I need help picking out a moderate taper jerkbait rod and I figured there's no better way than to just ask what you guys like the most. I'm on a budget so please don't tell me to get a megabass or a glx. I'm looking to try to spend under $150 but you know how that goes. I'm learning towards the duckett ghost cranking rod or the phenix red cranking and I've heard good things about the halo cranking rods. I have a lot of fast taper rods so I'm looking for something that will really load up but still sensitive enough to feel the winter jerkbait bite. I'm pretty sure I'll be using it for shallow cranking and topwater baits as well so I'm not sure if I need a glass blank or are there better alternatives nowadays. In fact I have an almost brand new Loomis GL2 worm and jig rod I would be willing to trade if anyone would be interested. I've used it about 5 times but it's still perfect and kept in a rod sock. I'm not looking to trade down so don't offer me an ugly stick, I paid $235 out the door a few weeks ago and a week later I got the MGX for it and they don't balance well together at all so I regret the purchase now. Not because the rod is bad because it's the most sensitive rod I have ever used. Any help though would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I use an older all star rod. I think it is marketed as a zell Rowland top water rod. It works great on jerk baits.

Look for a $150 class inshore graphite rod.

Heck, I'm sure even one of the $90 Falcon Coastal rods will suffice.

Either way, cheaper (than specialized bass rods) inshore rods made for speckled trout are an economical option when looking for good moderate action rods.

I went up to BPS today to look at some of them and out of that entire place there was one glass rod up there and it was a Browning. Nothing against them but it was $80 and I can think of 10 rods I really want for $20 more and although I went up there more for a cranking style rod I fell in love with the medium action Temple Fork rod made by Loomis and even though it's listed as a fast taper it's more of a fast/moderate taper and I had to have it so I broke down and bought it leaving me once again without a true cranking rod. It does however have a LIFETIME warranty and I can always get a replacement for $35 which is incredible. I am leaning towards the duckett cranking rod from the ones I've seen but it's so hard to pick a rod I've never held and BPS doesn't have a clue when it comes to fishing, at least tge one in Garland doesn't. I'm truly convinced their purchaser has never wet a line in their life. They have an entire row of lucky craft but they have 3 Pointer SP 100's and no 78's, they have never heard of duo realis, no McSticks, no 13 Fishing, no Ima, no Bandit and if you were to name your 10 favorite rods they would be lucky to have 2 of them. They should pay more attention to trends and what anglers are actually buying. If anyone out there wants my new Loomis jig and worm rod I would do a straight trade for a new duckett ghost cranking rod ($100) and a new Japanese lure or 2.

Thanks for the info on the inshore rods,that gives me a plethora of new options.

Take a look at the TFO Signature rods. They are all classic action rods.

That's what I bought StreetWalker, I took it out this morning and I absolutely love it. It's exactly what I needed even more so than buying a cranking rod for jerkbaits and topwaters. I still need to get a squarebill & lipless cranker and a deap cranker but I definitely think i made a really good purchase with this TFO.

I've got the TFO Signatures in all actions from ML to Heavy in the 7'6" length along with a few other TFO rods. They are pretty hard to beat if you want that classic action.

I really prefer it for fishing.