Boomstick

Spinnerbaits, squarebills, poppers and drop shots are kind of my go to lures in earlier June. In later June, I'll break out the jigs, frogs and deep divers.

I have found it's gotten better recently than the past couple of years at least. At one point I had a wish list of like fifty or more items and all but three were on backorder.

Assuming boats and electronics count? In that case I'm going with GMC, Bass Cat and Garmin. If we're just for rods, reels and tackle? Daiwa (rods, reels, line), X-Zone (soft plastics) and Dirty Jigs (Owner hooks being a close 3rd). But I'd rather have a free boat and truck

My wife got me a 52oz water canteen that is designed to keep water cold. It's not quite as thick as the Yeti's nor as expensive, but it works quite well when it's in the lower to mid 80s. When it gets hotter, I can drop in a few ice cubes and that keeps cold all day. Then I'll take a Gatorade and drink that first, before it gets warm. If I bring a cooler, I'll bring two Gatorades, then I'm set for a day on the kayak. One thing I do need to start bringing with me is some kind of snacks with me, because sometimes I go out with lunch and get fatigued as it gets late.

The Dobyns 705CB rod is about perfect for the job. I don't find it too stiff by any means. If you are looking for a very versatile rod check out the Fury 703C. If you can swing the extra cost, the Sierra 703C is well worth the price increase as well (and is said to have a little less tip). It's not a great option for deep divers, but is great for square bills, jerkbaits, weightless senkos, spooks, lighter spinnerbaits and buzzbaits (up to 3/8oz), poppers and such. It just might become the most versatile rod in your arsenal.

You can get away with a more moderate rod using braid, but often it's a matter if a balance between power and action as well plus all manufacturers ratings of power and action is a little bit different. I have rarely had to change rods to changing from mono or fluoro to braid, but I tend to use the lowest rod power I can get away with generally where others always go a step up, at which point using braid might be overpowering the fish pretty quickly. The Avid X line does tend to run a little on the heavier side, especially once you get into medium and higher powers. I haven't had any issues with my Avid X ML/XF spinning rod with braid, but some of the mediums are closer to medium heavys and I see how that could start to overpower fish with braid pretty fast.

Both reels are a good choice. As a well known fan of the Daiwa SV reels, I am going to say the SLX MGL 70 is better for bomb casting weightless senkos though. It casts them quite well and also far and might also handle lighter line, like 10# or 12# fluoro a little better (I use 12# on a Tatula SV without issues either). The SV is better for pitching and skipping. It might be better if you don't have a trained thumb as well, but the SLX MGL 70 casts pretty effortlessly as well so that's not a big deal to me.

You know, I understand this to some extent. If I can go work laydowns with a jig and spinnerbait or swim jig or work lily pads with a frog, that's usually a good day. But in lakes with no cover to target it's hard to beat a wacky rigged deception worm or Roboworm Alive Shad.

Last year, I added a second quality spinning rod to my arsenal (Tatula Elite Ehrler dropshot rod, 7'1" M/F). I used this my entire trip to North Carolina back in April to throw wacky rigged X-Zone Deception worms, which was all I could get a bite on. On many days, if I only bring one rod with me, this is the one. I normally use my ML/XF for smaller drop shots, but it handles smaller lures quite well too.

There's a few reasons. Better abrasion resistance around rocks, add a little bit of stretch which can help keep fish pinned, less visibility, better handling - to avoid the line getting caught in treble hooks. That said if you aren't running your lune over rocks, you might catch the same number of fish with straight braid as long as your gear has a little extra bend to compensate than with mono or fluoro

I don't have the 7'3" so I can't comment, but the 7'1" definitely has a little more power for heavier jigs.

It depends on which Tatula. The 6’10” MH/F doesn’t have a lot of tip making it best for lighter jigs, same as the Sierra 704C. The 7’1” MH/F is better for jigs. I do find the 6’10” is far more sensitive than the 7’1” too, not sure if it’s because it’s a first gen and my 7’1” is a second or it’s a difference in blanks

I have the Mojo Bass version of this rod and it would be a solid choice here. I bought it for smaller topwaters (throwa 1/4oz poppers well) and weightless soft plastics although since getting the Tatula Elite 7' M-MH/XF I rarely use it for that anymore but it also makes a great jerkbait rod. With the faster tip, you can feel a bite on a twitch that I often miss on more moderate rods but it has less backbone than other St Croix mediums so it has enough give to keep them pinned.

I swear by it to this day, and it rarely lets me down.

Red Label is what it is. I find it decent for basically entry level fluorocarbon. Invizx is actually very good line though and easily worth the price hike imo

For lighter baits or treble hooks I use my 6'8" Mojo Bass M/XF topwater rods. It;s also a great jerkbait rod and weightless soft plastic rod. For larger spooks, buzzbaits and ploppers I use my 6'10" Tau=Tula MH/F.

I would have gone Victory, but the new Zodias was a good choice as well. I would say the Tatula and Sierra are roughly comparable personally.

The dock demon is the way to go at that age.

Yeah this would be no brush guard generally or maybe a single wire. He has the Mojo Bass 7'1" M/F for larger finesse jigs too, but being able to throw the smaller ones adds nice versatility. He does have a ML/XF as well, as do I but my M/F has been my workhorse lately. Maybe I'd be best to go with the 7'3".

I recall your comments from a zoom call several months ago about how much backbone this rod had. This puts me between the 6'10" and the 7'3". It really sounds like the 6'10" would work well as an all around finesse rod but not as good for say a weightless wacky rig on a non-finesse hook or finesse jigs, for example. How's it handle tubes? Just the smaller ones or can you fish a 3.75" tube on a 1/4" tube head too? Or how about lighter stuff, like Ned rigs?

The weight ratings seem to suggest the same. For example I have the Daiwa Tatula Elite Ehrler 7’1” drop shot M/F that is perfect for all of the above. I would say it’s perfect to drop shot. 6” roboworm or similar, a little heavier than ideal for smaller drop shots I target smallish with but very passable and enough to fish anything else one might ever throw on a M/F spinning rod. If I only can bring one rod with me often this is the one and there are some lakes I don’t bother with anything else because they will hit a roboworm on a drop shot but not much else. My youngest son’s line has been St Croix and we’ve been very impressed by his Victory casting rods.

I have the echomap and my kids got the prior model with the gt54uhd transducer instead of the new improved gt56uhd for $450 each. Since we do a lot of lake hopping and on kayaks, the maps are incredibly useful. If we fished the same lake or two, I would pick a day and paddle around and make a map and be happy.

Thanks! It was a long time in the making with a long slew of mishaps on the proposal, but at the end of the day it worked out as I was able to give her the wedding she deserved.

Thanks! So I gather the 7'1" M/F is similar to the 7'1" M/F casting rod? I was hoping for something a little shorter, although it probably doesn't matter that much.

Does anyone have any experience with the St Croix Victory 6'10" ML/XF or the 7'1" M/F? Basically, I am looking for an all-around M/F that could be used for dropshots, shaky heads, wacky rigs, finesse jigs, poppers etc. and I have heard the ML/XF is a bit closer to a medium but I have also heard the medium is a medium.