BooshBass

This sounds like me lol. I don't do well with multiple rods or even just things placed on the ground while fishing. I have also left an embarrassing amount of gear next to a pond or river never to be seen again. Stepped on and broke a fly rod within about 5 minutes once. Now I decide what I want to try that day, tie it on at my car, and bring 1 rod and some other backup stuff that fits the rod which stays in a backpack on my back until I'm back to my car. Sometimes I chose wisely, sometimes not.

My do-it-all is Yo Zuri Hybrid 12#. I appreciate the Berkley Big Game suggestions as well, it's the mono I use on my mono reel and it's what some great fishers I know use for everything. But, I don't view the Yo Zuri Hybrid as high maintenance at all so why not use the hybrid for the all around - all around flexibility is why it exists I assume. It's just as cheap as Big Game as well.

I have never tried one of these but I really like the options they have. So far I think I'm between this and the other suggested Dobyns Fury 663c.

Thanks for the awesome tip! The first Amazon review says: "However this rod isn't medium heavy. It's definitely medium." Edit: It seems kind of weird and misleading that Dobyns appears to have power ratings 1-6, but then they call a 3 medium-heavy. Seems like calling it medium is a no brainer and pretty much every person who uses the rods considers it as such.

1.0 KVDs are the smallest I've used, but this rod would likely be used to experiment with even smaller and no bigger than 1.5 KVDs. I already have a Dobyns Fury crankbait rod that's 7' med-hvy, mod-fast, but I sometimes fish in the Chicago river in areas that are quite tight and the fish are heavily pressured. I did pretty good last month there during the spawn with my 6'8" Shimano Clarus medium power, extra fast action, in those conditions and it was quite fun, but I missed a ton of fish I'm pretty sure due to the extra fast action. I think a short, medium power, moderate fast action rod would be a good compliment to the Dobyns and Shimano rods I already have. I would probably give it a shot on poppers and jerk baits as well and see if I like the more moderate action for that. Believe it or not, the 6'8" was fine but even still a little bit long to be 100% comfortable in the conditions I plan to use it in. So a 6'6" medium, moderate-fast rod I think would be exactly I am looking for, if not even shorter.

Did not know about this rod. The shortness is very appealing, but is it pretty whippy? True moderate or could it be perhaps mod-fast?

$150 or less

I'm in the market for a light square bill rod for use in tight quarters. Ideally 6'6" medium with moderate fast action. Any suggestions?

These are in my opinion three if the most important pieces of advicewithout getting into gear and whatnot. I first got serious about fishing fly fishing for trout. When nymphing, 99.9% if the time you are setting the hook based on watching your line. I was told repeatedly to set the hook any time the line does absolutely anything other than just float normally. I did not follow that advice for quite some time out of fear of snagging and having to tie more tiny ass flies to each other with tiny ass line, which any fly fisher knows is completely infuriating for about your first 2-3 years at least. Then I started setting the hook what seemed extremely excessively and caught more fish, and snagged a lot more. Now I can pretty easily discern what's a fish and what's a snag and catch even more fish, and can tie flies on very easily because of all the snags. Same thing with bass but you get way more benefit from feel. You can watch line, feel for bites, and ideally do both where appropriate. Set the hook excessively, you will catch more fish, lose more lures, tie better knots, and then eventually catch even more fish and lose less stuff.

You bet I took a picture lol. It was a tough day on the lake for bass, this big carp really made the day.

There's not a lot on the boards about these newer Fenwick Techna PX rods so I figured I'd provide an anecdote, even though its not a bass, it's bass gear. I went fishing on a Northern Illinois lake yesterday and landed a 13lb carp on a 7' medium-heavy power, fast action Fenwick Techna PX with a Daiwa Tatula SV TW strung with 6lb Invizx flourocarbon and a bluegill colored 3/8 oz. swim jig with a green pumpkin Strike King rage craw trailer (didn't know a carp would ever eat that, but it choked on it). The rod bent waayyyyyy down, but the strength the maker touts about this rod is true, it handled the golden lake whale very well, I was never worried about the rod breaking the entire 15 minute or so fight, felt real solid. Just my experience with the strength of this rod.

I'm fairly new to baitcasters in the last five years and am definitely still liable to backlash due to either forgetfulness in setting the reel correctly or just your basic incompetence. I use a Daiwa SV TW 7.3 for lures that could cause a lot of backlash because the brakes are ridiculously good and you can set them easily because they are located on the outside side of the reel, not on the inside. I think being able to set the brakes easily on the outside makes it very versatile, you can fish a light worm and then switch right over to a heavy jig and reset the brakes in 2 seconds, and I think Daiwa is one of the only big brands that has this feature but I'm not sure. You will be able to cast spinnerbaits far when you want to and light lures into wind when you want to with that reel. I think this is a good option to consider. For what it's worth, I am giving having only two baitcasters this year a try as I sadly lost a bag with two other baitcasters in it and don't want to buy another one (though I would prefer three setups: braid, hybrid, flouro). Daiwa SV TW 7.3 with #50 braid for frogs and high sensitivity lighter stuff and my other reel is a Daiwa Elite 6.3 with Yo-Suri Hybrid for stuff that moves whether on top or submerged. If I understand correctly, the brakes are the same on both reels, the spool on the SV makes it better for casting lighter stuff, the spool on the Elite makes it a little better for casting farther, but they're both good for both. Both of those reels are extremely versatile, either one would work great for either application. This isn't a brand thing, I'm not a Daiwa salesman. I haven't used Shimano baitcasters but my buddy who is a better fisher than me swears by them, especially Curados. No brake setting on the outside though.

It's entirely possible I end up with a Shimano reel, they've always been my safe space for spinning reels. But the lighter options from Shimano are more expensive than the BPS and Fuego, so I might give one of those a shot for a change. BTW, I'm on the NW side of Chicago, getting ready for smallie season on the Fox River, possibly the harbors as well depending how frustrated I feel like getting that day.

Yup, that's my instinct as well, I use Daiwa casting reels but have never used a Daiwa spinning reel, I assume they're good. But, the fact that this Prodigy reel is aluminum where the Fuego LT is plastic caught my eye. It also says "all metal gears" which is a good thing? I'm no expert on the inner workings of reels, especially spinning ones.

I am thinking about buying a St. Croix Avid 6'8" Medium Extra-Fast for soft plastics and was looking for a light spinning reel to go with it. Looking for a light setup as the only spinning reel I currently have is a Lew's Speed Spin that came on a spinning combo (despite the hate it gets I think its actually pretty nice, just pretty heavy) and some old janky Shimanos. I came across these new reels: https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-prodigy-spinning-reel 3000 size weighs 7.9oz and has 30" per turn retrieval. Seems pretty legit. In the small amount of time they've been out has anyone tried one? Any feedback?