LionHeart

Have owned a couple of ZX rods. Love em'. Grips are fantastic, very good sensitivity, light and balanced. I currently still own the swim jig and spinner bait model and it goes with me every time I fish. Honestly I'd recommend it for bottom contact but it doesn't load too well below 1/4 weights. No experience with the custom, but have fished a TP1 from Lews. It was super stout for its rating and tip heavy (for me to notice it has to be pretty tip heavy). Again, the Custom may be totally different. Not to make your decision tougher, but Falcon Bucco is an excellent rod in that price range. Their rods are rated a little weird to me, but excellent rods. The king daddy in that price range to me is the Diawa Tatula original version. They are getting tougher to find but I will always recommend them. The 7'2" Med/heavy-Regular is a phenomenal rod, and what I use for Texas rigs 3/16-1/2 ounce. Never used the Dobyns Fury but have heard many people talk them up. Maybe worth taking a look. If you want, I can give more detail about the ZX, Diawa, and Falcon. This was just getting long winded

Not to be contrary, but to clarify. This weekend will be December, you can fish plastics fast if you want, but don't be disappointed if it doesn't go well. It kills me when people say hook sets are free. They usually cost me about 4 bucks if I'm jig fishing.

If you are looking to gain confidence in bottom contact, start with Texas rig. Get a pack of trick worms, baby brush hogs, and zoom lizards. This time of year is going to be very tough to gain confidence in and lure IMO. Thinking about winding up the Season myself. $400 is a nice budget. Get an ALX Zolo Deputy and any decent 7 (preferably 8 ? speed reel. You can snag a Lews Tournament MB on Ebay for $100 and still have $ left over for plastics, weights, and hooks. 1/4 tungsten are my favorite, with Gamakatsu G-lock ewg hooks in 3/0 or 4/0. Be prepared to fish slow.

Welcome to the forum man. Any luck on Lewisville? I fish Ray Roberts and it can be tough IMO.

Thanks guys!

What do you mean when you say "tannic?"

Cold snap, very bad.

Dude don't get the MB from TW. Go to Ebay and get it from American Legacy Fishing for $100 shipped. Great reel. I own 3

I own 3 MBs and one Tatula 100. Short answer is if you are new to baitcasting, get the Tatula for the brakes. Personally I prefer the MB for the size, but backlash much more often with it than the Tatula. Oh yeah, get the 7 speed.

I use their 20 lbs for braid to leader quite a bit. I was on the fence because it's super cheap and I'd never heard of it. Can't vouch for it as main line, but it makes a super durable leader line. Since I ordered 600 yards, it'll likely be passed down to my grandkids some day.

Is that a shallow water anchor? How do you like it?

Ebay for reels, always. American Legacy Fishing gets most of my business. Top notch.

That TP 1 is a bit stout for my preference. Would be good for heavier cranks though.

Very much this. Become proficient at tying a leader knot and it will not be a point of failure. I run FG leader knot on everything and the leader breaks (many times) before the knot.

Sedona is 54 bucks on ebay

Have owned a Trion for over a decade and not a drop of maintenance. Still flawless, but a tad heavy. Check out the Shimano Sedona. Had it for about the same time and still perfect. It would be my pick.

I own a hand full of MB reels and one Tatula 100. Here's my opinion. The Tatula and the MB are equally smooth and quality, casting distance is the same, etc. The biggest difference is the braking on the Tatula is much better IMO. I mean much, much better. I almost never backlash on the Tatula, and even though the MB reels get used more when I go out, they backlash more per number of casts than the Tatula. Not that the MB reels have bad breaking, they are great, but no near as good as the Tatula. The Tatula 100 is however a much taller reel which lends to the MB being considerably more comfortable. One more strike against the Tatula is the T-wing. If you dont use braid to leader than this complaint is irrelevant. Every so often, while reeling in line my leader knot will tick a bit as it passes through the Twing. It doesn't keep me from reeling in line, but it is noticeable. I am expecting a Fuego CT to be delivered tomorrow and am excited because it has the same braking as the Tatula 100, is lower profile, and doesn't have the Twing. Gun to my head which reel do I prefer? That's a tough one. Even though the Tatula 100 has much better braking, the MB is probably my favorite. We'll have to see how it goes with the Fuego.

Not really sure what you're asking man. How many spinner bait rods are there? There is no such animal. There are however countless rods that excel at throwing spinner baits. It comes down to personal preference. Some people like to use rods 6' and others like to use all the way up to 7'4" and beyond. I have 3 rods that I would use for spinner baits, but I use them for many other things as well. A 7'4" med/heavy mod/fast, a 7'1" med/Heavy fast, and a 7' med/heavy mod/fast. These are all just my preferred rods though and I'm sure others will have their own preferences. Not sure if that helps but I'm not super sure what you are asking.

Your rod is designed to handle all weights between (and including) 1/4 oz to 3/4 oz. 1/2 is right in the middle. Perfect

Havent been doing so hot myself. We didn't really have a fall this year. My home lake of 30,000 acres water temp has dropped nearly 20 degrees in just over 2 weeks. In the lower 50's now. You mentioned that you just got some new gear. Something im often guilty of when I get new gear is trying to force a bite on a particular lure because that's what I bought the new rod for, and I want to use it more than I should. This has caused me to have many less than successful days on the water. Not saying that's what you are doing, but when the bite is tough I try to spend equal amount of time throwing a wide variety of lures until I find out what will work.

I use an original Diawa Tatula 7'2" MH "Regular" action for my lighter Trigs and jigs and absolutely love it. It is very well made and handles lures 3/16 to 1/2 great and 1/4 -3/8 perfectly . Very sensitive rod. If I ever decide to change, it will likely be a custom ALX Deputy, but honestly I'm pretty content with the Tatula and not sure the Deputy would be much of an upgrade. Nothing is perfect though. I'm not crazy about the reel seat, and would prefer the handle to be a smidge longer. Other than that I think it is the perfect light jig and Texas rod. If you can still find one, they usually go for around $100 these days which is a crazy good deal IMO.

Have owned two original Tatula rods. The Heavy - fast was exactly that. The medium heavy "regular' which is supposed to be slightly slower than fast, was just that as well, but basically a fast action. Both were faster than Dobyns fast. Great rods for sure though. Still own and love the medium heavy.

I have the Bucoo 7' MH and use it for treble hook lures. If the one you have is the Trapcaster, it wouldn't be an ideal pitching rod. Have handled the heavy version many times. I think it feels like it would top out at 1/2 oz jig with trailer. It's definitely on the light side of heavy power. I personally don't think a heavy power rod is necessary for pitching per say, but more for heavier baits. Trying to find a rod that can handle a 1/4 oz as well as a 3/4 oz may be challenging. I was in the same boat. Wound up getting 2 rods. One for 3/16 -1/2 (rated 1/4-1), and another for 3/8-3/4 oz (rated 3/8-1 1/8). The fury 734 would be good for 1/4-1/2 IMO, but no higher. Btw, may want to get a faster reel for your jig rod than a 6 speed. I'm sure someone will chime in with conflicting advice but IMO the faster the better for what you're looking to do.

Cheapest mono or flouro I can find. $8 For 900 yards is what I paid for my backing.

This thread under rates distance by quite a bit. I can think of plenty of times that casting distance is very important. 30 yards with a weightless anything sounds pretty solid. The only time I have measured a cast is for 10xd in a field beside my house. Best I got was 60 yards. Catt, 75 yards? That's insane.