Boomstick

I actually own it. But it's pretty much a broomstick frog rod, wouldn't normally use it for a jig except in the heaviest of cover (which we don't have a lot of). The Tatula 7'1" H/F would do well too.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was some non Dobyns heavy rod somewhere that's similar. So basically, this is a real heavy with an oddly light lure rating. I'll have to ask what he thinks of the full handles. Okay so it sounds like either should technically work. I think he would largely prefer a little shorter, although if we're skipping docks he's probably using the Mojo Bass Jig & Baits rod which is actually pretty stout for a MH.

Is the Lizard dragger heavier with more tip?

I have a Daiwa Steez Bottom Contact rod that's M-MH/F that's designed for things like jigs and carolina rigs. It's an awesome all around jig rod, definitely underrated in power, no problem pulling a 1/2oz jig through milfoil and pulling out all the milfoil. I could probably throw braid on that and do light frogging if I had to. This sounds similar.

Personally, I'm not picky about the handle, cork, EVA, full grip, split grip. My only preference is that I like the split grip for vertical presentations, and might prefer the full grip for chuck and wind. Now I'm not sure what he prefers. I believe every rod he had was cork and most of them are split grips. It's only rated up to 1oz but I'm guessing that's a bit conservative? Enough power to pull them out of thick lily pads?

Looking for a heavy rod in the $150 price range. This one is a present for my youngest son, who mentioned he would like a rod that can do frogs as well as some heavy cover jigs, so naturally it will be used with 50-65lb braid although it may see fluorocarbon when used with jigs occasionally as well. I was considering the St. Croix Mojo Bass 7' H/F Dock sniper rod or the 7'4" Slop 'N Frog/Swim jig rods (leaning towards 7') since most of his rods are from the Mojo Bass rod, but I have little experience with them. Are they total broomsticks? Another one that comes to mind is the ALX IKOS Casting Rod Heavy Hammer, either 7' or 7'3".

If I am buying a rod with the intent of skipping, I would go with the shorter rod. It's not required as I skip a 7'5" rod from my kayak but it's just easier to cast the bait along the water and not hit the water with the shorter rod. And if you are in a bass boat, a little higher off the water, a 7'1" might be just as good as the 6'9". I had the 7'1" Tatula (not elite) rod which I used as a multi-purpose heavy rod, and I'm fairly sure it's similar to the Elite. it would cast a 3/8oz jig extremely well and absolutely launch a 1/2oz jig, so it's not a total broomstick and would definitely be appropriate to skip with. The Daiwa reels with a SV spool are the best to skip with. On my first generation Tatulas, I set the brake to 16-20, leave the tension spool at it's native setting (just tighten it to where it just stops clicking) and I'm safe from any backlashes that a cast in the other direction couldn't pull out. I would go with a 2020 Tatula if I bought them today. Mine are the prior gen, but my youngest son has this reel and it's smaller in profile and lighter so more comfortable but behaves about the same.

Nice! I have no experience with the Kaden, but to my understanding they are on par with the Sierras but with a faster tip, so basically they're pretty good rods.

There are definitely times you can throw both on the same rod. If you are looking to rip the lipless through heavier cover, a MH/MF would be the way to go. If the cover is slightly lighter, a M/F or M/MF would work for both. Both are good for a squarebill around a lot of wood when you want a fast recovery off of a deflection. And finally, if there is no cover to worry about then I would use a M/M rod. Rods I have or have direct experience wit that would fit the bill: MH/MF - Daiwa Tatula 7'2" MH/R (pretty much mod fast) M/MF - Dobyns Sierra 703C. Also a pretty good weightless plastic rod. I would say the 703C is more of a mod. fast than a fast as well. M/M - Daiwa Tatula 7' M/R (more moderate)

I will throw mine on a M/XF or MH/MF rod with 12lb mono that runs on the fatter side although if I was just throwing poppers I would increase that to 17lb. Like @A-Jay my top Pop Max (and Pop X) color is Perch. The Megabass Sexy Shad is a good color as well, especially for spring.

The only times I wacky rig a senko is when that's all I brought. I usually wacky rig something like a 6" roboworm or a X-Zone lures deception worm instead. They have better action wacky rigged. The thing about the senkos is the way they fall, so I just T-Rig it.

I've had a few people approach me and make small talk. The worst I had one guy lose his **** at my kid for trying to launch his kayak maybe 100 feet away from where he was fishing (not like we had a ton of space).

That line is too old.

Yeah, that is something I want to succeed at this year. Not too many places with milfoil that grows the full water column, but there's a few.

If he sucks, we can help beat him into shape, and maybe @slonezp will have a new fishing buddy

Yeah, what I'm trying to say is I never have luck throwing straight into it when it covers the entire water column. I've pulled out some nice fish throwing around it and in larger sized holes. I'm pretty sure throwing in it is generally good target, especially when the water warms up a bit more. Maybe part of the reason why I have better luck fishing milfoil that covers maybe half the water column is I can hop my jig around and cover more water quickly and don't have to deal with changes in current as much when I'm trying to stand on my kayak and pitch or flip, which can make it hard.

Yeah, that's what I'm generally doing.

Something I thought about when I was on the water yesterday. Does anyone have luck with areas where milfoil comes to the top of the water column? I rarely have luck in such situations. If I'm fishing in say 6 feet of water and the bottom 3 feet is milfoil, then that's pretty much ideal but I believe I have only caught one fish throwing directly into the milfoil - although I've caught a few by targeting the edges.

So I finally made it out kayaking yesterday. I got up a little late, because the cat kept me up all night before but decided to hit up the Oxbow, a C shaped extension of the Connecticut river. It was on my bucket list of places to go but I just haven't made it there. When I got there, the water was surprisingly dirty. I did my homework and I know that it's normally not dirty, but yesterday it was. So I decided to travel light and rigged up a jig and a chatterbait and a third rod that I could throw on a T-Rig if needed, but never ended up using it. I probably should have bought the spinnerbait box with me and also the crankbait rod as well in retrospect, but hey it was my first time there, and I didn't even get to look at a depth chart before I left because we literally loaded up the boats and decided that's where we were heading. This means I finally got to try my new Steez AGS Bottom Contact rod + Steez SV setup, and that setup is amazing! It's a M-MH rod, but it has pretty much enough power to throw in the majority of the cover I regularly fish in. It handled the milfoil just fine yesterday, although in a few months that will require the flipping stick with braid in some of the heavier places. My one concern with the rod is that at 7'5", it might be difficult to skip sitting, but I was able to sit and skip under the dock just fine, and a good number of times I actually put it exactly where I wanted it too as well to my own disbelief (I usually hit the dock posts or the dock half the time even on a shorter rod). I was able to skip just fine with the brakes around 12, got some mild backlash a couple of times, but nothing a light cast couldn't pull out. I never did get any fish, lost my only bite because I forgot to set the drag on the reel (that came on the chatterbait). There definitely were fish in some areas we were targeting, but they weren't biting. This was my kids first time with a fish finder. My oldest son found dinosaur pond which is basically in the middle of the C and they marked the docks so he wanted to go try to skip the docks, so we made our way straight there with the intention of drifting back through all the milfoil and covering that spot later, but we didn't have enough time. Then when we got there, my youngest son had used his map to find a drop off on the southern side, so he covered that area to find where it was, what it looked like and found some bass sitting near what looked like a rock surrounded by vegetation at the bottom of the drop off. I'm surprised he didn't get a fish, but that was a seasoned move for someone who just used their fish finder for the first time ever. Had it been post spawn, I'm pretty sure he would have. We ended up heading in early because I started feeling quite fatigued by about 6pm largely from not eating enough for lunch or breakfast. I wasn't expecting getting a full day out until late the night before so I didn't plan well. But all around a good day, we definitely learned a lot about a new location that I'm sure we will return to. I think we paddled a total of 5 miles, covered the entire Oxbow and even saw a bald eagle, two blue herons, a hot air balloon and even a guy in a paraglider who seemed to have jumped from the top of a nearby mountain as we started heading back.

You might be casting too soft, using too much brake etc. The other thing is what lures are you throwing? If you are throwing lighter lures on a MH/F rod, they won't cast as far as something weighing at least 1/2oz. Finally, with the Daiwa reels, you basically set your tension spool to the point the reel just begins to click ever so slightly. From there, you shouldn't have to touch it. Try to keep your brake no more than 10.

I use the same rods I shore fish with from the shore and on a boat. I can do a sitting pitch with rod around 7' or 7'1" just fine. I can cast my 7'4" frog rod just as easily. I can stand and flip and pitch my 7'6" flipping stick. The rods that I really want shorter are rods that I am using to walk baits or maybe throw jerkbaits. Since when you stand on the kayak, you are not that high off the water, a shorter rod is definitely beneficial here.

I would say don't let a bad day get to you and give up... unless you fish on one of my lakes, in which case you should just quit while you're a head.

I know several people with Nitros, all have had a very good experience with them. To my understanding, they don't really make a lesser boat they just do it more efficiently, letting them keep the cost down. You may lose out a few things you like with the Phoenix or Bass Cat as a result, but it's not like Tracker where they sacrifice on even simple things like storage and the rod lockers greatly to keep the cost down. They also seem to get a better percentage return when you sell them used as well. When I was shopping around for used boats a few years ago, I could largely get a loaded Bass Cat for barely any more than a used Nitro after about 3-4 years. That must have been quite literally a fully loaded Z21 Pro with almost every option to hit $80k. The base price is $60k and the way I would probably rig it would run below $70k easily and still be fairly loaded. The competing 21 foot Skeeter starts at $73k and a Bass Cat and Phoenix I believe starts at even more than that.

True. I am not sure how much of that is inflation, slowed manufacturing during the pandemic an other factors. Nitro has also gone up a bit, same deal. But so have the more expensive bass boats, so they're still the cheaper options. Yeah, Trackers are generally all aluminum. They may have added a fiberglass option, I'm not even sure. Nitro is sort of the Tracker equivalent of fiberglass boats, except some would argue they're actually a pretty decent boat at a better price where the Trackers really are the bottom of the line boats to get you on the water.

You mean brands like Nitro and Tracker? I mean a good number of Trackers don't even have a rod locker that can fit a 7 ft rod, but they are basically an entry level bass boat. And while Nitro might not be Phoenix or Bass Cat, their manufacturing process is better streamlined so they're more affordable than other brands.