Alpha Male

I have a St Croix Legend tournament bass 7'1" Med- Fast for plastics and I love it. I also have a pinnacle and dobyns rod that I really like.

I asked a similar question a little while ago and after looking into it I chose the elite 8L for finesse plastics.

I have 2 stx's a premier and I have an elite 8 on the way. I would try one of the jdm reels. I haven't noticed a lot of differences in the premier and mgx but If you already have them you know which you like better.

If I saw a drone while fishing I would yell,"it's coming right for us!" and blast it out of the air. I generally hate the idea of drones for anything. I don't want my package from Amazon delivered by drone, I don't want food delivered by drone, and I don't want them around the lake either. You want to scout fishing spots then use Google earth.

While I respect that you feel it's preference, and I'm not saying you're wrong, I look at fishing line as a toolbox. While there isn't a right and wrong tool in this case I feel that each technique deserves the best line suited for each presentation. Where everything becomes even more blurred is the use of leaders. Last year I used 12# invizx on my plastics rod. I never lost a fish, I never had a knot fail(other than when I caught a tree and tried to make it fail), and I fought fish in some pretty heavy cover(at least to me). I was meticulous about checking my line and would cut off as much as I needed to. And yes it does stretch a whole lot more that braid. If your like me and are going to use more than one type of line you need to get it into your head that when you switch rods you will need to take a second and visualize what kind of hookset is needed with each type of line. When I caught my personal best last year I know I was fishing fluoro and I was a long ways out when I felt the bite and I reeled down, leaned forward, and yanked back with a 7' rod. I swear from the leaning forward position to leaning back the tip of the rod moved at least 10ft and after having just thrown a frog with braid it felt like I didn't any pressure on the fish. After that experience I still use fluoro but as I said just be aware and you will be fine. That experience has given me a reason to try leaders a bit more.

I can get behind that mentality. I was in the same boat as you. I don't think the 735 or 736 would be wrong but I don't have really heavy cover or 8lb bass up here in mn. I just bought a 735c and haven't had a chance to use it yet.

I have a question about setting the drag properly. I have read that the drag should be set to 1/4 to 1/3rd the strength of the line. How do you judge that? (I get that I would use a certain weight) but my question is do you add the rod tip in the equation? Or take the rod tip out of the equation by pulling straight?

Yes and no. Yes there is a perceivable difference when you get to the high end category but it isn't important if your budget can't support it.

To answer your first question you must first ask yourself one other question...are you fishing? If the answer to that is yes, then the answer to your question is "now". If you were, let's say, at work then it might not be the right time to throw the frog.In all honesty my point above is solid in that any time you are fishing shallower than say 10ft and you think there are bass around you should try the frog. I have a lot of both hollow ands oft body frogs and the decidi g factor is the cover. The heavy cover and usually shallower water gets the hollow body frog.

I have a party and can send pics later. But I am pretty sure that all 6 are the standard click on/off and there aren't any pitching brakes or such

Where?!? I would drive 100 miles or more for that price.

I can't link a pic but it looks identical to the revo stx. 6 centrifugal brakes and a set of magnets in the side plate. Nothing New or innovative but it works.

I really like the bomber, strike king, storm arashi, and have bought a few yo-zuri baits that I like.

I think the problem some people have with braid is they're used to "setting" the hook. With braid and especially with cranks I just reel set. Feel the bite pull until you get the rod loaded and fell a couple of quick turns

You can use braid for cranking...I do. If I'm not getting bit I will add a fluoro leader.

What problems are zman chatterbaits supposed to have? I have 3 of them and fished them quite a bit last year and I didn't have any issues.

I use a shakeyhead in shallow water. I have had success with it. For me the weed cover is the deciding factor in whether I use a t-rig or a shakeyhead.

Maybe I'm biased because I'm from Minnesota where it's a strict one line in the water at a time and only one lure on that line. There is even a strict distance for trailer hooks. And no more than 3 hooks per bait. I don't care for the a-rig and even were I to fish in a state that allowed it I wouldn't use it. That's my preference though. As far as tournaments banning it as you can guess I'm ok with that. Its not a fairness thing because if everyone can use it then it again comes down to the anglers skill. But I would sooner see them allow live bait over the a-rig. Again it's not unfair just meh as a spectator watching someone throw 5-10 baits at once.

The 3771 is where its at. Its perfect. I have 3. One for terminal tackle and 2 for crankbaits

I fish fairly clear lakes and my best producer is by far a purple kvd magnum dreamshot.

I had the tip of my perfecta break and I had to ship them the part of the rod with the specs on it (7" section) and it cost 2$ and pay the return shipping and there was no questions asked. Full lifetime warranty.

Thank you all. I ended up finding a 735c full handle for 170 used but it still has the plastic on the cork so it looks new. I was leaning towards the dobyns and finding that deal sealed it for me. I like the pinnacle but want to try as many brands as I can.

Pinnacle 7'3" mh-f. It's labeled a Carolina rig rod but it's currently my favorite mh rod.

Looking for a new MH rod. looking at using it for frogs and maybe jigs. I currently use a pinnacle perfecta 7'3" MH rod for frogs and maybe using that one for spinnerbaits. I will be replacing a gandermountain CSX titanium. I am looking at the dobyns 735c or 736 or the Pinnacle dhc5-701cah Mainly looking at the quality difference between the brands from those who use or have used these brands. I see alot more people here using dobyns over pinnacle.

I use 12lb. Last year was invisx and this year I'm going to try yozuri.