Allen Der

my suggestion is to keep using your ugly stick for the cranks and spinnerbaits. then get something light and sensitive for plastics. something like a pflueger supreme or president XT size 30, matched with a St Croix Premier 6'6" Medium fast. you could go with a mojo or bass x but those are technique specific rods. the premier is a nice all around rod you can use for plastics, topwater, jerkbaits.

The power drive stow and deploy mechanism is garbage. Look at a terrova instead

The retrieve speed is super slow on even the expensive omegas. You have to get the zebco bullet to compete with a typical baitcaster, but they are really heavy and awkward to use. Spincasts are fine for bobbers or vertical jigging but not much else

Kalins is underrated in my opinion. I don't think they sponsor anyone other than some local Wisconsin guys and shows

dont waste the 20lb braid you bought. you can use it on a spinning reel. i love 20lb on my 30 size pfluegers. braid test is more about diameter and shock than the actual weight of the fish you are catching. i use 80 and 100 lb braid on musky reels. 40-50 for bass and pike. 10-20 on spinning reels for bass, walleye, panfish. i use light mono or fluoro leaders if needed

20lb braid is too light IMO for a baitcaster especially if you are throwing up to 1oz weight. you're going to lose lures on any backlashes and you'll probably get them frequently since that line is so thin and you are new to baitcasting. personally i'd go with 40lb on a MH rod

St Croix Premier 6'6 medium heavy

or the St Croix Eyecon 7' ML if you dont want to spend that much. I have two!

abu silvermax with the flipping switch (they call it rocket clutch) nice to have for the live baiting

typically the online classic starts after the in store classic ends. not all the same deals though. the rod and reel trade are in store only but they can order you a rod or reel that they dont have in stock.

usually they have a ton of stock of the PQ's during the classic. here's some alternative combos for around the same price: PQ+lightning rod $80 PQ+fish eagle rod $110 fish eagle reel and lightning rod $100 fish eagle reel and rod $130 abu silvermax+lightning rod $90 abu silvermax+fish eagle rod $120

really why does it need to be ultralight? to me I prefer light for pannies. I bet a light Berkley lightning rod feels lighter than a UL ugly stik not sure if these will be part of the sale but look interesting https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/berkley-lightning-rod-trout-spinning-rod

Berkley Lightning Rods will be $29.97 during the spring classic sale

5+ years ago the DSG around here had decent selections and I bought a ton of clearance stuff. but it seems the fishing department shrinks by an aisle every year. ever since I joined this site, I've been buying a lot more stuff online because even BPS and Cabelas dont have all the stuff I want

pretty sure the leaked ad i saw said BPS and Cabelas on it. eventually they are just going to be the same store inside. eventually cabelas will probably just become a BPS house brand like Red Head

bought the same reel for my wife a few years ago and I've used it more than a few times myself.

agreed. I dont think there is even any consistency between lines in a manufacturer. I have a st croix 610MLXF and a 610MXF and i rarely use either one. I prefer the 70MLF and 66MF over the XF rods

i have the perfect rod for you if you were open to a bait caster. it's a walleye bottom bouncer rod

+1 I use 7ft ML eyecons for neg rigs and drop shots for bass. Also I do think that the premier medium fast has a pretty soft tip compared to some of the other lines.

those underspins are nice for casting size 00, 0, and 1 mepps spinners for stream trout and pond panfish.

I'd stick with the 3600 boxes, just get more of them and organize your tackle differently. instead of sorting by type of lure, think type of year or water clarity and bring just the boxes you need for that day and body of water.

if you're fishing natural ponds, they'll get weedy as the year goes on. start with wacky rigged senkos, when it gets too weedy switch to a texas rigged ribbon tail worm. soft plastic paddletail swimbaits and grubs work too year round.

add me to the list of the inflatable boat mistakes. bought one in college and put it in the trunk of my small car. that thing would take forever to blow up with the foot pump and any wind the boat would blow all over the place. almost couldn't row back one time

the water level can get very high with the spring rains. trying to limit erosion

flying fisherman are decent