TheBlueFishGuy

A 7-7'3" medium power fast action daiwa tatula xt spinning rod, any 8+ ball bearing spinning reel from a 200-300(2k-3k/20-30) sized reel 10-15lb braided line preferably a hi-vis color like yellow, lime green, white for you to visually see when your bait is picked up and moving, and between 6-12lb leader tied to your braid using an Alberto knot, uni-uni knot and then a hook size of a 1 or 1/0 for drop shot, 2/0-3/0 for a ewg hook(matching soft plastic to hook), then your jigs on spinning of this is usually 1/4 or less like down to maybe an 1/8oz. Anything less then this range you may want to step down to a medium light spinning rod and to a 200/2k size reel and 6-8lb braid and 4-8lb leader. And usually use a lure that's maybe max 3/16ths ounce. But any lure similar and then you could use the strike king magic spinner baits and buzzbaits on the medium and medium light and the pop-r poppers in the smaller sizes as well and the finesse jigs in the 1/4oz and less with the thinner gauge hooks. A little thicker than a ned hook but not by much for the medium and a ned head could go on either rod. And then if your doing the hair jigs like the vmc marabou jigs in the 1/8 I'd go with the 7'3"-7'6 in a medium light or medium. But bump the braid down to an 6lb braid or 8 to a 6lb leader of fluoro. It's risky but you will get a higher chance of catching that one extra bit. Growing up all I used was 10-12 lb line and braid in the 10-20lb braid. So I'm no expert but this all also depends on where you plan on fishing this style also will you be fishing around heavy cover, matted vegetation, heavy lay downs? So it's just the risk.

i have a medium action(berkley amp spinning rod which i love it with a 3000 size daiwa bg/10lb braid 6-12lb mono or fluoro leader) and then a vengence medium heavy baitcasting rod with a abu garcia silver max 1st gen with 12lb mono. i love the lighter lines and gear because the way i fish they work for me. now remember each person fishes different and have different fishng styles and reasons why they use a action/power over another. So usually the way i go is the lighter power for spinning and heavier for baitcasting. its how i was taught and how i always fished. so my spinning gear goes all the way down to medium light spinning rod and a 1k or 1500 with 6lb mono for essentially 3inch soft plastic worms, micro lures, and panfish poppers, micro crankbaits, and panfish jigs and crappie jigs as well as for trout. then anything that would be considered for over 3/8ths of an ounce or heavier go with medium heavy and anything over id say an ounce maybe 3/4 ounce depending on brand of rod and power id go with a heavy. so my med. heavy will be used essentially from 1/4oz-3/4oz maybe an ounce lures or styles of fishing. remember when combining your jig with a trailer or hard bait and adding a trailer it adds an overall weight. but spinner baits, buzz baits you can do on both a medium and a medium heavy and if depending on jig head for shakey head you can get away doing upto 1/4 oz on the medium spinning gear with proper line and reel on that medium rod. then same for jigs but i do plan on doing 1/4oz-3/8th oz maybe just maybe a half oz. So to answer directly get medium for spinning and a medium heavy for baitcasting. if you get the 1/4oz booyah frog you can use it around the edges of weed lines downed trees and everywhere you would throw the normal sized frogs. just throw the small sized on the edges only unless you plan on throwing the normal size on regular 50-65lb line. me back in the day i use to use 20lb-30lb braid direct on medium heavy gear where i use to live and threw jigs and frogs where you would use a heavy action and had no problems because the vegitation i fished was mild to moderate vegitation so it worked for me and my areas i chose to fish. so take that into consideration as well. In places where people say you may need a heavy power baitcaster, for you and all the areas you plan on fishing now and down the road a medium heavy with lets say 30lb braid may be all you need. then if your going to throw medium heavy to heavy jigs like 1/2oz plus then adding a fluoro leader of 15-20lb may be fine and for pitching and flipping into extremely thick stuff you may need to up to 20-25lb fluoro. if the bass are aggressive in general and are feeding they will not really care too much on leader but if your like me and many others and love the challenge of lighter gear then fish 20lb braid straight to topwater frogs and match it to fluoro leader or mono for the other techniques. Good luck and best of wishes. remember the rod is just a tool to help you. buy a rod to match what you fish the most. then to look at what the weight is of your lures weight that you predomenently use. then after that then decide on the type of rod you want. if you usually fish things less than 3/8 oz 90% of the time then stay with the medium and thats as well as moving forward. but if you do a mix of below and above then go and buy both the medium and medium heavy. but medium in spinning and medium heavy in baitcasting. just so you can cover 80%-90% of the fishing out there. then expand your rods by adding a few more rods of each so you can essentially have more lures rigged and ready to go. but if you just want to choose only 2 rods for whatever your fishing i think these two rods will cover i think what you want.