Boomstick

My Strike King Tour Grade has taken a beating but is still alive and ticking. I also have another one with a rattle, I think a Booyah that I've caught a few fish on.

I have a box full, but I have three that I've had good luck with. There's many more I have not even tried. #1) SK KVD Willow/Colorado 3/8oz in the Chartreuse Sexy Shad color. I've caught bass with this in clear water and clouded water, including my PB 20" smallie. #2) SK KVD Willow/Willow 1/2oz in the Chrome Sexy Shad color. #3) A 3/8oz 4 willow bladed, chartreuse colored Booyah, I think it's called the Super Shad.

So I ended up getting a Tatula Glass rod at a great price. If I don't like it, I could probably sell it for what I paid for it, so I figure I'll give it a shot. At the very least I should get a nice rod for crankbaits, and that will be nice with fall rapidly approaching.

I honestly usually use mono for my drop shots because it's what I have spooled up on my lighter reel and just use a slightly heavier weight line straight and down but with FC because it sinks it would have an advantage of keeping the line straight with less weight.

My first suggestion is to look shallow during dusk and dawn. Then during the day, especially when sun is out, look under cover -bridges, lily pads and tall grass. You can also try deep during the day, but limit yourself to around 20ft as well If half of the lake is 6ft or less, then it may be worth trying that half of the lake. Senkos, shakey heads and drop shots are often good rigs for hotter weather. The bass bite is often pretty lazy in the summer too, so throw trailer hooks on your spinnerbaits and fish your baits a little bit slower. Most important is keep your head up and keep trying.

I guess this is that gray area here. Really, if I as much find it passable on a glass rod, I'll be happy, and if I end up being one of those people who likes glass for spinnerbaits, I'd be thrilled. I believe the Daiwa and Dobyns rods (my top two choices) have a little more backbone as well than your typical glass rods.

True words!

I have to agree. I've actually gotten very good with the baitcaster but every now and then I'll forget about a tree and hit it and often the bird's nest is so bad I have to cut my line out. In some cases, I've miraculously managed to pull out the bird's nest only to find I pulled out line over a small weed and it all got tangled and I had to cut it out and re-spool anyway. Second is rocks at the bottom that have a grap just large enough to pull your line through but not your bait.

No problem. I'm sure I've done that before too. That probably would be the ultimate troll by the OP though

I'm confused, who didn't know the difference between a casting and a spinning rod? Who mounted a BG reel on a Loomis or St croix rod (or even mentioned either of those brands)? Did you cross two threads here, or are referring to another thread somewhere else, or just making stuff up? Also, I'm not totally disregarding Dobyns rods either, but it's a $55 price point difference which puts me a bit above what I have to spend.

I actually thought about that rod too but I hear the Daiwa has a little more backbone to it as well, and I can get it cheaper as well. This review makes me think I will be fine as it shows the Tatula glass rod is quite a bit stiffer than most glass rods. http://tackletour.com/reviewdaiwatat721mhrbg.html

I rented a 14' Starcraft rowboat last week, it was nothing I would try to stand in, but I was comfortable enough sitting in it. I would be happy to have even a smaller boat that could get me to places I can't otherwise get to.

I too have the Tatula SV, but I would honestly say it's the easiest reel to setup that I have ever used, at least once you figure it out. It's not like other reels, I usually set the tension knob to the point the reel begins to click and the brake from 6 to 10, depending on my casting confidence on any given day. I don't have to change it if I go from a lighter bait to a heavier one either, it's just good to go.

You also live where it's above 70 in bass fishing season too. Up north, it gets colder and you'll have issues.

I was initially considering adding a simple M/M or M/MF rod until this past week actually. Kind of leaning towards glass now.

I'm thinking the same. I'll fish a lot of swim and pitching jigs and frogs on that. Of course I may still throw spinnerbaits or chatterbaits on that rod as well from time to time too, and I can burn em that way.

This is probably the best answer I could have hoped to look for to be honest. My challenge seems to be getting the fish to bite in the first place but once they bite I rarely lose them. Same goes when I had mono on my reel. I caught the largest bass (20" smallie) of my life on a spinnerbait on Friday and it bit it so fast on the first cast of the day I didn't even get a good hookset but I still got him. I did get a few very weak bites this past week when camping too, but I don't think any gear could have landed those to be honest, or even a second trailer hook. I very well might give it a go. I just need to decide if I want another 6.3:1 reel or a 7.3:1 reel (and use my 6.3 with the glass rod of course)

I think you missed it but I said bladed jigs not cranks. I guess I did put that in my requirements although I throw a spinnerbait far more often, so I'm really hoping I can use the glass rod for spinnerbaits. If it doesn't work for chatterbaits, that's an acceptable loss to me. I am pretty sure I can fit 7'2" (based on having 2" to spare on a 7' rod) but I won't be able to fit anything much longer in my car without sticking it out the window, which is not a good idea.

While I figure I'd use my current rod for bladed jigs 99% the time, if a glass rod could handle them decently that would be a nice plus as well, say I wanted to rig up a bladed jig and a frog or the like.

Well you are right but you know what I mean -- I never have problems on braid with line and while I occasionally experience line twist issues, I very rarely get wind knots.

That is what I thought too about the hook set -- the hook practically sets itself on my braid on my MH rod!. But a few people have mentioned they do use their glass rod for spinnerbaits too, if it worked decently then I could kill two birds in one stone nicely here. I'm currently using my M/F spinning rod with 12lb line for crankbaits but I want to throw braid on that too to remove line twist. Dobyns advertises the Champion glass rod as cranks and spinnerbaits even.

Currently I have a Daiwa Tatula 6'10" MH/F rod paired with a 6.3:1 Tatula SV reel, a Mitchell 300 Pro spinning combo and a Pflueger President spinning combo, I'll usually rig one for myself and the boys can use the other). While fishing on a rowboat this past week, it hit me that it would be nice to have a second rod so I could throw a frog on mine, and a spinnerbait on the other, or perhaps in a different lake a swim jig and a crankbait or a texas rigged senko and a chatterbait, etc. The MH is more than adequate as the lakes I fish don't have any excessive amount of weeds. My first through was I could get a Lews Mach II combo, toss some braid on it and toss some 17lb mono on the tatula (since the Lews has the 7.5:1 gear ratio), but seeing as what I am really missing from my setup is a cranking rod, I was debating picking up a Tatula Glass Cranking rod and another Tatula SV reel. If I go this way, should I get the 7.3:1 reel and put my current 6.3:1 on the cranking rod or just another 6.3:1? And how does a glass cranking rod handle a 3/8 or 1/2 oz spinnerbait or chatterbait? If that works well, then I think this is the way I'm going.

My oldest son has a black max, and I haven't tried to take the tension knob off, but the proper amount of tension is nowhere near the point it would come off so I don't know. What I find with the black max anyway (and I'm sure the same applies to the silver max as well) is you want to tie up your rig and then set the tension knob to the point your line begins to fall at a moderate speed. If you let it fall too fast, it will begin to bird's nest no matter how well you cast. If you change your bait, do it again. Where with my Tatula SV, I loosen the tension knob until the spool begins to click and have no issues, you just can't do this with the black max. I do get some pretty good casts on the black max. Also I would not recommend any lower than 30 or 40lb braid on a baitcaster, otherwise it might dig into itself. You will probably want to set your drag at 25% of the max rating on your rod, so it's probably rated for 8-15 lb line, so set your drag for 25% of 15 which is 3.75lbs.

I use a 35 for bass, and technically anything smaller should work for trout. I would go with the 25 which is rated for trout line but holds a little extra line and may be less likely to have line management issues.

I got my 6'10" MH/F Daiwa Tatula for around $110 on Amazon, I think the extra $10 is worth it and you won't be disappointed. Or are you looking for a combo around that price point? The Abu Garcia Vengeance and Black Max isn't too bad but better yet I hear Gander Mountain is selling Lews Mach II combos for around $100 which will last you a long time.