Boomstick

^9. Love Frank!

Oh grats on the Victory rods! Those are really fantastic rods for the money. But yeah keep the 702SF around. Can't have too many finesse style spinning rods - or can you?

The St Croix Mojo Bass 6'10" ML/XF isn't a bad all around finesse rod or the Dobyns Fury 662SF or 702SF depending on your preferred length.

I don't own a rod that doesn't throw at least three different lures, most may use far more than that. Even my "jig" rod which is one of the most specialized rods that I have will also see use for weighted T-Rigs and C-Rigs.

Not even close - look into various death metal acts and the more underground and generally European metal scene sometime Beth Hart is amazing I just found this yesterday and love this track. If I ever get a 7 string acoustic, you might hear a cover.

For up to 3/4oz, I like a rod that is a heavy that runs a little bit lighter but with a stout tip. Either a softer extra fast tip that isn't too stiff or a longer fast tip but that is stiffer like my Steez Bottom Contact rod

Yeah, she played with Jeff Beck for a while. It was her first real gig. At one point Beth Hart also sang for Jeff Beck. She's amazing.

Let me know if you do. Also if you're willing to drive a couple hours there is Lake Dunmore (I can put you on some good spots there if you have a boat) and Lake Champlain, which is probably your best chance of finding a guide.

Did you ever find spot? I have fished Ricker Pond which is really close, Lake Elmore and Lake Lamoille in that area.

You're in my neck of the woods. I'm not aware of any such clubs, but I can put you on a few fun spots within a couple of hours if you are willing to travel.

A couple of years ago when I was on the St Lawrence, I fished a little bit east of cedar point state park, but there was only a few spaces I could get out of the current in my kayak and fish. So I drove down the street to Goose Bay and fished in the bay where there's no current. The bay is all weeds and primarily largemouth fishing - and we got a few. At a tournament a few years ago, I think it was Seth Feider who was having a bad day and decided to go flip some weeds and catch some largemouth. So they are there, just not what people primarily fish for.

I'm a bit late with this one, but better late than never. RIP

3/8oz with a rage bug sounds right on the money from the description. I usually start with the lowest weight I think I can get away with and anything lighter than 3/8oz is going to be harder to flip and pitch, so start there. Since there aren't a lot of stems, the larger profile of the Rage Bug tends to get the attention of more fish. Also this sounds like a good place to flip a jig.

Yes, it will work fine. First use no more than 12# fluorocarbon. The thinner the line, the faster it will sink. The second thing going on here is that while the finesse jig has usually significantly less weight to it, they also have less body to catch the water and slow the fall which plays in your favor in deeper water.

I have used Sufix Advance for a few years, but I have lost a few baits that broke off on casts (maybe I got a couple of bad spools?) but I have had a hard time justifying the cost over Sufix Siege, which has treated me very well and taken any abuse I ever threw at it. So this year, I ordered Siege for all my reels I run mono on. I'm not completely ruling out trying Advance again at some point, but I've used Siege for years with no issues.

My first step is to identify my need for a rod. Is it a second MH/F rod just so I can have a backup in case I am using my other? Or am I looking for something specific to a presentation, like a dropshot rod or a jig rod? I'm more likely to spend the extra cash and move up a line or two for the latter, as if it's for moving baits I don't need the extra sensitivity and a mid grade rod will serve me just as well. If it's for vertical presentations, extra sensitivity is nice but something that many people overlook is how well does the rod balance with the reel? My jig setup is my most expensive setup, a heavier first generation Steez AGS with a light Steez SV, but with the light reel the heavier rod balances absolutely perfectly. Somewhere along the way, I settled on mostly Daiwa rods for myself, largely due to input from other forum users. My kids also fish with me a lot, and over the years for their birthday or Xmas I'd get them new gear. I've bought my youngest St Croix Mojo Bass, later picked up a few Victory rods for his vertical presentations and my oldest got Dobyns. He started with a Sierra 704C and 703C, but ended up dropping his 704C into upper saranac lake so I got him a Champion XP 744C and eventually a Fury 734C for moving baits and a Champion 702SF for finesse for Xmas this year so he finally has a nice spinning setup. As a result, I have on the water experience with all three brands and a favorable view of them too. So if you see me often suggesting rods from these brands, that is why because I know I'm not leading someone in the wrong way. Before I came on these forums and did the proper research (and got experienced enough to understand what I really should be looking for), I had some pretty bad rods, one which literally broke on the first cast. Now that I have more experience, I can usually tell if a rod will suffice for what I want to do with it if I get my hands on it, and I know what questions to ask specifically. But the nice thing about these forums is when I didn't know these things or when others do not, there are other anglers here with experience who do and are happy to share.

What little input I can offer is I have the Tatula Elite 7'1" M/F Brent Ehrler dropshot rod. It's veery good for dropshots, shaky heads, tubes and weightless senkos. You can definitely get away with less power for the above applications (it's what I'd call a finesse medium). If "The One" is between the Daiwa ML and M, I'd imagine it's probably a great all purpose spinning rod. My Steez AGS rod is the prior generation "Bottom Contact" rod. A little bit heavier than the competition, but balances really well with my light Steez SV reel. I hear the new generation has really taken it to the next level, my only complaint is they put the same Daiwa cork on it they use on their other rods which pits something awful, so make sure to put some cork sealant on it as soon as you get it.

If they do not offer smaller sizes, this is a pass for me. The 2000 size is Daiwa's happy size for spinning reels for what I use spinning tackle for

I generally use 12# Sunline SX1 with a 6# or 7# leader (rarely 8#) as an all-around drop shot setup. That said 4# is perfectly acceptable if there's no structure around, but 6# generally works so I'm of the opinion to keep it simple so I stick with it. I've even been surprised at what I can haul in on 6# line.

Really cheap spinning reels will often not have a very good drag system as well, so unless you back reel you might be losing fish or breaking off. They also might not last for long. There are reels from $60-100 (Pflueger President, Daiwa BG) which are solid reels with a good drag system but they tend to be heavy. Higher end spinning reels are starting to enter into the nice to have territory as they tend to be very light. My Tatula LT isn't really functionally better than my BG, but it is 5.3oz which is lighter than most baitcasters. In fact, when I got it, I wasn't sure I wasn't sent a box with just instructions in it because the box was so light. It's nice to have on the rod that's in my hands sometimes over half of the day, but not required.

J-Braid is very standard in diameters, at least by what they claim.

Many of the lines I've used the double uni have been roughly the same size, it doesn't really matter too much.

To me it is a perfect balance of stuff you fish the most, and techniques where a little better strike detection might help. I don't mind throwing moving baits on cheaper rods as long as they cast well and the extra weight of the rod doesn't usually bother me. So by my logic as stated above, that largely narrows it down to bottom contact and finesse, assuming you fish both of the above as often as I do. If you have money for only one high end rod, I would spend it on a rod that will throw jigs and T-Rigs with the reasoning that you will also gain a little bit extra bite detection with finesse presentation from the lighter powered rod if you follow the general idea to use the lightest rod that you can get away with. Ultimately, I ended up with a Steez AGS rod for bottom contact, a 7' M-MH/XF Tatula Elite which is usually what I will throw soft plastics on (weighted or not) and a Tatula Elite and a St Croix Avid X ML/XF that has slightly less power for finesse presentations. Then I have one Mojo Bass 6'8" M/XF that I use for jerkbaits and topwater and the rest of my rods are Daiwa Tatulas. Best rod is very subjective, but 100% of the time the rod with the right power and action for the application will also top a better quality rod. For example the Steez that I use for bottom contact which is perfect for me would not be the same rod that someone down in Florida would use for the same thing where the weeds are much thicker.

This was what I used until I picked up the 7'5" Steez AGS MH-H/F Bottom Contact rod at a very good price. It's obviously a step up but it also has just a little more power, so it has enough extra power where I can throw into some moderately dense milfoil and still pull them out.

This is my thought as well.