I do a majority of my fishing with Spinning gear, a lot of UL and Light for Crappie and smaller Bass...most Bass are under 5 lbs where I fish.

Have a Carbonlight 6'9 currently with a 8225 Pflueger for Crappie.

Looking at a new rod for a Ci4+ Stradic 2500

Leaning towards a MLF or Med Fast action 6'3 - 6'6

Handled a 6'6 MLF St. Croix Premier at my local BPS which seems like a good fit for throwing light baits and jigs for both Crappie and smaller Bass. Not concerned if I were to hook a large bass.

Undecided, if I should go Medium since likely would use as much or more for Crappie, particularly during the Spawn when I'm doing a lot of casting (often running 1/8 oz jigs run fast to keep above weeds in shallow water). Also considered E6X and Fenwick HMX, and other St. Croix models. Do any of you guys lean hard on full cork vs split grip? Pros/Cons other than feel in hand?

Plans are to use something like either P-Line CX 8# or PP 2/10# or 832 braid in 8 or 10#.

Like to hear from those Spin fisherman who throw light lures, what they prefer in their gear.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance to all posters for any feedback.

My 6'6" Medium Shimano Crucial is perfect for everything from weightless lures to drop shotting, shakey head and I still use it for crappie jigs down to 1/32 oz

St. Croix Premier

I think the Premier PS66MLF is what you want. I have this rod and keep it in my boat for my friends or family members that fish with me. I like to put on a tiny, 1/8oz shaky head on there for them to drag around. This is actually a pretty decent rod. I know it's not like a $300 ultra sensitive rod but for the price it's hard to beat. I always ask whoever's fishing with it if they like it and feel comfortable with it, and they always say yes.

Phenix Maxim

Keep this rod in mind too. If you want one with a little more length then go with this one. These are severely underrated rods and they're awesome. I own a few and they might be my favorite rods.

Fish killer, I handled that rod in the past, but the local BPS stopped carrying, apparently never were hot sellers here, seemed to be well made. I was looking in the past to see if they were on clearance anywhere.

BB94 - good feedback, thanks to you both, welcome others. BTW, what reels and line are you guys running on them? Thanks again!

I use shimano Symmetry 2500

I wouldn't discount the Falcon Bucoo spinning rods.. very lightweight. BRS-3-17 is ML 7'.. BRS-4-166 6'6" M

BD

check BYC Racing on here, he has an Orochii xx drop shotnrod for sale. That rod is SWEET

ML is to soft for setting hook in weightless plastics when weedless rigged lures like Senko, Fluke, shakey head etc. I would go with a 6' 8 or 6'9" medium. This size and action works very well for skipping under docks etc. I don't seem to get much hook setting leverage with a shorter rod and the slightly longer rod balances well with the 2500 size reels. IMO. I use ML and 1000 size reels for crappie.

yep, use braid and either a co-poly or fluoro leader. I use 20 lb. PP super slick for finesse on spinning gear, it casts SO much better, but the trade-off is it isn't as abrasion resistant as regular PP. Use fluoro mostly and the lb. test depends on the cover, for rocks or wood I will go up to 12 lb. No cover I fish 8 or 10 lb.

Good info by all, re: hook set, yes that is an issue with softer rods......I typically run exposed hooks when working bass lures, and read folks using UL and L rods are using thinner wired hooks. That said, Bass of any size have thick hard mouths no doubt, so yes a Medium would be a good improvement over a ML on hook sets especially on larger fish.

TR, I often use a stiff UL or one particular L rod, and mostly 25 sized Pfluegers and I do have a Symetre 1000 I want to try this year on spawning fish.

Fish Killer - pros/cons on Gear ratio on spinning reels? Believe my Stradic is around 6:1, your Symetre may be the same, I know the new Nasci is supposed to be in the 5:1 range as I recall. I already have the Ci4+, been sitting in the box. I

remember last year is 2 days my buddy and I got into some school bass and I caught around 8-12 each day in about 15-20 minutes, cranking a crank bait fast. One day I was using my ML Carbonlight with Pflueger 8230 and it was much more taxing than say a quick retrieve baitcast. That's something I rarely do, but it's not the best tool for that particular job. I plan to use the rod in question with various jigs, small lures, weightless worms and Flukes. Folks who have Medium spinning rods, any issues throwing these lighter lures?

Guys, will a ML rod using Braid set a hook better than say mono or Floro?

Frank good stuff on the line, thanks.

Appreciate all the replies - great info.

6.5BR,

I, too, am a spinning tackle enthusiast. Part of this is because I prefer finesse techniques. Endless casting related to power fishing bores me a bit and I fish from a kayak, too, making finesse more practical.

Note, that Gary Yamamoto was recently promoting, sort of studying, the almost total use of spinning gear. And, at least one very successful tournament fisherman uses 4000 spinning reels with heavy braid to fish in heavy cover. I have the article attached below if you'd like to read his reasoning. Then, I think it was 2013 or so, when one pro used VERY light braid and mainly spinning tackle, get this . . . 5 lbs. braid, to win a berth to the Bassmaster Classic.

So, a whole lot of casting distance will have to do with line characteristics and size and I might suggest trying Sufix Nanobraid which is available up to 14 lbs. test and it is the diameter of 4 lbs. mono. It is available down to 2 lbs. braid and I am experimenting with this very light test right now. It is much smaller than Sufix 832, even smaller than Berkley's Nanofil for the same tests.

The problem with .001" diameter, 2 lbs. braid? I bought a 150 yd. spool of it and realized, wow, it is going to take a lot of it to fill up a spinning reel. I wrote a formula to predict yardage required, then matched it off (as a proof) against the stated numbers on one of my Ci4+ reels, and it would take miles, literally, of it to fill a tiny spool on a 1000 series to .18" depth. So, practicality is an issue. With a line that tiny, how does one tie on a leader? How much backing do you need to just set the reel up to a proper spool depth, etc.?

My stuff:

I own a St. Croix 7', medium powered fast rod for basic finesse bass fishing. Just about right using 10 lbs. Sufix 832 mainline to 6 or 8 lbs. Invizx fluorocarbon leaders of 6 to 8 feet.

I own an Avid Inshore St. Croix 7', medium light, fast, that I just bought used for better distance throwing ultralight top waters, maybe better for really small finesse stuff . . . drop shot, etc. I will likely use even lighter braid and leader here.

I bought and I haven't received it yet a St. Croix 6'9" panfish series, fast, ultralight. Here, I'll go as light as possible for panfish including up to crappie.

I'll eventually buy a rod with a 4000 spinning reel to spool on very heavy braid to fish jigs, etc. in heavy cover. Here, I'd likely go slightly shorter, certainly no longer than 7' for the increased leverage it gives a fisherman over the fish. See the attached article.

*** That 2 lbs. Nanobraid? One can't just easily on a whim snap it and break the line pulling with the hands like is the case with really tiny mono and fluoro tests. I thought I'd have to be super careful with the line. Not so much. Sufix says it is 3X as strong as comparable strength rated lines. Could be, but no bench tests on my part, yet. I would be surprised if I couldn't lift a 5 lbs. barbell plate slowly (no shock but lifting dead weight) with the line though. And, the .001" is so very small that I can't really see it and I doubt bluegills can either so I have been fishing at the Texas Freshwater Fishery with no leaders.

Trout definitely don't care.

Well, here's a link to the big spinning reels for punching heavy cover, the "why" behind why it works, its advantage.

Brad

Big Spinning Reels for Punching Mats

Brad, good stuff man, I am behind the times! Lol.

Curious what reels are you using? Thanks much Sir, and anyone else who wants to share.

I am a real fan of Shimano Stradic Ci4+ spinning reels.

Flukemaster over on YouTube spoke recently about the 13 Fishing new spinning reels. Carbon and incredibly cheap and they sure look good to me. No, I doubt very seriously they are up to the Shimano standard but I think at those three price points (3 different models each in several sizes) I might try a 4000 for fishing mats and brush, etc.

Brad

Using the 2500? Good stuff Brad, thanks again Sir!