fishnkamp

Well the rigs you have are well matched. Your crankin stick is great with the 5.?-1 reel for larger cranks. Your Bass X will do fine with a 6.3-1 reel as your smaller crankbait, traps and spinnerbaits as well as the other baits we have already suggested. The 7' mh carbonlite and a 7-1 reel is perfect for all bottom contact stuff. We already discussed the spinning rod and its uses. So that leaves us with what will help you going forward. For me I would add the 6'6 to 6'8 ml spinning rod, that is a no brainer because I like to throw Sencos, Ned rigs and finesse texas rigs. Any other additions would be technique driven. I did some quick research and it looks like the Alabama river fishes much like the Susquehanna river, lots of shallow water in the river sections and then deeper lakes built by dams. Keith Poche had an article listing the best places are grass islands, points, creek mouths etc and lots of flipping cover options. He targets a lot of water 10 foot or less. The river sections seem to have a lot of kayak water so obviously if I was fishing that area I do not need a dedicated 7'6 flipping stick. If I am fishing from a bass boat on the lake sections I would flip cover with what you have or maybe add a 7'6 flipping- frog rod. Take a few minutes to read his short article. Lots of good info in there. http://www.alabamabasstrail.org/keith-poche-summer-on-the-alabama-river/ I would definitely add a dedicated jerkbait rod and a 6-3 of even 7-1 reel on it. That would allow me to have a bait like a Bandit 200, KVD 1.5, Norman little N or deep little n on your Bass X and still have a jerkbait ready. I would have a floater diver or suspending jerkbait on that rod. Rapalas, Lucky Craft Pointers, prop style baits and even Rebel minnow baits are good too. Your 7 ft Carbonlite mhf would probably have a swim jig and a creature bait trailer like a Craw Papy or Mega Strike megabug on it most of the time.

Lots of guys say the Dobyns run lighter than other rods I do not always agree with that unless you compare it to a Veritas or something. Instead of doing that look at the rod. Gary does a great job of listing the primary and secondary suggested lures/ techniques so you can go by that. You can also pick up the phone they are great people out there.

Without handling each rod lets turn this around a bit. I say this because I do not what gear ratio each reels has and also not sure how some of the rods act. First I like a 6'6" to 6'10" medium power fast action rod that will fish grubs, tubes, shakey heads, texas rigs up to 1/4 ounce (plus the bait so that runs about 3/8 or more) with a typical worm or creature bait. I would see how well your carbonlite spinning rod can do that job. Next I like a rod around 6'8" but a ML Fast action for drop shots, Ned rigs and floating worms. This might be a good rod to add. The 7'1 bass x would get a 6.?-1 reel on it. I would throw small to mid sized crankbaits, rattle traps, and even square bills. This rod might be my spinnerbait rod also ( up to 5/8 ounce spinnerbaits). Try and see how well this rod handles minnow style jerkbaits like Rapala and Lucky Craft Pointers. Another good use would be to fish plastic swimbaits like the Keitechs and Reaction Innovations Skinny Dippers. These baits are deadly and can be fished 3 ways. First on a plain swimbait hook (weightless in shallow water) on a belly weighted swimbait hook ( for shallow to mid depths like say 8 feet of water over grass) or with a full fish head style swimbait jig head. Look at a Picasso swimbait jig head, it looks like a fish head on the hook. These in 3/8 or 1/2 ounce work really well in deep water. I have used these to fish for suspended bass feeding on shad above them. They are also deadly on stripers. If the 7' mh fast carbonlite is stiffer than the Bass x I would try to use it for chatterbaits, topwaters, bigger spinnerbaits ( like 3/4 to 1 ounce) and larger deeper diving cranks. I hope that has a 6?-1 or max 7-1 reel on it. If it is a 7-1 it would forget the deep diving cranks. I would use your 7' mh fast action carbonlite for bottom bouncing baits such as worms and creature baits both texas rigged and carolina rigged. I would throw all of my jigs on this rod. You never said where you live, what city or state. I ask because I have no idea what type of water you fish. Is it mostly big deep clear lakes, small rivers, or like me dirty tidal rivers that feed the Chesapeake Bay. Here at home I fish off color water like the Potomac River and Upper Susquehanna Flats. These have lots of heavy grass, lily pads etc. A flippin stick and even a big heavy rod for punching makes sense. When I travel to my favorite Tennessee lakes I have no use for them since we do not punch in 20 to 40 feet of water. SO if you let us know what type of wate,r I can give you some idea as to awhat would be useful to add.

I cannot say much about the e6 but I fish with some GL2, GL3 and IMX rods. They have always been good except for a reel seat on a newer IMX spinning rod. It kept loosening up. The blanks a great so I had a custom rod builder strip the plastic junk off and replace the entire cork handle and reel seat. Just be careful and put a reel on any rod you would buy.

I would go find a local rod repair guy. You might stop in at a local shop and see if they have someone they use. Let someone who builds and repairs rods handle it. They may need to strip and redo the finish on the rod and to do it right requires a lathe.

I do not have one brand, but like some models from several rod companies. My favorites for what they do is an Irod IRG 703CC and a Falcon Bucoo Micro Trap Caster for cranks, traps, square bills etc. For 1/4 to 3/4 bottom contact baits it is a Powell Max 683CEF. For Frogs it is a Dobyns DX 705C. As a general rule I really like the Dobyns, Powells and Irods best. They develop rods that are designed to do certain jobs and tell you what they are best for. I also really like the Abu Garcia Ike series jerkbait rod I purchased about a year ago. If I had to go with just one I would probably go with Dobyns or Irod. I own 3 Irods and they all feel good.

Here are a few more things that I will share with you. Sooner or later you will want to launch the boat by yourself. There are three things that make life nicer. Boat Buckles attached to the trailer are great. When you release them they retract and stay in place on the trailer. A Motor Totor like Motor Mate is nice. It takes very little room and can be stored easily till you recover the boat. Lastly I like my Z Launch cable. Check out the videos on youtube. I use mine a lot if my partner is not good at handling the truck/boat or if I am by myself. It is so easy to use, but can save a lot of time at the ramp. None of these are required, but they make my boating more convenient.

I use a Tatula Type R 8-1 and am very happy with it. It probably does not perform like a Zillion or one of the other high end Daiwa models but it works well.

That is one reel I have not had my hands on. I have heard 1 guy give it a good review on another board. I love love love the Daiwa Exceler, Tatulas Type Rs and Tatula CT baitcasting reels. If they build the spinning reels as well then you should be happy. Please stop back and give us an update after you get some use on it.

That looks like a great boat. Go get a bunch of big ones!

If I remember correctly there was someone on here that complained about breaking the reel foot off 3 of them. He was the only person I have ever heard say that. I have no idea how he did it. Your mileage may vary... I did my own google search and it came up with reviews from Bass Pro, Cabelas, Amazon, and Gander Mountain and all of them averaged 4.8 to 5 out of 5 ratings. I can only express my own experience from using them for so long.

Sorry I have no experience with that reel. I do have a lot of experience with Pflueger President reels. They go for around $59.00 and between myself and my wife we fish 7 of these reels. One of them is a 6930 and the rest are 6935 size reels. We have bass fished with them for years, some are as old as ten years old and our newest is 1 1/2 old. These are not fancy high tech stuff. Just built well and we have landed some 30 plus inch stripers and big cats on them. This past April we traveled to Dale Hollow for our vacation. We were targeting big female post spawn smallies on deep water grass flats. The biggest we caught was 7 pounds and was caught on a spinning rod and a Ned Rig. On the last day she hooked an 8 pound channel cat. I do not recommend chasing big cats with a 6 foot light action GL3 G Loomis rod. The reel was one of her Presidents. The drag worked fantastic and while the fish ran her all around the boat, she did land it. Also, I have never had to get one repaired yet. So for a highly reliable and affordable reel I would jump on one. My wife only uses spinning reels, including for frogging. Myself, I have one President and two more expensive spinning reels and they were picked for faster retrieve speeds. The rest of my gear includes a dozen baitcasters. Put one of these reels in your hands and I think you will be happy with it. By the way on all of my spinning reels I fill the spool 1/2 way up with Stren Clear Blue Original mono in 14 pound test. Then I use Berkley Original FireLine Fused in 14 pound test. That line is equal to 6 pound test mono in diameter. The FireLine handles so smoothly and hardly ever gives us coil issues. When we go out and fish those deep clear lakes we just add a 4 foot leader of either fluoro or P Line CXX in 10 pound test. That is our setup. I hope that helps.

I sent you a pm. Please check it out. I am sorry I have never touched that particular rod.

I guess I will say I am sorry, the meaning behind my comment was not expressed clearly enough. I did not mean that I HATE St Croix rods. Their lines are fine, but built more generally and less technique specific, if that makes it more clear. For instance I was looking for a 6'6 to 6'10 medium action rod with a fast taper specifically for finesse baits like Sencos, lightweight texas rigs etc. They have a Avid X 6'8" mxf that on paper should be the ticket. I picked the rod up and it is anything but an extra fast rod. The rod bent all the way down to the 5th guide (tip guide and 4 more). That might be something someone else would like, but it was more like a medium moderate to me. Compared to the Dobyns I would say it was a 2 power not a 3 or 4 power spinning rod. I would use that Avid X for drop shotting. I used to fish with three St Croix Premier rods and when I purchased them they were near the top of the lineup and my budget. I have since sold them off in favor of newer offerings that target my uses more precisely. I just find Powell, Irod and Dobyns have lineups of rods that target specific actions that I like. Currently my favorite jig rod is a Powell Max 683 CEF. For square bills,rattle traps, small to mid sized cranks, etc I love my Irod Genesis II 703CC and a Falcon Bucoo Micro Trap Caster. My frog rod is a Champion XP DX705C. The best choice would have been a DX735C but I can not fit rods longer than 7 foot in my current boats rod locker. Either way my suggestion was more about the merit of looking at other lineups and maybe the one company only is not the way to go. If I was going to stay with St Croix then with your budget leads you towards a Mojo Bass 7'1 MH or 7'4"hvy

Go pick up a Dobyns, install your favorite reel on it. You will immediately forget about weight and be amazed that it balances perfectly. A combo properly balanced fishes all day without causing fatigue. Most really light rods are too tip heavy. It makes no difference if you are s[peaking about the Fury series, Sierra series or either of the Champion series. If it falls in your budget look at the Champion XP DC 736C in either a full cork handle or split grip. If that is too expensive then choose between a Sierra 735C, Fury FR 735C and 765 Flip. I have a friend that recently purchased the 765 Flip. Amazing rod for the price.

Before you jump into "all rods must be from one company" take a good look at some of the better offering from different companies. If you want a great rod for frogs look at these rods: All of the following companies have designed individual rods for specific techniques. Irod Genesis II IRG 754 Fred's Magic Stick. Dobyns 735C in either the Fury series, Sierra or Champion XP series Falcon sells two good frog rods in the Cara series including the Bobby's perfect frog rod Powell rods has a Max3D 736 CEF Mag Heavy Frog rod Seriously if you want only one rod builders rods than I would probably pick Powell, Irod or Dobyns, however there are tons of good rods available from Falcon. ST Croix would be the last company I would choose to fill all of my rod needs.

Just go pick up a Daiwa Tatula CT and go fish!

Take a good look at the cabelas agm batteries. I have been running a set for since 2010 and they are still running great. Now I do have a BPS battery charger on board and recharge them as soon as I get home. http://www.cabelas.com/product/CABELAS-ADVANCED-ANGLER-AGM-BATTERIES/1674789.uts?searchPath=%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FcategoryId%3D734095080%26CQ_search%3Dagm%2Bbatteries%26CQ_st%3Db

If you like the rod enough, it might be worthwhile to go find a custom rod builder in your area. I have a friend that likes the Abu Garcia rods but has trouble with their guides periodically. What he does is get our friend to strip off all of the factory guides and install a much better set of his choosing. It is a little pricey, but he gets a blank he really likes with a new set of upper end guides. He no longer worries about having the insert breaking out or damaging his expensive line. Often times you cab ask at the local tackle shop and they will know a local rod repair guy, sometimes he works right there in the shop.

I did a little digging but had a hard time finding any rod specs. What I was trying to figure out was the rods characteristics. For example if you look at a Abu Garcia Veritas 7 foot MH micro guide rod, it says it covers baits weighing 1/4 to 1 ounce. Most Abu rods run at least 1/2 to1 power heavier than they say they will. It also specs for 12 to 20 pound line. I originally thought it would be too light to fish frogs and pitch a heavy jig in matted grass or lily pads. So I purchased the heavy version first. It was too stiff, so I next purchased the MH and it works great for what I wanted to throw. I use the heavy rod for punching bid 1 to 2 ounce tungsten weights and a creature bait. If you look at my 6'6 Bass Pro Extreme MH rod it says 3/8 to 1 ounce baits. In no way is the action or power the same as the MH Veritas rod . It is at least 1 to 1 1/2 power lighter. This means the tip bends much further on the blank. It makes a great spinnerbait, chatterbait, small to mid sized cranks or rattle traps rod. No way would it handle digging a heavy bass and a frog out of a big grass or lily pad field. Unfortunately I have no experience with those rods so it would be difficult to help you further. It will require you to set them up as suggested, then tie on lures, one style at a time and see how well it handles them.

I would match the 6.8 to1 reel on the 7 foot rod as well. It would be better to know what rods we are talking about. Some MH rods are softer tipped and can handle spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and even treble hook baits. Some are much faster action and are better for bottom bouncing lures only. My Abu Veritas 7 foot MH is much stiffer tipped than my BPS Extreme 7 ft MH. If it is a bit softer and can handle the baits I mentioned than load it with either a high quality mono like Stren, Suffix Trilene Big Game etc in say 14 pound test just to be very versatile. I would also fish some topwater baits like Zara Spooks or Pop Rs if the rod can cast them. For rod two I would purchase a Daiwa Tatula CT 7.3-1 and load it with the same 50 or 65 pound test Power Pro Spectra braid or Suffix 832 braid. Flip, pitch, punch, and fish big texas rigs, carolina rigs etc.

Other than the reel seat what do you dislike about their rods? Have you put a reel on one? Check out the Inferno series. They run very close to the same price as the Nusance rods but have their own cool look to them. I own one of the older Max series rods and that thing is a workhorse. It is a Max 683CEF The newer Max 3D are just an upgrade to my rod. Go read the Tackletour review of that rod. They were spot on. I use it for many things but mostly bottom contact baits and it is very light and sensitive.

I am blessed to have a local tackle shop nearby me. The owner opened his doors just a little more than a year ago. He lives in a business environment that includes a Bass Pro, plenty of Dicks Sporting Goods, a Gander Mountain and even a Cabelas all located within an hour drive. He has tapped into the needs of tournament and other serious anglers. So yes, there are some brands like Strike King and Zoom in stock, just like BPS. He also stocks full lines of Picasso, Reaction Innovation, Spro, Keitech, Lucky Craft, and others. For rods he stocks more than a dozen different models of each product line from Powell, Irod, Dobyns, Cashion, Shimano, Duckett and more. Going in and fondling high quality equipment is a joy. He has made a huge financial commitment to building the type of store that truly makes stopping in worthwhile. I understand and appreciate what it takes to accomplish that task. I also reward him with my business as often as it makes sense. If an item is close in price online and in his store then I buy it in his store. Sometimes an item is available for a lot less online than in any store, so then of course I go online. Just look at recent prices of new reels available online. Often they can be purchased for up to $50 off retail online. That is why my last 4 Tatulas reels came from online suppliers. So far I have purchased 3 rods from him and a bunch of tackle as well. I have my eye, or hands, on a couple of others that I will most likely purchase within the next year as I have been upgrading my arsenal over the last few years. I realize he is building something special. If you have a local tackle shop near you stop in and see what they offer, if they do not have certain product lines in their store talk to the owner and see if he is willing to bring it in. If he does reward him with your business. The reality of Johnny Morris buying Cabelas, Ranger, Stratos, Triton, and companies like Gander Mountain closing many of their stores means that the big box suppliers will carry more of "their" product lines and less of the mid to high end gear you are interested in. This is unfortunate but true.

Personally I always suggest to start with a 6'6" to 7' medium power fast action spinning rod, that is the best combo to start with. It sounds like you may have that rod covered, great. That rod will throw most of your light weight baits. To add to that, my next suggestion would be a mid level priced baitcasting reel like the Daiwa Tatula CT as already mentioned. I am not a fan of "beginner gear" as I truly believe that will deter or frustrate you and maybe turn you away from using baitcasting reels. So when I say mid lever I mean around $100 give or take $20. A Tatula CT can be purchased from online retailers for that amount of money. I would spool it with either a good quality mono like Stren or Trilene Big game in say 12 pound test for an all around combo. Some may suggest braid but that makes throwing any surface or surface floater/ diver bait like topwaters, Rapala minnows, or wakebaits (crankbaits that do not dive much below the surface) etc. more difficult. For a rod the Dobyns Fury 704C is a really nice choice. Another good rod is a Falcon Bucoo Micro rod in a 7 ft medium heavy 1/4 to 3/4 rod. It is called a Trap Caster.

Check on Youtube there are tons of reel maintenance videos.