bwjay

It's the thin line diameter that's the concern, I believe. From what I read, thin braid can dig into the spool on baitcasters. By all other accounts though, it should(?) cast better than heavier braid, and you can fit more of it onto the spool. I sized up to 40lb braid and I think it casts just fine, and I've had no issues with it digging into the spool.

I've been loving my Bantam. It is a little above your budget, but would come under it if you bought JDM. The unibody construction makes for a very rigid feel in the hand and the retrieve is quite smooth. I can't compare it to anything other than my SLX, and the difference between both is obvious. The SLX flexes a little (only a little), rocks back and forth a bit on fast retrieves, and has only the 4 pin brakes. Still a good reel. But the Bantam oozes quality comparatively.

Ah yeah, I just did some reading and found that people suggest a more moderate action for trebles. I think a heavy power would be fine for big topwater baits as long as you could walk them properly, but an extra fast tip would be a little too fast I think. Good point.

Why wouldn't one want to throw topwater lures with trebles on a frog rod? From what I understand, a frog rod is a fairly stout rod with a fast tip, stout to pull fish out of cover and fast for walking and good hooksets. Walking frogs and topwaters is done the same way. So... why not one rod for both applications?

Of course a more stout rod is ideal for that, but up here in the north, people land 40 inch pike using 6'6" to 7' medium power spinning rods out of a canoe. If you want to horse such a fish, or a big bass in cover, into the boat, then yes a thicker rod is necessary. But I think if you don't completely lock down drag, big fish and fish in cover should be perfectly do-able. It's just that, given the option, everyone would prefer a bigger rod to make it easier. I'm not planning on using the 6'11" Adrena for muskie fishing anyway. I just want a really nice do-it-all rod instead of a bunch of decent specialized rods. I simply don't have the luxury of being able to easily carry or use 5 different rods at all times.

Those are some gorgeous smallies, Fry! Jealous.....

I know you said you don't like braid, but you didn't say why. I'm using 40lb Super8SlickV2 on my Bantam with a 10ft 14lb fluoro leader (Sunline Sniper) and it casts like a dream and doesn't dig into the spool due to the larger line diameter. I spooled up the Bantam using 14lb Sunline Sniper when I got it, and even though I was still breaking in the reel and getting it tuned, I got about 10 casts in, and on that 10th cast (or whatever one it was), I got a backlash so bad I could not get it out. The fluoro was popping off the reel, so coiled up. I spent 15 minutes trying to get it out, and finally just started cutting. I swear I lost almost half of the spool from that. I went home not long after that and spooled up the reel with the Super8Slick and have had a much better time. I've still had a few backlashes as I further tune the reel and get used to it, but I have always succeeded at getting them out within 2-3 mins for the worst ones. The slick line really helps. I use 40lb Sufix 832 on my SLX and have also had no issues getting backlashes out quickly, and it also casts nicely with a long 14lb Sunline Sniper leader as well. Safe to say, I think it will be a very long time before I ever consider trying straight fluoro again. Tying a double uni knot doesn't take too long, and you get better hook sets and sensitivity with braid, not to mention it makes getting backlashes out so much easier. There's no contest for me.

Anyone got one of these coming? TW had the 6'11" Medium+ and 7'2" Heavy marked as in stock on June 9th but they still say that. I "preordered" the 6'11" Medium+ as a versatile rod, for everything from 1/4oz lipless and Texas rigs to 3/8-5/8oz lipless, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs, you name it. I don't really throw larger baits, though I do have 2 glidebaits, an S-Waver 168 and a similarly sized Savage Gear 3D something or other, neither of which I've gotten wet yet. I have a few rods already, but I would love to be able to bring a single baitcaster and single spinning rod and be covered for pretty much any fish and any presentation, at least around Minnesota anyway. If I had a boat I wouldn't mind having 4 or 5 rods rigged up for different things, but being limited mostly to bank/dock fishing, I don't want tons of rods with me, just 1 or 2 at the max. I'm thinking the 6'11" Medium+ should be able to wrestle big pike or muskie and pull bass out of thick cover, while still being able to throw light baits like a Ned rig or weightless Senko (though they are a little light for it). If I bring 1 casting and 1 spinning, then obviously I will throw the lighter stuff on the spinning setup, but I think the Adrena should be able to throw ~1/8 to 1/10oz stuff. Obviously there are better options for various presentations, but I think this should be a wonderfully lightweight, very sensitive jack of all trades. That's what it appears to be anyway! Oh, and I'll be slapping my Bantam on it... what a great reel. Might make the setup a little back-heavy though? lol

Spent some time fishing a friend's bay on Minnetonka again and was excited when I got there and saw probably 50 little sunnies and small bass just stacked up in the 2ft shallows, soaking up the sun. I did my best to be quiet on the dock. I got a new reel the other day and have been struggling with backlashes recently, but got better, and wanted to give it a proper run through for a long day today, so I threw a River2Sea Bling spinner (White/Chartreuse) on that guy, and decided to try my hand at a Texas rigged creaturebait, namely the Googan Bandito Bug (in Alabama Craw and Natural) on my other rod. By the time I started fishing it was probably close to noon I'm guessing. Sun high and bright! Visibility in the water was decent for sure. I chucked the spinnerbait and landed probably a 1lb largemouth. I have been fishing little ponds for the past week and a half and caught absolutely nothing so this was a good feeling. I kept throwing the Bling out there and saw a pontoon boat pull up near the entrance to the bay, probably 100-200yds out. Some guys were fishing. I was hoping they wouldn't spoil it for me. Well, I suppose they didn't, because within my next couple casts I hooked into something good, and pulled out what I am guessing was about a 2 pounder. I was pretty stoked and probably did a few fist pumps. Didn't catch another on the spinnerbait within 20-30 mins, so I switched over to the good ol' Bandito Bug and gave it a shot with a 1/4oz tungsten bullet weight, not pegged. I learned to hop the little thing through weeds and got a couple curious dinks with it. The biggest I managed with it was probably 1lb. I saw some bigger ones swimming around but I just could not get them to bite. I saw a few watch it as I hopped it along, but none took a shot at it. I walked it practically across their nose a few times, and nothing. They weren't on beds, they were just cruising around the bay, among the sunnies, among the smaller largemouth occasionally. I saw maybe 3 or 4 decent 1.5-2lb'ers swimming around but again I just couldn't entice them. Threw a red/green watermelon 5" Senko towards the end of my session and caught 3 dinks on it within 15 minutes. I thought DANG! Is that what y'all wanted this whole time!? So I kept throwing it for 20 more minutes and could not get anything other than very hungry sunnies to go for it. I packed up around 4:30pm with very sunburned feet (wearing sandals) but otherwise in a great mood. I was gonna go fishing tomorrow (Memorial Day) but the weather looks rainy and windy - no thanks! Glad I got it done today. Oh, and I'm going to the Boundary Waters on Fri night/Sat morning for 8 days to hopefully catch a ton of bass and eat a ton of walleye, and possibly hook into a donkey of a lake trout around 40 inches (Lac La Croix). We will see. They are in there! I will share a few photos when I'm back. Go get 'em guys!

If you have any super flukes in shad color, give those a shot. The Strike King ZTOO use ElaZtech which causes them to float. From what I gather, topwater is not an all-day thing, but if you bring them subsurface, you can get some sweet bites. Use a swivel 8-12" ahead of the bait to bring them subsurface. It also kind of looks like the shad is chasing tiny baitfish which attracts more attention. Walk the dog with these, real slow twitches, maybe one or two and then and a two to five second pause. Obviously mix it up based on your observations. I have heard of very good things with this bait but moreso in the prespawn and spawn. You might be postspawn now so I'm not sure. The Caffeine Shad is another option but I don't know how much it floats. If it sinks more than a ZTOO then you may not need the swivel. Since they're pretty cheap, give both a shot, maybe with slightly different colors to see what works best. The point is mimic a dying baitfish basically. If your lake doesn't have shad, then this won't work. OK might work better with craw imitators like a Texas rigged Bandito Bug or Krackin Craw. I just broke my PB today (in MN lol) on a Bandito Bug and I tried it based on all of the good things I heard about it. I'm happy to report it doesn't JUST work in Texas. Give it a shot. I hope this helps... most of it is based on reading and not actual experience. I'll check back to see if it worked!

Holy crap Fry!!! Save any for dinner? What a beauty...

No clue where it actually is on the lake. It was a pretty small bay so I doubt it has its own name... but I'll be going back tomorrow with another friend, rain or shine. Hoping to have a few more photos to share!

Had a chance to fish a family friend's bay on Minnetonka today. It was pretty slow all day, couldn't get a reaction bite so I switched over to a brown/purple football jig (Papa Mur) with a Bandito Bug trailer (natural color). Pitched it over to the neighbor's dock and on the second cast, lifting the rod felt heavier than normal, so I flicked the wrist and started feeling a fish fighting back. The drag was reeling and I thought I had it set too loose, but nope, it just turned out to be a bigger fish than I was expecting!! I got this girl close to the surface and gasped. I'd never caught a largemouth before so this was not only a new experience but a great one. I just remember telling myself to keep pressure on my line as she jumped a few times so she wouldn't come off, while I waited for my fishing partner to come over and take a picture. Little did I know, there was no way this fish was coming off on its own. Look how she ate that jig. Came out to 20 inches, and I estimate between 3 and 4 pounds. Not only did she break the skunk streak but she was a beautiful fish. Couldn't get another bite on the jig so I switched to a white/chartreuse spinnerbait and managed a small, maybe 1lb largie. Kept throwing the spinnerbait and couldn't get another bite. I switched to a red squarebill and kept snagging weeds - it was pretty shallow in this bay. What got me though was that as I was reeling in this big strand of weeds, I pulled the bait out of the water and saw a big pike, maybe 30 inches, in about 2 feet of water near shore. I got the weeds off and tried to cast out in front of it, but got more weeds. I put a spinnerbait back on but couldn't manage to entice the pike. I was bummed but that big largie from earlier had me satisfied. Even though things were slow I had a good time. How did everyone else do?

Letting the bait fall straight down makes a lot of sense. I haven't had any issues with wind knots in the past from what I can recall. Now that I think about it, I usually lift the rod tip up a bit after the bait hits the water, to pull a little more line out, so it can fall. I've never really thought to pull it out by hand since I can just flick the rod and pull a little more line off the spool. Most baits are heavy enough to just pull more line off so I wait until they sink enough, then I close the bail. For light baits though I do give them a little help and twitch the rod to get some slack. Thanks for the answers everyone!

I’ve seen this in some videos. Sometimes it’s before closing the bail, sometimes after. If it’s before, is it just to get more line to let the bait fall, and after closing the bail it’s to test drag OR get more line for the bait it fall? Or is there something else I’m missing?

I should be there at, or shortly after, 5pm. Looking forward to it!

+1 for preferring the west side of the river. I'll eat/drink almost anything so I'm cool with The Local or something else too.

I'd love to meet up and pick some brains! I'm good for 3/22, 3/28, 4/1, and 4/3.

I haven't used soft plastic jerkbaits like the Super Flukes yet, but I am going all in on them this year at the recommendation of a guy who has had stupid success with them in northern MN. Rigging them weedless with an offset shank hook leaves basically no hook exposed which is great, but hard for hook sets in general. His recommendation is to count to 1,1000 before setting the hook. He finds that he misses more bites when he tries to set the hook immediately like you usually do for most baits. All of his friends who started using these baits also had the same issue until they slowed down and waited a full second before setting the hook. You might think you'll miss more bites this way but it gives the bass time to inhale it. Worth a shot for sure I think.

Another update for those who discover this thread, I changed things up a little. I decided to hit up Cabela's yesterday and returned my 6'6 MHF Premier for the 6' MF that I liked so much. The MHF felt really stout and I knew I liked the length of the 6 footer, plus I knew I wouldn't be throwing super heavy baits or fishing heavy cover, so I just bit the bullet and swapped it out. Ended up saving a couple bucks too which was nice. The shorter handle is awesome; while palming the reel and doing a walk-the-dog motion, the butt of the handle hits my forearm about 2/3 of the way to the elbow. It will be much more convenient when sitting with a PFD on in a canoe and the shorter length should definitely help with controlling topwater presentation. I love how short it is! I can't wait to use it. I also got my SLX re-spooled with 40lb Sufix 832 - but don't worry, I had them join the 20lb PowerPro back to the original spool so I can still use that for something, possibly my backup spinning reel. I'm feeling better about my casting setup now and I really can't wait to start casting. I could head out in the snow today but I kinda wanna wait until it's just a little bit warmer. I don't think there will be any changes to the setup from here on out, unless I get a new spinning rod too, which I don't need and shouldn't even think about.

Well another update, I decided to hit up Cabela's yesterday and returned my 6'6 MHF Premier for the 6' MF that I liked so much. The MHF felt really stout and I knew I liked the length of the 6 footer, plus I knew I wouldn't be throwing super heavy baits or fishing heavy cover, so I just bit the bullet and swapped it out. Ended up saving a couple bucks too which was nice. The shorter handle is awesome; while palming the reel and doing a walk-the-dog motion, the butt of the handle hits my forearm about 2/3 of the way to the elbow. It will be much more convenient when sitting with a PFD on in a canoe and the shorter length should definitely help with controlling topwater presentation. I love how short it is! I can't wait to use it. I also got my SLX re-spooled with 40lb Sufix 832 - but don't worry, I had them join the 20lb PowerPro back to the original spool so I can still use that for something, possibly my backup spinning reel. I'm feeling better about my casting setup now and I really can't wait to start casting. I could head out in the snow today but I kinda wanna wait until it's just a little bit warmer.

I have a vertical jigging rod (St Croix Eyecon) that has an XF tip. It is great for detecting bites. Additionally, I found it works well for trolling crankbaits because you can tell the action is working properly. My tip bobs back and forth like it should, and if it catches weeds, or better yet, a fish, the tip stops its little dance and the rod bends a little more. The indicator though is the tip. Theoretically you might have some trouble keeping fish pinned with such a fast action but just keep the tip up, keep pressure on, so far I haven't had a problem. Still, I would go for F instead of XF for a bass-focused rod and will for my next rod.

I just saw a thread about going over the stated limits on rods, though. Most people seem to think going 1/4oz over or under is generally OK. That is why I ask if going under, especially on a rod made by a manufacturer that is known for understating the power of their rods slightly, might be acceptable.

The St. Croix 6'6" MHF Premier states it's good for 3/8-1oz baits, but it does indeed look and feel a bit heavier than what I would expect for a MH. If I stepped it down to say a 6' MF Premier (I do want a shorter rod) which says it's good for 1/4-3/4oz baits, could I stretch to 1oz baits if I'm careful with casts? I don't have any 1oz baits and don't really intend to throw any, but I do have some 3/4oz that might actually be closer to 1oz (have seen most baits weigh more than advertised). I think I would generally prefer the shorter rod in almost every instance, knowing I'd be giving up casting distance. All I'm concerned with is the lures I can feasibly use on it, really. And this does seem specific to St Croix since their ratings seem to be slightly heavier than competitors' ratings.

Take this with a grain of salt, because it's just what I've read. People say 'walking the dog' is easier with stretchy fluoro or mono and more difficult with straight braid or stiff fluoro. The stretch of mono/strechy fluoro should theoretically be a little more forgiving for snags too. I picked up some Sunline Sniper FC 10lb as a leader for 10-20lb braid. As for connecting, I still have yet to succeed at tying what I believe to be a strong connection knot. Historically I have always used swivels which makes tying the leader super easy with strong Palomar knots, which I am very confident in. Historically I have not been a bass-focused fisherman and do things like vertical jigging, trolling cranks and spoons, throwing spinners and lipless, for walleye and lake trout mostly, so maybe I don't know the disadvantages of the swivel, besides reduced sensitivity. I thought my setup was plenty sensitive last year, feeling every rock that my lipless bumped into, feeling my jig dragging on the bottom. Probably nowhere near the sensitivity people get from premium rods and reels but it was good enough for me, I thought. I will probably continue to use swivels for my applications, but I am still going to practice tying braid to fluoro so I can test it in the field, likely with a blood knot that I have been trying. Other than sensitivity though I just can't think of a reason not to use a swivel which also makes my life easier for tying knots.