Boomstick

The Victory 7'1" is medium heavy that runs on the lighter side, at least by St Croix standards. Even the heavier powered 7'3" MH/F isn't as stiff as the traditional St Croix MH.

St Croix is standard across most of their lines with a few exceptions. The Victory line deviates a bit from traditional St Croix power and action. I think there is another as well that runs on the slower side that is made for braid users as well. Many other brands also employ a standard across their offerings. The downside is sometimes you order a rod and you might not be sure what you're getting, but on the plus side is if you want a rod with more or less tip and a certain power, it probably exists. Dobyns is generally consistent across their lines with the Kaden being the odd line out (and to a lesser extent maybe the Sierra too) although they rate their rods a power above others. Daiwa is also pretty consistent. Newer Shimanos are pretty consistent as well, although older ones were all over the place. If we are going to find a brand to be the standard though, perhaps it should be G Loomis. Their power and action has been copied by many.

The Daiwa BG is definitely a winner for the reel. Solid reel for the price, great drag and made for saltwater. I would think a 2000 or 2500 size would do. For the rod, it sounds like a Dobyns Fury 662SF or 702SF is probably what you're looking for.

I will agree with that. Advance is definitely a bit stiffer, but I haven't had any issues with it. Elite already runs on the stiffer side.

Interesting. What was your problem with Advance?

That 7' MH/F should work for jigs, T-Rigs and C-Rigs as well as chatterbaits and spinnerbaits. Your 6'6" M/F will work for crankbaits. I generally like a slower reel for moving baits, and a faster reel for jigs and T-Rigs so I can pick up line if they swim right at me, but that's not an end all. I would pair the MH/F with a 7.1:1 or 29" IPT reel and slow it down for moving baits, and the M/F with a 6.3:1 or 26" IPT reel personally and speed it up if you throw weightless or lightly weighted soft plastics or finesse jigs on it ideally, but again that won't make or break you, you just have to adjust. I will note that I have a harder time slowing down than speeding up.

Sufix Advance is also really good, although I still do like Elite - it's strong and takes a beating and handles well. I have always had issues with how Trilene XL handles on casting gear, so I generally avoid it.

Most of my senkos are thrown on 12# fluorocarbon, which is good for no to light cover. If there is no cover, I may also use a spinning rod with 12# braid and a 8# leader for weightless senkos in open water, depending what's available of if there's a chance I might run across some cover etc. In moderate cover, I will use 16# fluorocarbon, and in thick cover I will use braid although 20# fluorocarbon is also an option for thicker cover I just don't have 20# on any reels. 12# mono (which runs a little thicker) is a fairly solid all-purpose senko line at least where I fish.

It's just a theory - a rod theory.

If there is any takeaway from this thread, this is it right here. A lot of the time, the same rod works for braid and other times you can get away with using one and not the other. One case where adjustment is with treble hooks. I was on another thread, and someone else said their favorite rod for jerkbaits and topwaters was the same rod I use but they used braid. I was initially surprised by this as it's a 6'8" M/XF (that does not run on the heavy side) but then I thought about it and it kind of makes sense. There isn't a whole lot of bend in the tip, but it bends the entire way through.

I would argue that braid has zero effect on the rods power, but more so on the action if you want to get into the nitty gritty of it. In other words, unless you are using some line like "Super Stretch Mono MAX" for line, the effect of stretch generally should not be sufficient enough to transition from the tip to the backbone of the rod. So for example, a fast rod with braid is like an extra fast with mono or fluoro. It is possible if comparing two fast action rods a different power that you might be able to get hooksets on the lighter rod with braid as well, but the point is that it's more in the tip than the backbone. @Rodney Smith provided a great example - I wouldn't think about throwing a 1/2oz jig on a 873C with fluoro/mono but he had success with it on braid.

A hug or two is in order here. The Tatula LT is a fantastic reel! I went with the 2000 which is lighter than like 98% of casting reel in the market to put its weight into perspective, but some people prefer the larger spool too and the 2500 is still quite light too so that will do nicely too. And the St Croix ML rods are pretty ideal for a do everything finesse rod.

I usually carry two rods when fishing from the bank. One with a moving or reaction bait and one with a soft plastic that fits where I'm fishing. In my kayak, I will usually carry 3-4 and tend to be leaning towards traveling lighter and more focused on a few things depending on the location and time of year, but there are some lakes where depending on the lake I may bring as many as 7.

Really clear water can be difficult, especially those with no or minimal vegetation. It will take time to learn but it seems you're already making progress. Learning such a lake is rather rewarding though! As a general rule of thumb, lean towards smaller baits when possible and more natural colors.

I just got back from a week long camping and fishing trip in the Northeast Kingdom with my two kids. On Sunday, we setup camp and walked the trail around Spectable Pond. A bald eagle flew right in front of us, less than 20 feet away, ironically on a point labeled "Eagle Point", named after the family who once lived there. Monday was supposed to be the coldest day, so we hiked trails and fished the rest of the time. On Tuesday, we launched on Spectacle Pond, a 150 acre pond that is ideal for kayaking. I caught two bass just shy of 3 lbs, one on my first cast with the jig as well as a chain pickerel. I'm fairly sure I could have easily caught my limit if we did not decide to check out the entire pond for possible fishing spots and remained in the area I was getting hits, which is something we usually do on our first day. Wednesday was cold and rainy, so we looked for shore fishing locations, but we did not find a whole lot of great spots. We spend most of our time near the boat launch for Seymour Lake, but did not try to take the kayaks out there because the chop on that water was quite aggressive. On Thursday, we launched on the much larger Island Pond. We did not catch any fish but given the conditions, I'm not surprised. There are mountains on two sides but none on the end the wind blows from, so that created a rather strong current and chop. We saw two more bald eagles, one perched in a tree and one squawking and flying in circles. On Friday and Saturday, we went out on Spectacle Pond but the bite died off. My oldest son did land a chain pickerel on a wacky rig on Friday and a nice bass on Saturday on a jig, and my youngest missed what had to have been a giant, which dragged him around the lake a bit until he eventually lost it when it wrapped around his brother's anchor line. The weird thing is we could not get them to hit any moving or reaction baits. The only thing we did not try was a popper.

A lot of times I found the bite dies off after 10 or 11, not that I’m one to make it out that early often - and often won’t pick up until 6-9. After 11, I would suggest targeting deeper water and cover as bass move away from the shallows.

The PopX is a great lure. So is the PopMax but I catch more on the PopX. One of those expensive lures that is completely worth it - I don’t lose them often and they can be popped or walked so it’s the only popper you need. I usually throw mine on casting gear - a 6’8” Mojo Bass Topwater M/XF rod but a ML or M spinning rod works well too. The popper bite is addictive.

If you are willing to drive about two hours, Great Sacandaga Lake is nice. The northwest corner around the bridge produces good smallies and walleye.

Excellent video and short and to the point. It’s nice to remember why we do what we do in different times of the year.

So I gave him the rod and reel early so we could use it on our fishing trip this past week. He didn’t land any but he hooked what had to be a real big one and fought it for a while and got dragged around the lake a bit. Ultimately it wrapped itself around his brother’s anchor line and shook the hook, but he had it pinned a while so that is definitely promising. I’m fairly sure if he anchored himself he would have landed that fish and quite possibly a new PB too.

You already have some decent rods. You might be closer to consolidating with Daiwa or Falcon (if you go with Daiwa, I definitely also can provide input there). Drop Shot / Ned rig / Weightless soft plastics: 702SF in the highest Dobyns line you can afford. A 682SF or 692SF if available in the line is good as well. If you are looking to add a second rod, you can use a 701SF for ned rigs. Weightless fluke / weightless senko: Dobyns 703C. I like this rod in the Sierra line because they sometimes have less tip, still enough for weightless senkos or lighter T-rigs but also great for crankbaits, jerkbaits and topwater. Very versatile rod. Also good for smaller, lighter finesse jigs although Dirty jigs tend to run around the same weight as regular jigs. Spinnerbait, chatterbait / T-Rigs / larger finesse jigs / smaller swimbaits: 704C or 734C in whatever line you can afford. For swimbaits around 1oz, you will want a 705C or 735C.

I get the most hits on LiveTargets too, all around a solid frog. Typically carry some Booyah pad crashers as a cheaper backup.

At some point, I will get a Boga grip but I got one of these last year and it seems to work very good. I tested it out on a few weights and it was spot on. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Rapala_High_Contrast_Digital_Scale_50lb/descpage-RHCDS.html

The way you rig it definitely matters. If the hook is near the top of the bait, the fish swallows the bait and you get it in the mouth. If it’s near the tail you are more likely to catch the fish on the side or throat hook it which gives you less reaction time. For presentations you can use a circle hook or something similar you will get the fish in the side of the mouth pretty consistently. I use Owner Mosquito hooks for wacky rigs for this reason over straight shank hooks.

Since this is for my kid, if it doesn't work we can either swap it out for something else, or I'll swap him for my Avid X which has a lot more tip and I know will work very nicely (he can keep the super light Tatula LT reel though lol). I'm pretty sure the Victory would be good with lighter drop shots and ned rigs, which is what I use the Avid X for over my Tatula Elite.