Rod selection and setups

[Angry John]

My son fishes the mxf avid x spinning rod and its very powerful.  I dont see which model you chose but i have yet to get a chance to fish the mlxf.  I love that speed for weightless plastic but others prefer a fast.  My current 610mlxf fenwick elite bass is a great rod and i cant seem to boot it out of the rotation to get a different one.

[Treble Hooker]

9 hours ago, Appfisher said:

Have you tried the Mojo line? Do you think the jump to the Avid X is worth it? It appears they both use the same blanks. I see a lot of people mention that leader knots can get hung on the micro guides. Are they that much smaller than typical bait casting rods? I run braid to FC leader on a bait caster and have no issues with it hanging up.

 

The Avid X does look interesting though. I am going between just getting that 1 rod or getting a cheaper finesse rod and the 703 I originally planned to get since the price will be similar. Just not sure if 2 cheaper rods would be better than 1 expensive rod.

 

Possible less expensive finesse options include:

Major Craft Nanoace 6'6" ML / XF

Lews TP-1 Speed Stick 6'7" ML / F

Dobyns Fury 702SF ML / F (works well according to Dobyns)

St. Croix Mojo 6'10" ML / XF

 

Do you typically fish from land or a boat? Although I am trying to keep it at 4, I can definitely see the need for a 5th :). 

I have a small Sporstman boat I got last year. I usually only take 4 due to space but lately been taking the 5th setup mostly for swimbaits.....

[Boomstick]

17 hours ago, Appfisher said:

 

Thanks for the additional feedback. Sorry to hear about the chemo. I had a friend go through chemo recently and he is back to his old shenanigans again.

 

I am going with the Avid X, initially picked it up last night with 15% off at TW. Still had the chance to swap it because they don't get them back in stock for a couple of days. I will just buy the nicer rod now and add the 703 at a later point.

 

I see that Dobyns has a refurb Sierra 703 for $120 so I can hopefully add one down the road.

You'll love that rod. If I didn't mention already, should you need a reel I paired a Daiwa BG 2000 with it and it balances out nicely and won't break the bank. I didn't even get to use it this year as much as I hoped (because of being tired from chemo), but I did catch this season's largest smallie on it.

 

I may pick up a 703 or something similar at some point myself, but it adds much less to my arsenal than the Avid X spinning rod did so that will be for next year when my bank account has a chance to recover a little bit.

[PiedmontAngler]

18 hours ago, Angry John said:

My son fishes the mxf avid x spinning rod and its very powerful.  I dont see which model you chose but i have yet to get a chance to fish the mlxf.  I love that speed for weightless plastic but others prefer a fast.  My current 610mlxf fenwick elite bass is a great rod and i cant seem to boot it out of the rotation to get a different one.

I went with the MLXF, we'll see how it is.

 

4 hours ago, Boomstick said:

You'll love that rod. If I didn't mention already, should you need a reel I paired a Daiwa BG 2000 with it and it balances out nicely and won't break the bank. I didn't even get to use it this year as much as I hoped (because of being tired from chemo), but I did catch this season's largest smallie on it.

 

I may pick up a 703 or something similar at some point myself, but it adds much less to my arsenal than the Avid X spinning rod did so that will be for next year when my bank account has a chance to recover a little bit.

I ordered a Pflueger President in size 25 for the time being. It does seem a bit lighter than the BG 2000 but I do have a Quantum Smoke S3 I can throw on it.

[Boomstick]

40 minutes ago, Appfisher said:

I went with the MLXF, we'll see how it is.

 

I ordered a Pflueger President in size 25 for the time being. It does seem a bit lighter than the BG 2000 but I do have a Quantum Smoke S3 I can throw on it.

The President is a solid reel for the price, I have a size 30 or 35 one, but the BG is definitely a nice step up. Both have solid reputations for holding up for years as well.