softwateronly

That’s the truth for me. Fall is brutal until the water gets cold. Mid October till late November is magical. Last one off the lake and first one on is my yearly goal. scott

Im with you, they’re great rods. Better than my conquest in almost all things. The power pitch is the one that really loves a heavier reel, once I threw a bantam on there it became my favorite jig rod. Anything lighter just limited all the perceived benefits of a high price rod. I feel like a 1/2” forward placement of the reel seat would open it up to many more reels for me. scott

Yes. Should have wrote earlier that I also threw a 3/4oz blade bait. Tip is soft but certainly enough rod there to handle 3/4oz. I have mine paired up to a jdm zillion G which I think comes in around 6.4oz. Balances on the front of the lock nut. I’m really looking forward to pushing it around when I finally get time on the water; finesse jigs, neds, mojo rigs, t-rigs, blades, square bills, jerks, tail spinners, spybaits. It feels really versatile to me. scott

The sensor is my 2nd steez rod and neither it nor the power pitch have great balance. Both took some reel swapping to find a comfortable match. But once comfortable, I find them to be extremely sensitive and versatile rods, and some of my favorites. They seem like an ever so slight miss on high end production rods for the price to me because of this. scott

I picked up a used one in December and unfortunately haven’t been able to fish it much yet. Took it to an unfrozen river and dragged a 1/4oz ned/jackal ishad around, cast well and felt everything. Later fished a 1/2oz blade bait and felt my one and only bait as it was vacuumed off the bottom. Tip was very soft then transitioned into some solid backbone and the fish stayed pinned. The tackletour review was why I grabbed this rod and so far I feel like the review is very accurate. scott

The number is 3.14159265358979 lbs. or not, sorry you lost a good one to faulty equipment. The bright side is that operator error wasn't the culprit because that sting lasts like no other. scott

Most all is 20, 30 or 50lb power pro super slick. Found 2 big spools (1k yards?) on sale on Amazon a couple years back. I have some 65lb maxcuatro on my frogging setup. scott

I agree with @Bankc I use 8 carrier in 30lb w/ 10lb floro leader. It’s a great system for getting good depth on the retrieve and nice stop/starts when not grinding bottom. scott

I'd get some jerk baits you're interested in, and fish them on what you already have. A vision 110 jr on the ML would probably be great. Some jerks might be better on the MH. Not all jerkbaits are the same, you kinda have to feel them out and see if they like soft pulls or hard snaps for best action. The trick for me is to get a bait to dart and roll, then stop. I like no perceivable swim, just flash and suspend, then try to determine a cadence of flashing vs suspending. scott

I keep mine and fan them out some. So many weeds I’d lose all the advantages of a swim jig in general. Many times I think a weedguard helps keep the fish pinned after the hook set. I’ve adjusted my gear to accommodate the extra difficulty in the initial hook set and lose few to no fish over the course of a season now. scott

Hey I can understand the Italian but am not familiar enough with the nrx+. My guess is that 843mbr would be a better choice for both chatterbaits and bottom contact. scott

They have produced for me on the Great Lakes with water in the low to mid 40’s. I would think that bite goes lower in temp too. scott

I'm looking to mix in a duh spoon and lake fork flutter spoon. I don't really fish vertically successfully, so I'm looking for cold water horizontal presentations. I think the flutter spoon has quite a bit of summer potential as well. scott

If you like ball heads, these have a lot of 2/0 options... https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?start=0&count=30&searchtext=hellfire I haven't fished them yet, but the hook seems good for 6-12lb line. scott

Spinnerbaits are not as effective for me as they are for others, but nichols has a bluegill color that works for me, jt's best color ever. I do best slow rolling on the outer edges of weedlines. scott

Bought a used plug in hybrid in 2020. Real winter, like temps in the teens, cuts the electric only range in half at minimum, maybe even more, if you need more than seat heaters. Switching to hybrid or gas only is a button push away, so it still works for us, but electric has serious constraints up north, not to mention the economical/environmental/political impact of the rare earth metal supply chain. When the weather is over 45 or so, I probably fill up on gas once a month though, so it still has a viable city role. scott

Been doing that for a few years because of work and it came in handy once already. I don't understand why this thread is all into the Enhanced Drivers License. Sure it says you're a US citizen and allows you back in but does it allow you entry to any other countries? Seems like a passport for 10 years is the thing worth spending more on. scott

Same here. Also owner ball heads. scott

Same here. That rod seems criminally underrated by dobyns fans. scott

Just to add on, once the water is in the 40's up north, I check the shallows. Fish move up way faster than I used to think. And, if they're not on the flats, they're probably nearby on the breaks. scott

Head shape, weight, and hook drive my decision. When working the upper part of the water column and skinny water, I prefer any coosa style head, nichols, 6th sense, dirty jigs, sieberts, etc., with a standard wire hook somewhere between 3/16-3/8oz. When swimming along the bottom on deeper breaks or busting through thick submergent grass in the mid depths I really like the california swim jig from dirty jigs and north star flip and swim in 1/2-1oz with a big, heavy wire hook. Gambler EZ, big EZ, vibes, D walker 100 & 120mm are my goto trailers. On moonless nights, I've had great success swimming a MB uoze 3/4oz w/ a gambler GZ mid column. (Yes, I lose the blade within the 1st hr of fishing, don't care) The giant GZ really likes the heavy uoze because it has a longer, super slick hook with a light weed guard allowing an excellent hook up ratio. scott

This is all true, but a s-waver 168 fishes really light. You might have a MH/H that could handle it and then decide. Personally, I've found it hard to find a swimbait rod that does everything well. Big jig hook baits feel like they need to be faster with more power than big treble hook baits. scott

To me they’re both worth that price. If I was to only get one it would be the Loomis. scott

Agree with everyone else before me, the crazy thing after throwing swim baits for a few years is how I never think about 6” baits as special anymore. Bass up north will all hit a bait that size. I think @8” is where you start limiting bites. scott

You can skip right to the 10”!! https://www.magnumbaits.com/store/p4/10"_MagStick.html scott