7 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

Well, it did what I wanted it to do. And then some. 
 

It was a slow morning with weightless Senko and Zoom trick worm TR, Senko WR and no topwater action. I walked to a different spot with my finesse rig (it’s very brushy with little casting room) and caught four bass on a wacky. Went back to my start point and starting working a 5” weightless watermelon Senko TR. Had a few light strikes which I could detect well. I made my “last cast” before heading home and starting reeling it in very slow with pauses. I just started the retrieve when I felt a strike. I set the hook, and I mean, I set it. It was a dink but if I had driven the hook home any deeper I probably would have decapitated it (it’s ok, but he was not jumping that hook). 
 

Just what I was looking for going from a Med to a Med Hvy. And pleased with the sensitivity. 
 

That is going to be a good size bass when it grows into its tail. 

3 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

That is going to be a good size bass when it grows into its tail. 

For the size of this pond that is not stream-fed, I am surprised at the overall health of the fish. Other than catfish, all I have seen are bluegills and minnows. And way more bluegill than minnows. But there must be enough (plus crayfish and frogs) to keep them well-fed. 

I got a 7'0 med spinning Aird-X and it worked very well! I could feel the little Brown Trout biting my spinner, but it had enough power to get out of snags! Can't wait to use it for bass fishing!

I have M and MH casting models. Love them and it's made it so hard to spend more than $50 on a rod

For $79.99, Daiwa Procyons are some nice rods. Decent cork grips and (at least my MF spinning) is pretty sensitive. Actually, so is the Aird-X. 

My childhood best friend and I recently reconnected. I'm gonna surprise him with his first fishing rod setup. He's been wanting to get into it since he's seen me doing it, but unwilling to spend the money since he's into guns. Gonna surprise him with an AirdX 7' ML