mojojojo

I tested the flex and it felt very similar to the Avid I was comparing it with as far as stiffness, so they may be slightly on the heavier side. They had two of them one in medium fast and the other medium heavy fast and I looked at the guides in detail and they both were very clean. These have excellent guides on them. I know what you mean about the other Cabelas branded rods and somewhat sloppy guides, but these Arachnids are top notch.

12" Manns Jelly worm or whats becoming my favorite big worm, the Yum Mighty Worm rigged on a carolina/split shot style rig.

Strike King and Rapala of course, but 6th Sense is becoming my favorite.

I haven't used it, but Phenix makes excellent rods. But like a previous poster stated, the Okuma Guide Select swimbait stick is a fantastic rod for only $110. It even comes with Fuji K series Alconite guides.. I have the heavy action model rated for 1-6oz baits and it chucks 8" huddlestons perfect. Its a great swimbait rod for the money. But Id be absolutely sure the Phenix Classic swimbait rod will be a great one. I was about to buy that one but a local store had the M1 Inshore series on sale so I picked up a 7'11" model.

Then that Phenix M1 7'5 extra heavy may be the one...but its rated as an extra fast action, thats going to be geared more towards bottom baits like big heavy jigs. With a swimbait rod you want more of a softer tip..especially if your throwing big treble hook baits. If your going to be throwing big swimbaits like 8" huddles tons then your going to need a big rod. But if you're mainly going to be throwing baits up to around 3oz then you can get away with something smaller. Like I said, I have the Gloomis E6X 7'5" heavy moderate fast and its rated up to only 2oz baits but I throw 3oz on it all the time and it feels just fine. I really like this rod for glide baits.

http://www.***.com/Phenix_M1_Swimbait_Casting_Rods/descpage-PMSS.html

Yes the Phenix M1 Rods are great. I own GLoomix E6X swimbait rod rated up to 20x baits that I use for small to medium swimbaits and I really like it...a lot! I don't know why there are quite a few negative reviews on the E6X...but anyhow I also own a Phenix M1 and its a better rod and a little less expensive as well. I also own an Okuma Guide Select swimbait stick in Heavy for 1oz-6oz baitsand for $110 this rod can't be beat in my opinion.. But if you're going to be spending in the $200+ range definitely look at the Phenix M1. I bought one in their inshore series (roughly $185) and use it for a swimbait, big swimjig, and big 1oz+ jig rod and this rod just flat out rocks...

Doesn't exist like others have said, but a good reel for under $100: Look on Ebay, you can pick up a Daiwa Tatula brand new for $95 and a Lews tournament MB for around $100 (maybe a few bucks more) You will not find two better reels for that price anywhere. I own both but prefer the Tatula.

I haven't tried it on the normal sized lizard, but on the zoom magnum lizard it works great. Lots of action. I wacky rig it a little off center, more towards the head

That rod should be just about perfect for pitching around 3/8oz baits. I have a 7'3" Duckett MH Fast and it works great for pitching

If you're going to throw crankbaits with the XF tip, then Id definitely get mono. You're going to want that stretch since your rod isn't going to have much forgiveness with that extra fast action

Ive also read a lot of bad reviews on it, but I like it so far. Ive only used it in 20# for a swimbait rod and it casts great and I personally don't see any memory problems with it. Ive had zero breaks offs and not one single backlash with it yet. I like it. Don't know how well it works in lighter weights like 10# though.

you got it backwards. The faster the action the shorter the bend, the slower action the more of a parabolic bend (the majority of the rod will bend). Rods designed for crankbaits have what you're looking for...a softer tip. I throw a lot of different baits on my fiberglass crankbait rod..even texas rigged worms, But like Yudo said, the softer tip will make it harder to set hooks on baits like heavy jigs, T-Rig creature baits..etc where there is a lot of plastic the hook needs to penetrate through. I use it only for T-rigged worms and it works good. I like rods with a moderate action than a fast action. But if Im using bottom baits where I need max sensitivity then Ill use something like medium heavy fast action

thanks for the replies. I tried the Manns 12" worm like papa joe recommended by T-rigging and pegging the weight and it works real well. I didn't realize those worms float so the tail stands straight up so no need for a shaky head jig. Didn't get any bites last night but I can tell its going to work good.

What Crestliner said is definitely true, but a basic slow retrieve (just enough to get the tail moving) will generally work no matter what time of year. Keitechs on swim jigs are great.

I wacky rig Zoom magnum lizards lol. Looks like a dying lizard spazzing out

It would also be my roboworm rod..any finesse type worm that the rod can effectively cast before they get too light. Id use it for a double fluke set up..but I guess that falls into the jerkbait category. Id also use it for small crankbaits but only with mono line. The XF tip will be way too fast with something with no stretch like braid..but with 8-10LB mono I wouldn't be worried at all using it with small crankbaits (a lot of guys will disagree on this but I would do it no problem just don't set the hooks like normal..a hard reel and a little sweep of the rod is all you'd need)

That medium Duckett should be able to, but light action rods will sling little baits better. Ive found that crankbait rods in medium with a moderate action will sling little baits very well. Those soft tips on a medium/light powered rod will load up enough to send little baits out there. I know its out of your budget but you may want to save and get the Daiwa SV 105. Its a finesse baitcaster that will also be used for normal sized baits. But having said that, I think the rod is more important than the reel for finesse baits. If you get a medium light action rod you can use any baitcaster you want in my opinion. I use a mojo bass glass cranking rod in medium action with a Tatula reel for 1/8 oz baits no problem. I just use light line: 15lb braid with an 8LB flouro leader

Yes... I didn't know Mainlink was a frame style, I thought it just meant the kind of polarized glasses lol. Now that Ive seen the models I definitely prefer the Turbine Rotor. I just have to decide either the deep or shallow water...dont know which one would be best, or if it even makes much a difference between the two

I know about the Arachnid reel which is basically an upgraded Tatula but I was in Cabelas today and they have an Arachnid rod and holy cow is this thing light and pure awesome. I was fondling the St Croix Avids, as usual, and stumbled upon this Arachnid. The Avids are light but this Arachnid was considerably lighter and extremely well balanced. Fuji K guides with SiC inserts. Its priced at $200. It looks and feels very high quality, with some of the best guides you can get. I think I just found a rod in the $200 range that I like better than the Avid which I never thought would happen. Has anyone seen or handled this rod before?

Whats your guys preferred way of rigging large worms like the strike king bull worm, Yum Mighty worm, Manns 12" jelly worms..etc? Ive been having real good luck with the Yamamoto 12" curly tail rigged weightless Texas style with a 5/0 round bend hook reeled very slow. Any of you recommend a specific shaky head jig for worms this big? Ive noticed the Yum Mightyworm will stand straight up and would be great on a shakey head. Would a standard shaky head be too small for a worm this size?

what's even worse is that they are all now doing video logs of their daily life..ie: what they eat for breakfast, driving kids to school, eating lunch, taking out trash, driving to store...etc and people actually sit down and watch this stuff. I seriously don't get people. some of those channels used to be good, now they are getting ridiculous. it's all about making as many vids as possible and making money from youtube. When guys get sponsored, like flukemaster did , then their channel starts to suck because all they want to do is push their sponser product. its funny, now all his previous rods that he used to say were so good (which they actually are) hes now dumped them all and acts like they all suck and now his new rods from his sponsor are "so much better" and you all should buy those instead of those ol white rods lol ya he shows up to catch 2lb bass out of a little pond with a heavy duty rod and I'm sure something like 50 lb braid with weightless senkos lol yamamoto I'm sure laughed at him while he schooled him with his little light action spinning set up

thanks for reply. I could go try them at a store if I can find one that has them but that won't really tell me how they perform outside on the water. I'll just buy the deep water version. the deep water has a blue tint and the shallow has a green? I have somewhat of a wide face and a lot of sunglasses are to small. how would you describe the size of them?

because I like to consolidate various baits into one box.for instance I have a small plastic worm container i use for finesse baits. Its filled with various small worms like roboworm, yum, zoom..etc. this way I can grab one small container and have a bunch of different baits instead of having to bring several different bags of plastics.

burry the eye of the hook into the worm like the pic posted above. This will help from it snagging vegetation. it will also help keep your knot from failing if you are rigging it with a bullet weight as it always bumps into the knot on the eye of the hook. MH mean "medium heavy". Its the power rating of the rod. Get a medium heavy rod with a fast tip. The rod will typically just say "medium heavy fast"