bwjay

I have a 7' HXF Helium3 that is great for frogging, but it's just a little underpowered if you try to pull fish through a ton of weeds. I'm talking dragging 2lb+ bass through 2ft thick mats. Most rods are not up to that task, but we get crap like that in MN so I moved up to an Expride 7'3XH which is a much stiffer rod that does what I want, but it doesn't cast as well or as accurately as the Helium3 due to being faster. I didn't feel like I fully mastered casting accuracy with it this summer. The Helium3 on the other hand somehow always seems to go where I want. I love my Helium3s and I think the 7'HXF is a good rod for frogging. I just don't know if the blanks have changed since I bought mine early last year.

With frogs, topwater, and jerkbaits, there is slack line. When lifting light jigs or weightless plastics, there is slack line. When you keep swinging the rod over and over and over with a heavy tip, it will wear on your wrist. For tip up presentations, you are applying force to keep the rod up and also to pull the lure toward you. The more force you have to apply just to keep the rod up, the harder it is (for me) to detect changes in resistance/rod load. When I only have to apply a slight amount of torque to pull a worm towards me, for example, it's super easy to tell when that weight disappears (fish slurped it) or when I get hung up. A heavy rod delays and dampens that response. Sometimes lightweight rods aren't super well balanced because the guides add weight, so the guidetrain has to be light too. But sometimes because the rod overall is so light, balance doesn't matter that much. With anything other than the lightest rods on the market, though, balance does matter. The 7' MHF Premier I mentioned before was a pool cue that felt dead in the hands and took a lot of effort to swing around. It wasn't just because it was heavy but because the balance point with an 8.5oz reel on the back was still about 3.5 inches in front of the foregrip (about 6 inches in front of the center of the reel seat).

Sometimes tip heaviness doesn't matter as much for a given presentation. For tip-down (mostly moving bait) presentations, it's not such a big deal, but for tip-up (when you need to feel the difference in resistance/difference in rod load due to structure or a bite) I find that a tip-heavy rod fights me. As well, I grew tired of frogging with my 7' MHF Premier after just 2 days of using it for 3-4h each. My wrist wanted to fall off after that. I would not want to use jerkbaits on a tip-heavy rod for the same reason as frogging; you end up moving too much weight around with your wrist. A long lever (rod) with a weight at the end is going to take more effort to move at the fulcrum (hand/wrist).

Sorry to say, I like St. Croix, but many of their rods are pretty tip-heavy and it wears on the wrist. The Legend Tournament rods are a disappointment. You really do need to go into their high end rods (Legend Elite/Extreme) to get more balanced rods. I'd like to own more of their midrange rods but there are more sensitive, lightweight, balanced rods for the same money or less.

Sure. But you are in the minority. Most people will struggle to use impart the proper action on a jerkbait using a moderate taper and there are far better tools for the job. It's tough to find a perfect jerkbait rod, stiff enough to impart the action but soft enough to absorb the fight. I maintain that a moderate (read: crankbait, moving bait) rod is not the right rod for jerkbaits.

Moderate rods load way too much to get the snap you need for jerkbaits. I would not recommend this to anyone. Mod-Fast at the very softest.

Mono floats. I've had great success with fluoro for jerkbaits. I doubt mono would cause it to rise, just like I don't think fluoro makes it sink. What you should be concerned, regardless of which type of line you go with, is memory. You want straight, supple line that will not retract into coils when you are pausing the lure. You need it to stay right where it stops. As soon as it starts drifting on its own, the fish lose interest. I do think the 6'9 Sierra is one of your better rods for this, but I don't know about spinning for jerkbaits. Sure it would help you cast far in windy situations, but the nature of jerking the rod and creating a lot of slack and snapping that slack might give you wind knots and guide wraps and all sorts of un-fun things. I'd recommend trying your 7' MHF IMX Pro. The MBR taper will help keep fish pinned and hopefully the tip won't be too soft to easily work the jerkbait. It's about as long as I think most people would want in a jerkbait rod, but it's not bad. You might find the tip hits the water occasionally, or the handle is a bit long and slaps the inside of your elbow a lot, but the taper might be the best you have for jerkbaits. Just my two cents.

I've got a Frabill Tru-Trax net, probably the larger 23x26. It's a bit small if you're planning on catching big pike/muskie/lakers/cats but in general it seems about right for most fish. The handle disconnects and stores backwards in the basket so it maintains a small form factor for transportation. I've used it on canoe trips and have enjoyed the way it travels.

If leaders were allowed in this thought experiment, then I'd use braid. But I would say leaders don't fit the spirit of the question, so I'd go and say fluorocarbon, I think, Tatsu and Assassin. I am wary of stiff line jumping off the spool so I'd need a line that doesn't do that. Assassin and Tatsu are pretty supple. Fluoro doesn't have the best knot strength though. If I had more experience with some good mono, maybe I'd say mono, but I haven't tried enough mono yet to say I'd be satisfied using it for the rest of my life.

Is anyone still using the Uni? I've used the Palomar for most of my life but don't like the way it cinches down especially with fluoro. The Uni has been rock solid for me and it's still pretty quick to tie and doesn't waste much more line than a Palomar.

Well... you might be able to walk a frog on a glass crankbait rod, but it's far from the ideal rod to do so. I think MOST rods are capable of easily walking a frog, but there's no harm in asking which action is overall the most ideal for frogging. Personally I'd focus more on the power because the amount of cover you fish around will affect how loaded up that rod gets. Our vegetation in Minnesota gets so thick in the summer that your average MH will be far overloaded trying to drag a 2 pounder with it, so a H is the minimum I'd recommend to Minnesota anglers looking to throw a frog.

I landed a 6lb pike on 3lb mono while ice fishing by using drag effectively. If you finesse them you can get fish in. The thing is I wasn't fishing around cover so there was basically no concern about my line getting micro nicks or anything of the sort (besides line rubbing on the underside of the hole). I wouldn't go below 6lb while bass fishing and even then, I have no desire to do so. 8lb is my absolute minimum for finesse and I think 10lb is just fine. Granted, I use fluoro so it's less visible than mono or copoly. Just use your drag, err on the side of caution and let them run a bit, play them out. If they're around dock pilings or other cover that could break you off, then I'd definitely want 10lb line so I can tighten the drag and turn their heads without worrying about breaking off.

As long as the tip has some softness to it, a heavy is just fine, ESPECIALLY in thick Minnesota vegetation that I'm sure you know quite well. The length only makes things harder if you are shore fishing and are finding the tip hitting the water a lot while trying to walk. Walking frogs is more of a twitch than a jerk so you don't need a ton of tip flex either. I bought a 7'3XH Expride specifically because I thought my 7'H wasn't powerful enough to drag fish with big clumps of milfoil, or rip frogs free from lily pads. Now I've got a sweet frog rod and it's pretty stinkin light too, a joy to walk frogs for hours with minor fatigue compared to the typical tip heavy stuff out there.

There's a BassResource member, @punch, that does high end rod reviews on YouTube. His channel is called "PunchFishing". It's mostly Megabass and Shimano/Loomis and he doesn't have a ton of reviews, but he does go into a fair bit of depth. Not exactly the most scientific but he doesn't review something unless he has a good bit of time using it. I hate when people get something in the mail and do a "review". They couldn't possibly know if it's worth the money or good for why they bought it without time using it. I like his reviews because if you watch, it's pretty obvious he has used everything he talks about. (Thanks for the insights Brian!)

The Vanquish is super light whereas the Certate is not. I would expect both reels to be pretty premium in feel and operation. None of my rods are balanced enough for a reel as light as the Vanquish, but it would still be cool. Personally I think I'd go for a Certate, and I say that as someone who owns only Shimano and 1 Pfleuger reel. I'd be willing to give Daiwa a shot for a Certate LT. It looks like a sweet reel.

High end reels will be smoother, generally. For spinning reels, the power transfer from the handle to the rotor tends to be more refined/stronger. For baitcasters, you usually get a more rigid frame and more direct power transfer. On top of this, they tend to be lighter than cheaper reels, but not always, as these added features/improvements can add some weight. In the case of a Bantam or a Stella, you'll have more weight than something specifically intended to be as light as possible, but they earn their weight for sure. A more expensive reel will likely not help you land a fish once you get out of bargain bin territory. You might find that more expensive reels cast better and help you get bait out further, or are less prone to backlashes or weird wind knots/wraps around the reel. Some more expensive reels like the Bantam are powerhouses that are great for winching in fish and give you confidence when you're trying to haul in a big fish or a big fish wrapped in heavy vegetation. Sometimes expensive gear has properties that enable you to fish better, sometimes it just looks and feels nice. Ideally it's all of that.

Pfft... yeah, and pull it up at every single dock and laydown? I'll pass. But, not a terrible suggestion. A PowerPole would be nice but I can't get myself to drop the cash.

I've got a Topwater 120 PDL. Pedaling backwards isn't an option while standing, and even while sitting, I still turn as I drift, and at low speeds, you can't change your orientation. I end up having to back up quite far in order to turn myself for the drift back to where the wind is pushing me. The Predator has the same rudder but maybe doesn't turn as easily, I dunno.

My main issue is that like I said before, you end up twisting your body as you drift by the spot you casted to, so you can watch your line and have a halfway decent hookset angle. I don't cast at cover super far in front of me though which would somewhat mitigate this issue. Still, maintaining boat angle at low speeds where my rudder is almost useless is pretty annoying. I have a larger rudder to put on, which apparently helps a lot with control at low speeds, but right now it's pretty tough. And all of this is even more of an issue if I want to stand and fish, as I act like a sail when I stand which causes me to drift super fast. I can barely work a worm for a single cast under a dock before I have to sit down and reposition. I prefer to stand but it's proven to be quite trying so I have to force myself to sit just to get enough time to slowly work a bait. I could work worms and jigs quicker but I feel like that slow, erratic hop and drag gets good bites. I just am not able to do it as often as I'd like unless it's dead calm. In which case, I'm probably thinking about throwing a frog.

For offshore I'd maybe give it a try, but for just floating from dock to dock throwing weightless worms, or from laydown to laydown with a jig, I think a drift sock would be more hassle than it's worth.

I wish jig fishing was easier in a kayak, but you drift too quickly to work the spot thoroughly in my experience, even with a pedal drive. It's hard to keep your orientation and you end up spinning around and twisting yourself into a pretzel. Topwater on the other hand is explosive fun and just the thought of those twitches and pauses with a surface eruption gets my heart pumpin!!

I don't think line color matters for frogging. It might, if the line is super visible, but in most scenarios I think the fish is reacting to the frog. I could be totally wrong though. I caught frog fish with neon green braid and I catch frog fish with moss green braid. White is probably not an issue.

One reason I decided to try a Kistler rod (Helium3) was that they are made in the USA. The NFC blank is not only a great blank but it too is made in the USA. There are a lot of products out there that say "Designed in USA" or something to that effect, but are made in China. I was saddened to see that my Shimano Expride is not made in Japan, but China. It doesn't stop it from being a great rod, but I'm trying not to support China whenever given the choice. Unfortunately a lot of products come from there, some really good ones too. Economics are a B.

2500 is the size. Shimano has revisions for their reels; the current Stradic is the FL, previous was FK, before that was FJ, etc. The current Stella is FJ I believe, normally retails for like $700. The $300 price leads me to think it's an older Stella, which might still very well be worth that much cash.

If the Stella is an FJ and doesn't have any issues with rubbing/grinding/gearyness then I'd buy that in a heartbeat.