softwateronly

I've witnessed the incredible benefit of a warm rain in early spring, have any Northerners seen a warm rain winter benefit when the overall trend is toward colder? Water temp is between 39-40 and the forecast is for a 50 degree day with .25" of rain. scott

Back when I only had a 7' ML Avid, I even had better than good success with chatterbaits and 5" hollow body swimbaits. I do think braid was partly responsible for that success, but the rod would land anything I got a hook into. scott

X2 I don't have any experience with the Kaden, but the DC734c is a dream to fish moving baits. It does lean more mod/fast, but that makes it very versatile and the power is there when you get to it. Swim jigs, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, showerblow/spooks, dark sleepers, and finesse jigs are the baits that cycle through the year. scott

Twin tail grub for me but I have had early spring luck with TRD craws, might need to try before the ice instead of only after. scott

I have a couple keitech football, SK bitsy bug, and new to me jewel peewee finesse jig. The ned fish I got all seemed to be on alive scrub grass, not in the taller, dead grass and there is no wood or rock to speak of in my water. I wish us luck. scott

I had some decent success with large weedless neds, both nichols and gambler, with fluke style trailers. Water temp was 40 and the sun was out, picked up 3 smallmouth and 3 largemouth in 3 different areas. Silver buddy, 6" trash fish, and full size jig were ignored. Probably should add a tube and finesse jig into the mix. scott

I agree that the XP 734 is one of the most universal rods I've ever fished. My 2 complaints, and they're very minor, is that its a bit too soft to move/shake/finesse a standard 1/2oz jig through the dense weeds and sensitivity is good, not great. All open hook moving baits and trebles are pleasure to fish with, definitely recommend. scott

I have used both, didn't notice a difference. I usually order the camo, but have gotten shiny when camo isn't available. I also use the hog farmer flex rig. My only real observations are my clear water lake does better without blades and for me the bite is best in prespawn and late fall. I have a local shop that carries hog farmer sometimes, otherwise I'm shipping through TW. scott

The only floro I use is sunline fc 100 shock leader, 30lb for big baits & 16lb for most everything else. Otherwise mono treats me better. scott

I agree with Kenny Yi, but I find 40lb power pro is the minimum for braid dig in on hard hook sets. Or at least I find the problem is something I no longer have to pay attention to and I see no performance drop off with 40lb. I run 20lb on my M casting set up, jerkbaits, small t-rigs, small swimbaits, etc and I have to pull line out constantly to make sure I avoid the dig in. You might be better or more responsible, but this is how I handle it and haven't noticed any issues. scott

I have the XP 734 and use 40lb power pro to 12lb maxima or 16lb fc 100 shock leader. I find it hard to really crack em on a hookset with this rod, but with moving baits and braid to leader, my hookup/land ratio has been really good. If you like braid to leader, I think this is a good setup to keep using it. scott

I've only thrown the a rig for a year and a half or so, but the GFunk cali rig has treated me right. Fish always hit the 3 hooks and line twist is nonexistent. I do throw braid to leader, which might have an effect. Following to see if I can learn about future issues. scott

I hear it like this; Dead center of a small cut. Off of the main lake. typical reservoir talk, I'd guess the deepest water in a little protected arm or bay off of the main water body. scott

Poison Adrena 173MH I haven't thrown a squarebill on it yet, but either the poison or the expride will do ok depending on cover. scott

I caught my first 2 december bass last week from my pier. Water temp is 41. A jerkbait in 10-12' of water and a heavy ned w/ a 5" jerky j got smoked on the fall in about 20' of water. scott

I like my champions quite a bit more than my furys. TW's sale at $188 is a good deal in my opinion. The 734 is a real pleasure for moving baits, the soft tip keeps the fish pinned, feels closer to a medium than a heavy. Not my favorite for bottom contact, but definitely serviceable. scott

I prefer an 8:1 for frog fishing. Allows me to stay in rhythm better on the walk and helps turn their heads out of the slop as fast as possible. scott

I have og power pro in 40lb and 65lb on my two, and they're doing great. The connection knot can be a problem though. I just use a shorter leader. scott

If you look for used rods, the price difference definitely shrinks and that made the decision easier for me so I could avoid the recoil guides, my personal preference. scott

I was fortunate enough to grab a pristine used Conquest 904 & new Xtasy 755 for 65% off retail, and paired both with JDM 20 Met's. One new and one moved over from an expride. The expride has a Curado 71MGL coming from TW as a replacement, plus a reload on jigs, swim jigs, swimbaits, trailers, and a-rigs. Wallet is also very unhappy... I had that poison 6'10M casting in my TW cart all the way till I pulled the trigger, maybe next year. I was thinking it would throw the vision 110, heavy neds, light wire finesse jigs, small keitechs, and blade baits. The 6'11M+ is a really fun rod. scott

Welcome to BR!! I just got my first GLoomis rod, a used Conquest 904c, to be my jig rod. So I don't have any real world experience, but it looks like your post got buried. From what I've read here or heard from others in general, I would think the 2 power would be a little light for a 3/8oz spinnerbait. Personally, I'd look at the GCX 843MBR if you want to stay in that rod line up. My very limited experience with the MBR's is very positive, the 4 feels really light and responsive in the tip and moves into power very smoothly. It should be a very versatile rod, but it does line up as slightly redundant with the rest of what you're throwing. scott

I picked up 2 more picasso invizi wires in 1/2oz double willow as well. I did real good with it last summer as a night time slow roller with a dwalker/swammer on the hook, so much thump. It's definitely a spinnerbait that worked much better for me slow vs fast. Last fish I caught on it was a 40"+ northern, the wire didn't survive the landing. I threw an upton's 9" reaper T rigged with decent success during big worm season. I wanna branch out more with Iovino's 6" and mojo rigs and experiment with rage rigging the 9" I also picked up Gambler and Nichols (5/16, 3/8, 7/16) weedless power neds and think both the 6" reaper, damiki stinger, and a 5" jerky j can prove effective in deeper short weed beds when my jigs bury themselves a bit too much and I think they're keyed in on baitfish. scott

It is also a great frog rod and I'm sure it'll be good for mega-crawlers, the nearest I've thrown is a WP190. I junk fish most all the time, the TB is like a security blanket. I feel like everything in between finesse and big glides are on the table. Honestly, the big glides can be fished just fine on it, except my casting distance suffers with the short rod lob cast. Same with heavy A-rigs. Such a great and unique action rod, I think you'll love it. I've landed more than a few 4lb+ bass on it and a couple 40"+ Northerns and the way it stays loaded yet full of power means they stay hooked up. I don't think I'd ever get rid of it. scott

That MB TB is a crazy rod. It's fished everything I've thrown at it and it's been anywhere from good to great. Boot tail swimbaits 5-7" both weedless and open hook anywhere from 3/8 - 1oz (lead only), 1/2-1oz spinnerbaits slow rolled, 6" bull shad // S Waver, and punching jigs used horizontally to pop/rip through deep weedbeds in the summer are currently my favorite uses. Balances really well with a Bantam, so Met DC should be a great combo. Only negatives are the strange small trigger that makes me palm differently and there's no 7'6" version to also buy. scott

Agreed. My favorite rod for frogs; weedless, slow moving 6-7" swimbaits; 3/4oz jigs in heavy cover; & 3/4oz swim jigs in heavy cover. This rod can do so much more than I originally thought, I find it super versatile for XH because the tip has some give, strong backbone, and the overall sensitivity, weight, and balance are superb w/ a 7oz reel. I think you'll be happy. scott