It's great, but I felt it's kind of old, and thought maybe, the newer rods would be better. So, I've been trying to replace it for the last 15 years or so without success. I bought a Daiwa Steez (supposedly, designed for topwater) and some other rods. A few weeks ago, I bought an Abu Garcia Fantasista Premier Medium Light rod, hoping it would be better than the 25yrs old Daiwa for 3/8oz topwater baits. I fished with it 5 mornings. It casts better, probably because it's a few inches longer. I actually liked it better for jerkbaits and scroungers. It weighs about the same as the Daiwa. But, I just couldn't move Rio Rico and One's Bug the same way. Those two, especially Rio Rico were my go to poppers for very long time, and I know how I want to fish with them. The same thing with 3/8oz walkers like Gun Fish. Those lures just don't move like they used to with the new rod. I kept trying to adjust, but I think five mornings were enough. I think I'm going back to the 25yrs old Daiwa rod again. It's good and bad. It's good, because I found a perfect rod, and I have 3 of them. It's bad, because I can't replace them with newer and supposedly, better rods, and I've wasted over $1,000, just trying to replace my favorite rod.
I love 1/2oz walkers, like Megabass Giant Dog X, Evergreen SB and Heddon Super Spook Jr. The Daiwa works fine with them, but about 13 or 14 years ago, I found a perfect one. It's the Dobyns Champion Series 682C Medium action rod. Again, I bought two more, after trying the first one. I bought a Dobyns 683C Medium Heavy for 3/4oz walkers like the Original Zara Spook. I didn't like it much, so I tried a Dobyns 703C, and it's perfect. 683C is 6'8" and 703C is 7'. I guess 4" difference is a big deal.
Anyway, the reason why I started writing this post was because different rods, even with the similar stiffness, the lures don't move the same way. And, I was surprised by that. If I didn't buy the old Daiwa rod, most likely, I would've been a different fisher man. I don't think I rely so much on topwater, if I didn't buy this Daiwa rod 25yrs ago. So, in a way, this rod established my style. I spend probably over 50% of the time throwing topwater baits. When nothing gets a bite, I throw topwater, even when it's 100 degree in a middle of a sunny day or 40 degree cold morning in Feb. I did catch a bass with Rio Rico in Feb, when I couldn't get a bite with finesse fishing. That did surprised me, though.
To me it will always be a topwater rod, even though I had that LE before I got the tip heavy topwater LT model.