Glaucus

Thanks gentlemen. So this rod I'm primarily looking at, the 6'8" M/MF, is listed as a topwater and jerkbait rod. I want it for squarebills mostly, shallow to medium divers. The problem with a true crankbait rod for me is they're either 7' + which is an absolute abomination in my hands because I hate rods that long as they feel so awkward, or they're a true moderate action which I also absolutely hate (extra fast and moderate actions are actions I really personally don't like), or they're dirt cheap rods or rods that cost way more than I'm willing to pay. These EVX rods hit on everything I like, as I said. So would you guys say this will be an adequate squarebill rod?

I wouldn't use that in a pond for basically the same reason I wouldn't use a deep diving crankbait. Ponds are typically shallow with a lot of vegetation/grass/moss/algae. It'll get gunked up and hit the bottom fast.

I mean, he can do that stupid crap that will result in less bites and more bent hooks and missed fish, but I'll keep doing it the right way and so will everyone else I imagine. Pretty much guarantee he is pulling your leg though. Also, yeah, if you were going on like you did in the OP, that's probably why he fibbed.

Chatterbaits are better for me but it's anecdotal and really a personal thing

My first truly amazing day of fishing was thanks to a 3/16oz Strike King Lil Mr Money spinnerbait. Caught my PB LMB of 7lbs on that thing, as well as 40 or so other LMB, good ones and dinks alike. That was nearly 7 years ago. And that's a 7lb North Central Illinois LMB too. Absolutely amazing. That really turned me on to spinnerbaits, and that season that's mostly what I did. For some odd reason, since that day and since that season, the spinnerbait bite has been few and far between for me.

I'm a weird case probably. For spinning gear I'm truly a Fenwick rod and Pflueger reel fanboy. For casting gear there are several companies I like and my choices come down to whoever has the exact specs in the exact price ranges that I'm looking for.

Rod shopping for/with my dad I came across a couple of rods that caught my attention. They appear to have everything I want in a rod. Definitely would be a bait monkey purchase, but I want them. If they're worth getting. Okuma EVX casting rods. The 6'8" M and MH both in MF/F actions. I use a lot of trebles for smallies and I don't like 7' rods at all. Right actions, right lengths, good price. Are they any good?

Unseasonably warm here in central Illinois. I'm gonna hit up the river after Christmas and see what's up.

I'd say most landlocked fishermen could leave the bank behind if they really wanted to. People who can afford an arsenal of rods and tackle can afford a 500 dollar kayak or a cheap Jon boat. Nobody needs 60,000 dollar plus bass boats to fish, they're a luxury item. I think a lot of people get so caught up on not being able to afford a bass boat that they forget about other legitimate options.

Got my dad all hooked up and now the bait monkey is hitting me hard. I'm looking at the Okuma EVX casting rods. Specifically the 6'8" M/MF-F topwater/jerkbait model. I'm looking at it for squarebills and smaller whopper ploppers. Will this rod do me well?

Safari style hat. See profile pic. More protection from sun.

My dad and anyone not annoying that wants to learn or that I can learn from.

We've settled on our choices. Just got to the finale of the decision here. Two starter rods. In the past I have been a pond hopper, but now I'm a river rat so that is where he will be joining me, on the Smallie hunt. We went up in some ways and maxed out in others. What we've come to is personally aesthetically pleasing, good performance, and equipment for what we will be doing. And the finalists are: 6'10" ML/XF St Croix Spinning Mojo Bass Rod with a size 20 Abu Garcia Revo X reel. 6'8" M/F St Croix Casting Mojo Bass Rod with a left hand retrieve Shimano SLX 6.3:1 reel. Showed this reel and the Daiwa Fuego but aesthetics were important as well and the sharp look of the blue on the Shimano won. Usual lures will be Ned Rig, Grubs, KVD 1.5, Whopper Plopper 90, bisty bug jigs, Senkos, small chatterbaits. He'll do what I do. We'll expand from here over time if he likes it. I think we've got a good start. He'll get use out of one of my kayaks as well.

That's excellent and what I really needed to know. Noted that Hybrid will stay on my finesse setups and I'll try Advance on reaction and topwater setups. Visibility will matter for Neds, but not cranks, and if Advance floats better, I wanna put that on my plopper rod.

I'm a Yo-Zuri fanboy. I'll just get that out of the way. But I just found out about Sufix Advance. How do these lines compare? Looking at them, they both have that thick diameter compared to what's typical of the listed test weight. I'm seeing that Advance has little to no memory and casts well? Are they even comparable at all? Does Advance boast a great breaking strength? Would Hybrid fan be happy making the switch?

Excellent suggestions guys. Looking into all options. Right now the best take away is that I forgot about the Revo X. Precisely why I asked here!

We're talking rods and reels at or under 100 dollars, best bang for the buck, bought new and not used. My dad hasn't been fishing in many, many years, but he wants to get into it this coming season to see what all my fuss is about. He doesn't like to buy anything used, but he also doesn't like to break the bank. When I say at or under 100 dollars, preferably under, but we need to also go best bang for the buck. I'm thinking Daiwa Aird X rods, President spinning reels, and Shimano SLX casting reels. I feel like we can go with cheaper rods and spinning reels that are still really good, but we don't want to go with garbage casting reels because that's asking for a bad time. You guys have any ideas as well?

Fish them all little by little. Pick some at random, give them a go, move on to the next. Keep a checklist.

The plopplopplop is a fish catching machine.

I want to catch a 4lb SMB*. The Illinois state record is 6.7 and before that it was 5.5, so I don't want to get too crazy thinking I'll catch a (or some) 5's, but 4lb should be a good target. Of course bigger is absolutely welcome as well. Other than that I pretty much do everything I want to do within realistic expectations. The only other thing is that I've never fished with my dad but he wants to get into it with me this season. *I may have already caught a 4lb SMB, but I have no way of knowing what either of these fish weighed because I didn't have a scale on me and I didn't measure. I caught them this year. If anyone has a guess on their weights please let me know.

6lb Yo Zuri as is my standard. It's more like 8lb diameter as many people well know.

I'm getting a new 7' spinning rod. I prefer 6'6" rods, but there's a couple river dams I like to fish; I can't put a kayak down there and I can't wade it. I come up a little short on some good looking spots because of my inability to get into the water (just dangerous obviously) and the shorter rods. My question is: what size President would you put on a 7' ML rod - 25 or 30? I go with 25 on my 6'6" ML rods, but I'm wondering if I should bump to a 30 on a 7'.

MH for 110 and 75. M for 90. Don't fish the 130. 110 is way too heavy for a M, but 75 can be fished on some M rods. It's 9/16oz or about 3/5oz. It will load many M rods passed the comfort zone. The 110 is well over 1oz. The 90 is only 3/8oz.

My favorite lure isn't something I would just always fish with, but it's the Whopper Plopper. I just love to bomb it out there and fish it back to me knowing that there's a good chance it's going to get annihilated. I also like squarebills, lipless cranks, chatterbaits, Senkos, Ned Rig, jigs. That pretty much does it for me. Chatterbaits do me way better than spinnerbaits, and I like jigs way more than Texas rigs (I started on the Texas rig years ago but honestly just don't like to fish it anymore), Senkos are always good, Ned is my favorite finesse tactic, squarebills and lipless are always good.

Because of smartphones I haven't used a computer in years outside of work lol