Allen Der

I've always been happy with 8lb Trilene XL

I'd use it for chatterbaits and soft plastic swimbaits too. also 1/2 oz or 3/4oz inline spinners for Pike.

put your index finger on the line

check out the perception striker 11.5. very stable. or try to find a used Wilderness Systems Ride 115

are you using similar rods?

get a better line. red label is best suited as leader material not main line.

there's definitely been a drop in quality of the lower end rods; graphite series, tourney special and bionic blade. cheaper guides, cheaper grips. Extreme series and JM Signature Series still look good to me. Not sure about the CL.

Illinois river and evergreen lake have saugers/walleyes. up north the fox chain o lakes is probably the best for walleye in the state

check you PM's. also if you log into the BPS website, add something to your cart and wait a day, you should get a $20 of $100 coupon

How about a Tuffy Esox? might be hard to find outside the midwest though.

for t-rigs up to 1/4oz I'd get a st croix 7' Medium Mojo Bass, Avid or Avid X

the cabelas by us really does suck. I pretty much only order from their online bargain cave and have a coupon

a lightning rod is one of the 3 rods I've ever broken. they seem very brittle to me I think there are 2 schools of thought if you're semi-serious and don't have unlimited budget. 1. you take care of your equipment and plan to keep it a long time so you buy a few high end rods with lifetime warranties 2. you like new things every couple of years and buy a bunch of $150 and under rods. if you break one it's just an excuse to buy a new rod

i have 2 extreme travel rods and they are very nice. I'd probably take a Fenwick Silverhawk on sale over a regular extreme rod though

+1 for supreme. 25 or 30 size, whichever feels better to you

I set my GF up with a 30 size pink pflueger with 20lb braid on a 6'6" medium fenwick

I'd put the Pflueger supreme on your short list

I have a wilderness systems commander 120 which is very similar to the native ultimate. it's a good compromise between stability and weight and as long as you arent fishing big open water, i think these hybrid kayaks are a better choice than a lot of the sit on tops out there. find somewhere locally that you can demo an ulimate or commander before you buy one.

$10 off pflueger reels on Amazon right now. I have no experience with the quantum but the supreme is much smoother than the orra.

you can get on the Des Plaines river right now

best for people who dont know how to use a baitcaster seriously though, if you have a fast gear ratio spinning reel and 20lb braid, you can do just about anything a MH casting rod could do.

The BPS by me still has a solid fishing department and is 10x better than the cabelas and 100x better than Gander Mtn and DSG. The Walmarts around here have half an aisle of fishing stuff and are worthless. Yes BPS is a little over priced and they primarily stock their rods, but I can live with it for the convenience and their rods are pretty good especially when on sale.

i havent put a reel on one but they are definitely lighter and not as tip heavy as the old ones.

It was a combination of the aesthetics, neoprene handle and price point. A lot of people complained about the micro guides being just like lightning rod guides, which while they look similar without ceramic inserts is not correct. The $149 price was too close to an Avid or Avid X and there were many other micro guide options available for less. I bought 3 rage rods before they went on clearance and so far two more since they dropped in price. I really like the handles and the overall performance and feel of the rods. I like the feel and price point of the new Mojo bass rods as well and will probably pick one up (if I dont buy more rage rods). I'd like to see them make some of the mojo's available with micro guides.