fishwizzard

There are a ton of jdm rods that are short and cover the entire "Heavy" spectrum. Most of them are slower in action however. I have been looking for a 6'ish frog rod for a while now but have yet to find one that looks right enough to take the chance on. How much are you looking to spend?

Line capacity/spool weight and then ergonomics are what I am the most interested in, everything else is secondary.

For $200 at a Daiwa reel, the Tat SV is the clear winner. You don't "need" an SV spool, but it's they are really nice for a lot of applications. This $35 finesse spool will let you cast about as low as you skill level and any reasonable bass rod will let you go.

@MountainMan83 Here are the best pics I could get. They look almost identical to my eyes. https://imgur.com/29oqWpw https://imgur.com/jLKPekm https://imgur.com/gSKnTib https://imgur.com/NVraosX

I think they are very close, I will try to get a picture today if I can make it outside with any sunlight left.

That pic makes it look like Mr. Lee just got a big whiff of that scent and isn't too much into it.

If you can get dry ice every day you can cheap out a lot on the cooler.

I have had this rod and reel for a while, but the combo is finally "finished". I got the TD-Z on ebay for like a hundred bucks then added a ZPI PG spool w/ matching bearing, CF drag, corks, and a few color parts. Going to use it for heavier t-rigs, mostly 10' Culprits and some tbd creature bait.

The only times I have done well there is when I was fishing all up in the wrecks in my yak where no sane person would take a normal boat.

I think most of my reels have been bought used. Never had a mechanical issue, but I either buy them from forums from people who seem like they take care of their gear or from Japanese sellers on ebay. The japanese reels are usually cosmetically rough but mechanically perfect. I also buy a lot of used rods, but am more picky about them.

My issue with the shaky heads was the little lump of tungsten coming detached from the hook, which has happened to all the ones I bought eventually. I’ve never managed to bend any of them, but again I use relatively light line and tackle with them as well. I would love to find some tungsten jig heads that I can tie skirts on to but I’ve never managed to find ones that have anything other than a no-name hook.

Overstock Baits used to have piles of them. I bought quite a few bags of the 4 inch kut tails when they were blowing them out like 3-4 years ago. I believe I have seen a custom maker who will do a very similar worm, if you’re interested I could dig through my bookmarks later today and try to find it.

The front half of that worm looks like that Yamamoto Kut Tail, did they ever make a curly tail worm?

Hah. I would think measuring a few dozen times and averaging the results would get one close enough to see if it was close to the advertised size.

I have fish there a few times, it’s quite a good fishery for bluecats, snakehead and bass. It’s also an excellent place to lose lures, scratch up your yak, and generally get yourself into some trouble. The amount of metal in the water cannot be understated. But it is a very fun and unique place to go fishing and I’m pretty much always down for meeting someone there with my kayak. Because of the recent exposure it’s been getting it’s probably going to be uselessly crowded with non-fishing kayakers most weekends however.

My goal this winter is to throw a 68Special all the time and see if I can shake a larger-then-average bass out of my local ponds. I tried it last year but the rod I was using provided so little feedback that it was hard to both ensure that I was creeping it slowly along the bottom and keeping me engaged enough to even be able to react to the few bumps/hits that I did manage to get. I have a much more sensitive rod now and I think I have finally gotten my glove game figured to the point where I can spend couple hours at it in reasonably good comfort.

Agree. I still like their weighted wacky hooks, but I fish them on light enough tackle that I have never bent one.

What makes them bind up? Both my Ci4+ and my FJ have gone under a few times with no issues.

It’s closer to $100, but the Daiwa BG reels are great and are built like a tank.

I don’t do it often, but I throw larger 3/4-1oz traps on an iRod Fred’s Magic stick. It’s a very powerful rod with a ModF taper and it works well with the heavier trebles on bigger traps and larger topwaters.

My kayak arsenal is made up of old-model Loomis Classic Bass and MagBass rods. All 6’ or 6’6”. Amazing rods and still somewhat common on ebay. I also have an Avid 6’2” M/XF. It’s the best rod I have found for popping/walking/twitching.

I have a 783c GLX, my nephew has a 783c E6X. If I could take the hardware from his rod and stick it on mine I would do it in a second. I love the rod to death in spite of the reel seat and overly long handle, but I really wish Loomis made some different choices with the new GLX line.

I have a Native Slayer 10 that I really like but I will admit that the flipper drives are far far better for weeds and shallow fishing then the prop ones. I prefer the prop for fishing in current as I find being able to reverse at will really helps keep position in moving water and wind. I am going to replace my Slayer at some point soon, it's a great yak but more current ones blow it away in terms of QOL features. My next yak is going to be which ever one has a peddle drive, a RH rudder control, and a protected transducer mount/pre-routed wiring holes.

I have a rod built on the CS722 shooter blank and love it. I have always wondered about the both the 1 power and the 4-5 power models. I have been on the hunt for a super short frog/mag trickworm rod and I think the 4 or 5 shooter could be perfect for it. Please let us know what blank you end up with.

For me a reel hits the point of diminishing returns a lot faster then a rod will, but at the bottom of entry-level gear I would rather spend more on the reel then the rod.