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The problem with that theory is that not all ultralight rods are buggy whips. I have quite a few ultralight rods that have a very fast action and a good bit of backbone. And they're delightful for their intended purpose and for their intended target.

I replied to the other thread requesting help for Crappie rods too and my response will be the same here. If you're new to it, you're going to learn that there are tons of different techniques and that people prefer different types of rods for each of those techniques, so the responses that you're likely to receive will be from guys offering the rods/styles that they like for the style of fishing that they do, which may or may not be relevant to what you want to do. What I do typically when fishing for Crappie is to cast 1/32-1/16 ounce jigs (1/24th the most frequently), sometimes in open water, sometimes near or on/in brushpiles, sometimes shooting under docks, etc.. The rod that I've been using which I really like is a 6.5' Denali Pryme UL/F rod. I wanted a bit more length, so I also ordered the Denali Pryme 6'9" UL/MF rod, but didn't realize until after I received it that I had ordered MF and not a Fast action, which I definitely prefer (I prefer the fast action). Even so, either one of those two rods have been productive and enjoyable for me, but again, I'm not sure whether you'll do the same sort of fishing that I do or not.

There's just an awful lot of ground in "all around panfish rod". Not to be captain obvious, but it really depends a lot on what sorts of fishing you'll do. Fishing mostly for small panfish? Fishing for giant panfish (I'm really into REALLY big panfish and really couldn't care less about the small or normal sized ones)? Fishing shallow water? Deep? From a boat or on shore? All live bait? Artificials or some live and some plastic? Crankbaits, jigs? Livescope? Anchored up, trolling, casting? Shooting docks, fishing brush? There's just a LOT of different ways to target panfish and you'll find recommendations for 5 foot rods or 12 footers, super ultralight action or medium action, slow tapers or very fast tapers, etc. etc.. Personally I'm a big fan of very fast action, 6.5-7 foot UL rods for really big panfish, often in deep water, always on small plastics and always casting to them typically with 4 pound test mono, but occasionally with 6 or 8 pound braid, without the benefit of forward-facing sonar, but those rods may or may not suit you well depending on how you'd use them.

I've been searching for years for a full collection of "The Fishin' Hole with Jerry McKinnis". I loved those shows and would gladly binge watch the entire series if anyone sold them as a DVD collection or streamed them to a particular service. Anyone?

I was Crappie fishing this spring and hooked what ended up being a 10.25" Crappie on an UL rig. At some point, it just stopped coming in, then my drag started going and the line slowly started tracking towards the bottom in 15 feet of water. I was able to slowly bring it up to the surface where I saw an enormous Largemouth (at least by my standards, never having caught one over about 7 pounds) which had the Crappie sideways and completely inside its mouth. I estimated the fish at 11-12 pounds and I really think my estimate is/was probably quite accurate because I got a really good look at it. The bass really wasn't fighting much either, just being dragged slowly towards my boat and my waiting landing net. He got literally a foot or two from the net as I was sliding him in headfirst before he coughed up the Crappie and sunk into the depths. I would have told the truth after I photographed and released the bass (that I didn't catch him "fair and square"), but I surely would love to have gotten photos and a weight on him, or alternately a video of the episode.

I don't recall exact weights and while I don't have photos (not here, I'm at the winter residence and using my laptop), my top 5 smallies were between the low 6 pound range and 6.75 pounds, probably 31-32 pounds total. I've been blessed to fish a lot of really great fisheries and I'm close to Lake Erie, though I typically don't fish it often at all (none of my top 5 came from Erie). Haven't caught a 7 pounder yet, though I've seen some that were really 7 pound'ish that got off near the boat and I had a buddy take a 7 pound 4 ouncer with me a few years back.

Holy smokes. You can never really tell with a photo because of perspective, but that looks like a total slob. I read yesterday that someone caught a 4.33 pounder the other day on Lake Chautauqua in NY (where I've been known to fish, especially for walleye). By way of an update, I think I'm now up to 33 Crappie over 14" this calendar year, which for me is remarkable because until this year I had only caught a handful that size in my entire life. I'm just fishing a lake that doesn't have a ton of Crappie but that DOES have some really big ones.

I do the same thing. I've been doing a lot of Crappie fishing this winter/spring and they can be on very distinct spots and often recognizable spots (like bridges). I always just turn around so that the background is just water or homes very far away on the opposite bank. I don't worry too much about location, but with social media and a fair percentage of anglers being new/inexperienced, they DO try to find your spots and take advantage.

Nice, it's certainly been good for numbers of late. I'm still taking some big Crappie too. I've got two brothers coming to fish for a few days this week, then a buddy for a couple of days the week after that, so we'll definitely be out pursuing the bass some.

I'm sorry to hear about your wife and hope that she's OK. Check Youtube for some information/videos about Tugaloo (I think the locals also call it Bull Sluice Lake if I'm not mistaken). I think it has a pretty good reputation and it's definitely somewhere that you'd feel comfortable with a kayak I think. I occasionally fish from a kayak on Keowee because my wife likes to take the yaks out at times and I can score family points while still getting some fishing in that way, but it's a much bigger lake and in the summertime, the last thing I'd do there would be to try to use, let alone to fish from a kayak.

I don't recall if I told this story on this thread or not and I'm too lazy to read back through it. I was Crappie fishing about a month ago and hooked a 10+" Crappie. Line got tight and stopped moving and I eventually brought whatever was on there to the surface. It was an ENORMOUS Largemouth that had swallowed the Crappie whole. Got him right to the net and he spit the Crappie out before I could lead him in. 11 or 12 pounder I believe and probably 26" long or so? Really a giant, but like I said, a Spot at 24" is a legit trophy. Hope you find him again. I've lost my two largest Spots on that lake, but both were likely in the 20-21" range.

Yeah, those cold nights really slow things down. I had a buddy that wanted to fish the morning after one of those cold nights in the last week or so and I suggested that he wait until 11AM. He couldn't/wouldn't do so and fishing was in fact slow for the first hour or so, but it picked up that day as well. Wow, a 24" spot would be an absolute monster, but I saw a photo of an 8 pounder taken on the lake to the north a week or two ago. Geez, what a slob. I'm up north right now, but will be back in a few days and have company coming next week to fish and the timing should be good for some really great bass fishing I would hope.

Yeah, I haven't fished it personally, but from what I know and what I've heard, the Saluda is a good choice for multiple species. Greenville is also reasonably close to the French Broad up in North Carolina. Again, I'm new to the area myself and haven't fished them personally, but I think there are also several smallish lakes near Greenville/Spartanburg that are supposed to be top-notch for bass and for crappie and other species. Quite a bit west of Greenville, but Lake Tugaloo is another lake that gets fished by kayak a lot and that has a really good reputation for some big fish and some somewhat unusual species for this area (walleye, yellow perch, etc.).

Hey wrat, not sure if you've been out, but the pre-spawn fishing has really picked up. I'm still mostly fishing for Crappie, but went out with a friend last week for 3 or 4 hours and we caught the Spots really well. We didn't catch any slobs, but a fair number in the 17-18" range. Then I went kayaking with my wife last evening and fished only for 30-40 minutes and still caught a few. Most on/near the docks in what I'd call deeper water, but I see fishing reports from guys who are fishing shallow too. Good time to be on the lake if you're able. I'm going with another friend tomorrow morning, but again, will likely fish for Crappie until or unless they tell me that they aren't interested, at which point we'll do some bass fishing.

No, I don't, but I do have several UL rods that are true fast actions, one of them being a Denali Pryme and the other being a Cabela's Tourney Trail rod. I have several others that are likely MF action as well.