fishnkamp

Check out Glenn's video on casting accuracy with a spinning reel. Here it is. He covers feathering the line/ spool pretty well. He forgot to mention that for most of us it requires moving our hand forward so the reel stem is located between our 2nd and 3rd fingers. It takes a little getting used to that but it works really nicely. Notice how he is gripping the reel in the video before you play it.

Gary has said many times the 734 is one of the best sellers in every line of his rods. It is great for toads, spinnerbaits, paddle tail swimbaits, jigs, texas rigs ( 5/8 weight plus hook and bait) and lots more. If the sun Line fluoro gives you too much memory issues you could switch to a line like P Line Halo or Floroclear. That stuff works for me on my jig rod.

Lots of anglers like the FG knot but a guide taught me how to tie a 5 turn uni to uni knot that has been working great for me. Try to tie that knot and see if it works for you. Be careful and make sure that each turn does not lay over the previous loop. Once you make the first knot, wet it good, and pull it down to almost tight. Then tie the other uni knot and do the same. I then pull the lines so each knot slides up against each other. I then pull all four lines tight, tight, tight. Now just cut the tag ends and see how that works for you. It has worked properly for me without a failure for over 5 years

Fluorcarbon line gives you the benefit of being almost invisible in water. The difference in diameter between 6 lb and 8 lb fluoro is usually .001. If your fish can see a .001 difference in diameter of the line, than your fish are too smart to fall for the imitation lure you are trying to make them eat. I would try fishing for dumber fish! I regularly fish clear deep lakes for bass using braid and a copoly leader. There is a benefit here since I get the benefit of no stretch, very sensitive braid but have the 4 feet of line closest to my lure less visible.

If the rods I suggested fit your needs than we can look at your other rod and reel combo. If you read any of my other posting you will quickly see I am a Daiwa reel FAN. I would normally suggest you consider a Daiwa Tatula CT 6.3-1 for your crankbait combo. Since you are new to baitcasters you might be better off to stay in the Shimano family. I do not want you to have to learn how to properly adjust two totally different designed reels. They do not play the same. I am sure you can learn both, but it might be easier to stick with something designed similar to your current reel. I tried a Daiwa, it fit my style of casting and have changed 7 of 12 reels over to them. Now lets look at crankbaits. There are tons of brands and sizes produced, but most fit one of two categories. Either they run from shallow to 12 feet deep or they run 15 to 20 plus feet deep. Once again I am assuming you want a rod to cover the surface to 12 foot deep range. This group of lures includes surface runners like a Baby 1minus, a Cherry o Footer, most of the crankbaits called "wakebaits" as well as the typical squarebills, shallow divers ( usually 1 to 3 foot deep), and all the mid depth crankbaits. This also includes rattle trap style baits. There are lots of good solutions for this rod selection. Check out my two crankbait rods. First is a Falcon Bucoo 7 foot MH called a Trap Caster. Next check out my Irod Genesis II IRG 703CC. It is a graphite, glass composite rod. I love the lightweight and balance of the rod. The fact that the rod is lightweight has nothing to do with its power or durability. The first fish I landed on that rod turned out to be an 18 pound blue catfish that was eating in amongst some big strippers. I was after the strippers for dinner. Dobyns offers the Fury FR705C that fits your budget. I fish some higher end Dobyns rods. My wife fishes a Sierra 7 ft heavy spinning rod for frogs. I fish he more expensive Champion series rods. I have a good friend that tried one Dobyns Fury rod, loved it so much that he has purchased 3 more Dobyns Fury series rods just since May 2017. He loves the way they fish. All of these rods will fit nicely for what you want to do. What I would say is if you get these two combos working for you, then just add a good 6'6" to 7'3" medium power- fast action spinning rod and you will have a group of rods that can fish 75 to 85 % of all the typical bass lures.

Well since my name was called let me try and help. First welcome Paul G. There are lots of members here that will gladly give you their best help. Now I see this is your first baitcaster. You picked a nice reel to begin with. Now if we want to make this combo very versatile, then we will need to make a sure we are talking about the same lures. The term "Topwater Bait" is pretty broad. There are several categories of lures included here and some take specific rods to fish them correctly. If we are talking a rod to fish the average Pop R, Chug Bug, Zara Spook, prop baits like a Smithwick Devil Horse or just about any other small to mid sized top water plug, then a rod that can handle those baits will also handle baits like jigs, texas rigs, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and even baits like a Zoom Horny Toad or Stanley Ribbit. This rod will be around 7' to 7'6" and be rated MH to Hvy, 1/4 to 3/4 or 1/4 to 1 ounce. It is the workhorse in most anglers arsenal of rods. A few good options in your budget would be an Irod Genesis II IRG 744C. It is a 7'4" MH 1/4 to 3/4 rod. A couple of Dobyns rods would fit the bill. The first would be a Fury series FR 734C. A Sierra SA 734C is a fancier version of the same basic rod. Now if you are thinking of throwing Hollow bodied frogs then you need a heavier power rod with a very light tip. These baits are usually less than 3/4 ounce in weight, but you are generally fishing those baits in nasty vegetation which requires a stiffer more powerful backbone to the rod. This rod usually can be used for frogs, flipping and pitching, but not the stuff the first rod will handle. Now we come to the BIG powerful topwater baits like a Whopper Plopper. This takes a different rod all together. The larger size Whopper Plopper weighs over 1 ounce. I do not think this is what you were thinking about.

My wife and I use primarily Pflueger spinning reels. With that budget you could use a Pflueger President, a President XT or a Supreme. She fishes mostly Presidents and 1 Supreme. I really like her Supreme. I fish a few Presidents myself. Keep in mind these are not super light reels but should be light compared to you big battle. We use 30 and 35 sized reels. I am certain a 30 would work well for you. By the way several of our Presidents are over 10 years old with heavy use and just ordinary maintenance. Never had to repair one. Several of our reels are less than 2 years old, so I have confidence in them. As for having a durable solid reel in your hand. I will tell you about a catfish she caught last year. We were fishing Dale Hollow just after the big females left the beds. The were hunkered down in grass on big flats about 20 to 30 feet deep. They would not eat anything. We ended up fishing Ned rigs which is all they would eat. That meant we were catching 3 to 8 pound smallies and largies on G Loomis 6 foot light action rods. On one of the last days we were there I was moving the boat coming around a the corner on a bluff wall. The front depth finder lit up with tons of fish laying on the bottom out under the boat. At that moment my wife began a long battle with a 8 pound catfish. She looked like Ike running from the front to the rear deck of the boat. I was too busy laughing, she still thought she had a world record smallie. That President 35 held up perfectly, but never chase BIG cats on a 6 foot light action rod. It is sorta like taking a pen knife to a gun fight.LOL

The first thing I would do is remove the prop and have the hub checked . it may be spun. Next trim the engine down and measure from the engine cavitation plate to the bottom of the hull. We call it pad to prop height. A good prop shop should be able to help you get in the ball park.

Please send me an email at fishnkamp@comcast.net. I have some friends with them.

For about $25 more I think you would be better off with a medium or medium heavy Abu Garcia Veritas. A Berkley Lightning Shock rod might be a better option. They cost $49 but can often be picked up at Wal Mart on an unmarked clearance for as little as $15. Just take the rod to the check out line and have it price checked. Another option would be going to Dicks Sporting. They sell a Quantum Escalade baitcasting rod. I own one of the 7 foot MH, 1/4 to 1 1/2. Go in the store and buy a jig, a pack of gum anything cheap. On the back of your receipt is the directions to fill out an online customer service questionnaire. Fill it out and print a $10 off coupon. Now go buy the $100 IM8 Escalade rod for the sale price of $49.00- your $10 off coupon. That will give you a decent second rod for $39.00.

Yes. But let me ask a few questions. What rod and reel are you going to use? What "light tackle" lures were you interested in throwing? Tell us the type of lure and weight. What kind of water are you fishing. Are you going to be fishing big lakes, rivers, ponds etc? Is the water clear, deep, off color, shallow, are there lots of grass mats, Lilly pads, or are you fishing around rocks, docks etcd? All of these help to narrow what you should want to fish.

I am a big fan of Dobyns rods. I personally fish a Champion XP rod and my wife fishes a Sierra rod. Both are outside your budget, but both fish awesome. My friend Ed played with our Dobyns rods and has since sold off many of his old rods. Her is currently fishing 4 Dobyns Fury series rods and loves them. I do not think you can do better than a Dobyns Fr 765 Flip in that price range. The FR 735 is another option as well. Kris fishes both the 765, the 735c, the 705CB and a FR 703C spinning rod. All four are well made, balance well and fish great. You will find plenty of fans of the others on this board. I would match that up with an 8-1 Tatula CT for flipping and pitching.

That reel is fine. I hope it is mounted on a nice 6'6 to 7'3 medium spinning rod. That will fish a ton of baits well. My next rod I would consider adding is a 6'6" to 7'4" MH baitcaster. Between those two rods you can fish a wide range of lures. Good Luck and enjoy fishing in a club. You can fish open tournaments or join a bass fishing club and fish their tournaments. I highly suggest you join a local club. One of the benefits to fishing tournaments as a member of a club is the other members tend to share info and help you learn.

Boy that is one rod I have never held. I think that i would give Dobyns a call tomorrow. Here is their number. 1 (530) 671-1989

Great to hear that. You know all this "PROFESSIONAL HELP" comes at a cost!!! We expect some good fish porn. Really we all would love to see some pics of her fish. I love to help girls to learn top enjoy this hobby. My wife and I dated all through high school and college. before she met me she had never even touched a rod. We honeymooned in Calgary Canada during the summer of 1988. That was just after the winter Olympics were held there. During two of the days we were there we fly fished the Bow River. It was so cool to see her smile while fighting 6 pound rainbows. To date her personal bests are a 6 pound smallie, a 5 pound largie and Kentucky Spotted Bass, 15 pound stripper and a 34 1/2 pound flat head catfish. I love to watch her battle the big ones. I hope your daughter learns to love this hobby like Linda. Here is a piece of fish porn for you to enjoy.

I would go with either a Daiwa Tatula SV TWS or a Tatula CT in 8-1. I personally run a total of 7 Daiwas. I am slowly replacing my BP and Shimano reels with them. They cast extremely well and I like the Magforce Z brake systems. Here is a couple of videos on them. The Tatula CTs have the Mag Fofce Z and a Tat SV TWS has a similar system.

Oh are you in California? If so you are very lucky guy. Gary has lots of dealers out there. Heck the factory is located north of you in Yuba City. Give them a call and speak with Gary himself or Richard his son.Discuss the waters you fish and the lures you most want to fish. They will be happy to help you to decide and they will hook you up with their closest dealer to you. They know who stocks the most by checking orders sent out of the warehouse. I bet if you purchase it from them it would be in your hands within a day or two. I must have been confused by your favorite lake, which google found in WV.

I do not own the 7' BP Extreme MH, but I have owned 3 of the Extremes including one of the 6'6" MH fast rods. It is far more parabolic rod then the Dobyns 734C in my opinion. If I touch the ceiling with the tip and apply some pressure it will bend down to the 8th guide. This is very much a moderate action rod despite what they call it. This is great for traps, cranks and spinnerbaits. it also fishes paddletail swimbaits like Keitechs well. I believe you will find the Dobyns Champion XP DC 734C to be a better bottom contact rod. Do you ever travel to Baltimore MD at all? If so we have a tackle shop in Hunt Valley that stocks a lot of their rods. It also stocks a lot of Irod, Powell, and about 5 or 6 other brands. Just a thought if you travel here for vacation, business, or crabs ! LOL

I agree I love the Daiwa Tatula CT choice for you to step up to. Having said that I also have several friends happily fishing a Black Max reel on other rods. So I am going to suggest you try an inexpensive option. Go to your local Wal Mart. Look at a rod called a Berkley Lightning Shock rod. Find a 6'6" medium model. It should be priced at around $49. Take it to the register for a price check. Several members have purchased it on an unmarked clearance for as low as $15. Move your reel over to it. That rod is a very good rod for treble hook baits. You can fish anything on it, but it works really well on treble hook baits like crankbaits, traps, and some topwaters. Buzzbaits and chaterbaits would be good on it too. Now I want you to go to an open field, your backyard, anywhere you have some room. I use my side yard. It has a tree that i can lean my rod against. I want you to loosen up the drag so the line easily pulls off the spool. Walk out a bunch of line, like way more than you could cast. Take a cloth and while putting pressure on the line stretch it out. I use a micro fiber towel and I also like to use some line conditioner. This cleans your line as well as takes out the memory. I fish with P Line FloroClear and it is a high memory line. I like the stuff, it just requires some maintenance. Once you have gone down the line several times, reset your drag to about half way and reel the line in as normal. It may be helpful to run the line through your fingers to keep it tight as you reel it in. Now go put on a 1/2 ounce jig and learn to cast it. If that works as I know it should, then you have a good working combo. You could add a better reel to the old rod, or just go look at a combo like a Lews Mach 1 or Mach 2. Those would be a better combo for fishing bottom bouncing lures like jigs and worms.

Check with ST Croix on their "no questions" replacement program. I stopped using ST Croix rods and sold off my remaining ones. I just prefer the Dobyns, Powells, and Irods. If it is similar to G Loomis, Dobyns, Irod and others, there is no time frame that it needs to be exchanged within. I broke a G Loomis and chose to wait to replace it for a year. I used a different rod for a while. It made no difference in my eligibility for a replacement. So if that is the case here, you could pick up the Dobyns and just sit on the broken rod until you have a need for a different rod. That is when I would consider doing something with the St Croix. Maybe look at your arsenal strategically. Perhaps a good spinning rod would fit you better. Then I might consider exchanging it for a St Croix Avid X 6-8 MXF. That is a good rod for Sencos, light texas rigs, shakey heads, floating worms small jigs, and much more. Just a thought.

Those two are very good. That is a terrific start for a serious arsenal. When you are ready to add another weapon I would look at a baitcaster. I would go look at a Dobyns Sierra SA 734C or Champion XP DC 734C. That is a super versatile rod that will handle bass lures such as spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, jigs, some larger topwater bait ( compared to your Avid X) even some toads like a Stanley MR. Ribbitt. It will also handle some bigger stuff for the walleyes. You could easily fish some mid sized Rapala minnow baits and even a spoon too. I would match that up with a Daiwa Tatula CT in a 6.3-1 or 7.3-1 ratio. Good Luck go catch some big ones.

My first choice would be a Dobyns Champion XP model DC 734C. That is a really excellent all around multi- purpose rod. It is advertised for fishing jigs, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits, spooks, small swimbaits and more. I have a Champion XP model DC 705C and can tell you that series is extremely sensitive. I would have gone with a 735 but it will not fir in my rod box. I use my 705 for frogs, big jigs and carolina rigs. I would also consider an Irod Genesis II IRG744C. That will only run you $150 but the Genesis II rods fish extremely well. They are light and sell balanced. I fish several but two are spinning. My baitcaster is an awesome rod called the IRG 703CC. That is a great composite rod. I use it for square bills, traps, and cranks. I know a bunch of guys that really love the IRG 754C for bigger jigs, frogs and carolina rigs. They say the sensitivity is great.

It is "the more things change the more they stay the same" I am 55 years old this month. The only truly new invention" that I remember taking the bass world by surprise was when Bobby Garland brought out the original "Gitzit" tubes. That was a whole new animal.

I love old school!!! If you look in my 17 1/2 foot long "tackle box" ( lol ), you will find plenty of modern day fishing lures, but lures like a Torpeedo, Zara Spook, a gold body/ black back floating- diving Rapala, Rebel Humpy, or a Cotton Cordell Big O. I still have some of all of these. A sinking jointed Rebel minnow still works, like the blue and chrome ones in my tackle boxes. I wonder how many fish have been caught using a Hula Popper? Grubs are killer baits and they will always be that. Some anglers today may think the Shakey head is a hot new technique, but how many years ago were the Charlie Brewer slider heads first brought out? Remember "the do nothing worm" technique. Sorta fits the image of today's finesse worms.

It seems that rod is a Wal Mart only rod (house version) so I could not get any specs on it. I know you said it is a 7 foot MH but what weight lures does it rate for? Is it a 1/4 to 3/4 or what. Like I mentioned earlier try practice casting with a 1/2 ounce jig and a craw trailer. It might be you are trying to learn while casting too light a lure on it. Someone with experience may be able to make it work but the heavier bait id better for a novice caster. Do you live anywhere near MD I would be happy to meet up and help you learn. I am sure there are other members on here that would help if they are closer. It is amazing to see how easy it is to learn from someone that does it regularly.