webertime

Boil the cheapies... helps a lot. I like the bps/strike king for chatterbait trailers

Sure are pretty Daiwas! Look like the Procyon of a few seasons ago (body, weight and ratio wise). Finally a good BPS spinning reel.

Jerkbait rods are really personal. I know dudes that love floppy glass rods and catch the heck out of them with them. Other guys love xf rods. ~$100 jb rods. 705 Dobyns 68mxf st croix 66mf st croix 70mlf tatula Are all great options to start with

6"5" Rig a lot of deepwater (all water actually). Rigged 1' to 58' this past season. Including doing nothing else in a Costa during the spawn and came in 16th. I use an 8ft NFC (MB807 model called a "mag light") blank I built up with not quite micro guides, spiraled. I run a Fuego CT 8:1 reel with Seaguar Abrazx 20lb (Champlain is zebra mussels, slate, granite and sand stone). A very similar production rod would be a Uribe Scuderia M4. This set up is perfect for rigging that long sweep moves a ton of line and incase you goof that up the high speed reel catches up with your mistake. I also use it for Chatterbaits with 4" swimbait trailers. You are on the right path with the longer rod for deepwater.

Damiki makes a nice 2 piece as well.

Plano flipside 3714. Usually for traps, fits jigs perfectly.

https://www.reedssports.com/shimano/shimano-catana-2500fc-spinning-reel-263393 This is a great reel

Tatula 200 or HD would be perfect. Once you get to 4oz the 300 sized reels are better suited.

I used 6lb YZ Hybrid for years. Now it's braid with 35ft of 7lb sniper.

Contact them, they sell sheets of the material too.

Owner slam

Drag a football with a swimbait or drag a Carolina rig around the humps. Drop shot too.

Grab a 744 Champion. Call Dobyns too

A Tatula "MHR" is like a 734.5 in a Dobyns

Pointer 100 (spring) Jackhammer (spring summer fall) Carolina Rig with Speedcraw (spawn to fall) Drop Shot 3" Swing Impact (summer to fall) YoZuri Trap of some sort (fall) Keitech Football highest with a 2.8 swimbait (summer through "I'm stupid for being out here")

Uribe Riverside M2. Just got this rod a few months back and have been using it to drag 3/8 & 1/2 keitech footballs with little swimbaits. I'm pretty impressed with this rod. Better sensitivity than a Fury 735, Mojo 71MHF and is right there with the Tatulas I love.

Lowrance HDS Live and Elite Ti2 just came to market. All sorts of cool features on the Ti2 for great prices.

I've used Vike Tungsten force beads, and they behaved the same way. Once rigged they are fine.

They clack against weights just fine. They pick up little pieces (slivers) of metal off the lake bottom as well.

I'm going out on Champlain Monday...

I'm going to go in a slightly different direction. I am advocating #2. That rod you describe is a model of St. Croix rod that is super versatile. I have a ton of high end stuff, but I also have a beat up gen 1 Mojo 7ft MH Mod. This rod is great for cranks (whatever line you like), Square Bills and Traps (braid), Super Spooks, Shower Blows, Ploppers up to 130mm (12lb mono), and even jerkbaits in the 100-128 sizes (I throw Pointers, slender pointers, and flash minnows on it with lighter mono). I guess braid with different leaders would make this rod a great all purpose treble rod.

https://www.sierratradingpost.com/redington-path-rod-and-reel-combo-2-piece~p~309yx/?filterString=s~fly-rod%2F&merch=prod-rec-prod-prod309YX Look no further

10lb Super Natural 8lb Yo Zuri Hybrid

Shower Blow 105 for the win.

Mojo is a Mexican blank with different scrim and resin than the Avid. The graphite is the only commonality between the 2. My experience with mojo/rage vs avid has given me the impression that the mojo is slightly slower in action and that might load the bait better for you and the mechanics of your cast.