Matt_3479

I have 1 kistler, 1 expride and a bunch of imx pro’s, glx’s And nrx’s for comparison. I’ve handled the xx but never fished one. I personally think all rods in the list are excellent. The finish on the mb and expride are second to none! The kistler is light but don’t find the balance that great. It’s sensitive and enjoy fishing it but would say the expride is a better rod. There incredibly light, beautifully finished, extremely sensitive and the ci4+ reel seat is one of the most comfortable I’ve ever fished. Id love to try a mb and will soon, but I defiantly want more exprides!

Im looking at the same rod for the same purpose (expride 7’2mh or h/zodias same models) and after handling them a bunch of times I’m pretty set on the mh.

I don’t have a zillion but have been told 100 times it’s not overly worth the extra money. I do have tatula Sv and a chronarch mgl. The chronarch is my favourite reel by far. I’ve thrown everything from finesse to frogging with it and it’s never let me down. Palms beautifully, unbelievably smooth, and throws baits a mile. Seems to cast further then my curado k, tatula and bantam mgl. That’s why I have 3 or 4 of them now

My first guess would be to say your rod might be a little light or even soft to be burying the hook. I fished a glx 852c with a t-rigged senko’s and wasn’t getting the most reliable hook set. Even when I was setting the hook hard, it just didn’t feel like I had them pinned. Majority of my catches, the hooks were really driven in. Now with wacky or tube it’s a perfect hook set. I fished the Texas rig on my 853c and my kistler medium heavy fast and what a difference. Both of these rods are a little on the lighter side of the medium heavy but a clear step up in power from the medium! No more questionable hook sets. Now to be completely honest I use to fish weightless t-rigs on a 7’ medium avid x and never had a problem. But they tend to fish heavier then loomis which is why I’m surprised by your experience.

I also would recommend a shimano expride for that money. I have both a kistler helium and an expride and prefer the expride. Both rods are great, but to me the expride is more sensitive, better balanced, better grip/more comfortable in the hand (actually one of the best feeling rods I’ve ever used), and too top it off great looking stick. the exprides impressed me big time for the money. I have like mentioned, the kistler, dobyns, g loomis imx pro’s, glx’s and nrx’s. Without a doubt the best bang for the buck and maybe most comfortable rod to fish is the expride. It’s more sensitive and nd better feeling then the imx pro’s as well. That’s where I’d put my money

Like many others here I would recommend the st. Croix mojo, dobyns fury or daiwa tatula lt rod over the bass x. The mojo is a good step up. The daiwa tatula lt is a great rod for the money. as far as reels go, im partial to shimano so for the 100 dollar range I’d recommend the nasci. Buttery smooth and super solid. Have had mine and fished hard for years. I do recommmend stepping up to the stradic if budget allows. Just a better reel. Other options are the daiwa fuego. I don’t own one but fished it a few times and there a good feeling reel. Can’t comment on the bg as I haven’t even felt one

It’s funny you say that, I couldn’t tell you which is more sensitive between my expride and my helium. There both just great rods. I find the expride better balanced and my comfortable in the hand and is probably why I favour it. Both are fantastic rods though!!

I’d recommend the shimano expride for sure. Excellent series of rods.

I agree with above ^, but would take the expride over the imx Pro all day long and I’m a loomis guy. That being said I haven’t fished the tatula elites

My first step into paying for a bit of a higher end rod was an e6x walleye version. 6’6” medium fast. That rod is everything I could ask for. It’s lightweight, it balances literally perfect with ci4+ stradic, been very strong and durable yet surprising sensitive. I preferred it over my avid x which I picked up shortly after. I’ve fished the e6x 845c cbr as well and was very impressed for the money its a solid cranking stick. Shortly after i worked my way up, imx Pro’s, glx’s and nrx’s. I just love a loomis rod! that being said after spending seasons with the avid x, and e6x side by side and having never fished the zodias, I believe the zodias might be the better. I prefer my expride over my imx pro’s and your saving a couple bucks. I think the zodias and e6x are probably the same thing.

Right now, I’ve been really enjoying my nrx 852s paired with a stradic ci4+ As well as my expride. Little cheaper then the nrx, glx and even the imx pro, but I feel they fish and feel way above there price range. One of the best feeling rods in hand, great looking rod, and sensitive as hell!!

I have the glx 894c and love the rod. I have a few glx’s and 2 nrx’s and love all of them. For what your asking I think the 894c is perfect! There’s benefits to both the glx and the nrx just depends on what you want. A lot of people don’t like recoil guides and for that the glx is preferred. The nrx is more sensitive but the glx is no slouch! The 894 is one of my favourites!

Wish I knew how to fish simcoe! family has a cottage on the south side and we go up cause it’s only an hour-hour and a half drive but it’s a tough lake to fish. Never had great success

I 100% agree, hooking into a small mouth is way more enjoyable. A fight that is clearly better then most large mouth. But I prefer to fish for large mouth.

well finished off the week pretty tough! We tried out another lake local to the area and picked up a few decent fish. Mainly on squarebill cranks or whopper ploppers. Back at our lake though bite was still tough. We happened to get a couple all week that were decent but mainly small and few and fair between. I tried the carolina rig for the first time with multiple trailers and finally hooked into a couple again with a tube trailer. Tried everything from finesse to heavy jigs and t-rigs! Tough tough week!

I will give it a shot, I’ve never thrown a Carolina rig, never even crossed my mind. Got onerigged up and will try it. Tell me about it but when we caught for 4 days non stop smallies in and around 3-5.5lbs range it was awesome!! Took some serious patience but it worked wonders! I tied on a spybait and havent thrown it in thay depth, was tossing in in 10-20ft with success but small fish

I’ve been coming to a cottage in northern Ontario for 12 years now. Its on a beauty little lake that is super clear, and perfect for swimming but locating and picking up fish has always been tougher but still successful. This year we’ve located schools of smallies off an island that’s a rock ledge that goes from 20-60ft. They seem to be hanging around in the 33-45’ range and for the life of me I can’t seem to get them to bite! Water temps are pretty high, last couple years we found them again in the 40-50’ range and were smoking them on weightless t-rig senko’s. sure it took a while but anything with weight and they just didn’t seem to bite. This year I’ve tried everything from tubes, drop shot (worms live and plastic, keitechs), Ned rig, senkos both wacky and t-rig, Neko rig and still can’t find the bite. Had 1 3.75lber grab a tube but that’s it! Some help would be great!!

I have the stradic ci4+, 2 stradic ci4’s, a stradic fk 2500 and 1000, and a nasci 2500. It has lasted 3 seasons of hard fishing and still going strong! It is smooth and an excellent 100 dollar reel! Highly recommend them

I would say dobyns fury or Sierra 734c. It’s labeled as a heavy but is 100% a medium heavy rod! It will work for most every application minus true finesse stuff. You could still throw a senko’s on it though!

I’m trying to get better at skipping and working on my technique with a spinning set up and it’s super easy. But the casting I’m picking out birds nests left right and center

I have to agree it is all personal preference! I expect to pay just for a rod 100-150 for budget 150-300 for mid range 300-700 for high end and for a reel 100ieh for budget 200-250 for mid 250-550 for high end. being Canadian our prices are a little higher. My last couple being nrx’s are 750+ with chronarch mgl’s being 430. Or my bantam coming in at 550 ish sitting with an imx Pro st 500 roughly.

I would get another chronarch mgl or another bantam mgl

I’ve never really fished deep cranks but would like to try it this year. Wondering before getting into a rod, is there a rod you might be able to get away with to try out before investing in a full set up. I love fishing squarebills on my 845 cbr which is the reason I’d like to try deep cranks I’m sure I’ll get hooked before you know it. If that’s the case I’d like to go with a higher end rod and wondering what is something to look into?

Nobody has a conquest 903c? The price is so good I’m just having s hard time passing but I currently have a 852s, 852c, 853c, 894c, and not sure if the 903c really needed or if it’s just overlapping the other rods too much. I don't throw a lot of chatterbaits cause I never have luck with them, and for bottom contact I’m pretty covered.

I’m not 100% sure to be honest with you. I think it might actually just be that I want something different. It’s a great rod, but it just doesn’t do anything for me