Brett's_daddy

I know this is a VERY old discussion but I just stumbled across it. I spoke with Matt (owner of iRod) and he said the Fiber series is exactly the same blank (the 7'5" model is also called a Fred's Magic Stick just like the Genesis II model) as the Genesis II with different guides and handle. I was impressed by all of the good reviews and actually just purchased one for myself so we'll see :).

Well, after much deliberation (and more than a few posts asking advice...lol) I finally decided on a new rod for this year and I went with the iRod Fiber casting rod, 7'5" Fred's Magic Stick model...check it out at TW. This should take care of all of my heavier top water baits as well as jigs, spinnerbaits/buzz baits and even frogs. The reel is a BPS Pro Qualifier, 7.1:1 RH that my local (2+ hour away) BPS was finally able to find me and costs just $49.97 (they also agreed to ship it to my house for free). Now, I would like to get yet another rod for more of an all-around use like maybe a Dobyn's Fury 734C or something similar (maybe one of their refurbished/trade-in specials) too as well as a Daiwa Tatula CT but those may be further down the road this year (maybe birthday and Father's Day...lol). Right now it's about 11 degrees out with a 25 - 30mph arctic wind that makes it feel like -20 and a fresh layer of about 4" of snow so fishing season is still a ways off up here in the North

Don't get caught up in the hype surrounding the number of bearings a reel has. I spoke at length with a staff member at Cabelas about this and he said it's not the number of bearings that matters most but the placement and more importantly the quality of the bearings themselves. Compare a Shimano Curado to a Lews Tournament MB...the Shimano only has 5 bearings while the Lews has, what...10 or 11 bearings. Does that mean the Lews is far superior to the Shimano because it has more than twice the amount of bearings...I think most anglers on here will agree that these reels are very close performance-wise so it may boil down to personal preference. As others have mentioned it's VERY easy to find the Tatula CT for $100 on ebay and other vendors (I just spoke to a guy at Tackle Trap and they are selling them for $100 TYD).

Oh I don't mind the snow at all...in fact we LOVE to play in the snow and unfortunately Vermont has had 3 straight pathetic snow winters (last year we had a green Christmas for only the 2nd time in my 43 years on this rock) which dramatically affects our economy as we are mostly a tourist State and rely on good snow winters for skiing and snowmobiling but even so...would have much rather gotten this storm back in December or January :).

Yup, we ended up only getting about 15" or so...kind of hard to tell as it was so windy that the snow was drifted everywhere. They say we might get another 3" - 6" on Saturday but that could also have some freezing rain mixed in :(.

Are you kidding me...anything above 50 degrees is shorts and t-shirt weather up here .

Well, things up here in Vermont were still frigid but there wasn't any snow on the ground, lakes and ponds still frozen over for most part but signs of Spring were coming...heard a flock of Canada geese returning from their southern journey the other day and my allergies were starting to kick in alerting me that there must be plant activity starting to stir up some pollen but in general despite those things you got the sense that Spring was just around the corner and with that bass season not far behind. My how things change! Now we are about to get Snowmageddon part 2. I work for the State of Vermont and we never close (as we are civil servants and all) but today all offices close at 12 noon. The latest forecast has a blizzard warning out and they are saying by tomorrow evening we could have 24" - 30" of snow on the ground . And that my friends is why bass fishing will be on hold for me...lol.

How about lipless cranks? I mean most of what I have are squarebills but I'd like to do some lipless RES too.

I meant the Tatula CT 100HS ;).

I would go with the newer CT models for about $10 more ($100 TYD from Tackle Trap...I just called them on that) but that's just me :).

Just to be clear, are you talking about the older original Tatula 100HS or the newer Tatula CT 100HS?

Okay, what are they for the same amount of money?

I would be using this mostly for frog, heavier topwaters like Whopper Plopper 130, Spro BBZ 1 Rat, MS Mini Slammer etc. Would you use this over the Powell Diesel?

Wait...you HAVE to use braid with these rods? Come on, I've never heard of a rod where you couldn't also use mono, flouro or copoly!

Does anybody know how LRS fish...do they fish close to their power ratings? Heavier? Lighter?

Okay, looks like I might only be able to get one $100 rod and right now I'm leaning towards the Dobyn's Fury 734C as my all-around rod. If that is the case which of these two rods would be better in terms of heavier topwaters (think whopper plopper 130, Spro Rat etc.) and possibly frogs or heavy jigs? Th LRS is a Heavy/Fast with a lure weight of 3/4oz. to 3oz. while the Diesel is a Medium-Heavy/Extra Fast with a lure weight of 1/4oz. to 1-1/2oz. Both are around the $50 price point ($55 for Powell and $50 for Berkley).

Do they have any parabolic bend to them so that I might use it for crank baits?

I picked up a 6'6" Lightning Rod Shock, MH/f, lure weight 1/4oz. to 1-1/4oz. for $10 at Wal-Mart...could I possibly use this as a cranking rod if it has any parabolic bend? That way maybe the Freds Magic Stick and 734C could both be in play.

I'm saying that I would get a lesser priced rod for frogs/heavy topwater like maybe a 7'6" Lightning Rod Shock or something similar. I'm talking about between a 704C and a 734C which one would give me the ability to fish the most techniques? I also have 3 spinning rod setups: Fenwick HMG 7ft. MH/F, Abu Garcia Vengeance 7ft. M/F and a 6'6" Ugly Stik M/F so i could use those for some of the techniques as well.

That's the thing...if I get a dedicated frog/heavy top water rod I'd be looking for something that covers as many of the other techniques as possible (i.e.-jigs, jerk baits, senkos/craws, spinnerbaits etc.).

I just went to Wal-Mart on my lunch break and picked up a 6'6" LRS casting rod, MH/F, lure weight: 1/4oz. to 1-1/4oz. for $10 on clearance. I won't be able to fish it for a while as the ponds and lakes up here in VT are still frozen over for the most part, what can I expect from this rod? I'm guessing that it would be good for small topwater baits like spooks, poppers etc., maybe jerk baits...anything else, does it have any parabolic bend to it that you could use it for crank baits too? I mean for $10 you can't go wrong but it would be interesting to find out what others think about this rod and its tendencies/capabilities, does it fish to it's power ratings? Thanks for any input!!!

No clue! I am probably about a 50/50 bank/boat fisherman. I have a 7ft. rod now.

Which rod would cover the most techniques and be considered the better all-around rod?

Would I be better off getting a Dobyn's Fury 735C or an Irod Fiber Fred's Magic Stick for the larger baits and the Veritas Winch for the cranks and use my spinning gear to cover the rest?

I already have the spinning rods covered except for a frog spinning rod. I have a Fenwick HMG 7ft. MH/F spinning rod, Abu Garcia Vengeance 7ft. M/F and a 6'6" Ugly Stik M/F.