Some of you may have seen my previous post about getting a new frog rod. 

 

Well I picked up the new expride in 7'3 XH, paired it with the Daiwa Elite reel. 

 

My first impressions were, hot dam this thing is pretty, bass season opened only 2 weeks ago so I've only got to use it a handful of times yet but I've managed a 4lber on a frog and this rod let me tell you, unreal. I can't believe how light it is yet how strong it is. 

 

The reel is an interesting one. I bought the diawa cause I've never owned anything other then an SLX baitcaster. My first opinion of the Diawa is I love the size, it feels good in my hand and also feels like it's made pretty well. I don't love the spool size, for frogging anyways it's a bit small especially cause of the big braid. All that being said bottom line I do actually really like the reel but I think I'd have to still give it to Shimano, it's taken awhile to figure out the best settings for me personally but with the SLX it's just so easy to pickup and go. That being said this Elite reel I can almost cast the spool empty, it's insane how far I can toss a frog on this combo! 

 

All in all I'm so happy with it all. Can't say enough good things about the Expride. Once I've recovered financially from this purchase I can't wait to try and find another Expride! 

If the frog bite dies, the Expride XH also makes a great 5-6" soft swimmer and heavy swim jig rod.  Slow rolling a 3/4oz Uoze w/ a gambler Big GZ on the deepest vertical weed line has put me on my best night bite in years or possibly ever.  If you have some LM areas up there, this will find em.

 

scott

 

 

I know this is a popular and great frog rod but I’ve yet to use it for that, I don’t like frogs and they don’t like me ?‍♂️ but I second what Scott said above, this is my (almost) dedicated rod for mid-size weedless boot tails, and if the swimbait bite is off then it’s great for big plastics like 7” senkos or soft jerks.

Love my Exprides. I have them paired with various Curados.

19 hours ago, Bass Rutten said:

I know this is a popular and great frog rod but I’ve yet to use it for that, I don’t like frogs and they don’t like me ?‍♂️ but I second what Scott said above, this is my (almost) dedicated rod for mid-size weedless boot tails, and if the swimbait bite is off then it’s great for big plastics like 7” senkos or soft jerks.

Love that, haven’t tried it yet. Thanks 

 

I ended up getting the 7’6 version too. Also a winner in every way. 
 

scott

On 6/30/2022 at 10:42 AM, softwateronly said:

If the frog bite dies, the Expride XH also makes a great 5-6" soft swimmer and heavy swim jig rod.  Slow rolling a 3/4oz Uoze w/ a gambler Big GZ on the deepest vertical weed line has put me on my best night bite in years or possibly ever.  If you have some LM areas up there, this will find em.

 

scott

 

 

Nice! I must say I don't ever night fish but I did also want to try flipping a big jig on a deep weed line with this combo so I may try your swim jig tip too!