Angry John

http://www.phenixrods.com/products/freshwater/crankbait/ These rods got a great review on TT and in a mod fast might fit the best for multiple applications. The x-12 would be the blank and power i was looking at. http://dobynsrods.com/rod/705cb/ I have the 764rm and i use it for all the same things your talking about. I like graphite vise glass.

I would recomend looking at inshore rods. They have components that will stand up to the salt and work good in the freshwater situations. I cannot recommend a rod in your price range as i fish st croix and their inshore is more than you quoted. The rods made for inshore are corrosion resistant and will last.

I would agree except the Xfast for topwaters or jerkbaits because of the tremble hooks. A moderate fast or fast would keep them pinned a lot better.

I would look for a used daiwa advantage 153 supertuned htsl. It was the reel i learned on, they are cheap used and its a quality reel that i still use. right or left hand your choice.

St Croix ac66mf. It's a special rod for this.

Once you get away from ugly sticks and into decent rods you should be just fine. I see a lot of people use fly rods with spinning reels to float baits, but it depends on the water your dealing with and the techniques your using. I had a fenwick elite tech small mouth that was a 6'3" and it was my favorite river rod. I could cast right under trees and into small pockets on laydowns and i loved it. I think the presso rods are beautiful but are very expensive even for my taste. Your st croix should do you right but you may want a little longer rod? if you are bank fishing 6' ish work for me the best.

I dont do the backing thing, and almost everyone else does. I have a few reasons reasonable or not and i will tell you why i think backing is not great. 1. Braid is lighter than mono or any other backing and it keeps spool startup for pitching as fast as it can get. People spend tons of money to acomplish this to include new bearings and lighter spools. 2. If i have braid all the way down i never worry about the condition of the backing. Will it break or get brittle. 3. I fill my larger reels and move the line to my smaller reels when i want to fill it back up. I use a lot of 40lb and i move that from a zillion or steez to an alphas. I love alphas and have a few. I get bulk spools and fill the reel and i am done, for years i dont worry about changing or needing more line. 4. I like long leaders and dont want 3 knots in my spool. These are just my reasons and to each their own. I use blue painters tape for one wrap of the spool. It provides the friction so i get no slip and comes off with no left over sticky crap.

1)RC STX 2)DUO 100 3)xrap

You had money left over after the rod??? The bait monkey has not got ahold of you yet... Give it time!!!!

I use an alphas with the megabass deep spool from the zonda and my steez flexlight rod. I use this for anything less than 1/2 and then i use my zillion HLC on a dobyns RM764.

I get MY SK glasses from TW 5 at a time. When they go overboard, dropped in a river or lent to a friend, i just grab another pair.

I use blue painters tape and sharpie on the side of my reel non crank side

I use a 7' st croix avid medium fast for cranks small spinner baits and jigs up to 3/8ths. Its very versatile. You might also try a mh/mod and have the same type of versatility,

As this is your first go, keep it simple. Go with a standard setup and make it as easy on yourself as possible. The more complicated it is, the more chances to make mistakes. JMO.

i would go with 20lb suffix performance braid or a high quality braid. The leader can be regular fluorocarbon line. Spend the winter getting good at the joint knot. I like the double uni and the Alberto.

http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/winding-checks/260711.aspx

i dont use the chart that way, i use it for dia, and breaking strength for that dia. It is a wonderful reference and allows me to see all the most critial information on the line. Now if i were worried about a catch that i wanted to register for a record then that would be an entirely different problem, but i just want to catch them and have fun. How many fishermen is that a real problem for???

uhhh you're buying more makeup.

i dont think you will get to 20 but i used 6lb sniper on a very long cast to get down almost that deep, i would say 12-14 ish but thats just a guesstimate.

i wish everyone had a chart like this it helps me a lot

Sounds a lot like swimbait city to me. Grab a lot of sizes of keitech's and go to town.

how deep are you fishing. I use the duo MR series and DR series when trolling and they have killed it for me all over the state of Washington. i also like them because the bait suspends when you cast it out or stop so i dont hang up very much if ever. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Duo_Realis_Shad_62DR_Crankbait/descpage-DUO62DR.html

Rod builders use a system like the one shown on TT to rate a blank for measured action speed and power. I dont remember the system its like rdta or something like that. Each company has their own system for ratings and only rods in their line will be relatively faster or heavier action compared to others in the same line. That has resulted in these forums exploding with this type of thread and or comparing one rod to another from different companies. We all wish the industry would develop a useable standard but they have yet to get it together. This is why custom builders have such a hard time because there are shared databases but most builders keep this information to themselves as it is a valuable tool. OTTER RODS on TT is one of the best builders i know and he has a huge database from rods he has built and does the measurements each and every time. The same blank from the same company still has some deviation so even two identical builds can vary.

I believe what you are saying is true but your comparison is not exactly fair. Sunline makes some of the thinnest lines that break at or near the rated test. This is not what is the standard on the American market but is the standard in japan. Compared to Berkeley XT YHB is thin. I use XL the standard by which i compare relative thickness. I think strength compared to dia is a great way to compare evenly. 6lb YHB breakes at 11.8 lbs ish and that leaves you almost 1.2lbs per MM of dia. Now how does the sunline compare. http://forums.tackletour.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=51332 some test data not a direct comparison but relates to some of what i am talking about!