smalljaw67

I fished those rods and the 6'9" ML-XF is the one you want. Most medium light rods are now closer to actual medium power and the 6'9" ML-XF certainly follows this trend. I fished that rod using a tube with a 1/8oz head, I also fished a 3/16oz finesse jig with tiny paca chunk trailer so for all the baits you have listed I think it is the perfect stick.

That is a River2Sea Glassic Vibe that is discontinued.

Football jigs have a few categories, one is the big 3/4oz to 1oz jig with light wire hook, these are typically fished on a 7' to 7'6" MH-F rod with 14lb to 17lb fluorocarbon line in 25' to 35' of water. The reason for light wire hooks in big football jigs is for easy penetration with lighter line fished on a MH rod, it makes for a sensitive set up but if you are encountering a lot of brush besides rock, that is when braid, heavy power rod, and a football head with a stout hook is needed. Finesse football jigs can be anywhere from 1/8oz to 3/8oz, Dave Wolak is one of the few pro anglers that uses finesse football heads and he defines them as any football jig that weighs less than 1/2oz. I make 1/8oz and 1/4oz football heads with both light wire and heavy hooks, the hook depends on the application. I'm going to use a 1/4oz finesse football jig on my next trip because I'm going to fish a lake with some hard bottom areas with some scattered chunk rock, fish that are done spawning will be in these areas which are less than 10' deep. A small football head with a rage chunk dragged across the bottom in those spots is a killer presentation that gets a lot of bites, if I find the fish are out in 12' to 15' or if the water is stained I'll opt for a 3/8oz model. To make it easy I'll give you the general differences of standard versus finesse football jigs in an outline format.
 
                                      
 
                  Standard                                                                 Finesse
 
Size -        1/2oz - 1oz+.                                                           Less than 1/2oz - typical sizes are 1/8oz and 1/4oz.
 
Skirt -         50 to 60 strands normal.                                        40 - 45 strands sometimes tied full or in crop top.
 
Application - Fished in water deeper than 10' mostly.              Fished in water less than 10' mostly.
 
Technique - Dragged over rocks, and stroking.                        Dragged over rocks - slow hopped.
 
Hook - Light wire and heavy wire.                                              Light wire mostly but can have heavy wire too.

When you were pulling on the line your thumb pushed the thumb bar down and the spool disengaged, I've witnessed that happen to more than 1 person that was new to bait casting. The reason this happens is the way your natural instinct to hold the rod ends up putting you thumb on the bar and you squeeze hard so you have a secure grip when pulling on the set up to free your bait but when you tighten your grip your thumb pushes down on the bar. When you get more experienced with a casting reel, you'll end up making a cast and your thumb will more than likely end up on the frame of the reel but right now you still have the instinct of holding a spinning rod so palming a casting reel feels strange but don't worry, eventually your hands will end up doing it without you ever noticing.

One knockers are going to be to your liking, the Rapala Clackin' Rap is very good and is completely different than the Xcalibur one knockers. The Cotton Cordell Super Spots I put into low frequency range as well, the reason is they vibrate and make noise at slower retrieve rates than other lipless cranks but you have to make sure you get the right ones. There are the ones they have on sale all the time at Wally World that come in a blister pack, you don't want those, you want the ones that come in a box, the plastic is different and they work at slower speeds, the blister packs are either seconds or purposely made cheaper, I'm not sure but the super spot sold in a box is what you want to look at.

They work, the Katsuage hooks are made by VMC, and the hooks on the RC STX are made by VMC also. The reason they work is they are light wire, now on a 110 you can use the VMC Barbarian out barb hooks with no problems because the hooks are a little more stout but the 110 is a slow floater so the slightly heavier hooks don't hurt much. The RC STX is really finicky and it will sink with the VMC Barbarian out barb but is good with the Katsuage hook.

Size # 2 is what is used on 1/4oz up to 3/4oz and some will use it on 1oz as well. I use Worth ball bearing swivels, they aren't cheap but they are better priced than Sampo and they are as good, if not better than Sampo. The best price I found for a 100 count is Barlows because they will let you buy the swivel and split rings separate which saves a good bit but Lure Parts Online has them all ready assembled for a decent price and I believe you can buy them in packs of 10 so you don't have to buy 100.

The hook size on the swim jig determines your trailer size, and the Fat Albert will work but it will be very compact, you will have to trim the skirt for the tail to be free.  I know a lot of my friends are telling me the new Kalins Sizmic grub is awesome on the back of a swim jig, try the 3.8 size. A good all around size for that swim jig is 3.5" to 4", the only way you need larger is is it have a long 5/0 hook, then your minimum would be a 4" or 4.5" bait.

Cranking rods have a moderate action meaning they have a deep or parabolic bend or flex to keep pressure on a fish hooked with trebles without it pulling the hooks free. They can be any length and power but most you see range from 6'6" to 7'11" and in medium, and medium heavy powers and while there are medium light and heavy powers I'm giving you the most popular. A jerkbait rod is like a topwater rod, there are some that like shorter rods with fast actions in a medium power while others like a longer length with a moderate action, lengths go from 6' to 7' in medium to medium heavy powers. Jig and worm rods are normally 6'6" to 7'3" and are mostly medium heavy but can be medium also and they are mostly fast or extra fast in action. Pitching sticks can be as short as 6'6" but most are 7' to 7'6" and feature a fast or extra fast action in medium heavy to heavy powers, and flipping sticks are generally 7'6" to 8' and are heavy power to extra extra heavy power and can be fast to moderate fast to moderate in action.

It isn't a Skitter walk, it is an X-Rap walk and I'm pretty sure they don't make them anymore. These were made in 3 sizes, the 9, 11, and 13 and what you probably have is a size 11. I fish the Susquehanna river for smallmouth and my personal best was 5lb 4oz caught on the old model Zara Spook which is close to 5" long and weighs 7/8oz and one secret to catch big smallies in the warm water is to use big topwaters because they eliminate a lot of the smaller fish at that time of year but the big girls won't hesitate, they'll eat it!!!

I see a lot of anglers that use oversize hooks on their plastics and they can help but it all depends on the type of soft plastic it is. For example, on a 4" fluke jr. I like a 2/0 worm hook but I have fished it on a 3/0 and I've witnessed guys using a 4/0, on a bait like that the larger the hook, the less action, the same for straight tail and ribbon tail worms, the further down the worm the hook extends, the less action you will get. I think an easy way for you to decide which hook to use would be to take your soft plastic of choice and you hook brand of choice and look at the bait and divide it up in 3rds, lay out a 2/0, a 3/0, a 4/0, and a 5/0 hook next to the bait and see where the hook bend falls. If it falls in the upper 3rd then you can probably go a little larger, if it falls in the bottom 3rd then you may want to go a little smaller, but ultimately you want it to be in the middle 3rd, that is where most of us start at, where the difference between anglers is some will want that to be in the upper part of that middle 3rd section, and others will want to be in the lower part. Try out different ways of rigging with different size hooks, as it was already mentioned, a 3/0 to 4/0 will work for most plastics but there is no standard. If you really want to know how much difference there is on hook size, ask the  question of what size hook you use to texas rig a 5" senko, my bet is you'll get answers from 3/0 up to 5/0, for me I use a 3/0, the point is there really is no right or wrong as long as you catch fish. Good luck.

I've made them before, it depends on what size but on a 3/8oz bait with 3 blades I use a size #3 bottom, a size #4 middle, and a size #6 top. For a 1/2oz bait I would go with a #4, #5 and a #7, you need to remember when using tomahawk blades the odd sizes,3,5, and 7 will point to the right and the even sizes, 4,6, and 8 will point left. Because of the design of the blades, to get 3 of them going the bottom blade is the odd one but it gives the bait a unique look, personally, I always liked the baits made with the tomahawk blade but they aren't popular as they have very little vibration, these are clear water blades and I can tell you from experience that in clear water they work great but the lack of vibration doesn't go well in stained water.

The big difference between the slash-it, yellow magic, and other premium poppers are the sound and I'm a pop-r fan, the premium pop-r which is a little bigger and has a better finish than the regular pop-r. If you want to know why those bait carry a premium price is the way they are made and the action, try making the "plop" sound with a splash-it, you won't, it spits water and the yellow magic is the same. If you think that doesn't make a difference then do yourself a favor and sit in the boat near weeds or lily pads in the summer when there is a bug hatch and listen closely, do you hear that little pop of the bluegills coming up to take a bug? That is the sound the premium poppers make, more of a spitting type sound that is even more subtle that a slowly pulled prop bait. I never believed in paying a premium for a popper until I watched my friend catch 7 smallies in less than an hour while I didn't get a bite , it was that simple sound and the closest thing to them at a modest price is the Zell Pop. There are times when the louder action of a pop-r is going to work and at times it will work better than the splash-its but those times are rare and the ability of the premium popper to get topwater bites when no other topwater bait can get bit is what you buy, and those baits do draw strikes even when the bite is off.

You can swim any jig and it will work fine but a specialized swim jig is made to go throught cover and the 30 degree hook that most use allow the jig to comethrough the water fairly level while a flipping style jig may run a little different. The most popular styles for swimming are the bullet shaped heads and the modified round head which is simply a round head jig with detailed sides and using a 30 degree hook, it is the hook position that makes it ideal for swimming but any jig you like to swim will work.

Don't go by that specific lure deal on those rods, they are all s-glass rods with identical actions with the only difference being the length and power so if you want to throw 1/2oz lipless cranks then go with the MH square bill rod that is rated 1/4-3/4, this will handle just about any type of crank except the really deep diving models like the DT 16 or anything deeper or heavier. The only word of caution is that if you never used a glass cranking rod before, you need to fish with it before passing judgement as these are heavier than graphite rods but a good margin and they have a dead feel to them but they can't be beat for fighting a fish hooked on trebles.

There is nothing wrong with either, the 12#  Yo-Zuri will get your cranks a little deeper if that is a concern but otherwise there isn't any thing that would make one better suited for cranking than the other