Daiwa Tatula XT 7'4" H frog casting rod vs Okuma TCS 7'3" H casting rod

[JohnnyRebTX]

Which of the two rods would y'all recommend?

They're both on sale around the same price, and I'd like to stick to around that $100 price point. It will be used for Spro Rat 50s, Whopper Plopper 130s, and any of my other heaviest baits. Both of these rods are rated for up to 2oz. baits which is also what I was looking for as many other heavy rods that I looked at were rated up to 1.5oz. which is pushing it. I mostly bank fish. Occasionally kayak. What do y'all think? Thanks!

[MassYak85]

I have the original version of the Tatula 7'4" rod. It's a frog rod plain and simple, and it's very good for that. I would not ever use it for the baits you described though. You want a much softer rod to help keep fish pinned on those larger treble hook baits. I fished the 130 whopper plopper for a summer on my jig rod because at the time it was the only rod I had that could handle the weight. I caught lots of fish...and LOST a lot of fish, often in heartbreaking fashion because the rod couldn't keep jumping fish pinned. And you said you're fishing from a kayak sometimes so it's gonna be even worse, the kayak will start moving towards the fish to aid in unloading your rod while fighting it. You're gonna want something like a 7'6" MH or even look at swimbait rods. I fish both those baits on a Dobyns Fury 795SB. Plus it would give you room to upsize to other baits if you wanted. 

[Hammer 4]

I have the XT, love it for froggin. Just for the heck of it, I tried tossing a 2 oz bait with it, it struggled to get the bait any distance. I'd say 1 1/2 oz would be the max. 

 

I'd say that the above is good advice..

[Bluebasser86]

I have the Okuma TCS. Great jig rod, but I've never used it for frogs. IMO, it's not nearly as heavy as it's rated. I use a different 7' 3" H/F rod for frogging and it's way stouter than the Okuma is. No way, no how are you throwing a Spro Rat 50 on it, a 130 plopper you could do.

[JohnnyRebTX]

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I have the Okuma TCS. Great jig rod, but I've never used it for frogs. IMO, it's not nearly as heavy as it's rated. I use a different 7' 3" H/F rod for frogging and it's way stouter than the Okuma is. No way, no how are you throwing a Spro Rat 50 on it, a 130 plopper you could do.

What's the other rod that you use for frogging?

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, JohnnyRebTX said:

What's the other rod that you use for frogging?

A H2O Ethos Micro. 

[JohnnyRebTX]

Here's a thought after y'alls advice. Since the Spro Rat 50 is the only bait that I own or would throw heavier than 1.5oz., should I downgrade to a Spro rat 40 or 30? Sell the two 50s that I have.

So with Spro Rats an ounce or less and whopper ploppers 1.5oz. or less, would a Tatula Xt Heavy or Okuma TCS heavy still not cut it?

[Hammer 4]

12 minutes ago, JohnnyRebTX said:

Here's a thought after y'alls advice. Since the Spro Rat 50 is the only bait that I own or would throw heavier than 1.5oz., should I downgrade to a Spro rat 40 or 30? Sell the two 50s that I have.

So with Spro Rats an ounce or less and whopper ploppers 1.5oz. or less, would a Tatula Xt Heavy or Okuma TCS heavy still not cut it?

If I understand you correctly, yes the XT would would work for 1.5oz baits, which imho would be at the upper end of the XT's sweet spot. 

[Fishin Dad]

I have the Okuma TCS 7’3” H and find it a versatile rod.   I tried it for frogging when I first got it, and no way.  Not good for frogging.  I have enjoyed buzzbaits, whopper ploppers, jigs, and others and it performed well.  I do own a couple Tatula’s (regular, not XT version) that I like, but have not used them how you are looking to.  I don’t think I would ever go over an once on what I have.  

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Fishin Dad said:

I have the Okuma TCS 7’3” H and find it a versatile rod.   I tried it for frogging when I first got it, and no way.  Not good for frogging. 

I never even tried mine for frogging. I could tell just from the first time I made a couple cast with it that it wasn't going to be a good frogging rod. Seems to be a pretty universal opinion on it too.

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, JohnnyRebTX said:

Here's a thought after y'alls advice. Since the Spro Rat 50 is the only bait that I own or would throw heavier than 1.5oz., should I downgrade to a Spro rat 40

Just yesterday I had a conversation with my brother regarding Spro rats. We both have all sizes, but neither of us has had any play on the 50's, but tons on the 40s. Not saying the 50 isn't good or even great for some people, just not for us. If you want to try a rod at a bargain price, take a look at the 13 Defy Black Crankbait rod. I'm using the 7'3" rated to 1.5oz for the Rat 40, WP 75, chatterbaits, and even the Shellcracker, WP 130, and Gantarel JR in a pinch, which is really pushing it's rating quite a bit, but no problems so far. I'll have the 7'9" soon which is rated to 2oz and will cover those heavier baits better. That model may be a viable option for you, and the price can't be beat.

[Hammer 4]

Just to add for the sake of info..If anyone is wanting to throw the Spro Rat 50, I would suggest getting a rod rated up to 4 oz..The rat 50 should fall just about into the sweet spot.

[JohnnyRebTX]

2 hours ago, Fishin Dad said:

I have the Okuma TCS 7’3” H and find it a versatile rod.   I tried it for frogging when I first got it, and no way.  Not good for frogging.  I have enjoyed buzzbaits, whopper ploppers, jigs, and others and it performed well.  I do own a couple Tatula’s (regular, not XT version) that I like, but have not used them how you are looking to.  I don’t think I would ever go over an once on what I have.  

I also own a regular Tatula, but it's a Medium Light spinning rod paired with a Daiwa Legalis LT that I use for ned rigs and drop shots. It's the old Tatula too before they switched to cork. I was referred to them on here, and they're hard to find now. Love em for finesse. I just wasn't sure how good Diawa rods were for power. The current stoutest/stiff rod that I own is an Abu Garcia Veritas medium-heavy. It has yanked out some good ones out of slop, but it's supposed to only be good up to 1oz. baits.

13 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Just yesterday I had a conversation with my brother regarding Spro rats. We both have all sizes, but neither of us has had any play on the 50's, but tons on the 40s. Not saying the 50 isn't good or even great for some people, just not for us. If you want to try a rod at a bargain price, take a look at the 13 Defy Black Crankbait rod. I'm using the 7'3" rated to 1.5oz for the Rat 40, WP 75, chatterbaits, and even the Shellcracker, WP 130, and Gantarel JR in a pinch, which is really pushing it's rating quite a bit, but no problems so far. I'll have the 7'9" soon which is rated to 2oz and will cover those heavier baits better. That model may be a viable option for you, and the price can't be beat.

Y'all are awesome. Great info. It seems like instead of buying a rod for two baits, that I should just use the smaller versions. I'll get a setup that can toss the 40s and 30s which a lot of reviews on Tackle Warehouse seem to say are better for bass anyways, and 110 whopper ploppers and smaller with the occasional 130 tied on. I do have lots of ploppers from 75 to 130. The 75 has caught me the most so far.

[bogfrog]

Youll be pushing both these rods to the limit. If you plan on using a rod for, lets say 2 oz, dont get a rod rated for 2 oz, youll be pushing its limits on every cast. In this case you would need a rod rated around 3 ounces. Graphite rod action does become fatigued over time, just like any other metal, and maxxing out on every cast just accelerates the process. Another comment in this thread said a 4 oz rod was perfect for the spro 50 rat. That comment is spot on. My best friend uses a 4 oz rod with the spro rat a lot (feeding it to Muskies) and its perfect. There are medium heavy power rods available in 3-4 oz lure ratings that will have all the power you need for the baits you mentioned yet a soft enough tip to cast much lighter weights if versatility is a priority.

[JohnnyRebTX]

Yeah, I think I've scratched the idea of throwing Spro Rats at 2.5oz. I'll sell them in favor of the 1oz. size 40 rats. Now it'll mostly be used for throwing 110 whopper ploppers and Spro rat 40s at both 1oz. Rare occasion a 130 whopper plopper at 1.5oz. Now, I've already ruled out the Okuma TCS based on previous comments. So will the Tatula XT heavy rated for 2oz. do the trick, or is another contender a better option? Like a Dobyns Fury 735c? That one is rated to 1.5oz which is what a whopper plopper 130 is, so also based on prior comments would be bad for pushing its limits.

[Hammer 4]

The XT will do the trick. From my past experience with Dobyn's rods, I found the tip to be a tiny bit softer than the XT's. Don't know if that's still the case, or not, but I went with the XT anyway, and I'm happy with the rod, plus I have 2 other XT's..

[bogfrog]

Today's rod

1 minute ago, JohnnyRebTX said:

Yeah, I think I've scratched the idea of throwing Spro Rats at 2.5oz. I'll sell them in favor of the 1oz. size 40 rats. Now it'll mostly be used for throwing 110 whopper ploppers and Spro rat 40s at both 1oz. Rare occasion a 130 whopper plopper at 1.5oz. Now, I've already ruled out the Okuma TCS based on previous comments. So will the Tatula XT heavy rated for 2oz. do the trick, or is another contender a better option? Like a Dobyns Fury 735c? That one is rated to 1.5oz which is what a whopper plopper 130 is, so also based on prior comments would be bad for pushing its limits.

Something the rod manufacturers have dropped the ball on is educating their customer base about the difference between graphite banks and toray (carbon fiber) blanks. These are two completely different animals. For finely refined actions and superb finesse sensitivity I give the graphite blanks the edge. When you start throwing bigger baits, fishing heavy cover, and winching in really big fish the toray rods are in a different class. Their actions tend to be slightly more moderateand they develope a lot more power tha the graphite. We are all aware that there really isnt a rating standard that all manufacturers abide by, and different brands can have huge difference between rods with the same rating. Oddly enough, most manufacturers tend to over rate their graphite rods while under rating is fairly common with the carbon rods. For the application you are referring to here a toray rod may be worth considering.

[PhishLI]

6 hours ago, JohnnyRebTX said:

So will the Tatula XT heavy rated for 2oz. do the trick,

That rod is quite stiff and built for driving very heavy wire hooks, so while it's weight rating is good for the baits you're talking about, sans the Rat 50, it's nowhere near ideal for their hooks and keeping fish on. If you're set on it, or something with a similar power and action, you could compensate to a degree with lighter mono for extra stretch. Without that you're likely to have more fish shake off. There's also the higher likelihood of yanking out the hooks on the set without some sort of compensation like line stretch and lighter drag. I've thrown all sorts of baits on rods that aren't best suited for them due to the fact that I'm limited to what I can carry while wading. I've failed and then found ways to compensate in a pinch. But you're talking about throwing one specific bait type here, so in this case you should consider rods with a far more moderate action than the XT, IMO.

[JohnnyRebTX]

4 hours ago, PhishLI said:

That rod is quite stiff and built for driving very heavy wire hooks, so while it's weight rating is good for the baits you're talking about, sans the Rat 50, it's nowhere near ideal for their hooks and keeping fish on. If you're set on it, or something with a similar power and action, you could compensate to a degree with lighter mono for extra stretch. Without that you're likely to have more fish shake off. There's also the higher likelihood of yanking out the hooks on the set without some sort of compensation like line stretch and lighter drag. I've thrown all sorts of baits on rods that aren't best suited for them due to the fact that I'm limited to what I can carry while wading. I've failed and then found ways to compensate in a pinch. But you're talking about throwing one specific bait type here, so in this case you should consider rods with a far more moderate action than the XT, IMO.

Gotcha. Any rods in the $100 price range that fit that bill?

[PhishLI]

15 minutes ago, JohnnyRebTX said:

Gotcha. Any rods in the $100 price range that fit that bill?

Lot's of choices out there. Browse rods labelled crankbait or moderate with a lure rating that'll work with the baits you intend to throw. I'll mention the Defy Black Crankbait rods again because I use them, as does my brother,  and they've stood up well to trips through the woods occasionally snagging trees, swatting branches when casting, and outsized lures. Plus I like full cork handles. I've had zero problems with 13 rods breaking or anything else. None, and I have quite a few. Take a look at Dobyn's as they're an approved brand, at least on this forum. There's a good sale going on right now, I believe, at sportsmens outfitters.

[Hammer 4]

While the XT is stiffer than some rods, I wouldn't say it's quite stiff, compared to rods I've used in the past. However, being that the rat has treble hooks, I would agree that possibly a softer tip may be what you need. I personally like a stiffer tip on my rods.  

[freelancer27]

I have the Ocuma as well.

Great all- around rod. Actually pretty great sensitivity! In my hands it is as sensitive as the much more expensive St Croix Legend Elite 7'4H.  So, it makes a great 1/2oz Jig rod, Chatterbait, Swimbait and Trebble hook top water rod.
I had originally bought it as a frog rod. But as already said, I dont think it is powerful enough for frogging in cover, where one needs to pull the fish out.

 

[bogfrog]

Get the Diawa. I had to send one of these back to a customer that had the tip broken in shipping so he could get a warranty adjustment. Since the rod was already broken it would be a lot cheaper to ship if it was half the length. I put it across my knee and reefed on it....nothing! I'm 6' tall, 230 lbs and I split 9 cords of firewood by hand this winter and I couldnt break it! I would have bet a thousand dollars that I could. When it comes to strength these rods are right up there with an SC-IV.

[michael1]

On ‎3‎/‎27‎/‎2020 at 10:51 PM, JohnnyRebTX said:

Which of the two rods would y'all recommend?

They're both on sale around the same price, and I'd like to stick to around that $100 price point. It will be used for Spro Rat 50s, Whopper Plopper 130s, and any of my other heaviest baits. Both of these rods are rated for up to 2oz. baits which is also what I was looking for as many other heavy rods that I looked at were rated up to 1.5oz. which is pushing it. I mostly bank fish. Occasionally kayak. What do y'all think? Thanks!

Where have you found this Daiwa frog rod you are talking about?

[MN Fisher]

On 4/2/2020 at 6:26 PM, michael1 said:

Where have you found this Daiwa frog rod you are talking about?

The model number is TXT741HXB

On the TW page for the Tat-XT https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-DAIWAROD.html?from=basres it's listed as "Daiwa Tatula XT Casting Rod 7'4" Heavy Frog"