fishwizzard

I don’t have the iRod Swim Jr, but I do have the IRod FMS and the Dobyns 795sb and while it’s not an apples to apples comparison, the iRod blows the Dobyn’s out of the water in terms of sensitivity and general feel. The 795sb was a huge letdown, even for a $100 rod. It just feels dead and doesn’t feel like it loads well with any of the lures I have tried on it, it’s like there is no “sweet spot” anywhere in the rating. I would rather throw lures that slightly overload the iRod on it rather then pulls the Dobyn’s off the rack. The 795sb is going be be demoted to a catfish/pier rod.

Will do. I have a crushing amount of work through this weekend, I will shoot you a PM monday/tuesdsy.

I would love to but the best I can do is a solid “maybe” until Tuesday night when I will know for sure. I have never yaked the Potomac before so I am no help with “experienced” however.

I have an FMJ and a 844mbr and think either would be great for 3/8 oz jigs. The FMJ is more powerful and a bit slower in taper, but it’s only noticeable when you have a fish on the line. There is a ton of overlap between the two of them. I got the FMJ first and I only got the 844c because of a trade too good to pass up. Reel seat comfort is such a personal thing, I love the FMJ seat and can deal with the GLX seat, but it’s only comfortable with about half the reels I have tried on it.

That’s why I took the pic, I didn't think anyone would believe me otherwise.

I would admitt that I am very very weak on my frog ID. It was very weird, it was only in maybe a foot or so of water but I’ve never had one hit a lure that wasn’t right on the surface before.

Most of the bank fishing I do occurs at medium to very overgrown spots, some days 90% of my casts will be a pitch or a “big pitch”. A normal pitch will be around 20’ and I want dinner plate accuracy. A big pitch is when I want to get like 40-50’ but don't have the room for even a sidearm or backhand cast. For that I am happy with trashcan lid accuracy. I live down a long gravel drive that runs through the woods. My pitching practice involves walking down it pitching to the base of every tree. I practice big pitches by targeting trees a bit into the woods where I have low branches to contend with.

My highest end rods are GLXs and USA Destroyers and honestly at this point I don’t think any more sensitivity is something I am really looking for. But it’s interesting/useful power/taper combos that keep me interested and buying rods. I am going to get an NRX at some point to see what the fuss is about but the taper is the main draw for me.

Don’t feel bad, I struggle with a weightless senko. T-rigged w/ a 1/16oz weight and popping it along the bottom, I do fine. But as soon as I take the weight off, it’s skunktown time.

Sounds reasonable, thanks.

I have almost broken myself of the habit of buying absurd amounts of a single lure. The final straw was last fall when I managed to convince myself that the Rage Shellcracker was going to be discontinued and so of course I bought like three dozen packs. 80% of the time I use them for jig trailers. I don’t think I have ever had one rip and so I only lose one when I lose the jig they are riding on. The other 20% of the time they are rigged on a 6/0-1/4oz swimbait hook. Rigged this way I get dozens of fish per plastic, I think I have lost one since last fall. I literally think I will die before I use my stash up.

Those look amazing, I would love a couple! Thanks. I have been buying up a few different types of tiny snaps to use on my UL casting combo and wanna say I came across some very small snap swivels from one of the jdm brands? Decoy maybe? I will root around ebay tomorrow and see if I can find them again.

The spinnerbait idea is great! I would love to try out some really small 1/8oz chatterbaits but the Z-man ones are mostly garbage and I’ve never found anyone else who makes them that small. Starting with a tiny spinnerbait seems like a super easy way to give them a try.

Issue with this is that you then get people emailing/PMing you out of the blue offering rods for sale that they know you’re going to want. It’s already happened to be twice this year and both were deals way too good to pass up. I’m glad I sprung for both of them but it’s really pushed back a lot of other projects I was saving up for and now I have to buy a fancy reel to go with the fancy swimbait rod that I just had to have.

I used to order gun stuff from them from time to time and never had an issue. I either didn’t know or didn’t remember that they sold fishing tackle, so thanks for the reminder.

I was wondering if they were the same shape as the old ones. I have a pair of old Loomis rods with the Weibe seats and with an Alphas on them it’s hands down the most comfortable reel+seat combo I have ever fished with.

I have a rod where the filler is falling out in places. I had coated it with U40, but having definitely gone too thick with it before, I think I went too light of an application on this specific rod. I assume I should sand what ever U40 that is on there off before I try and fill the gaps?

About 10-15 seconds is as long as I can stand it for bottom contact lures. I have started retrieving jigs and plastics very slowly by using my thumb to advance the spool. I have had some success with it but it’s really easy to think everything is a bass and it seems like it’s costing me more jigs then the “drag/hop and pause” retrieve.

@Junger showed me a way to rig them with a single bead and a tri-bead to make like a nose cone in-front of the toad. It worked very well to keep off weeds and to protect the plastic from ripping off the hook.

Flukes are one of my most used plastics and I have never settled on a single hook. I use 3/0 hooks, but will use EWGs, offset round bend, screw lock, and occasionally straight shanks. I vary them up depending on the cover I am fishing, how I want them to sink, and how hard the bass are grabbing them.

When I started buying nicer rods I got the habit of doing a little half-speed false cast before I made my actual cast. As much as I try to always be aware of my surroundings and look behind me every time I move spots, that half-speed cast has saved a few tips for sure. It’s second nature now and don’t even notice that I’m doing it until the rod tip contacts something that I didn’t realize was behind me.

Cool, thanks. I have relatively small hands as well and don’t find the GLX seats terribly comfortable, but I can deal with it because I like the rods so much. I love my 783 GLX but if the Conquest version is the same power/taper then I might upgrade to in when/if I take a fall down a steep bank and end up on top of the GLX.

Thanks so much! I went ahead and ordered the shorter one, $90 is within my “roll the dice” limit and it will be good to put my idea to the test before I spend a lot more on a similar rod. I’m actually becoming more and more in favor of medium fast rods these days. In general im finding that the more powerful the rod the slower I want the taper to be.

Depends on my mood. I generally prefer catching lots of smaller bass ti catching fewer larger ones, but every time I catch a really big one I change my tune for a week or two. I spent an incredible amount of time this winter throwing nothing but medium-size swim baits and I caught painfully a few bass doing it, but I have now become much more comfortable with the idea of sacrificing catch probability for catch quality.

St Croix has a good number of shorter rods and I think Loomis still makes their CR line, which are 6’ casting rods in a few different powers.