Cgolf

Alright so I went with the Crush for the a few reasons. I could have it for the weekend, short sighted thinking but the bait monkey won. My wife has issues with certain types of fishing gear being uncomfortable to use for long periods of time, so I am hoping the grips will work well for her (the fact that they are tapered you can change your grip point often) since she has been using a baitcaster more often lately. Last one was the rod it had with it fits what I toss perfectly, so I get a chance to try out a Lews stick in the deal too. Of those the 2nd was the most important. Thanks for the idea of the LFS as I may pick up one down the road as well. Now I need to figure out what to spend the 20 bucks DSG cash I got when I bought this thing too.

I think you are right, even for Muskie we overestimate the amount of drag we need. Never thought of it like that, I honestly usually just crank it down on bait casters and allow for some slip on spinning reels. Eventually I will quit being lazy on how I set stuff up, just years of bad habits are hard to break;)

I do Musky fish a fair bit, and oddly all of my Musky have come on bass gear, so not sure if the extra drag is needed. When I go on vacation, it is a cool feeling to know you could tangle with a 50lb plus fish on any cast:) Not sure how much drag a proper musky reel should have? Do agree though that for bass that is probably more than any of my other reels I have now.

Also really confused on the DSG website, they have two different combos. One has an orange rod and is showing the reel to have 14lbs of drag and one with the *** which has 20 lbs of drag. Wonder if there are 2 different models of the reel? Only reason I am thinking of this is with the DSG coupon I can get the combo for 160. Only concern now is it has a different reel with a lower drag number, store only has the exclusive color combo in stock with the lower drag number.

Anyone tried this out? Trying to convince my wife I need this, orange is my favorite color, and want to find out if it is worth the cost? I don't want to buy just because it looks really cool.

Right now the priciest bait I have is the SPRO 50 rat. I don’t see myself going anymore expensive than that because we have giant Muskie and not so giant bass. If we had a bunch of ten pound bass swimming around I would change my mind, but the chance of a Muskie either stealing or tearing up a pricey bait will keep me away.

For the most part yes. When I was at Cabelas recently picking up some flouro leader walking through the store I couldn’t really find anything I wanted or needed. My goal moving forward over the next few years is to upgrade rods and reels and only replace my go to baits as they are used up.

Very interested to hear how it works. While I only have only caught one plopper fish and very few topwater fish, I went all in on the 110 plopper and some other topwaters this year to finally force myself to catch bass on top.

Just caught the FB video, anyone have any other info on this? The tail looks a lot like a plopper. In a reply to someone it should be available soon.

Was the Revo sale online or in store only? Not seeing the deal today?

For plastics I am rather quickly moving away form Zman stuff for Ned rigging. This year the smallest size of the Keitech Crazy flapper and the rage baby menace have been my go to baits. I just got sick of dealing with two styles of plastic in my shore fishing bag is the biggest reason I would say I have used the Zman stuff less. Will likely use it in the boat more. For heads my 2 favorite are the Siebert Morels and Northland 1/16 ounce fireball (short shanked wide gap hook) that pairs well with cut Zinkerz and other stick baits.

I used it and caught fish, but compared to braid it was very difficult to tell what the bait was doing. I didn't feel it was the most sensitive line out there, but I have been spoiled by braid for years now. This summer it will be on my deep diver setup to see if I get more depth with it over the 50 lb braid I normally throw.

I hit the tag end with a bit of loctite gel glue and it seems flexible. I am not a fan of the half hitches staying locked down with lots of use. Really like the knot, not to hard to tie.

Same here, the eyecon spinning rod I have is extra fast and I lose casting distance and a bit of accuracy with it. Perfect world, your right custom might be a good way to go, since I could just give them the prodigies and say replicate these in a better blank. From my years of fishing glass and lower end rods, my hookset style and how I fight a fish suits a more moderate action. That might be why I like that clunn rod so much too. St. Croixs only moderate action rods I could find were in the Avid series. It was interesting though that I was just reading an article on fly rods and how they are starting to slow them down a bit too. I think they got caught up in the faster is better too with the graphite fly rods, wonder if the same happened at St Croix thinking faster is better?

I will put what I meant there a different way. I started with 30 dollar glass rods and very low end graphite rods and whatever uglys are and fished those for years. When I upgraded to the st. croix premier and the prodigies I felt a big difference in sensitivity, especially in the spinning rod (premier). Last year I tried the Avid X and saw a big difference in sensitivity between the prodigies and the Avid X. The question I was wondering if say I stuck with St. Croix would I see the same % difference I saw in sensitivity between the prodigies and the avid when I jumped from the avid to the legend elite or legend extreme. Or will I see other benefits, better guides, better build, lighter stick, and say a smaller % gain in sensitivity than I saw between my other jumps in rod quality. Of the things I just listed, sensitivity is what I value most, I don't want to pay more for lighter, better build, guides etc. Hope this helps clarify what I am looking for. To me spending an extra 200 bucks is not worth say a 10 to 15% gain in sensitivity, I probably am not a good enough angler to take advantage of it.

Please do me a favor and quote where I said I want the best, I didn’t. You are reading into what I wrote, I have a budget I have to live with, so yeh 400ish is my max and a slightly uncomfortable max. Just taking in the advice given, which may mean I get a mix of 200 buck rods and some 400 buck rods. The post you quoted says it, finesse rods high end sticks, Crankbait etc rods 200 dollar sticks. Trust me I know the difference money buys you in sticks I have a Sage fly rod my cheap fly rods can’t touch. This thread has given me a lot of good info on where to spend my money and where I can save some.

You lost me on this one, are you saying my price ceiling is too low? This would also imply that St Croix doesn’t have a top end rod? All I am looking for is to upgrade my sticks after finding out how much better the Avid X was compared to the other rods I had. I have never fished with a better rod than that, so don’t even know how good they can get. The 400 to 450 cap is what I could swallow spending once a year over a few years to build up my collection. For my fishing talents mid range rods probably are good enough for me, except in the spinning rods where I do my finesse bass fishing and deep water walleye jigging. Not looking for best, just better:) When I look at TW I really only know the St Croix line, the other brands are a mystery to me, which is why I am trying to learn my options and branch out. Loomis I will look at, but always stayed away in the past for better or worse. I think Gary Loomis went to work for TFO after they were bought out?

The goal isn't to spend 400 per to spend unless I needed to. I do like the idea of going with a rod in the Avid quality and price range for baitcasters, and the pricier blanks for the spinning rod which will get double duty for Bass and Walleye where I will take all the sensitivity I can get. Not sure if I am surprised by the answers, because I knew there was going to be a point of diminishing with rods, I just had no clue where it was. As far as Loomis goes, I have always though that their rods and their parent companies gear were overpriced, probably good, but overpriced (bike components are ridiculous too but really good quality). If my memory serves me though from reading old Bass Pro catalogs Loomis was the first high end rod out there.

The warranty on the blems is not that good, one year limited, but getting an Avid X for 100 offsets the warranty a good bit. So actually looking at the Avids and Avid Xs would be my best bet if I stick with St Croix. Did like that the Avids had some crankin rods with a moderate tip which suits my hookset style well and to be honest a more parabolic bend makes it easier to land fish in a 16 foot boat. High sticking a 7 foot rod with a fast tip could end badly. Just wish they made a 6 foot or shorter rod for around docs and spinnerbaits. Not a lot of us weekend and vacation bass guys have bass rigs and instead deal with high sides and worrying about hooking our wives as we cast with a longer stick. Not sure what the blank material is on the prodigies, but I believe Daiwa made them for Cabelas. They have been good rods for me minus the micro guides on one I don’t like that much. Honestly where I would get a high end rod is for walleye jigging where I have used 3/32 ounce jigs in 20 feet of water. Maybe for plastic fishing for bass where I mostly use slider jigs, but bass are pretty aggressive vs walleye, if one rod did both that would be perfect. I would have agreed until I got the Avid. With the same braid and reel as is on my prodigies, reeling through the weeds was a different experience. You could feel the difference in weed types as you pulled the baits through them. Like grub man above says I think going much over that is where brand, hype etc comes in. The 200 buck rod was noticeably better than my other sticks.

I definitely believe there s a cutoff, but not sure where it’s at. The 200 buck Avid X (I got it for 100) is way better than the older 100 rods I have. It is possible that rods have advanced enough that newer rods in that price range are better than my 10 year old St Croix premier. The only thing I don’t like about St Croix is most of their sticks are fast or extra fast. They do have a few moderates, my preferred action with braid. If you ever make it down to WI you can get some good deals on blems at the factory store, that was how I scored my Avid X. I will look into Loomis sticks.

This is the first year that I am able to retire some older cheaper rods because I have replaced them with newer rods. Last year I picked up a St Croix blemished Avid X and was amazed how sensitive it was, which got me to thinking. Since I pretty much set on tackle it is time to upgrade the sticks. Eventually I might do the same with reels, but most of those are pretty solid, and the benefits there would be less than what I would see with a more sensitive stick. This is going to be a multi year process for me, but just want to know what to start looking at. So here is the question, if I am looking for mid to high end rods, what brands and models should I be looking at? Looking for 6 BCs, can give the full specs if anyone is interested and maybe 2 M action spinning rods. I am a little better off on spinning rods, have a St. Croix premier and eyecon, along with an IM8 cabelas spin I got with my president combo. While the spins aren't high end, they have served me well. The BC rods I am replacing are 3 cabelas prodigy rods, an ugly medium 5'6" for spinnerbaits, lastly would be the St. Croix Mojo Swimbait rod and cabelas fish eagle flippin sitck (these are last because I just got them and need to use them a bit). Leaning towards St. Croix because I can get a great deal on the blemished rods and save a ton of cash, but do give up a huge chunk of the warranty. Price ceiling is around 400 and wouldn't go above 450, but am really open to anything. Now the big question, what is the difference between say the Avid X, best stick I own and the same model legend elite? Is it really worth the extra 200 plus? I am mostly worried about sensitivity, if it is just lighter that is not a big deal to me since I still use uglys and one of the rods I won't be replacing is one of the wright mcgill clunn baby blue square bill rods that I just love the action for square bills and lipless (I know it was not a popular line with many).

Wish they had the pants with the zip off legs on sale. Had a pair a long time ago and they were awesome in the boat, just can’t justify paying 45 for them at farm and fleet.

Looks like some of the memorial days sales are starting to happen judging by my inbox.

The red is being phased out as stocks are replenished. The only colors now will be the natural colors of the ingredients.

Only issue I ran into was that I had a lot of tubes with a solid nose, so the weights weren't compatible with those.