Jeff H

This has not been my experience. When I've worked concentrations of fish, it seems I always get the small ones first. The bigger fish in the group always come last for me.

No shame in that! Adapt and keep at it. Any port in a storm, right? I haven't really stopped to think about it yet but I would guess there are very very few presentations that can't be made with spinning gear. A good majority of my fishing is t-rig worms and jigs and I already know I can be just as effective with spinning gear on those. I have a 7 ft spinning rod stashed away that will easily handle slop fishing. I know the time will come for me too.

This is true. I'm one of those guys dealing with Arthur and it's becoming a problem that I'm getting concerned about. Just this year I have been noticing I've got a much weaker grip on my rod when I set. Twice it fell out of my hand and the joint at the base of my left thumb hurts quite a bit at the end of a day now. I have had pain for years but now it's becoming much worse. Got a bad hip and both knees too but the pain is a worthy trade for a day on the water. I don't disagree here at all. In this case, smaller and lighter does help. It is why I have TD-Z's and Fuego's. But I still like using my HSTA's and them awful big framed Tatula's!

I have 2/6 Fireline on one of them right now but the other 3 are 4lb or 6lb Trilene XT Clear. Not a big fan of skinny braids on baitcasters though. I don't think I'd ever go over 6lb, especially in XT.

But....Brass transmits much better than lead and is a lot cheaper than tungsten. I used to have a lot of brass bullets. Mine are Thunder Bullets brand, a now defunct company but they made some fantastic brass products. My supply is slowly dwindling so I should try to hunt some more down. Never had a situation where I felt the brass color had an effect either way so I no longer bother to color them up. This is another item I wish I had stocked up on years ago, I like using brass but because of my limited supply I mostly use lead.

Now that B.A.S.S has changed their rod length rule, isn't everybody going to get a 10' flipping rod? I gotta get me one, maybe a 9' Premier Musky rod or something. I'll wait until they build a new 10' Tule Dipper I guess

Me too. I have WAY more than I'll use the rest of my life and I keep on buying. I like to buy unknown, unpopular or obscure brands to try out. Some have been really good but they often go out of business and you can't find them anymore.

I agree. Weight and size. Some of these guys must have mighty small hands to gripe about the size and weight of a Tatula.

Does "baitcast setup" involve both rod and reel or are we just talking reel here??

Wow, that's pretty cool!

I agree! Wish there were more like him.

I have never done well in the fall throwing topwater of any kind. I no longer bother with it. It's kind of odd because this time of year the frogs will usually start to migrate back to the water before it starts freezing up.

Situation rectified 4 days ago....

It hasn't needed it, probably still doesn't but I'd still love to see them get Alconites or Ti framed Zirconium just as a little push. No price increase either, or very minimal. Maybe they should also consider going back to the old matte finish too. Seems like they used to be matte, then satin and now gloss black. I'm fine with either but if they can be produced with better guides in the matte finish for same price that would be a good "redesign"! They should also add 7'6" models in M, MH and H to the Premier crankbait series.

I'm with this. I don't even bother with ML power for bass fishing unless I'm doing the extreme finesse thing. Got no use for light power at all.

Heck, I've tried this several times and I'm just not cut for it. I've given up on this, sticking to spinning gear for skipping. Good luck to you, Dale! I hope you can make it work for you. I'm still tempted to grab me one of these for another jerkbait rod (which I don't need), let me know what you think of it after you use it a bit.

My youngest boy used a 6'6" Cabelas Fish Eagle MH spinning rod with Power Pro braid for froggin' before he could use a baitcaster comfortably and he often whupped me. He's still a better frogger than I'll ever be. I cant' recall one fish lost because he didn't have the power to get it out. He'd just lean on that rod with everything he had and it never let him down. More power and length may have made it easier for him but he did just fine with that rod.

I've paused and wondered about that pricing many times when looking. I don't like Purple or I may have a Mojo or several, but I don't. I'll stick with the Premier from now on. Great performance, excellent durability and just a little bit over-priced but still worth it. Pretty sure these are the toughest rods I own. Did I mention they are very durable? I wish St. Croix could find it to their advantage to move the Premier series up to Alconite guides. Use better guides, better spacing and better sizing and I'd never look at another brand rod ever again. It would be all I need.

The Mr. Twister Comida is a great choice!

I have never felt a broken rod that I would accept as re-purposed for bass use. If warranty would not take care of it, I'd give or throw it away and get a new one.

I was on Chisago last Thursday and water temps were under 60 deg most of the day. I think the warmest I hit was 60.6 just before I left at 2pm. Was 57-58 when I started at 8am.

Sounds like a good jerkbait rod to me! What brand rod is it? Never mind, I found it. Looks like a great deal.

I use 6' M/F or 6'6" M/F St. Croix Premier most of the time. Depending on lure weight I might reach for a MH if needed. I just don't fish topwater baits very much. I have a pair of the Avid 6'2" M/XF that JFrancho mentioned but use them strictly for jerkbaits, never considered them for anything else but I suppose they'd do real well with Pop R or other smaller lightweight topwaters.

I get minor backlash every trip. Fluffs all the time. 2 weeks ago I had a backlash that rendered that particular reel unusable the rest of the day. That has not happened in many many years. That reel is a highly modified Fuego w/100M spool. Excellent performance but the spool seems a tad unpredictable. I'm leaving it in there though because when it's good (which is 95% of the time), it's really really good!

Wow! Great day of fishing. Good job!