LionHeart

I think for the lures you listed, 734 for sure. If you have a chance to handle them both, you may be glad you did. The Diawa Tatula CT would be pretty tough to beat in a 7 speed. Don't get me wrong, either of the Shimanos would be an excellent choice as well, but the brakes on the Diawa have won me over.

Not trying to change your mind on rod choice but Id hate to see you get it only to find out it may be to stout. Honestly, a 734 may be a better rod for all purpose. Casting rods tend to be more stout than spinning rods. Being your first baitcaster, I think the learning curve would be more gentle with the 734. Just my opinion though. If you havent had a chance to handle them personally, I'd recommend doing so. I'm pretty partial to braid with a leader myself. I'd say 40-50 lb Power Pro with 15 lb mono leader. The FG knot is my favorite leader knot, but there are a few other good ones. Have you though about any of the Diawa reels. The mag force braking system is excellent and would also be good first time baitcaster.

You're saying the glass model has less tip? "Less tip" means less moderate I always thought.

Cabelas Tournament ZX Spinnerbait/Swim jig model. They just went off sale for $75 which was a smoking deal. They usually go on sale every few weeks if you can wait. If you Don't want to wait, Falcon Bucoo SR 7' Med Heavy, Mod Fast.

Dude, literally either would work great. Try them and see which you prefer for whatever reason.

I'll take a video. I'm pretty much a fan boy of the FG, and always eager to learn new things. My method takes about 10 minutes and would be tough to do on a boat.

I use the lightest I can cast on a bait casting rig which is usually 3/16 or 1/4. I Don't make a big fuss about color, as long as it isn't bare shiny metal.

If you are fishing from the bank with a bunch of trees and stuff you have to try to cast around, 7'4" can be a tad long. Otherwise, it is a great rod length. Are you just looking for this rod to be a general/do everything rod?

The words "General Expectations" were literally in the title of the post.

If you are pretty set on the Avid, go through the headache of ordering it. If you like it, awesome. If not, just return it. Otherwise, you will always wonder.

A good thing? Sure, I guess so. Would I take it into account when trying to decide on a reel? Not at all. I wouldn't put it into the gimmick category and I do like to see a company that makes a true effort to innovate, but on the water, I Don't see an appreciable difference. Although my only experience with it thus far is using braid, so with stiffer line it may be more beneficial.

Well man, IMO you are making things much more difficult than they need to be but who the heck am I to tell you how to fish. To answer your question, you can absolutely reinstall line onto the original empty spool and the fishing line will be just fine to reuse later. Doing this on a kayak? Eeesh..

Just not sure I understand your logic. You are trying to save space by carrying extra spools with varying line diameter instead of carrying crankbaits that were designed for the depths you wish to achieve? Not meaning to sound cynical, but I truly Don't understand what you're trying to do here. Are you planning to carry all 7 setups at once?

How many rods are we talking about? How many people are going? How much luggage will be inside the car?

Back when I had a boat, I didn't expect someone I invited to do anything except show up on time, and have a good time. Although I had a Jon boat that could fish all day on 2 gallons of gas, so may be apples to oranges. To me though, it's no different then when I invite someone into my home. I Don't expect them to bring a thing, but if they show up with a pecan pie and a jug of sweet tea, well I appreciate it. If I were you, I'd put 20 bucks toward gas, and only bring 3 rods. Oh, and show up early to help launch.

Best channels are Keepingitreel Fishing and BassResource easily. If you haven't checked them out, do so, and it'll be easy to see why I say that. They offer real, true, useful info, and are easy to watch. It is obvious they Don't have a hidden agenda like groping for sponsorship. Too many YouTube channels have gone that way and it feels more like watching a commercial than anything else. Also, do not be like that one kid from googan who is super obnoxious. For the life of me, I Don't know how anyone can sit through one of his videos. Also, if you give advice on your channel, make sure it is earned through experience. Don't just regurgitate the same info everyone else is saying in hope of sounding like you know what you're doing. I'm fairly new to bass fishing, but have seen gobs of this going around and it doesn't do anybody any good. Anyway, those are my thoughts.

I use the FG knot with every setup I own. I typically only make 8-10 wraps in each direction (many times I don't even count the wraps, I just wrap till it looks about right). I think once you have used a certain amount of wraps, using extra prevents them all from properly clinching, and becomes counter productive. I have a few rods where the guides closest to the tip get as small as just a hair over 4 millimeters (measuring the inner diameter of guide eye), and I do not have problems casting or reeling in the knot through the guides. I do get a slight tick as the knot passes through the guides about 30% percent of the time, but it's really more caused by the changing of the line texture as it passes through and contacts the inner surface of the guide ring. It has never had any impact on casting or retrieving. Also, for many setups with the previously mentioned guide sizes, I use 50 lb braid and 20 lb mono for a leader, so it's about as big of a line size/knot, as I think most people will use. I think where most people go wrong with the FG, is they don't cinch it down properly before adding the finish knots. You really need to pull hard. Just grabbing the leader with one hand and braid with the other won't suffice. I tie the leader end to something heavy, then wrap the braid around a piece of wood, and pull, HARD. When I tie an FG, I have no doubt about its strength, and am confident that it is the thinnest knot possible. Hope that helps.

Agreed. Something in the mid 7's if you could only have 1 reel. It can cover just about everything and do it well. If you were to be looking for dedicated jig and Texas rig setup, 8 speed no question about it.

Keep in mind my rod is not a Zillion, but still a med-heavy, 'Regular Diawa. Honestly, it feels like a fast action to me. Depending on the vintage, I think the Tatula rods used the same blank as Zillion but of course I could be mistaken. Personally, I happen to think a good spinner bait rod power and action would also work well as a Texas rig Ang jig rod. Most 3/8 and 1/2 jigs I use have 3 or 4/0 hooks and I have never had a problem getting the rod to set the hook. Bad hook sets are usually user error on my part. It doesn't take a broom stick the get a sharp hook through the mouth of a bass. If it doesn't fit your style or technique, I ain't here to convince you, but still, I'd use it for bottom contact.

Easy fix. Now you also have a good excuse to buy more tackle ?

Man, I gotta ask. How slow are you fishing the worm? Until this summer (which has been brutal for me also), I thought I knew what slow fishing was. It was only after I dumb lucked upon a submerge brush pile that I learned what slow fishing a worm really means. At first is was excruciating, a voice in my head kept saying how boring and miserable it is and how I'll never catch fish dragging and pausing like this. Honestly it wasn't any fun at all, but I was desperate and had tried just about everything else. Then I got a bite, then another, then another. I'm not saying this is your problem, and if it is, I'm not saying this is the only solution. It did help me though. This whole time, I had been working my plastics too fast for this Texas heat. Of course this isn't the cure all, but try dragging your lure extremely slow. Each cast of 30 yards should take 3-5 minutes to retrieve. Sound boring? Not if it works. Now I truly enjoy this kind of technique and there was a time when I couldn't imagine using it. For the record, I still say try some different water.

Give bait casting a try. Expect to be frustrated and back lash for a while, and then prefer it to spinning gear. Sorry about your rod dude.

A Diawa MH/R rod in my opinion can do just about anything. I have that power/action in a Tatula and love it for plastics and jigs around 3/8 oz. Just the right amount of flex. Kind of a fast-mod-fast.

You have time, take it. Remember, the fish is trying to eat your lure, let that happen. Of course there are times when a fish will quickly reject your lure but let's be honest, more likely than not, you will not be fast enough to make a difference when that happens anyway. I do the same thing you are describing, and also struggle with it as well, and most of my lost fish are because of bad hook sets. Just this weekend I lost a very decent fish at the end of an otherwise uneventful trip, because I got excited and didn't take the time to take up some slack. I'm sure it won't be the last time, sigh.

That makes it clear. Thanks. Scratching my head on this one. IMO a spinning reel should not do this with any size braid or no matter how full the spool is.