David P

SHAKY HEAD AND DROP SHOT Perfect rod for both. Never tried a Cardiff, but there's quite a few daiwas and shimanos that cast small baits great . Alphas , SOL, Chronarch 50mg, fuego, just to name a few. I have a fuego on mine, and cast 1/8oz baits with ease.

Expensive : Dobyns Rods only Cheap: BPS Extreme rods on sale at $64 great for any budget angler.

Glad the pontoon paid off for yah bud. You deserve it. Now get back out there and stick another, this time with a scale! "Jigs are all the same" hahaha, couldn't be further from the truth! What kinda jig did you get her on?

NorCal

I heard this guy just gets lucky alot Haha, Thanks Catt! I'm plenty happy with the fishing we have here, nothing else I could ask for, not yet that is.

I'd definitely get the 4 power. I fish Dobyns rods, similar power ratings, and I fish jigs on a 765 and have on a 734 as well. But I wouldn't feel good about fishing jigs on a 3 power. Maybe that's just me.

I fish my drop shot on a Dobyns 702 C and sometimes on the 702 Spinning. Fun rod for drop shot and shaky head.

Zillion, definitely Zillion. Only thing I use my STXs for is heavy cover work because of the drag and a Toro for the high line capacity for swimbaits, other then that I really like the zillion better.

I too didn't throw spinnerbaits or crankbaits until just this year. Done perfectly fine without throwing them, but just picking them up to have fun with new baits.

Depends what I want a 7:1 reel for. When I'm fishing heavy heavy cover with a frog or punching I like my STXs, but when I'm using a jig or soft plastics I like my Zillions.

Higher end baitcasters, at least for me, were easier to learn with. $100 can get you a pretty decent reel, the Revo S and the Citica E would both be great starter reels. The Daiwa Advantage HSTA is $170 but can be found on ebay for $140ish and it too is very easy to cast, and super smooth. There's quite a few options out there. Sometimes you can find great deals in the flea market here as well.

I throw rip baits with 7ft rods no problems, and have with 7 1/2ft rods. I'd definitely grab a 7fter if you're using it for cranks and ripbaits.

Old people have trouble adjusting to new technology ;D

Had a stradic 2500 on my original shaky head rod, then went to a Daiwa Tierra 2500, but now I shaky head with a baitcaster with a daiwa fuego (I enjoy it much better).

There was two pretty long threads recently about this exact question. Search for it, there was some pretty good advice.

It's not invisible what so ever, I have some 10lb invisibraid which is 2lb diameter, even it is HIGHLY visible. Green braid is much less visible then this stuff.

Only makes me want to go to all Daiwas even more now! Sweet reels.

Top water, crankbaits and spinnerbaits all can be fished effectively with mono . Sounds like your rod is probably a F or XF tip as well, so the mono would definitely help with cranks and treble hook baits. Frogs are an ENTIRELY different story, where a longer , heavier rod are better, and 65lb braid. 17-20lb braid is nothing . Mono with frogs is a no-no, and braid with a faster tip rod for cranks won't be the best either. Best bet is to save up for a flipping rod for jigs and frogs and heavier baits next.

DjMax, I'm not very experienced with glass rods, but have held many of them, and until recently my excuse to not own one was the added weight. If you want a sick, incredibly light glass rod, the Dobyns 705Glass rod is ridiculous. As for Lamiglass, they're pretty good with handling their warranty, I have a bud who sends quite a few rods back to them

The new Dobyns rods are the best rods I've found in that price range. Depending on rod lengths, they're $200 - $240 . TONS of models to fit every want and need you could ever have. Already know a few guys getting rid of some IMX Loomis rods and St Croix Legends for the new Dobyns. I sold my last Zillion rod and now only have Dobyns.

Revo and Zillion being the same? I personally think they're much different. The zillion casts lighter baits MUCH easier. 1/8oz baits with ease, the STX on the other hand, not so much. I have 2 Zillions for baits 1/4oz and under, and 4 STXs for heavier baits. Sweet spot? No. I cast very hard sometimes, never any issues. Just my preference

Dobyns 784 / Daiwa Zillion 7.1:1 / 65lb braid / 20lb CXX Leader / 1/2oz jig

I have 6 high speed baitcasters, and 3 6.3:1 baitcasters. My crankbaits , spinnerbaits, and finesse baits that I rarely have any slack line in get the 6.3:1, and my jigs, soft plastics, and everything else under the sun gets a high speed reel.

Rods are all different, some have stiffer tips, some have softer tips, even if they're both MH XF. As bigfruits said, a lot of guys stick with one company for rods for this very reason, makes things easier.

Probably not, what type of swimbaits are you wanting to throw? Maybe if you give a list of a few of the most common baits you will be throwing, people can give you a better idea about length, action, and power.