In Minnesota we have some real thick vegetation in the summer. As a bank fisherman at the moment (no boat or kayak), I am stuck fishing moving water with very sparse fish, or areas with lots of weeds. I caught my first two frog fish ever today and had a blast, but my Bantam+7ft MHF St Croix Premier combo is leaving my hand very tired and sore after two hours. The Premier is an alright rod, but I do feel like it is tip heavy, and it takes a lot of torque to twitch it. Funny enough, I caught my first one using my 6ft MF Premier which struggled a little pulling the fish through the weeds, but I managed!
I know you don't need sensitivity for a frog rod, so I'm not looking to spend $200 on it because of that. However, I do want a lightweight rod that won't ruin my hands after only 1-2 hours, and you gotta pay for that weight savings. I was thinking possibly a 7ft HF Dobyns Champion XP (704 SH XP) but it is a little spendy if it is JUST a frog rod. I could use it for heavier jigs but my lures with trailer rarely exceed 1/2oz (with some 3/4oz topwater) so I don't really need a rod to handle heavy lures.
My thinking is this. If I have to spend $150-250 to get nice light rod, I might as well try to make it somewhat cross-functional with other techniques. So, knowing I can pull fish through weeds using M-MH power... would it be acceptable to get something like a 6'9" MHXF Kistler H3 which would be used for jigs and spinnerbaits in addition to frogs? I would like to keep length to 7ft or slightly below, as since I am bank fishing, my clearance to the water is limited, I am sometimes surrounded by brush, and cast accuracy is important.
I would pair the frog rod with my SLX to start since it is a lightweight reel, but I may step up the reel eventually.
Thoughts and recommendations? Thanks!