LOL. I remember years ago I had exchanged the ice fishing reel and mounted onto the full rod. I had forgotten that for ice fishing, I set all the brakes to zero. Well the first cast. Wow was like a casting dream. The 1/8th oz lure flew off so extremely well. Then the moment the lure touched the wate...

I don't find solid tip to equate to delicate tip. It would just depend on how much material is actually in the tip section. When St. Croix introduced some solid graphite/carbon ice rods, the general opinion was it was going to be delicate. Well it's very common in ice fishing rods now and suddenly t...

I've always used the St. Croix LTB 6'8" MXF rod. It was labeled topwater but later iterations labeled as a jerkbait rod. :lol: Anyways my target lures has always been 1/4 oz to 3/8 oz. So a lot of #9 size lures down to #7 size lures for jerkbaits. The XF tip allows me to have a slightly quicker resp...

Smalleyez wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 22, 2023 6:02 am

The Zara Spook Puppy has produced lots of smallmouth bass for me. It’s probably at the upper limit of BFS and weighs 1/4oz.

Too bad they stop producing the Pooch. 2" and 1/8th oz.

Hula Popper...and lose the whole skirt thing. Casts better and finesses way better.

Zodias rods are pretty good unless you fish it side by side to an equivalent Expride and then you wonder why didn't I just go with Expride. ](*,) I have both 7'2" ML Zodias first then Expride B second. You just feel a little more with the Expride with lighter lures. The smaller line guides allows a ...

For ice fishing, total game changer.

I also really like those Excalibur rotating trebles back in the days.

So secretly waiting for limited on hand stock to be sold by my local tackle store on their best sales day...

Not that there's any scientific tests to validate the following but...I feel that YGK SS112 has some strange feeling of feeling way better in terms of feeling to lure contact. Because it is a sinking braid with negative buoyancy - i.e. it's more dense than traditional braids likely due to the inclu...

One should feel the lack of tension hit at some point. Even a the line moving through the water should transmit some feel. Or in the end one doesn't feel any lure contact. Hence thicker braid will feel more than thinner braids. Not that there's any scientific tests to validate the following but...I ...

It is a little thicker. It may be the equivalent of a standard MH rod.

that's a trick question

Where is the fish getting unbuttoned? Generally being close to the boat or shore is where often time mono shines best with it's stretch and shock absorption. Then again this does depends on how one is controlling the fish. I fish almost exclusively with braid plus top shot leader. There are some rig...

I have the gen 1 version. I like how well this rod casts lures, especially the 1/4 oz variety that I use. Personally I'm not much of a fan of glass rods, but I decided to try this one as it's labeled ML. I keep trying glass rods, but I just don't have that affinity for them in a sense. ZDS170MLG 4.5...