IndianaFinesse

I don't have any of the reels you listed, but my curado 70s can throw 3/16 and 1/4 ounce spinners as far as I'd ever want to cast them, with ease and next to no backlashes. Very small profile, and much more inexpensive than the true bfs reels.

I used to fish the eagle claw Bucktails jigs, and when they were discounti ued for a bit before being made by wright&McGill again. Now that they're discontinued, the only way to buy an 1/8 ounce Bucktails jigs with a small profile is custom, which I have yet to spring for, but I've heard good things about Andy's custom bass jigs from hair jig fanatic team9nine. I've just been using punisher's float and fly craft hair jigs to get by since my bucktails ran out.

Look interesting, maybe a good replacement jerkbait hook with that thin bend for easier penetration.

Thanks guys, I went with the 7' medium power. I've had it out for half a dozen trips now (spooled with 10 pound braid) , and thought i'd do a quick review. So far I've only thrown 1/8 and 3/16 ounce shaky heads and 3/16 ounce jigs, but the rod handled both pretty well. It is a little stiff to get maximum distance with a 1/8 ounce shaky head with a tiny 4 inch finesse worm, but it does get a good 60 feet out of it, which is enough for most of my fishing. Jury is still out on weather I like it or my 6'10" ml villain better for 1/8 ounce shaky heads, but I am leaning slightly towards the zodias with the exception of skipping docks. The zodias is a little more sensitive than the villain (but not by much), and I am starting to like the extra backbone for hooksets. 3/16 ounce shaky heads and 3/16-5/16 ounce jigs are right in the rods sweet spot.

Thanks for all of the replies, just wanted to let you all know what I thought of the new setup. I ended up ordering the 6'10" mh zodias and paired it with a curado 71xg, spooled with 30lb braid. The thing is awesome, super light, pretty well balanced (the balance point is at the tip of the foregrip), and sensitive. I would a rank it higher in sensitivity than the Abu Garcia Villain. The rod is rated for 3/8-1 ounce lures, but for me it threw lures between 1/4 and 3/4 ounce best (which works out well cause I throw a lot of jigs around 1/4 oz). The zodias is rated fast, but i would say it's something inbetween a medium-fast and fast action. It is a very slim combo between the compact curado frame and the very narrow reel seat on the zodias, which I love. Over all i am very pleased with both the rod and reel, and would definitely recommend them both.

Nope, just got to slow down (usually, but not always) when it's that cold. Still make sure to experiment with speeds though, don't fall into doing the same thing over and over. Fish blade baits, jerkbaits, small bucktail hair jigs, and shaky heads on steep dropping banks where the channel swings into the bank. The dam is always a good spot in the winter. Had some great days in 39-40 degree water, but you can't plan on picking one off here and there like sometimes happens in the warmer months, they tend to stack up much tighter (and the amount of time that they are active is usually shorter) but when the school gets active, fishing can be great if you're on them. Most of my very cold water fish are caught in a very narrow window of time during each outing. BTW, had another great day doing what I explained above with 24 bass (including a 3.8 and several around 3) this afternoon. Shaky heads and jerkbaits were the ticket.

Admittedly, I have only tried a few blade baits (gay blade, thinfisher, bps brand, and silver buddy), so take this with a grain of salt, but my favorite out of the ones I've tried is the silver buddy. 1/2 ounce, gold in murkier water and silver/stainless in clearer. I cut the cheap hooks off them and put a split ring and #6 gamakatsu magic eye trebles on them, seemed to help the hooking and landing percentage quite a bit.

1/16, and sometimes 1/32 or 1/20. 1/16 gets 95% of the use. Go any heavier than 3/32 and you lose one of the vital aspects of the ned rig (that separates it from a jig worm), the no-feel retrieve.

Hey, 2nd place still payed pretty good I bet. Out of curiosity, how stiff would you say the competition is? Indiana's weight is usually below the weight of my biggest bass of the year, but I haven't signed up yet cause the amount travelling would cost.

That depends, for early fall it would be a rattletrap or shaky head, mid fall would be a trap, shallow crank, buzzbait, shaky head, ned rig, or jerkbait. Once the water temperature is in the low 50s (as long as clarity is good) the jerkbait is my got to most of the time, followed by blade baits, bucktail hair jigs, shaky heads, and ned rigs.

Had another good day out on the water this afternoon, I fished from 3:30-6 and caught 23 fish. Mostly largemouth, but a few white bass and a decent crappie annihilated my vision 110 too. Two soft twitches and a 1-2 seconds pause was the ticket today. Water temperature dropped another two degrees last night, down to 52-54 depending on where you are in the lake (still 6-7 feet of visibility). There was a surprising amount of bass that moved onto the winter areas today, much more than yesterday. Almost all of them came on steep dropping banks.

Nice steelhead! That's a fish I have yet to have the opportunity to fish for, looks like the fight pretty good. BTW, a bit to the left of you on that same bridge can be a good spot for walleye around June.

Water temperature is down to 55 here, and with 6-7 feet of visibility even in the upper ends of the lake, jerkbait season is starting up. Caught 18 in about 2 hours the other day on a vision 110, a solid limit of keepers and a 14.5 inch bonus crappie made it even better. They aren't quite onto the wintering areas yet, but they are starting to show up in some of them. Catching most of them nearby the steeper banks that they will move onto soon. As long as visibility stays good, this bite should keep getting better as they stack up tighter

I go old school with a zoom super chunk junior in clearer water and smaller jigs (the majority of the time), and if it's murkier especially I sometimes switch to a big salty chunk, pit boss, or rage menace. Swim jigs either get a keitech 3.3, rage menace, or zoom 4" fat curly tail.

I think it has more to do with his casting form and the rod used than the bearing upgrade IMHO.

These are pretty much my thoughts on this subject also, except I wasn't willing to stir the pot with the ike fans on here that much..

I'll pop the popcorn...

What @12poundbass said..

It should look like a flasher when in jigging mode, and the advantage is that once you learn to read it you will be able to distinguish an individual fish's reaction to your lure (which you also will be able to see) in real time.

Cause' most of them don't know the difference... (According to that same article)

Sounds like you've already got a good start. I'll echo your research on the 6'8"-7' medium lite (if you fish heavier shaky heads you might bump it to a medium) fast action rod, and I personally spool it with 8-10 pound braid, with or without a leader. Some guys prefer ~6-10 pound straight flouro, but that is just personal preference. Reel size will not affect sensitivity, only casting distance, speed, and fatigue. BTW, that 16 pound hybrid will be a nightmare on spinning tackle. If you don't want to use braid, don't go any heavier than 10 pound flouro/mono.

Where is the mojo on sale for $70?

Reconditioned means that it is in a "like new condition", so no there will not be any broken guides or replaced guides that can be at all noticeable. I've bought a couple reconditioned rods from ffo, and I've never received a recon rod that I could tell was not new. Edit, just read some of your posts questioning ffo's authenticity, and as I mentioned before, I've personally ordered from them at least 7 or 8 times with no issues. Pure Fishing is the "mother" company that owns Abu Garcia, Fenwick, pfluegar, Mitchell, berkley, and a couple other "child" companies. All of those companies dump their overstocks and the merchandise that is being clearanced (year to year package changes, revamping a lineup, etc) into ffo, who sells them off for even cheaper to clear shelves. FFO is a part of pure fishing. Nothing to worry about with them, I was like a kid in a candy store the first time I was directed to that site. And that was back a few years when they had a better selection, but they still have some great deals now and then if you watch them closely. The good stuff sells fast.

I'm not saying have to, I just thought that was part of what you were asking when you listed your rods and reels the way you did. I paired the reels with the rods that I thought would work best for the techniques that rod could handle. IE, a very high speed reel comes in handy for fishing frogs, slack line topwater, jigs, and pitching. Some people really like it for punching to, and that list is pretty close to the list of lures that a typical 7' heavy rod can throw effectively. Most people prefer a slower reel for cranking, which is exactly what your moderate action rod does best. And for your all purpose rod, it will likely be the rod you use the most by far. So I figured put your nicest reel on it, plus 7.1:1 is a pretty good all around ratio. If your asking about the spinning rod, a spinning rod can throw lighter baits than a baitcaster. You're going to have a tough time throwing a 1/16 oz.ned rig, an 1/8 ounce shaky head, lighter drop shots, and all of the other finesse techniques on casting gear without spending a gob of money. 6'9"-7' medium-lite or medium powered rod with a fast action is a pretty good all around spinning rod.