bwjay

Braid is a great option for beginners ESPECIALLY when talking about baitcasters! Line management is much easier with braid on both types of reels. You don't have to try and find "low memory" mono or copoly lines which never stay that way unless you use line conditioner (try telling a beginner they need to condition their line every couple uses). Yes, tying a leader is a slight learning curve, but the Double Uni is actually quite easy to learn and to tie and works in almost every scenario. Another option, though not ideal, is to tie a 12-18" leader with a swivel (anything longer makes it hard to cast) so you can use a Palomar or whatever you're comfortable with that you'd normally tie to bait with, and then a snap on the leader end so you aren't trimming it away to re-tie. You're adding more hardware which may or may not defeat the purpose of a leader, but I think it's still better than straight braid in terms of line shy fish. Braid is also forgiving for beginners because of the almost-nonexistent stretch which means you don't need hard hooksets for anything but heavy wire jig or swimbait hooks. Braid is also more sensitive so you can feel the bottom and bites better than with mono or copoly. The only real downside of braid is the visibility and I think it makes up for it with all of the other pros I mentioned.

The SLX XT is a great value reel and works well for all applications IMO. Despite having multiple higher priced reels that I love, the SLX XT earns its keep in my lineup and I have no plans to sell it. Throw some 30-40lb braid on it and enjoy!

Are you wetting the knot? Slobber on that thing. Fluoro can burn and weaken itself. I've been meaning to try the Alberto knot but it's hard to want to switch when the Double Uni is mostly doing the job for me (some leader breakages).

The accuracy of a baitcaster won me over. I got a kayak over Black Friday but haven't gotten it out yet, but last year I was limited to the bank for the most part. Being able to pitch and cast exactly where I wanted was crucial to not getting hung up in trees and bushes and whatnot. I can throw in a general spot with spinning gear, but it's harder to get the release point as precise as I need it to be to throw in a narrow area. Being able to stop the spool with your thumb makes this possible as well. I have come to love baitcasters and for a while started to hate spinning gear, but now I'm back in the middle where I see benefits for both.

I've had to do the same, with braid and copoly. I make sure not to over-fill the spool on my Bantams now.

Old thread but I think it's worth mentioning... my experience with 10lb YZH is that it has a moderate amount of memory. For jerkbaits this is really undesirable, as you want to jerk the bait and pause it, and have it sit as still as possible. With coils in the line, it will drift every time you pause it, ruining the intended action of the bait. I would recommend something more supple for jerkbaits.

A stiffer tip is good for easily imparting the walking action, but it's not always desirable for hooksets. You can end up pulling the frog away from the fish. At the same time, a stiff tip (and quick taper to backbone) helps you bury thick wire frog hooks. There is a happy medium somewhere... not a super soft tip, but soft enough to load the rod a little.

They have the NFC logo on the product page right next to Fuji.

I have not fished any Poison Adrenas (unfortunately). Based on what I've read, you do get what you pay for, with the premium over the Expride. I will say that I think a MH is overpowered for a weightless 5" Senko (if you're not dragging fish through dense vegetation) but there's no M to fit in the middle so you kind of have to go to the MH if you want the PA.

I had the Expride and found it comfortable with a Stradic Ci4+ 2500. It was a decently stiff rod, definitely earned its XF taper rating. I would have preferred a slightly softer tip to help cast lighter baits (like a 1/6oz Ned), but it was very sensitive as a result. I don't remember how many 5" Senkos I threw on it, but at ~3/8oz they should be in the sweet spot for that rod. I'd think the 6'7MLRF Poison Adrena to be good for 5" Senkos as well, if only a little bit underpowered.

I wanted it as a general purpose rod but focused on bottom contact. I was limited to bank fishing last year (got a kayak now!) so a shorter rod was important to me. I think it would work great for squarebills with its slower taper. It's not nearly as slow as a crankbait rod but it's a hair slower than what I would call a fast taper. I compared it to a few other rods with fast and xfast tapers (as stated by the manufacturer anyway) and it was the slowest of the bunch. TW and some other places list it was a fast taper, but Shimano USA lists it as moderate-fast. That being said, again, I think it probably would have worked well for me. I just couldn't fish it and see, because TW said they wouldn't take it back if I fished it. So I decided to get 100% of my money back instead of trying to sell it and taking a loss.

I briefly had the Expride in my possession. It had a little bit slower taper than I wanted so I returned it to TW. I think it'd be great for moving baits or as a general purpose rod. Looking back, it was probably fine for what I wanted it for and I shouldn't have returned it. I wish my local Cabela's stocked Exprides!

You need to identify which techniques you're trying to cover before you go buying anything. Otherwise get a 7' MHF casting rod or a 6'6" MXF spinning rod. They are the most general power and taper combos for each one.

Brand loyalty will only hold you back. Do what you can to experiment with various brands. We see brand loyalty with fishing gear, vehicles, politics, sports teams... sometimes the wisest thing to do is realize that your favorite brands aren't always great. Be loyal to yourself. But I tend to favor Shimano reels.

Waiting on open water here, but my 700SF balances very well with a 2500 sized reel. I was going to put a 1000 on it, but it's so good with the 2500 that I'm gonna leave it. Definitely seems like a fast taper which I'm looking forward to seeing in practice. It's my first Dobyns rod and so far I like it. We'll see what happens once I can start fishing it.

You've got some nice rods in there! If I could carry 8 rods with me on my kayak without worrying about tangles and possibly losing one, I would. But the max I'm going to allow for myself is 5 I think, with 4 being the usual max. In a way it's good because it prevents me from having a dozen rods that are over-specialized ("wHaT's ThE bEsT 1.5 sQuArEbIlL rOd FoR hEaVy CoVeR wItH bRaId????"). I may actually end up with a glass rod for cranks at some point which I will swap out for something else on the boat.

Do you mean applying a little pressure with your thumb when pulling on the line? I usually do until it stops coming out, then I'll pull gently on the line on the spool to untangle it, then pull on the line from the line guide again with gentle thumb pressure. But I do it on and off. It's easy to tell if it's working or not. And I only do this with braid; I've not found it to with with copoly or fluoro.

Oh wow, as if technique-specific rods and different line for different techniques wasn't enough, now people are asking which knot to use for a specific technique? Pretty soon people will be asking what type of shirt to wear when throwing swimbaits.

Power is the thickness of the rod. Action is how quickly it goes from thin at the tip to thick at the butt, and how quickly it hits the "backbone" of the rod. When you see heavy power and light power, heavy is going to be thicker than light, meaning it will bend less with a given load, so it is better for big fish or pulling through weeds. Match the power to the weight of the lure you're throwing, the size of fish you are targeting, and the level of vegetation you expect to encounter. For most bass fishing, a medium heavy power is a happy middle ground for your average 3/8 to 3/4oz jigs and moving baits, but if you are hitting thick vegetation, more power is needed to rip your lure free from those weeds and/or drag fish through them. An extra-fast action means the taper of the rod blank goes from thin to thick very quickly, so you hit the backbone quickly. XF actions are often good for jigs because of the easy visibility of tip deflection change (when a fish bites, picks up the lure, etc). It is good for quick hooksets without as much of a yank on the rod. A moderate (slow) action means the rod more slowly transitions to the backbone and is good for moving baits, often with treble hooks, as you want to give the fish time to get hooked and not pull the hooks out of their mouth. You perform more of a "sweep" hookset with these, rather than a jerk or rip on the rod. You cannot say something like "heavy action". It would "heavy power, X action". A lot of people make this mistake... I've seen 20+ year fishing veterans say it. I don't know why, unless it's just a slip-up. Hopefully this helps!

My 700SF is about the same power as my SC Premier 6' MF. Definitely not an ultralight power... Not even what I'd call light. But it is a foot longer so it will be more noodly near the tip so I'm thinking it'll still be a decent crappie rod for use with 1/16oz baits on the very lowest end, likely more often with 1/8oz.

I had the Expride 6'8MXF spinning rod and found that it didn't load up enough to whip 1/6oz Neds out there (so lighter ones would be even tougher). If the tip was a little softer/if the action was a little slower, it would have been perfect. Super sensitive rod though, wish I didn't break it! It would likely work for everything else you want though, even 3/4oz jigs.

They just don't sell Dobyns up here... St. Croix is in Wisconsin and they are everywhere in the midwest. I think people like SC because it's what's available and they have a decent warranty. Fenwick has similar brand recognition but not the same loyalty I see to SC. I don't dislike SC and I find the Premier rods a fairly dependable line, but they get tip heavy real quick. My 7'MHF was quite heavy, heavier than my Expride 7'3XHF, and the Expride is far better balanced as well. The first time I went frogging with the 7'MHF I was working frogs for about 3 hours and had a really sore wrist the next day. I am looking forward to giving the Expride a proper workout this summer.

That's such a minor hangup, it prevents you from owning some excellent rods. Get a Fuji hook keeper or *gasp* hang the hook on the lowest guide. The Fuji keepers are cheap and easy to use. Sure it would look a little better if a keeper was integrated, but that's like saying you won't buy a hamburger that doesn't have cheese on it when you can just add cheese yourself. I was going to use ketchup as an example, but you don't put ketchup on a good burger, you just don't.

I decided to bite as well, ordered a 700SF for crappie and perch fishing as soon as the lakes are open here sometime in April. I still want a shorter UL/L rod but I figured I'd give this new line a shot. It'll be my first Dobyns rod.

I haven't owned any LTB rods, but the Exprides tend to be pretty well-balanced, which is something SC rods are generally well-known for not being. Exprides are also very sensitive, a characteristic most people generally don't seem to use as the first or second descriptor for SC rods. I enjoyed my 6'8MXF spinning (before a Ned head shattered it) and I got my 7'3XHF casting over Black Friday, which is ironically my most balanced rod, despite being the longest and heaviest power rod I own. In April, there's a big expo in Minneapolis with lots of vendors including Shimano. I bought my first Expride there for something like a 20-25% discount. It's a little bit of a drive for you (from Eau Claire) but I highly recommend coming to the show. It's a blast! https://www.northwestsportshow.com/