Boomstick

I did get my hands on the St. Croix Mojo Bass Topwater or Jerkbait rod last year (can't recall which) but I do recall it didn't feel too stiff. According to Cabela's website, they have both rods in stock at the E. Hartford Cabelas, so maybe if my youngest son has a hockey game that way or a day off of hockey, I can make it down there one of these days.

We have a Field and Stream that used to carry almost the full Mojo Bass line, but they now only seem to be stocking the plastics and jigs rods. Most other stores around here usually don't have any medium rods in stock at all unfortunately. Our Cabela's which is a bit of a haul can be hit or miss depending if they just made an order or not.

Along with Favorite rods. I noticed Dick's now carries both as well. No idea how well they work or if they're worth the money or even half of the money you pay for them, but they're showing up everywhere. I will leave you with this

I have a Tatula, 6'10" MH/F and my son has a Dobyns Sierra 704C (H/F, basically a stout MH by other manufacturer's ratings). The action on both of the tips is nearly identical however the tip on the Sierra is a little bit more stout, so it's faster when you get to lures closer to 1oz. With a 1/2oz lure, they're pretty close and by my standards, both rods are in fact a true fast. I've been impressed with both rods so far, so no matter which way you go you can't go wrong. My advice would be if you largely cast lures 3/4oz and under, go with the Tatula but if you may regularly exceed 1oz, you would like the Sierra 704C better. I do hear that the 7'3 Dobyns rods are closer to moderate fast than fast, but I can't say this from experience just what other users on the forums have told me. I also hear the Furys may not be quite as fast as the Sierras, but again that is not from personal experience, so take it with a grain of salt.

Has anyone found any great sales this year? Post them here! Myself, I have huge wish list from lures I lost last year and new lures I want to try on Tackle Warehouse, just hoping they offer 20% off and I'll satisfy my tackle bug needs for next year.

The current generation is blue, maybe 2013+ or so.

That's a bit better detail than how I said it. Thanks.

I gather magnetic braking slows the spool the entire cast where the centrifugal brakes limits the top speed of the spool from my experience.

I would suggest using them exactly as you said.

I got my hands on some of the St. Croix Mojo Bass glass rods at a nearby Dick's Sporting Goods and I gotta say that felt like it would make a fantastic cranking rod so I can only imagine how awesome the Legend Tournament Glass might be! Myself, I use a Daiwa Tatula Glass 7'2' MH/MF rod which is on the stiffer side but also makes a great chatterbait and spinnerbait rod as it has a lot of backbone and a slightly faster than ideal tip on it but there is enough play where I've landed almost every fish I've hooked on it (I believe the only one that got away was a mondo bass, and that's because I wacked my kid in the head setting the hook in a rowboat)

It's pretty tough to beat a Daiwa SV (Tatula, or Steez depending on your budget) for lures 3/8oz and under. I'm probably going to try a Pflueger Patriarch next year for light lures as well which I hear is good for light lures with its double braking system, as I got my son a Supreme XT and it's a totally fantastic reel.

Maybe some of them are rebranded Abu Garcia but there is no Abu Garcia branded version of the Patriarch and I'm pretty sure the same is true with the Supreme or higher reels at the very least.

They are definitely underrated! My youngest son has a Supreme XT and my oldest son has a Shimano Curado K and I like the Supreme XT better! It casts further, brakes arguably better (it's close), weighs much less and holds the same amount of line while being $50 retail dollars cheaper! It's also probably the smoothest reel I own. The only thing it doesn't have on my Tatula SV is the Tatula SV (also an option but the Tatula's seem to be better 12+lb line where the Pflueger is made for 8+lb) is better at casting lures below 3/8oz although we do manage to throw some 5/16oz crankbaits on it, which I am hoping the dual braking system on the Patriarch will help with when casting 1/4oz poppers and whatnot. Not many people in the bass fishing world seem to really be familiar with the Pflueger casting reels, I think it's because they don't really advertise them heavily or have major sponsors, but I've been incredibly impressed with the Supreme XT!

I wouldn't mind a little less humidity. It's been so humid this year that I had black mold on my downstairs ceiling! On the flipside, some normally shallow areas in a local lake spots were deeper this year which brought in pike and bass later in the year than I'd normally see out there (normally they'll hide under the nearby bridge when it's hotter out).

Does anybody have any experience with the Pflueger Patriarch casting reel? I'm going to need a reel for a topwater/jerkbait rod and I got my youngest son a Supreme XT on sale last year and have been quite impressed. From my understanding, the Patriarch has extra braking so it should be good for these lighter lures. Does anyone have any experience with this reel, and is it worth it over say a Supreme XT?

I spent the most on my finesse rod. I figure the better sensitivity really helps with lures you fish in a vertical presentations where with moving baits that they chase, they're going to swallow the bait anyway so it's rather hard to miss a bite.

I have been using a MH/F rod with 40lb braid for frogs and generally it's fine, but I would like to put mono or fluorocarbon on that reel and add frogging rod with 50 or 65lb braid. The same rod should also double for jigs in heavy cover.

I would personally prefer a rod around 6'10" or less to walk the frog with. For other lures I might throw on it, something around 7'6" so I would think the 735C should be a happy median.

I ran Berkley Trilene flurocarbon in 15lbs on a rod all year. The only problem I had was fishing in shallower areas, my bait didn't just hit the bottom but it dragged along the bottom.

It's so big it scares most of the fish away -- although you can still land big ones on it.

There have been a couple of times I threw a soft bait in a storage box, switched the lure and forgot to air dry them later (or a hairdryer on warm for about 10 seconds does it!) which led to some hooks rusting out pretty solidly. Fortunately, it only affected one section in the storage box, not all of the baits rusted out. Basically, what I try to do is leave my lures rigged up at the end of the day so they can dry. If I am changing out a lure, what I'm doing to start doing is putting it into an empty box, which I will later open so it can air dry and then return the lures to the original box.

I usually carry just two rods with me when I rent a rowboat or a canoe. My three rod setup (that covers most baits very well) is a 6'10" MH/F rod, 7'2" glass MH/MF rod for moving baits and a 6'9" ML/XF spinning rod for finesse baits. Which three depends greatly on the lake I'm fishing and conditions.

That's what I was thinking too

As many have suggested, the Daiwa Fuego, Lews Laser MG Speed Spool and Pflueger President XT are solid choices. I would also be interested in trying some but I might consider trying the KastKing Assassin or Stealth (depending what you want for a gear ratio but from the sounds of it the Assassin would be the best choice). I often hear that they fish like more expensive reels.

It does look more like a 6lb in the picture, but pictures can be misleading. It looks like a very long fish, but doesn't look as fat as most 10+ lb bass I've seen. The real question is did he weigh it and on an accurate scale....