RW

That’s what I use. Probably paid for itself the 2nd time out. I lost one when the string came loose. Retie the knot before you use it.

The only thing the booya popper wake caught was me. I watched bass look at it and swim off.

I have a Vexux 1880. Love everything about it except it has a center rod locker. When rods are on deck, it is hard to get access to the side compartments. The vexus as you point out is more expensive than most boats you mention. I had a ranger 178 before that. The vexus cuts through wakes much better than the ranger because of its hull design. The 1880 has a pad hull and will go 45-48 mph with a 115 mercury pro xs. It rides very nicely on plane.

I have the rebellion ml spinning rod. I like it. Using it as a Ned rig rod. More sensitive than my cashion elite ml which is a nice rod. I have one heavy Diawa tatula elite orimoro (sp?) baitcaster rod that I use for jigs. Can’t really directly compare that to my rebellion rod but the rebellion is nicer. Probably 20-50$ more price wise. I’d buy another rebellion if I needed another rod and they were on sale. Most of my rods are cashion elites which I think are nice but rebellion is better balanced, lighter and seems higher quality. The tatula I have seems comparable to the cashions except it balances better. Not sure if I would buy another tatula rod. I kinda like the cashions better.