Boomstick

Glass and composite rods are generally thick and somewhat heavy. The Tatula is a composite and isn't quite as thick as most, but is thicker than the graphite ones. I barely notice to be honest.

Mine is a Tatula 7’ glass Medium/Regular (basically moderate) for what it’s worth. Works very well for cranks

Yeah it would. I really like my M/M rod for throwing cranks in open water. It keeps them hooked and casts really far. You don't need the most sensitive rod for that either. so that might be fine.

I haven't used the pitching and flipping, but probably not. The brake is tweaked so it starts pressure off slower, but you may have to thumb hell out of it when casting

Yeah it's somewhere between moderate fast and fast.

I use the Owner Ultrahead Darter jigheads, usually in 1/16 and 1/8oz and my favorite tubes are the X-Zones, each size pairs perfectly with each size jighead.

I just got the plastic Ketch boards myself, which are accepted by kayak tournaments. They seem pretty well made, and I've been told they'll withstand almost anything besides being ran over with your truck or being shot at. I'm not going to run it over with my truck, but if I lose another potential 7+ pound bass, not withstanding bullets might be a problem.

The other thing worth considering is a Sierra 703C, which is essentially a Medium/Fast for any other manufacturer. That is a super versatile rod (especially in the Sierra line) great for weightless or lightly weighted soft plastics, square bills especially in grass, light spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, poppers, spooks etc.

In that case you might want the 734CB. It'll bomb cast square bills.

Do you know how the 7'3" compares to the 6'10" MH/F? The 6'10" still runs a little on the heavy side but not as much as the 7'1" and much less tip.

It is! There's a few others that run heavier than your normal MH that already runs heavy, but a lot of them have too much tip for non bottom contact use.

If you're looking to throw a crankbait, get the mod fast, absolutely. 735CB for deep divers or square bills in grass, 734CB to bomb cast square bills in open water and moderate divers. If you're looking for two MH/F rods to essentially pull double duty, I'd go with one Kaden 714C and one Sierra 734C where one will be better for soft plastics and jigs and the other for moving single hook baits like spinnerbaits.

Agreed. It's definitely a step above my Tatula 6'10" MH/F in power. I tend to use it a lot for jigs and T-Rigs in cover when shore fishing and I don't want to bring out my Steez jig rod and risk snagging it on a cast which is the most common way I ruin guides and for 1/2oz spinnerbaits and chatterbaits with trailers, but it throws the 3/8oz counterparts okay too. It's not the fastest extra fast out there. I didn't even realize it was an extra fast when I bought it, but it wasn't too fast for general use so I kept it.

That's one way to do it. If you can step up to the Champion XP line, a 744C for jigs, T-Rigs and C-Rigs and a Sierra 734C for moving baits (and maybe an occasional T-Rig) is a pretty good combo as well.

They are both graphite. The Kaden has about 2" less tip, which results in less bend but pretty close overall. In my opinion, both are worth the extra price over the Fury if you can swing it. The Fury is pretty solid for its price point but the problem is so are the Sierra and Kaden.

You would want a Dobyns heavy. I'd recommend either a Sierra 734C or Kaden 714C. If you throw more moving baits, go with the Sierra and if you throw more soft plastics, the Kaden.

I have one MH/XF rod without issues, however I will note that it's not the most extra fast extra fast rod, the Tatula 7'1" MH/XF - I believe it's the one @Catt uses as well. It's best for bottom contact, but I have even used it for spinnerbaits and bladed jigs - it's not ideal, but it handles heavier ones with large trailers better than my other medium heavy.

It takes a long time for braid to wear down guides, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. 8 strand braid will wear guides notably less than 4 strand braid as well. My favorite rod for lighter topwaters is my Mojo Bass 6'8" M/XF "Topwater" rod. Also great for jerkbaits. (The jerkbait or plastics rod also works as well - longer tip and more backbone). I use 12# mono with a Pflueger Patriarch reel and it'll cast 1/4oz poppers well (the reel itself isn't too important here)

How thick is the grass? I can get away with a lot of grass with a MH/F, but that depends how thick it is. The Dobyns Sierra 735C seems like it might be a good fit for you if you do decide to get a heavy rod. It is still a "heavy" rod but has a little bit less tip so it's good for casting slightly lighter lures like T-Rigs and has the power to get them out still. I would suggest maybe a spinning rod? Maybe a Kaden KD712SF (ned rigs, light drop shots) or KD713SF (shaky heads, senkos, larger dropshots) would be a good bet.

The Victory 6'10" ML/XF is a pretty solid all-purpose finesse bass rod. If you can only have one, that's a perfect choice. I really like the Dobyns Champion XP 702SF for light drop shots and ned rigs a lot - it casts the 1/16oz ned rigs effortlessly. But it's a little lighter so you may want a medium powered rod to go with it.

If you can store it upside down, that's usually solid. If you put the hull down you should have some sort of support for the hull, usually well placed pool floaties work well. Also kayak stands with rubber padding are generally recommended - I use them but I generally put it hull side up anyway and let the stands hit the deck.

Wait, your password should be something besdes "password" ?

I would generally recommend the Tatula 100 or SV or Shimano SLX MGL 70. The latter will cast the furthest, the SV will have the best control and the 100 will provide decent control at a budget. If you plan to skip, get the SV it excels at skipping. Don’t let that one bad Shimano turn you off to them - that is definitely not normal.

I setup my kid’s Topwater 120 similar to the following video. I lit the extra wire and battery in a drybag in the hull (thanks @J Francho for that idea it works great). I’ll do the same setup next year when I’m rocking the Bigwater PDL. In our case, we went with a Garmin Echomap. The stock Garmin mount works perfectly with the stock mount I kust had to cut part of the mount to get it to line up with screw holes. Navarrekayak sells a mount for $30 that also would work with side view for Garmin transducers - you could check if they have one for Hummingbird as well

I got a cheaper one for my kid, in the $30-40 range. It’s a little big and bulky but helps but the more compact kayak kushion does seem like it would be a better option but costs significantly more too at $60 a pad so $120 if you want one for your back