Boomstick

@WRB yeah, that has me potentially concerned. A lot of people said the 7'3" lost them fish too, largely fishing from a kayak where they have to keep the rod tip low where they ran out of tip and just had no bend in the backbone and lost fish where the 6'10" worked great for them too. So I am hoping that it works out well. The tip is definitely lighter than most spinning rods I've used for bass. We do plan on using 12# braid, so like you said that might help. It's also a very comfortable length. Might try using even lighter hooks if needed, but I got him some Owner Mosquitos for his tackle box. I have been extremely impressed with the Victory casting rods. Nice and light and very sensitive. Now I'm deciding if I want to give it to him a little early. We are camping next week so he will have a lot of opportunity to use it.

@Big Hands thanks for input. I always hear great things about the 7'6" Daiwa ML-M/F rods, but I don't have any experience with them. My Tatula Elite 7'1" M/F is fantastic though. The typical ML/XF St Croix is pretty much perfect as an all-around finesse rod too, just a little bit lighter in power and a slightly softer tip than my Daiwa. I got the 6'10" ML/XF Victory today. It has a significantly softer tip than my 6'9" Avid X does, and it's not even close. It probably has similar backbone, although it gives the impression of being stiffer in the backbone because of the transition from the tip. I imagine it will cast light baits exceptionally well. We will see how welk it performs soon! It's very common we have little cover or very sparse milfoil throughout many lakes. Sometimes we have dense milfoil and lily pads covering the lake, and sometimes it depends on which part of the lake. But generally when we fish finesse, we're fishing open water or very sparse cover too.

The Sierra tends to run a little slower so it’s more of a mod fast. My favorite rod for jerkbaits is my Mojo Bass 6’8” M/XF. I know you think I’m nuts but it doesn’t have as much backbone as the other St Croix mediums so it bends all the way through. Being an extra fast I can always detect bites on the jerk though else I would use a moderate or moderate fast.

The only Champion XP I have experience with is the 744C, which is great for jigs and T-Rigs. It's like the 734C with a stiffer tip and a little more backbone. My favorite Dobyns rod that I have experience with for jerkbaits is the Sierra 703C. It seems to be in the ballpark of the Champion in sensitivity, definitely a significant step up from the Fury, and it also might be the most versatile rod you can buy. You can throw weightless or lightly weighted soft plastics on it, finesse jigs, square bills, topwater and even lighter spinnerbaits or chatterbaits (up to 3/8oz) as long as you don't use a heavy trailer. It is rated a medium heavy, but is on par with a medium in many other manufacturers lines - very similar to the St Croix Mojo Bass 7'1" M/F "Plastics" rod.

The Mojo Bass is sort of like the Victory in the sense that they are made "smarter" with a higher end blank at a cheaper price point. They are made in Mexico, maybe not as well made but have the newer SCIII (like the more expensive Avid line) blank instead of the SCII. Great rods for the price point, especially the medium powers which are nice and light. I think the Victory line is worth the upgrade for the medium heavy or heavier rods, as the Mojos are heavier and are a bit broomstick-like (although not terrible rods) but the Victorys are great with for the price and address the design issues with the heavier Mojo Bass lineup. Just my two cents.

More money generally means a smoother and lighter reel, and depending on which reel (usually spool) sometimes better braking. Buy what you can afford and don't look back. If you use it and enjoy fishing with it, it's money well spent. I'm sure you're happy fishing with Tatulas and Curados On the flipside, if you can't afford it and end up with SLX's and Fuegos, then it gets you out fishing and does the job too. Sometimes they can find a way to make the reel for less money, or the original method was becoming too expensive. Other times they have improved newer technology and can make the reel lighter, or smaller and since the competition is doing it, they need to up their game to compete. And of course sometimes the originals do have flaws.

No, not really. Being an extra fast without too much tip, 12# mono works nicely. Sufix Advance doesn't seem to have a lot of stretch either, but jerkbaits can survive a little bit of stretch. I should have noted that I sometimes use 12# fluoro too, it just depends which reels I have in use. If I have all my other reels in use, then I usually use mono because I run mono on the reel I normally pair with that rod for topwater so I immediately went to mono.

I use the same rod for jerks with mono. This is a great rod, because it has a short tip which helps you can feel a bite on a jerk but runs on the lighter side so the bend does not stop with the tip.

A lot depends on the rod. Some med. light rods are closer to some mediums and can be used interchangeably. Then for medium rods, there's basically your finesse medium and then there's mediums that run heavy. Either of these are great for wacky rigged senkos for example Typically, any medium light rod should be good for ned rigs, definitely a step up from a medium in the same line for this. Depending on the rod, it may or may not be good for wacky rigs and drop shots. Usually, a medium light that runs heavy is pretty ideal for both. The right ML or M rod depending on the model will do everything you want from a spinning rod. For years, my only spinning rod I used for bass was a St Croix Avid 6'9" ML/XF - which runs a bit heavy. I am not super familiar with the Abu Garcia line but I believe the line rating is 6-10lbs and the higher end of the weight rating of 1/2oz which are on the upper end of the range for a med. light suggests this rod may be in the ballpark of what you want. What is generally more important than ML or M, is the transition from the tip to the backbone. Often a medium with an extra fast tip does not work well with the drop shot because the tips are often short and soft and once it gets to the backbone, it's too much. Typically the reason for ML rods having an extra fast tip is the backbone will still have some give to it, where mediums have a longer tip to compensate.

Yeah, from what I gather it's sort of like the typical St Croix 7'1" M/F. Great for weightless senkos, great jerkbait rod etc

I will fish wacky rigs a few ways. #1 and the most common way for me is on a drop shot on spinning gear, 12# braid with usually a 8# fluoro leader and usually an X-Zone Deception worm on a 1/0 Owner mosquito hook. #2) A weightless wacky rig, on either a straight shank hook on a M-MH/XF (M/F works too) casting gear with 12# fluorocarbon or a 1/0 Owner mosquito hook on my above spinning rod. #3) The weighted version: Throw it on a jig head. The Strike King Squadrons work great as they stand up in the water. My same M-MH/XF rod works for this, but generally a MH/F is also acceptable (12-16# test).

Soft plastics is pretty generic. For "Finesse" soft plastics, I throw them on spinning reels with 12# braid (Sunline SX1) and will use anywhere from a 6-8# fluorocarbon leader (usually around .230mm but sometimes as low as .185mm). I'm not too terribly picky about the brand here. I've used Seaguar Blue Label and Sunline Shooter FC in the past, this year I added a spool of Daiwa J-Fluoro Samurai. For larger soft plastics like Senkos, I will use sometimes use the same setup, but I usually use 12# fluorocarbon and sometimes 16#. Daiwa J-Fluoro Samurai is my preferred brand, it handles really well. Crankbaits: 10-12# fluorocarbon 95% of the time. If might step it up as far as 16# occasionally if there is a lot of grass. Currently, I am using Berkley Trilene fluorocarbon in 10# which is pretty close to 12# in other brands that do not run thick. It's decent line but not the most abrasion resistant but I bought the spools for something like $6 each on Bass Pro's springtime sale, and it's solid for it. Top water: 12# Sufix Advance or Siege. Jigs: 16# fluorocarbon (Daiwa J-Fluoro Samurai again) for most of my jigs. I will use 50-65# braid (whichever I have available) for flipping (on a flipping stick). If you are new to bass fishing, I would suggest keeping it fairly simple. You can cover most of the above (minus finesse) with a two rod setup: #1) A medium power, fast action rod with 12# mono. Sufix Siege or Advance is my choice here, but Berkley Big Game isn't bad if you need to save some money. #2) A medium heavy power rod with 16# Sunline Shooter FC for jigs and weighted soft plastics. If you prefer braid, you could go with 30-40# braid and maybe a 12-16# leader as well. I generally only use braid on casting gear with flipping, pitching and frogging.

This is a complicated question. A lot of this depends on the size of senko, weight and cover. My usual Senko rod is a Daiwa Tatula Elite M-MH/XF which casts them weightless and can handle up to a 3/8oz maybe even 1/2oz weight but still has enough backbone for light cover so I rarely use a M/F casting rod for weightless or lightly weighted senkos since this does both scenarios so well. So if I only had one this takes the cake easily as It works for most situations I face. In heavier cover I may use my Tatula MH/F rod or even my Steez AGS MH-H/F rod and with at least a 1/4oz weight. Above that I will go to my flipping stick for a punching setup. Sometimes I will use my M/F spinning rod for weightless senkos as well but I usually favor 6” roboworms or the Xzone deception worms on spinning gear.

I'm running into that as a result of gas prices. Basically instead of driving to my favorite spots, often I'm staying closer to home and as a result, fishing to the lake. For example in the closest lake with bass in it, the best bet is a wacky rigged worm or dropshot. Where I would be throwing spinnerbaits alongside laydowns and crankbaits alongside docks.

The Elite brand rod sleeves are very good. The standard size is adequate for roughly 7, rods but they make an extra long one. I use cheaper sleeves for cheaper rods but all my higher end rods get an elite and since I only use them for transportation they last forever.

With 8lb line you can fish around rocks but you want to avoid dragging it over rocks. There is not a lot of heft to the line so it will wear through fast. If dragging over rocks, you will want the heaviest line you can get away with and not braid. I will often use casting gear with 12# fluoro over rocks for what I would usually use 12# braid with a 6-8lb leader if no rocks are present.

Do you find 1/2oz castable? (3/8oz + 6 deception worm or roboworm?). If that works, I'm sold. That’s as heavy as I ever really go. He has the Mojo Bass Plastics rod for things slightly heavier. A lot of people don't like the 7'3", apparently the tip loads up quick and there's a lot of backbone so when you get a 3lb fish on, there is no give. Plus 6'10" is a comfortable length

Of the three rods you listed, the Victory will be the lightest in weight but also the strongest in power. The Sierra will cast lighter lures the best, and the Tatula is somewhere in between. My suggestion is if you are looking for a single do it all heavy rod, the Tatula and Sierra are a pretty solid choice. But if you ever add a second heavy rod, the Victory is great because they make a 7'3" H/XF rod that runs a little lighter and is designed for jigs and trigs and that compliments the heavier 7'4" rod nicely - unless you live in an area with a lot of heavy weeds and need a punching and frogging setup concurrently.

Hey @J Francho have you tried a 3/8oz dropshot on the 6'10"? If that's passable, I'm going with the 6'10" - although they are backordered right now.

The user error was buying Vanish. Rarely have issues with pretty much any other line.

Vanish never lasted long enough on my reel to get memory. It's almost like the line dissolves in water - that is you throw it in the lake, and it disappears.

The cheapest is going to be Berkley Vanish at around $95 for 2000 yards. I wouldn't recommend it though. If you are looking to buy cheap, disposable fluorocarbon, I would probably try Vicious line which is cheap and I've generally heard good things. Seaguar's Red Label is a safe bet, and the new Basix might be acceptable as well.

Well it's going to be pretty hard to beat my Daiwa Steez SV. If I am going to factor in cost, the Daiwa BG is going to be hard to beat though.

Since I finally have a cell phone, I have been thinking about what I want to do with it or if I should continue locking them in my glovebox. I was thinking I may get a small open dry box (maybe like this) and then stick it in the tray under my seat. My keys go in the Bonafide SS127's dry pod, which isn't 100% dry but pretty close so good enough.

If frogs aren't working then it might be time to break out a punching setup. If you can get a spinnerbait, chatterbait or maybe crankbait along the edges sometimes that works well too.