyone has experience with it? From my understanding all I will need to do is upload images and it will retrieve all time, location & weather data and log everything. I know I could do this the old fashion way and write it down, but if this works it sounds faster/easier and I can just catch, photo, release instead of catch, photo, release, log. Another nice thing is that the app is free or $1.99 for the "Pro" version. Curious of anyone's personal experience with any apps, not just the one I mentioned. Was the app actually helpful, useful, user friendly, or just a waste of time & effort. I know this is not exactly a boat electronic thread, so I hope this is still ok here and I didn't ask in the wrong forum.Thanks guys!

Just got back from DSG. The 50% off clearance is over now and what's left is pretty pathetic. However, Sebile Action First Hardbaits are 2/$5. Also there is a $5 mail-in rebate that prints off after purchase, so if you fill that out the lures are FREE! Grabbed a few different ones to try out, haven't had luck the few times I have used one I have currently. Hopefully one of the new ones will be the deal. Also today, got a nice heat gear Under Armour mossy oak long sleeve shirt for $17.48. The hunting clearance is still 50% off and these shirts are great for summer fishing, even though I'm not big on looking like a tree. :] During the fishing sale I bought a bunch of Havoc backslides for .98 cents a pack. Some Yum Dingers for $1.98, Livetarget baitball popper $6.23, bunch of VMC of hooks for $1.23. Scumfrog, scroungers, line, too much! My favorite scoop was a new Daiwa Lexa 2500 spinning reel for $58.48, can't wait to try it out. This thread was a great heads up, just wish I had seen it as soon is it posted!