I have a St Croix Medium Fast  7' Bass Tournament Rod with a Johnny Morris BC.  I love my yellow 20-30lb braid due to losing less lures to snags and visibility.  I was told by a friend with a ton of bass fishing experience that I need a moderate action with mono for stretch. 

 

Thinking out of the box, since a 3 ft mono leader wouldn't add much stretch to help, could I set my drag pretty loose to allow some give?

Yes

Yes it will work just fine. 

I have a St Croix Medium Fast  7' Bass Tournament Rod with a Johnny Morris BC.  I love my yellow 20-30lb braid due to losing less lures to snags and visibility.  I was told by a friend with a ton of bass fishing experience that I need a moderate action with mono for stretch. 

 

Thinking out of the box, since a 3 ft mono leader wouldn't add much stretch to help, could I set my drag pretty loose to allow some give?

 

No, you don´t  "NEED" like it were one of the 10 Commandments a moderate action rod, you can fish comfortably with the rod you already have the only thing is because of the stiffer action and the lack of stretch of your line I recommend you back off your drag a liitle bit, that´s it, I´ve been fishing for bass for more than 3 decades and for the better part of them I fished with M fast rods. Moderate action rods or crankbait specific rods help, but they are not a must.

Through all my reading, I never saw the drag trick.  I thought I invented this great idea that would change the crankbait world   Thanks for the input guys.  Plus, if I lose any fish, I will blame my fast action rod.

consistency is the key to crankbaits, my goal is to try to keep the same pressure on the hookup.  the fish comes at you crank like he!!, fish goes away from you, turn it (and you may have to walk to the other end of the boat)   the action of the rod really determines how much forgiveness of a mistake your going to get.  fast action is pretty unforgiving, moderate is pretty nice, but really sloppy  and hard to keep a constant pressure against the fish....  I personally use a cranking stick (Skeet Reese) and have yet to lose a fish with it.  Thats my mentality when it comes to crank baits...  that and I've made enough mistakes along the way to learn what NOT to do...  

it will work ok it is a nice rod I would put mono on it though, sensitivity wont be an issue with that rod so giving a little and switching to mono would probably be a good idea. good luck...

 

Mitch

I'm like Raul.  Bought my first crankbait rod after the weather turned too cold (for me) to fish anymore last year.  Before that I threw crankbaits on whatever MF rod I was using.  Most of my rods have mono on them.  I see no reason you can't use braid as long as the drag is turned down low enough to avoid ripping the hooks out of the fish's mouth.  Matter of fact my reading on here has turned up the fact that some people fish braid with crankbaits all the time with success.

Good to hear guys.  As a newbie, if I lose too many fish, I will switch to mono.  Thanks for the advice guys.  Keep the info coming.

I used a St. Croix Premier 7' MH Fast with straight 30 pound braid to the bait, and loved it.    I use a St. Croix LTB 7' MH Moderate with the same braid now and it is always in the back of my head to switch back to that Premier because I liked it a little better.

 

EDIT:     So my point is you should be fine with a M Fast

Sounds like a TERRIBLE set up! I think the best thing to do is get rid of this rig. Let me help you out. You can ship it to me at... Just kidding!

Hope you catch a ton! How do you like the yellow braid?

Scared me for a minute Trailer   It made me question my limited knowledge when he was so adamant about getting a mod action with mono.  I will keep you gents posted as the year goes by to see if I can make it work for me.

Scared me for a minute Trailer   It made me question my limited knowledge when he was so adamant about getting a mod action with mono.  I will keep you gents posted as the year goes by to see if I can make it work for me.

Ha! I'm the last person you should listen to! It does crack me up when people ask about a rod for throwing a pink jitterbug in 75 degree water in odd numbered years during falling barometric pressure for female bass in a post-tornadic weather pattern but before the summer equinox.

Good luck and catch 'em til your arm is sore!

Actually, a little JJs is the key in that scenario   Good luck to you too.