00bullitt

Back 30 years ago, my old man used to "Feel" sensitivity between two blanks/rods by placing the rod tip on my adams apple and having me say ahhhhhhhh! He was able to objectively compare rods side by side in his mind and choose the one that transmitted the vibration/sensitivity better and would assume in his mind that one was ultimately more sensitive. This does not take into account line type and balance and most importantly the brain's ability to process which was so well said in the prior post.

This is a good point, in the true sense of a LEVER, fulcrum dictates the advantage point. If the angler were the fulcrum, this would be very true. Help me explain better what I am saying; the length of the rod is directly related to the power of the hookset due to line position. In my explanation, the tip of the rod is the advantage and the increased length gives advantage to a hookset or power to the bait. Does that describe it more accurately?

Fantastic analogy!

Sensitivity is very subjective. Several factors contribute to sensitivity as well; what type of line you use, overall weight of the rod and reel in the hand, balance, stiffness, material, guide types and wraps, handles, handle material, etc. I find that the Shimano Poison Adrena is more sensitive and balanced than my G. Loomis NRX. Others will disagree. I have no experience with Kistler, but have heard that they use Point Blank blanks. I do have a custom rod built on a Point Blank and feel that it transmits sensitivity very well. Its 7'3" and feels more sensitive than my 6'11" Poison Adrena when I use braid. I don't get near the same feel with straight fluoro. As mentioned above, certain things contribute. There is some theory that shorter rods have less material to transmit through. And then there are those that believe that the shorter rod is stiffer and stiffer rods are known to transmit sensitivity a little better. I don't buy into that theory anymore and feel its more driven by materials and technology. I am very much a believer in lighter rods being easier to feel the bottom and have seen proof of that many times over. Most of the newer materials are super light and those are deemed the most sensitive. Now, with that said....I can take my G. Loomis E6x 6'10" 822SYR spinning rod and the exact same model in the NRX and fish in 10-20' of water and feel minimal difference. I quickly start seeing the benefits of the NRX as I go deeper. I can feel bites on the Drop Shot with the NRX in 50' of water that I had no clue touched the E6x. Subtle bites on the lesser quality blanks are more pronounced on higher quality blanks. Its all relative. I do feel as if there is a point of diminishing return with lesser quality blanks and that each person will notice those differently. Closing statement.....some of my favorite rods are the Shimano Zodias line. I have some extreme high end rods and fish the Zodias more than anything else. I DO NOT feel a disadvantage one bit and still catch a ton of fish. I would easily say that the Zodias rods are my confidence rods. I liked them so much, I HAD to venture into the Poison Adrena line to see what the difference was. While impressive, I still love the Zodias! Look at the pros....many of them are winning with $100-$150 rods (Bass Pro, Abu Garcia, Lew's, Dobyns, etc.). The old saying goes; "its the Indian, not the arrow". While that is true to some extent, invest in the most optimized equipment you can afford and will believe in. Confidence in what you use plays a HUGE role!

Does height matter? Not at all. But people ask all the time what length rod; length of rod does matter to some extent. There is a counter argument for every point. All in all, at the end of the day, do what you like, feel comfortable with and have confidence in. I've been fishing for 40 years. When I started...5'6" pistol grips were the norm and everyone was catching fish. Materials were fiberglass, graphite and boron. Over the years, techniques evolved and longer rods became more popular as did advanced materials to be lighter and more sensitive. Longer rods provide benefit but there is always a cost associated and its often weight and agility. Longer rods are heavier because they have more material and the extra length can make them less agile. When standing on the deck of a bass boat. I often fish with my rod tip down for reaction baits and slightly up for bottom contact baits. The deck of my boat is about 16" off the water. I typically take my height and add a foot as a guideline. By no means is that a requirement. Rod weight, action and tip mean far more to me than overall length. If I find a 6'10" rod that provides a better feel to me for a given technique than a 7'2", I will go with what feels better as often the net gain is minimal as half of that increased length is in the handle. If casting farther is a requirement, I go with a longer rod. I have crankbait and swim bait rods that are 8'. The rod is your "LEVER". Longer rods provide more leverage. Leverage is important when fishing bigger hooks, heavier cover, deeper water, etc. Longer rods have a benefit. I've witnessed the natural progression in 40 years time. Using a persons height is nothing hard and fast, just a guideline for people of average height. There will always be shorter and taller folk that will toss that guideline out the window. I still use all of my 6'6" rods from 20 years ago. They have their place and still work just fine.

I very much consider the rod my lever. The length should be conducive to the cover and depth you intend to fish and style of hook. I typically say to use your height as the base and add 12-16" if fishing from a boat. You can go shorter and be fine fishing from the bank. I like a 6'10" for lighter baits with lighter wire hooks and lighter line and a 7'2" for 1/2oz-3/4oz. with heavier hooks and line. One thing worth noting is what often makes up the length between a 6'10" and 7'2". The net gain from the reel seat forward is usually minimal. Handle length may go from 14" to 16.5" meaning your gain in reel seat to tip is only 1.5".

The situation will dictate the presentation and action of retrieve. IF....the jig makes it to the bottom (assuming an Arkie style/pitching jig), I typically hop it with short fast pops of the rod. If its a football jig, its usually more of a drag through deeper brush/structure. If I'm working vertical pieces of structure; bluffs, dock pilings, bridge pilings, abuttments, etc., it rarely hits bottom. Same with blowdowns as its working the limbs/branches waiting for the fish to inhale it as its working over/through the blowdown. If it makes it to the bottom, its usually coming straight back up and over a limb. Usually, any time it makes it to the bottom, I will likely shake it in place for a second before moving it. 80% of my strikes come when I do this if it hits bottom.

I have it. Too stiff for a 1/2 ounce jig. Not bad for 3/4 football jigs in 30' of water. Would be a fantastic punching rod for 1oz or heavier. I have Loomis NRX rods and feel as if the Adrena is as sensitive. Get the Medium Heavy unless you will ALWAYS throw 3/4 or heavier.

I like the St. Croix Bass-X 6'8" Medium Action, Extra Fast tip (although it feels more like fast). Works great for jerk plugs and most any top water. I've tried Medium and Medium Heavy with a Moderate Fast tip and its just too whippy to get consistent action and requires too much rod movement. For top water, I dont buy or use expensive rods as everything is visual. The Bass-X line is a great value for reaction baits and they are not heavy (as in weight). A-Jay brings up a great point about using a spinning rod. I started using a spinning rod for jerk plugs and flukes about a year ago. We have a few clear lakes around me and the only way to get the bite, is to stand off and cast 100'. That extra distance makes a huge difference in clear water with spooky fish. I can only cast a jerk plug 60-70' on a baitcaster, but can get 100' with a 6'9" Medium action spinning rod.

I clip the head off and they are 3/4" long and .100" in diameter.

Been doing that for my weightless Super Flukes for many many years. Adds just the perfect amount of weight to the nose and lets me burn that fluke to the boat. I use it as more of a technique to add a small amount of weight at the nose. Do the same for a texas rigged weightless stick bait. Plays doube duty as a hook keeper. Co-angled with Shaw Grigsby about 20 years ago and picked it up from him.

I throw Yum Dingers and Strike King Ochos for everything except weightless wacky. The Senko excels there for fall rate and shimmy. Although.....I have been sticking some tiny brass nails into each end of my Dingers and getting equal to or better than Senko results for Wacky rigging. Adds just under 1/16 of an ounce to the overall weight. Now fall rate and shimmy are on par with the Senko.

I keep it simple and throw 1/2 ounce for about everything in a jig. Always have a 1/2 oz. jig either in my hand or on the deck. ALWAYS! The exceptions are deep water that I want to get to bottom quick, I use a 3/4oz. football. And finesse/compact presentations, I throw a 3/8 ounce tungsten football. And I prefer line ties that are perpendicular to the hook. Also called horizontal line ties. I adjust rate of fall and add bulk with trailers.

Splittin hairs! Pick one...cant say it matters a whole bunch to the fish. Rule of thumb...more than 5' visibility in clear water, run with Watermelon. With that said.....if I could only have one color, it would be green pumpkin or black.

I have the 7' Zodias M and ML; both with Vanford 3000's. I bought the M first....too stiff for finesse. Then I got the Medium-Light.....and its absolutely perfect for finesse - Drop Shot, Neko, Ned, etc. DO NOT GET THE MH! It is too stiff for a spinning rod. I think the Medium is perfect for what you wanna do. The Vanford pairs nicely with the Zodias. Its super lightweight!

For Spinnerbaits/Chatterbaits: Shimano Zodias 7'2" Medium You can overkill it with more expensive rods, but the Zodias is sensitive enough to feel fish swat and miss and also to be able to identify various types of cover. I have 5 CB rods and struggle to use one for everything. -For Deep(12'+)CB's, I LOVE the G.Loomis IMX Pro 903CBR -For Medium 6-12') CB's, I use the IMX Pro 841CBR -For Lipless, I like a slightly stiffer rod to rip through grass, but still soft enough action and tip to not rip the hooks out, so the IMX Pro 855CBR gets that job. Also works for topwater. I am strictly a graphite guy. I do not use glass or composite and have not for 20 years. I am very big on the overall weight of my rod/reel combo too.

Perfecting your technique is mastering the presentation. Understanding the presentation means you need to visually see it and test it with various baits. I cut a 4' chemical cube in half. Its got some gravel in the bottom. I can see how the bait responds to the movement of my rod as well as the baits action. The tank doubles as my outboard fake a lake. It has been priceless. There are plastic baits I will not use after seeing their action in the tank.

My faves that I have confidence that will catch fish for me: R2S Biggie Smalls, KVD 1.0/1.5 & new hard knock. Berkley Fritts Side 5, SPRO Little John 50 and 6th Sense Crush. I mostly prefer rattles, but the Fritts Side has been killing it in clear water for me.

I have used and sold the Mojo Bass rods and now own 3 of the Bass-X rods (6'8" Med xFast, 7'1" Medium Fast and 7'2" Med Moderate. Both the Mojo and Bass-X are designed by St. Croix and assembled in Mexico. I am unsure if the blanks originate in the U.S. or not. The Bass-X is SCII graphite and the Mojo is SCIII. I can tell ZERO difference between the two for bottom contact use. I LOVE the BASS-X for reaction baits. I have 2 I use for Crankbaits and 1 I use for Jerkbaits. The actions are great for that purpose, for me. The rods are light enough for my liking and I like the overall feel and length of rod below the reel seat. St. Croix's 6'8" Med xFast is an amazing Jerkbait rod that doubles duty for walking top water baits. I'm a fan of the Bass-X and look for better sensitivity for my bottom contact stuff. The Shimano SLX rod is a perfect equivalent to the Bass-X and matches the SLX reel to a T. Their Curado feels much better and then their Zodias is a huge step up to me. Its not a Poison Adrena, but for $200, it is AMAZING!!! I have never used an Expride. But have five of the Zodias rods and a Poison Adrena and use them all often. Also have a large assortment of G. Loomis stuff and am shifting to liking the Shimano stuff for bottom contact more.

Cranking is by far my confidence technique. Its won me a fair amount of money back when I fished tournaments.Caught many PB's on plugs. I switched from glass to graphite in 2002 and will never go back to glass. I cant walk a plug through brush or laydowns with glass like I can with graphite. Graphite can offer the same tip and moderate/slower bend of glass and does do at half the weight. I prefer light weight as it also provides better sensitivity. I lose almost zero fish with graphite too. Its 100% graphite for me....in the right action of course. I like the Loomis IMX CB and older PR rods in 7' +.

I use the St. Croix Bass-X 6'8" Med, xFast most of the time. I love that rod for jerkbaits and walking top water baits. This past year, I have been using a spinning rod more for jerkbaits as I can cast an easy 20-30' further and that certainly gives me an advantage for spooky fish and keeps the plug in the strike zone longer. I really dig the Shimano Zodias 6'10" Medium for that and use 15# Smackdown braid to a 10# Tatsu leader. I have also started throwing smaller jerk plugs and the spinning outfit is such a better solution for those. When I throw the 110mm jerk plugs; I most always throw them on the 6'8" Bass-X casting rod and use straight 10# Tatsu FC as of recent. I used to use 10# Invisx and still do for all of my crankbait rods, but use the Tatsu for the jerk plug. Better sensitivity, less memory, casts farther, very strong and just the right amount of stretch. I can cast the Tatsu about 10' farther than the Invisx on the shorter 6'8" rod too. I believe mostly because it has far less memory. Having less memory, the plug reacts much better to the twitches and jerks as well after line goes slack. For crankbaits, Invisx has worked well for me as the bait is under a constant pressure. Anyway....that deviated from jerk plug rod talk, but supports somevof the reasoning. I do think the jerkplug rod action is one of the hardest to nail down. I bought the Megabass Levante Jerkbait rod by description online. I though it was awful for a jerkplug, but it worked beautiful for finesse jigs 3/8oz and lighter. Just goes to show that jerkbait rod actions can and often are very subjective....as are most rod actions. I will say that the Megabass Levante is an AMAZING rod for $200.

I think for any body of water, temp, and for all year, I'd throw a 5" green pumpkin stickbait; my choice is the SK Ocho. I'd rig it Texas with a 3/16oz bullet weight on a 3/0, maybe weightless, Wacky or Neko. With one spinning rod rigged with 15# braid to 10# FC leader, a pack of stickbaits, a few 3/0 hooks, a few light tungsten bullet weights, some Neko style hooks and a few Neko weights.....there is not anywhere I could not fish and catch the biggest bass in that lake.

For 1/8oz. and under, I prefer the Megabass Okashira screw head. I wish they made it in 3/16 & 1/4, but since the don't, I use the Dirty Jigs Matt Stefan Guppy heads with the 1/0 hooks that A-Jay mentioned. I typically use the 2.8 Keitech Fat Impact on the 1/0, but may use up to the 3/0 hook on the 3.3. Also like the Keitech 3.5 Easy Shiner and the Megabass 3" Hazedong Shad.

Drop shot with a light cylinder style weight or throw a wacky rig. I have a pond right by my house that a DS slays them. When the DS bite is slow, I throw a wacky Ocho. Bottom is a green soup with a few rocks.

It is when you hook a fish on the bottom hook/lure. That tag end is now pulling on the knot above it. Another knot style for the hook above is necessary.