I bought a Bass Pro Shops Crappie Maxx Quick Tip rod. Got the 6’0” light power/fast action version. 1/32-1/4oz lure weight. I have 4 pound mono line on it. The rod has a solid carbon tip section about 18” long with 5 micro guides on that section. The tip flexes easily but below that there’s not much bend in the rod at all. I believe the rest of the blank is graphite. 

 

I was told this is a jigging rod for crappie, and would not be good for moving baits and be able to handle a strike well. But I want to use this rod for throwing smaller Roostertails for crappie and panfish. But there’s every chance that a good sized bass will hit it also. I’ve read reviews from people who said the rod breaks in the tip section, but that could be from anything, abuse, damage occuring from improper storage, or even damage from shipping before they ever used it. Anyway, I just wanted to ask if I should or shouldn’t use this rod that way.

I don’t have experience with that exact rod, but I use exclusively carbon rods for everything. No glass for this guy… and I’ve never broken a rod because I used it for moving baits. 

21 hours ago, The Rooster said:

I bought a Bass Pro Shops Crappie Maxx Quick Tip rod. Got the 6’0” light power/fast action version. 1/32-1/4oz lure weight. I have 4 pound mono line on it. The rod has a solid carbon tip section about 18” long with 5 micro guides on that section. The tip flexes easily but below that there’s not much bend in the rod at all. I believe the rest of the blank is graphite. 

 

I was told this is a jigging rod for crappie, and would not be good for moving baits and be able to handle a strike well. But I want to use this rod for throwing smaller Roostertails for crappie and panfish. But there’s every chance that a good sized bass will hit it also. I’ve read reviews from people who said the rod breaks in the tip section, but that could be from anything, abuse, damage occuring from improper storage, or even damage from shipping before they ever used it. Anyway, I just wanted to ask if I should or shouldn’t use this rod that way.

 

I don't know specifically, but here's my experience.  I have 2 solid tip rods, and to my surprise I actually find them really good at certain moving baits.  I fish twitch baits and small swimming spoons mid column with more reel bumps, burn/pause than actually twitch and the softness in the tip section is a good bite indicator and also a shock absorber if you fish the rod at a slight angle to your cast.  I also have a "high end" bottom contact rod with a solid tip that is my favorite tail spin rod.  Most bites are tightlining and the tip has good cushion/indicator while the rest of the M+ rod helps control a fish at the end of a long cast.  Neither of these cases are straight reeling though.  If you wanna do that, the tip might be engaged the whole time and it could feel overloaded during the retrieve.  I've also heard about the fragility of a solid tip, to me, they are equal in delicateness to a thin graphite tip because I've now broken 2 graphite tips and zero solid tips.

 

scott

I took it out the other day and tried it with a 1/8 oz Roostertail. Didn’t catch anything but the rod didn’t feel overloaded with the retrieve so I decided I’m just gonna use it to the full capacity that I had planned on, and if it breaks then so be it. I got a year warranty period to find out how durable it is or isn’t so Ima fish it like it ain’t mine. 
 

I didn’t stay long enough to try other baits. A friend texted a pic of his brand new boat to me so I took off to go see it.

I have a gang of longer finesse rods, both solid and tubular tip.  Generally, solid tip are recommended for soft finesse baits, and tubular tip for finesse plugs.  

I fished last week with a 5-g plug on tubular tip 7'8" rod, and it was a match made in heaven, especially for the 200' shore cast I was facing.  Unfortunately, a half-dozen dolphins moved in, ending the fishing, right when the tide current was picking it up.  

 

I was hooking these fish on the far channel slope - a solid-tip rod wouldn't do that. 

This was my first chance to really push this tackle, and it could have gotten exciting without the dolphins - keep paying my dues.