Boomstick

If I had one MH/F (Dobyns H/F) rod, I would want a 7.1:1 reel on it. I like the 7.1:1 for T-Rigs and jigs primarily and it still works with moving baits although on my second MH/F rod I run a 6.3;1 for moving baits. The Dobyns 704C or 734C and 703C rods can throw a lot for a two rod setup. Then add in your spinning rod (702SF) for finesse tactics and you have a pretty solid 3 rod setup. I would probably go with a 7.1:1 for the 704C or 734C,a 6.3:1 for the 703C and if you ever get the 705CB, then buy a 7.1:1 reel and use it with the 703C and use the 6.3:1 with the 705CB. The Daiwa BG is a pretty solid spinning reel that doesn't break the bank.

This does sound like something a good cleaning might fix, but I have heard about a lot of problems with Revo reels in recent years so it's possible something else is up.

The Daiwa Tatula frog rod or Irod Genesis II Fred's Magic stick are about the ultimate rods for throwing frogs over lily pads (a little long to walk a frog though). They cast well and are strong enough to pull a giant plus 5 pounds of weeds.

I do, but it usually takes a few seconds to pull it out and back to fishing instead of cutting line off the reel and respooling.

All of ours are definitely stable enough, not worried about flipping. But the waves were coming right over the front, pretty rough etc. I would not be against it but it may be a few years. Next year I plan on trying to get a site on Delta Lake on the water that I can launch from. And in April I plan to go get a cabin somewhere down south and go fishing where it's warmer next year as well. Then I might try to get out to Lake Champlain sometime as well, I caught a lot of fish shore fishing at Button Bay and that area should be good for kayaks. Brighton State Park is also on my list, in between two ponds and near several lakes I've always wanted to fish. Should I return, I might try something further east either in New York or Vermont, or stay at Kring Point and I can launch there and fish right at Goose Bay. Kring Point was booked up when I booked, so I booked Cedar Point instead. I thought the side would be private, but there were fewer trees than I thought from google maps and we were much closer to the beach than I thought - not too bad until the weekend when it was packed and there were loud people on the beach.

I have used Sufix Elite for a few years now, it's super strong and handles very well. You'll like it. I'm not sure that Advance is really any better to be completely honest.

The St Croix Victory The Marshal should do nicely.

Nevermind me, I spaced out. But yeah, I generally like round bends, but EWG trebles work as well.

These help with hookup: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Wide_Gap_Plus_Black_Chrome_Hooks/descpage-O5139.html

I just got back from a week on the St Lawrence river. Not a whole lot of success fishing, but a solid trip overall. We arrived at Cedar Point State Park in Clayton, NY on Sunday, August 1st. It rained most of the way there, quite hard at times but as soon as we arrived the rain stopped. It had rained nearly every day before for several weeks, so this was no surprise, however it did not rain again until Saturday afternoon, which passed in about a hour. On Monday, we planned to go to one of the nearby bays and get out of the wind and current (we're in kayaks). We were right by the beach, so we loaded our kayaks and were ready to go, but they wouldn't let us launch next to the beach so we had to trailer them to the boat launch. At this point, it was a little late when we got out on the water so we decided to go paddle downstream to check out areas. On Tuesday, we made it out with the kayaks rigged. We tried to go upstream to to Sand Bay but eventually the current was blowing me backwards faster than I could paddle so we turned around and went to Sawmill Bay, which is a small bay but fairly calm. I got a nibble or two on a ned rig which I am not sure wasn't a baitfish or some sort and my youngest son saw what he said looked like a chain pickerel, but I'm not sure any smallies were actually in the areas. We tried fishing the pier at night, but the only fish that anyone seemed to be catching was some small Gobys - although others have said they have caught smallies in the same area. On Wednesday, we tried to make it to Goose Bay. The plan was to grab lunch on the way. I was going to buy some sandwiches from Price Chopper, but the lines were insanely long. I stood in line halfway down an isle for about 20 minutes and gave up, went to the Clayton supermarket, got good for the next few days but didn't end up getting out on the water due to all the time we lost. On Thursday, we made it out to Goose Bay, which is sheltered from the current and winds and also fairly weedy and targeted green bass. Thursday was a pretty calm day and we were able to control our drifts and fish or anchor down and fish. We spent most of our day going along the shoreline and targeting spots with a jig most of the day. I caught two bass, my first was when I was drifting alongside a fallen log and decided to throw into the log and got a bite but missed the fish so I quickly threw out my anchor and threw back in that and a couple casts later I caught a fish. Later, I found a fallen tree on a shoal in the middle of the water with some weeds alongside it. I threw the jig right into those weeds to catch the two pounder which was probably the strongest fighting two pound green bass I have ever caught, and the next cast I threw right into those weeds and tried to pop my jig out of the weeds and what an even larger fish hit it, but I didn't have enough room for a good hookset. On Friday, we returned to Goose Bay. This time, it was hotter and much windier. I caught my first on a senko alongside a dock. After that, I didn't get any bites for a while, but as the day went on the wind picked up. We had to get back to camp a little early because we had to be up on Saturday for a boat tour, but as we were starting to head in, the spinnerbait bite picked up and I caught another small Larry and a northern. On Saturday, we did the Singer Island Castle tour with Uncle Sam's boat tours and on the way back toured Boldt Castle which took up most of our day. When we got back to camp, it started raining, but it only lasted a hour. At this point, I am asking myself what have I been doing with my life, when these guys had a castle as a summer home. All in all, it was a good trip.

I would probably be using 4 brakes in and adjusting the dial accordingly with either reel most of the time anyway.

I wouldn't think finding a spinning reel should really be a problem, a 2500 - 3500 reel depending on the brand and model should do fine for heavier bass fishing. Speaking of which if you do decide to go for a casting setup, the SLX is not a bad reel. If you are using 14# mono or lighter or 16# fluorocarbon or lighter, the SLX MGL 70 is even better. The Daiwa Fuego CT is a solid cheaper option, and for a little more the Tatula CT is pretty good. THe The Tatula SV would be the best beginner's option, but those are a bit pricier.

I just got a SLX MGL 150 in today. I did not compare it to the SLX MGL 70 with no line on it (as that has line on it) but I believe the spool is the same width, just deeper on the 150. So basically if you use line above .33mm in diameter, the 150 is the size that you will want.

Unfortunately, I don't know of a warranty that replaces a rod (or reel) that was lost in the water, but man that would be amazing if I did. Maybe they could replace the full lineup of Daiwa Steez rods that I happened to have dropped at the bottom of a lake somewhere. For what it's worth Tackle Warehouse does say their shipping times can be a month, but it's usually about a week. I just ordered something with two day shipping (so it would arrive before next week's trip) and got it in about two days. I'm not sure what Bass Pro carries in store or not, but at Dick's you can usually at the very least you can usually find a St Croix Mojo Bass or maybe a Dobyns Fury, but it will be hard to find a medium heavy in a spinning setup, the most you will likely find in stores is medium as above that is not common with bass anglers.

The Fuy 704C and 703C is a very versatile two rod pairing that really covers a lot of lures. Add in a 702SF and a 705C or 735C and you basically have a 4 rod combo that can cover what typically would be fished across 5 rods really.

Yup, what Tom said. Even a 5.0:1 ratio spinning reel is probably at least as fast as a 8.1:1 ratio casting reel if not caster though, so get used to reeling slow.

On the EchoMap UHD with the GT54UHD transducer I use usually 85% contrast most of the time but may run 70-75% if I'm in shallower water, leave brightness on auto medium usually and sometimes auto high, and I get a solid return of roughly 60 feet on each side when in about 30 feet of water, then it starts to lose detail. It's a different unit, but it might be worth a try.

Alright, do I've been doing my pre-trip preparations and this is what I have. The Cedar Point area should generally be pretty good for smallies. It's a bit of distance from both pro tournament locations, and not a whole lot of cover, so I'll spend most of my time there targeting the brown fish. I'll probably throw a ned rig, drop shot, tube, jerkbait and a jig or T-Rig and maybe throw a crankbait or a popper into the mix here and there. There's a couple of bays not too far away as well. If the winds get real bad, or I just want mix it up, I'll move on down to Goose Bay by Kring point which is sheltered from waves from the main river in the bay and target green fish. I'll probably focus more on a T-Rig, jig and a chatterbait or spinnerbait in this area.

I would personally go with the Fury over the Bass X. I would say step it up to a Mojo Bass, but the MH/F Mojo Bass runs a bit on the heavier side too, so unless that's what you're after the Fury 704C is probably a better bet. No experience with the regular SLX, but I can attest the SLX MGL 70 is a pretty sweet reel.

Have you tried the vented long sleeve sun shirts? https://www.columbia.com/p/mens-bahama-icon-long-sleeve-shirt-1929371.html?dwvar_1929371_color=487&pos=32

I have read they are and are not the same blanks, so I am really not sure, but the AGS rods I have are fairly unique to the Daiwa lineup which is what I was trying to say. Like I said I don't have any Tatula elites to compare to. Fair enough. This really does not concern me too much because I'm good about not abusing my rods, so I hope I won't have any problems. It's hard without a Tatula Elite non AGS guide rod to say how ten AGS guides affect sensitivity but I can tell you that putting a rod sleeve on, I feel vibrations everytime I brush the rod sleeve against one far more than I can with any non AGS guide. They do seem to transfer vibrations straight to the blank. Weight reduction on the other hand is a moot point. If I was trying to get the lightest rod I could, I would probably go with a St Croix that is much lighter. The Daiwa rods balance pretty well though, which I prefer to shedding maybe an ounce and being tip heavy. The first gen Tatula rods were better. Better guides, and the first gen 6'10" MH/F I daresay is more sensitive than any of the many second gens I have although I don't have the same model. The 6'10" in particular has a very thin tip, where I lost an insert and couldn't find a tip thin enough for the rod and had to get it straight from Daiwa which might have something to do with it. I also prefer a split grip for vertical presentations, but that's personal preference. The Tatula Elite line remains the same.

I have read the blanks aren't entirely the same, they are tweaked from the non AGS line, and I'd believe it. At the very least, the action is very different than any of the regular Tatula or Tatula Elite non AGS models. I do not actually have a regular Elite to compare it to, but the Tatula Elites are definitely quite the step up from the regular Tatulas I own. I can definitely feel vibrations in the Tatula Elites that I have that I cannot in the regular Tatulas simply by tapping the tip on something and it's not minor, which is taking the guides out of the picture. Getting into it more, the 7'1" M/F spinning rod is awesome. The casting rod isn't quite as sensitive but it's not bad either, but it's definitely not my Steez AGS which I could honestly mistake the spinning rod for. I could probably feel a baby breathe on that thing. But even so I bought the 7' M-MH/XF first for the power and action and I got it used which helped the price a bit. If I had to pay full price for it, I probably would.

I will be heading up to the western side of the St Lawrence in a little over a week now, so I'm a bit away from where both tournament anglers were fishing. From what I understand, there are not a lot of weeds in my area, but if I want to go fish the bay by Kring Point which I will likely do, especially if we get rough conditions since we are on kayaks and that area I hear is weedy, so I'll likely be going for green fish. I'm still doing research on the area but so far plan on fishing a lot of ned rigs, drop shots, tubes and jerkbaits and will probably have a T-Rig or jig tied on looking for the largemouth near shoals and cover. Might try some poppers, crankbaits and spinnerbaits at times here and there too. There are no blue cats in the St Lawrence. Could they be coho salmon, which they do have which are a slightly blue tinted silver color and seem like they fit your description somewhat>

@Koz I should add what happened last year. We had heavy rain in the morning and decided to go out and fishing when it cleared up. The rain would come and go throughout the day. Eventually the rain came, and got pretty heavy this time, but since it was usually passing we figured we would give it a few minutes to see if it passed before heading in. I looked over at my youngest son who was maybe 30 yards away from me and not too far from the shore and I saw a lightning bolt split a tree on the shore in half that was behind him. My first thought was it might fall on him, but that half the tree didn't end up coming down in the water. That was probably my scariest moment on the water ever.

This year has taught me more than ever to be a weather watcher. A lot of times it stops raining in the morning and returns around noon.