Boomstick

I think the NRX 842 spinning rod should suit you fine, but the Otomat tip might be a little but slow. It should be pretty solid for treble hooked lures but for soft plastic action, the Daemos would be the way to go, however if you throw a lighter wire hook (Owner J-Light for example) and lighter soft plastics, it may work pretty well. I use a St. Croix Mojo Bass Topwater rod which is 6'8" M/XF rated for 6-14 line, so like the other St Croix medium rods, this one doesn't run heavy, which I use for topwater, jerkbaits, and even lighter weightless soft plastics. It also works decently for crankbaits too but I prefer my 7' glass rod which is slightly longer. I know it's below your price range, but I just mention this as it would cover weightless light soft plastics and treble hooked lures as good as any. Maybe your long term goal should be to add the Daemos and make it a 3 rod setup if the Otomat doesn't work out exactly as planned.

Oh man, that's rough! I use a Flambeau Bazuka Pro rod tube to protect my rods from sliding around in the back of my truck. I am able to set it long enough to fit a 7'6" rod and it fits (just barely) diagonally in my truck bed. It hasn't let me down yet. I paid a little more but they're $55 on Amazon at the moment, worth every penny. Between my rods and the kids rods, we might have over a thousand dollars worth of rods in there depending on how many we bring.

As long as your 1/4oz jig has a solid hook, then you should be fine. I would prefer to throw a 1/4oz jig on a Medium+ rod (typically 8-17lb line rating), but it's not required. I will also note that I think the Expride's lower rating of 3/8oz is a little bit conservative - it won't throw nearly as well as a 3/8oz jig, but you should be fine. You can also throw 1/2oz jigs, so unless you're fishing finesse jigs with light wire hooks then I would go with the MH Expride.

I use a Daiwa Tatula 7'2" MH/R glass rod for most of my chatterbaits. Since you are looking to spend a little more, the Tatula Elite 7'4" Brent Ehrler Crankin'/Bladed jig rod would be a logical step up, if you want to go glass. That Shimano Expride 7'2" should be amazing though, not only is it a higher model range but 7'2" is about the perfect length for chatterbaits and spinnerbaits. If you are worried about glass being too heavy, you can go with a typical MH/F graphite rod for chatterbaits. Personally I've thrown spinnerbaits and chatterbaits on mine all day and I usually don't notice it until after several hours on the water, by which time I'm heading home anyway. You might want a heavy rod too if you're throwing heavy chatterbaits - mine are usually 3/8 and 1/2oz though

It's a one off item, but a pretty good discount so I figure I'd post it (I got one on the way!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F6HN372/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 EDIT: So I got my tracking number, and it's shipped by the same vendor that I received a broken rod from this past summer. Also the package is 2.4lbs, so they didn't use a rod tube this time either. So I expect to receive a broken rod on Tuesday. At least it is fulfilled by Amazon so I can return it directly to Amazon instead of waiting 2 months for UPS to send my return back because the vendor apparently doesn't have a legit physical address. So worst case scenario is I lost out on black friday deals I would have otherwise got. And there's maybe a half dozen other vendors I have purchased rods and reels from with no issues at all, but it has to be the one that refuses to use a rod tube...

Welcome to the forums and welcome back to bass fishing! Good advice! I would also say be strategic about what you start with as well. But remember, the bait monkey always eventually wins, you can only fight it so long

I know... I just got the Daiwa Steez Bottom Contact rod if you saw, which fits an all around jig rod option but maybe someday I will add a typical medium heavy or even medium, but it will be quite some time. If I win the bi-annual award at work maybe lol but I'm getting married and I'm going to have to pay for a wedding next year or maybe the year after depending on Covid. I could think of a few others too don't get me wrong but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

I found a spoon on ebay for $22 plus $2 shipping from departureoutdoors who I've purchased several things from before which beats TW's price minus 20%. I'm probably going to try some 16# on my jig unless I hear a compelling reason not to. It's also pretty thin, I wonder if I should step up to 18# or even 20# or trust that the 16# will hold up pretty well.

Has anyone tried the new Daiwa J-Fluoro Samurai line yet? I was just looking through various line options and came across this, but haven't heard too much about it but I did see some people said in the reviews that they switched from Tatsu and like the J-Fluoro better which has caught my eye. Curious if it's worth trying out.

Well I ended up getting a real good price on the Daiwa Steez AGS Bottom Contact rod, so I jumped on that. It is a little bit longer than what I was thinking, but that shouldn't be a deal breaker. @Bandersnatch was nice enough to answer some questions about the power and action and it seems like it should be exactly what I was looking for from option B in a solid all around jig rod, and the fact that it's supposed to balance extremely well with a light reel is extremely important for me for vertical presentations due to how I hold the rod.

If that's the only problem then you can try a 4" senko and a 2/0 or 3/0 hook and see if that picks up less grass. Alternatively, you can try to upsize your weight. If the grass isn't so thick you can't get your bait through, try a 3/8oz or 1/2oz punching weight to help it fall a little faster through the grass. It's not a full on heavy punching setup where people may use 1-2oz of weight, but it'll keep your bait moving and shake some of the grass. There's some lakes with thick grass like this but not so thick I can't hit the bottom, and a 3/8oz weight works well. You're still going to have to pick grass off it no matter what you do

So sad. RIP

What reel are you using? Spinning or casting? What size is the reel? What power and action rod? I'd guess a medium for 10#?

@JohnFromLisbon Wow, so you better at least make sure you stock up to get your money's worth. I'd be game for a weekend, maybe alternate days a little so everybody gets a chance to make at least a few. How would 12/5 work for everybody? I don't think I have anything on my list that is backordered, but there are a number of items I gave up on trying to purchase on Black Friday due to being backordered and unavailable for purchase at this time, but that's far from the majority.

My original thought was to do it weekly every Monday. Are you saying Tuesday works better for you? I could alternate Mondays and Tuesdays (pending whatever happens with my kid's hockey schedule), maybe others could join that way? And this year, the sellout risk is much higher than ever before as well!

Here is the info for anybody who didn't get an invite looking to join: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81543343330?pwd=VHI3dU5PRXNkbWN1ZXhwRlJZSi9yUT09 Passcode: 249506

^9 Bonus: The solo from another live show where in particular he was spot on.

I used a calendar invite, which should automatically update via time zone

I didn't require signups so if you click the link, then it will ask for your name and email and you hit okay and you'll get in. You can even do it now as a practice run, just nothing will happen until I hit start meeting later.

I would be looking for a Mag. Heavy from Dobyns for frogging ideally. The Fury Heavy is really a MH by most standards

Yes it is, I believe I mentioned that, my apologies if I didn't

It's hard to break it out because it varies so much lake to lake for me, but overall it's some variant of the following Drop shot or ned rig Jig or T-Rig Hollow body frog, popper or buzzbait Jerkbait Crankbait or Spinnerbait

Yup, the 705CB would be a better choice for those lures but I would be a poor choice to fish a T-Rig on for example.

I'm not sure if I ever got my hands on a 7' fury MH cranking rod to be honest, but I would expect the tip to be more or less moderate, making it a specialty rod for crankbaits, jerkbaits and smaller treble hooked lures. If you only have two casting rods, the 704C and 703C makes a pretty versatile combo and you can fish your crankbaits on the 703C but the 705CB would keep fish pinned a little better with more flex in the tip.

I'm a LiveTarget frog guy myself but the Pad Crasher is a pretty good example of a good value lure, and they actually hold up a little better. Senkos are about the most expensive stick bait option, but they're all around the best. The only one that I've had that catches fish as good (or maybe better) is the SK KVD Ochos, but I'm lucky if they last more than a fish where I can usually get at least 3 on a Senko, which isn't the most duable stick bait either.