Brian11719

For a spinning reel I'd say braid to leader but I usually throw texas rigs and jigs on a baitcaster and assuming that's what you are doing I prefer 14-17lb fluorocarbon. The thing with fluorocarbon is you usually get what you pay for and something like Strike King Contra isn't going to be in the same league as something like YGK G-Soul or Spro Gouken. FWIW I've found Sufix also makes a pretty good fluoro line the one knock I'd give it vs. a few of the others I've tried is the lb rating / diameter ratio is a bit higher and as an example their 14lb line is .013 inches in diameter vs. Spro Gouken 14lb line is .012 inches and YGK is also .013 inches but it's rated 15lb... I'm personally really liking the YGK and Spro line right now for fluorocarbon. Yes they are both more expensive then some of the other stuff out there but they have consistently been the two best for me out of all the ones I've tried. I actually also like McCoy fluorocarbon although there is a bit of a difference if you are looking for something a little less expensive that one is pretty good too.

Yeah a bunch of Lucky Craft in there...some stuff for $5 which is a really good deal IMHO. Seems like she might be able to teach me a thing or two...apparently it only takes me 1 swimbait and about 30 minutes and I seem to find a way to be down much more than that...

For regular flukes I use a previous gen adrena 6'11 medium heavy mod fast. For mag flukes I use a 7' sierra medium heavy fast. Both of these have been good to me.

I currently use 30lb sufix 832 braid to a small yo-zuri hybrid 12lb leader for these lures...works fine for me but I also have a note to try out some sufix advance mono (which looks more like a copoly to me anyway) when the spool runs out and have a strong feeling this one comes down to personal preference since I've seen good arguments for both...one thing I like about the idea of using mono is there's no leader knot involved. I suspect the mono might also not last as long as a spool of fluoro but it also seems to be half the cost of a comparable fluoro spool...

I'd try a few different finesse lures until I found one that they are interested in that day. A drop shot is one of my confidence lures but there have been days when they wouldn't even bite that. In that case I'll usually go with something like a small creature bait if I think they are towards the bottom or a small fluke if I think they are higher up. There are also a couple of hard baits like a shad rap that I like in those situations. Either way just keep trying until you find the one that they want that day. Or if all else fails pull out a 6-8" swimbait. If I'm not gonna catch anything I'd at least throw that and give myself a small chance at landing a brute. Plus those larger ones can at least call them out and even if you they don't bite it you might be able to find where they are and then follow it up with a senko or something.

I like the Berkley Swamp Lord (regular and popping version). MF Bluegill and Maverick are the two colors I use but honestly any of them will probably work. Just cracked a nice one on the popping version this morning actually Also see a pic of a toad above and like throwing those too. My personal favorite is the Zoom Horny Toad in green pumpkin pearl (or maybe black light) and like that on a 1/16oz 4/0 gamakatsu swimbait hook. That's about all I use these days as it works and I don't see any need to use anything else. 50lb sufix 832 on a heavy fast rod with a 150 size reel is my personal preference for these lures and also use the same rod for flipping and pitching most of the time. Keep in mind you probably aren't going to catch as many on a frog but it's worth wait. Try to get out early in the morning (right before sunrise works well) and it can also help if it's cloudy or partly cloudy. When you do get a bite you are going to want to set the hook hard and that feeling when you do that right and then landing a big one covered in grass is one of the best in bass fishing IMHO.

Generally speaking I prefer St Croix over Lews but a frogging / flipping and pitching setup is the one area where I tend to like the Lews rods a little better. Any of their 7'2-7'4 heavy fast models rated up to 1.5oz should be good to go. I had a TP1-black that I used for a long time and really liked until I switched it out recently but was a fine frogging / grass setup for the price. I also personally prefer a winn style grip for this particular rod as I find it helps w/ the heavy hook sets. I actually also own a 7'4 HF st croix victory that I really like, but I prefer to use that for swimbaits and spinnerbaits. One last thing...you filtered by line specs but a lot of the time the line ratings will be set for mono so you might not be getting all the results...as long as it says 25lb mono or so you should be good. If I was at BPS and that was my budget I'd personally be looking at the Lews TP2 or the Johnny Morris CarbonLite rods for a frogging / pitching setup.

Gonna be selling a few things on FB to try and make up some of the damage from these two...

Power vs action can be tricky especially if you are new to fishing...Generally speaking I'd say think of power as how much weight it takes for a rod to 'load up' which is to say how much weight can be put on it before it bends as much as it 'should' under ideal conditions...another way to think of power is just look at the max lure weight rating they give you...that's going to be an estimate and it isn't always right but usually close...

The nerve of some large corporations sticking it to the man that just wants to wear a large crappy corporation t-shirt...this thread is older than Cher but I suspect your issue might lie in the fact that you sent your thing to them in March 2025 and if you read the actual thing they said it says it ended on June 30, 2024...

That looks like the 'kickin their bass' rod combo without the reel. I've personally moved away from Lew's rods and reels but that's only because I've become a bit spoiled over time and honestly that's probably not a bad rod from the looks of it and the price is more than reasonable. Lew's doesn't have the warranty others have but they do have some above average products and especially in the $50-$150 price range. If I wanted a basic casting rod and my budget was < $100 that would be something I'd look at.

For you or me yes...probably a bit different of a price for Rapala corp...but still an awesome story and nice to see some people can still be pragmatic about something.

DSG looks like they have the Lew's carbon fiber rods on sale for $55 right now. Not the most expensive rod on the planet but I've used one before and would say it's a decent rod at that price.

If you are looking for a less expensive fluorocarbon line I like McCoy. Not as much as I like YGK G-Soul or Sufix Advance or Spro Gouken, but I've tried a few spools of it and it's pretty good. It's also about as low as I'll go for fluorocarbon price wise and generally speaking I've found you tend to get what you pay for and not sure I'd base your entire opinion on fluorocarbon on a spool of Big Game.

I like braid to leader for a spinning rod and straight fluoro on a casting rod. 14-15lb fluoro for me on the casting rods and I usually like ygk g-soul, spro gouken or maybe sufix advance or mccoy. The ygk stuff is a bit hard to come by these days but it's probably my favorite. You could get away with 20lb fluoro on a casting rod but I usually reserve that for my bigger swimbait / a-rig rod and just throw 14-15lb for everything else. For spinning I like sufix 832 20lb into a 12lb sunline fc leader with an improved alberto knot. I've tried a bunch and pretty much don't deviate from this setup these days. Good luck.

last gen poison adrena medium heavy mod fast spinning rod ...on a side note I see the mh dobyns fury mentioned...i also have a 7'3 mh f sierra w/ an ultegra on it that i really like for mag flukes (and bubba shots). Would also probably be fine for senkos and regular flukes too but it's been a bit difficult to not just pick up the adrena.

This happens with me sometimes. Lately my deal has been selling whatever I'm going to replace first. If I can sell it and once I've got the cash in hand, then I can get the replacement. I'm actually looking at doing this w/ a few of the ones in my lineup at the moment.

I actually like the regular tatulas over the sv tw models for most use cases, but if you are looking at flipping and pitching a rage bug then the sv tw 150 might help a bit on the bigger rod and that's actually what I'd get if I was getting a new pitching / flipping rod. For the other one I'd personally just get a tatula 100. You could probably go with something a little nicer with that budget as some have suggested, but I personally don't have any experience with casting reels beyond that price point so those are the ones I'd get. I also happen to really like those reels so even if I had a bigger budget I'd probably opt for a more expensive rod and stick w/ those reels. Good luck and hope you end up liking whatever you land on.

Dobyns is my favorite crankbait rod and I have 2 kadens (6104cb & 735cb) and 1 champ xp (736 glass). Having said that I can't figure out why they made that 734cb. Unless your favorite lure to throw is an LV 150 or you like to long bomb topwater poppers I don't get it...so I suppose what I'm getting at is it's not a shock to see that one listed for that cheap...although I will admit that's a pretty good deal at that point. In other news fish field has some interesting shimano and daiwa stuff on sale right now...including the adrenas from last year at 20% off (if you are looking for a drop shot rod my guess is that 7'2 model with a vanford on it might actually catch you some fish)...although ironically the thing that caught my eye was 25% off that daiwa fluorocarbon leader...for 100 yards I suspect that is a fair deal at that price.

What sort of baits are you looking to throw on the 734? Normally I'd say a tatula 150 for the 765 flip but that might be a bit overkill for the other rod. The curado 200 series is the other one I'd consider and I have that on a 766 flip at the moment. It's a little bigger than an average reel but not by much and the tatula weighs a bit more but holds more line. On the other hand if you are going to throw 1/2-1oz baits I'd probably just throw a tatula 100 on both and call it a day.

Fine print says it starts on 7/28 so will probably get it in a few days...

The divine swimbaits aren't bad and have some decent colors. The juggle minnow also makes a good trailer on a smaller spinnerbait like an sv-3 or a dirty jigs compact.

I seem to remember Glenn making a video about the best lures of all time and that being the thing that led me to this site...I'd probably start w/ those lures to be honest as I seem to remember all of them being staples that pretty much work wherever you are. That said if you are only going to fish one spot then figuring out what works there and getting good at that makes sense, but if you are going to go try out different places then it seems like learning the stuff that has a good chance of working across the board might be the way to go. To answer your question directly I suppose I'd start with soft plastics and a drop shot worm, wacky rig, and fluke specifically as all three of those consistently work for me in multiple locations.

The old spinning rods have more of a moderate fast action to them (or in shimano terms a regular fast). Own two of those and love them both but prefer a fast or extra fast for a drop shot. I personally use a st croix but get wanting to throw an adrena as the handle is amazing if you happen to not like a foregrip on your spinning rod....so with all that said I would take the new 7'2 ml f model. Mostly because I don't personally care for the stinger tips all that much and don't really see myself wanting one for a drop shot. I do wish they had a few more spinning models. The old series had that medium heavy rod and that thing is amazing for a bunch of stuff. My personal favorite is probably a willowvibe or a wacky rig but honestly that one is one of my favorite rods ever and it's insane how I ended up just stumbling on it one day on sale. Anyway getting off topic so I'll shut up now...TLDR the 7'2 ml f would be my first choice for an adrena drop shot rod. If you happen to like stinger tips then maybe the heavier 6'10 model.