Ok, I just picked up the baitcaster yesterday. practiced casting for about an hour and a half, must have made over 100 casts, and not one backlask. I am ready to up my rod reel arsenal with some quality baitcating combos. I know that for fishing crankbaits a rod with a moderate action and/or a soft tip is best for maintaining tension on the fish, but not too much to rip out the trebles. My question is, since we apply this theory to crankbaits, should I take the same approach to topwaters, and jerkbaits and use a cranking stick with a more forgiving action, or should I opt for a regular fast action graphite?

If you want to be VERY technique specific, there are different degrees of "softness". Generally, I would recommend Moderate Action for most treble hook lures; for heavy, deep divers maybe slow action. For some applications, I like Fast Action with a soft tip (topwater & jerkbaits).

Examples of rods I fish:

General: St. Croix Avid AC70MM

Deep: Lamiglas SR705R

Topwater & jerkbaits: St. Croix AC66MF (soft tip)

I think there's a fine line here.  Although you want a soft tip or moderate action for treble hook lures, you also need enough tip to be able to work the lure.

you also need enough tip to be able to work the lure.

Agreed.  

It's preference but I hate a mod rod for any topwater applications.  I use a fast or ex-fast and loosen the drag a little more if there are trebles.

I agree with the other guys.  There are different levels of softness.  For example, for crankbaits, I use a crankbait rod that has a moderate action.  I use a jerkbait & topwater rod that has a moderate-fast action.  For all other applications, I use a rod with a fast or extra-fast action.  It is harder to walk the dog with a slow or moderate action rod, but I don't think I get as good of motion with a fast action rod.  I found the mod-fast action is perfect for working topwater and jerkbaits, but is soft enough to use with treble hook type lures.  That is just MHO.