GetFishorDieTryin

It's not necessarily the entire guide train that's big just the stripper guide. The size of the frame makes it look bigger then it is. It looks like a heavier duty double foot guide you see on an inshore rod. The cork may just mediocre on my particular rod. It's supposed to be AAA according to Ark, but I've seen AAA with much less filler. Some companies are just notorious for using sub par cork. Surprisingly I've heard that MB is known for not having good cork even on higher end rods. This winter is killing me man. Normally I fish all winter and the extended frigid temps have had the lakes locked up for what seems to be longest few weeks of my life. I've been able to scrape a few bass out of small holes in particular spillway. Like I said I've only gotten a handful of fish on that Essence since I got it. I'm anxious to get it out and see what it can really do when these fish turn on in the next couple weeks. It's so close I can taste it.

You can get by tossing a 1/10+trd with the M. It's not going to toss or fish it as well as the ML would IMO but you can get by. You can always find a slightly heavier plastic if it feels too light. 8lb J braid would be ideal. It will help with casting distance and sensitivity. I really think 13 has some good rods, but I would stay away from the spinning reels. Brand new they dont feel bad, the problem they dont seem work very well after a while. Daiwa gives you the best reel for under $100 and it's not very close IMO. I would recommend a Regal LT 2500 or 3000. Very smooth and lighter then a similar price Shimano by nearly 2oz. Cant beat it for $60. The 2500 and 3000 are virtually the same size with the spool on the 3000 being a hair wider. The 3k has a T shaped knob and longer handle and the 2.5k has the flat I knob with a shorter handle.

The ML would be better for 1/16 and 1/10 ned heads with traditional size ned baits.

To me a floating worm doesn't necessarily need to float, it just shouldn't sink really fast. I also think a pointed head is a big factor in getting that erratic action.

The guides on the Essence aren't micro guides by any means. The stripper guide is unusually large for a FW bass rod. The only issue I see with is the price points they on the rods they have. I'm not certain but it appears the Essence may share the same blank as the Honey Badger. With Essence being nearly double the price of the HB without an upgrade in the blank or major upgrade in the guides makes me wonder where the extra $ went. With that said, If the blanks are the same Ark should make the price point much closer or improve the Essence to where the extra cost vs the HB would be justified. It's not so much that the Essence is a bad rod, more like the HB is too good for the price points.

I challenge you to find a cheap bullet anywhere lol

He was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I had been curious about them for some time. I was drawn to the Invoker LE but wound up settling for the Essence as a guide upgrade and wrapped blank wasn't worth an extra $70. Unfortunately it's been a tough winter ice wise so I've only managed a handful of fish on it. So far the sensitivity has been impressive. The only faults of my particular rod is that the cork isn't great and the blank bg had some rashes on it right out of the tube. The guides are on the bigger side and the open ended keeper may cause some headaches in the future, but that remains to be seen. Short of some flaw that has yet to manifest, I would say @T-Billyis of sound mind.

My Victory is sensitive but it's a spinning model. I'm sure the casting rods are sensitive as well, but I do wish they didnt have EVA over the blank. It probably doesn't make a big difference, as far as dampening goes. I wouldn't worry about the rod being brittle. It's not like a 36t blank can survive a car door where a 40t won't.

No, I think the whole Avid FW line is gone. They had the eyecons for walleye, but I'm not sure if they still make them because they were on clearance in Dec.

I haven't seen a 150 yet. How much bigger is the 150 frame compared to the 70?

I'm not surprised they got rid of the Avid FW. They were great for the price point for years after they came out but the Avids and even the LTBs have been leap frogged by other brands. I am curious to see what they do with the new LTBs. If you really want an Avid that bad you could spend more $ for titanium guides and get the Avid Inshore. IMO the spinning inshores are one of the most beautiful lines made in the U.S.

You should check out Ark rods. Your not going to find a better blank for less $.

I catch fish on flat cranks all winter but around here there seems to a window of time where they're really hard to beat. It's a short window around here, 2 or 3 weeks maybe where they can be more effective then a chatterbait for numbers and still match the quality of fish, especially in tougher conditions. I think one of the biggest factors on the tougher days can be using a silent or less aggresive sounding bait.

Every reel listed are winners, so even if you picked 1 at random you wouldn't be disappointed. The DC and SV is what I would learn toward recommending. The SV has the edge over the DC when it comes to casting lighter weight baits. If you plan on using unweighted plastics like senkos or flukes often I would recommend the SV. You get the the most out of the DC with baits that are over 1/4 in total.

They're good on the back of a bladed jig, shakey head, t rig, swingheads, pretty much anything you can imagine.

More then half of the lakes I fish dont have shad. For whatever reason white or white based spinnerbaits just catch fish seemingly anywhere, particularly on cloudy and or windy days.

The Molix Kento is one you need to look at. They're made really well, wire tied with a high quality skirt material. The head shape makes it really easy to skip. Not exactly sure how, but they come through wood as good or better then any other jig I use. The only drawback is that it has a standard collar keeper that works well enough if the plastic isn't shot. I like my keitech, DJs and Greenfish jigs but if I had to 1 jig to do it all it would be a Kento jig. FYI: The 1/4oz kentos are considerably smaller the Ikes mini flip where as the 3/8 and 1/2 kentos are about roughly the same size.

The head shapes and line ties can be identical, but what really sets a flipping jig apart from a casting jig IMO is the weed guard and hook. Some casting jigs have lighter wire hooks and moderate weed guard. A flipping is generally always going to have heavy weedguard and a heavy wire hook to deal with the cover.

The XZone swammer and R2S D Walker are durable and give the jig lots of roll with the swammer having more aggressive roll compared to the Dwalker. Zooms swimming Flukes in the standard and jr size give a jig a ton of roll as well. They arent very durable, but they have tons of color options and are readily available at most tackle shops.

Check these out

The 7'3 M XF would be the Victory to get IMO. I got to play with one last week and I really liked it. It has a tip like a ML so it would throw lighter weights like 1/10 or 1/8 even with smaller plastics. Although the tip has some give it gets to the backbone fast.

Dont have 1 myself but have seen a few reviews of them. Supposedly the handle takes time to get used too. Other then that all the reviews I've seen on them have been really positive.

As far as new worms go the 2 I'm most excited about using are Grandebass' Neko stick and the Maxscent Hitworm. The 3.3" Powerbait Waterbug looks promising as well. I need to get deeper into swimming worms as well. 13s Joy Stick looks pretty cool.

I really like the action on ringed stickbaits, particularly on the fall. Durability can be an issue but I usually get at least 2 or 3 fish before the worm is beat and if I really want to I can paste it back together with mend it. They aren't as heavy as solid stickbaits so they dont cast as far weightless. I actually feel the rings are harder to get a hook through then a solid stickbait.

Keep it simple. Black, GP and brown covers most situations. If I could only have 1 color early in the year it would be straight black. It's good in muddy water and just as if not more effective in clear water.