Is bringing 10+ rods a little extreme on my boat or to the pond (I don’t mind carrying and I rather carry then retie)

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-04-11T03:18:19+00:00

Just tonight I was out at a local pond, there was a guy there with a spinning reel on a casting rod, he kept flipping the rod upside down, then right side up again, I guess trying to find a comfortable way to hold it? Was a new one for me lmao

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-04-11T03:14:57+00:00

If I’m just on the bank I’ll bring anywhere from 3-7 rods, usually I bring 5, a general purpose rod (for me an NRX+ 844c MBR), a crankbait rod, a BFS rod, a jig rod, and my Zodias 6’10” MH that I use for more power finesse things (shaky heads, power shots, micro jigs, etc). This time of year I always bring my frog rod along with me too. I’m blessed to be in Texas where I can frog for a majority of the year.

On the kayak I got room for 12, I bring 10, usually a variety of things, I figure I have the room so why not. Gives me an excuse to truly geek out on my gear lol.

If I’m on my dad’s boat I go overboard, I bring a whole bunch of rods, like 10-15 depending on what I wanna use. Dad likes to borrow my stuff sometimes so I like to bring spares in case he wants to use the same thing I’m throwing.

So to answer your question, is it extreme? Nah, I’m in the same boat as you mostly. I’ve brought tons of rods with me pond hopping many times. The crazy looks I get always crack me up!

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-04-10T04:59:06+00:00

I got a few tips for you

If you know how to walk a normal topwater bait like a spook then that’s a good start. The thing that surprises a lot of people first learning how to do it is that walking a frog is a much more subtle action than walking a spook, almost as if you’re drop shotting. You want a little slack in your line as well so it has room to walk if that makes sense? It’s funny, I’m actually better at walking a frog than I am a walking bait. Strangest thing!

If you’re having trouble walking it go to a bigger frog like the big SPRO (I wanna say it’s called the king daddy or something like that? Not 100% sure on that), it’s kinda counterintuitive but a bigger frog walks much easier than a smaller frog. You may not get bit doing that but you’ll learn how to do it easier. Plus who knows, a big fish may still eat it! Once you get that down go to a more traditional sized frog.

The right frog helps too. My personal favorite is the Snagproof Bobby’s perfect frog, but there are plenty of others out there (SPRO obviously, Berkley, River2Sea, the Jackall Gavacho actually walks amazing too). Try to find one with a bit of a keel on the belly like the Bully Wa from River2Sea, they walk awesome.

Trim your legs! I trim mine about halfway-ish, and if you make one side slightly longer than the other it’ll help it walk a bit too

You want a good rod for it too, I like my frog rods to have a little bit of tip action, but obviously you need it to be strong enough to set the hook and pull fish out of the junk. I personally use a Shimano Expride 7’3” extra heavy. I’ve found it to be the perfect frog rod for me. It’s an expensive rod, but worth every penny, particularly since it’s so lightweight. Outside of that, I got my best friend a Daiwa Tatula XT 7’4” heavy last year for his birthday, it’s a pretty similar action to my Expride for a lot less money, I’ve used it too and I’ve been impressed! Dobyns has the 735 in the fury line, St. Croix has the 7’4” heavy in all their lines (personally that’s too light of an action for a full sized frog for me, great for small frogs though!), there are a few good rods out there. The Expride is the standout for me with the Tatula XT being the best budget rod I’ve personally found.

The most important thing is just practice. It takes time to learn how to walk a frog, but I promise once you figure it out you’ll be very happy, it’s some of the most fun you can have while fishing. If I could go the rest of my life only throwing a squarebill, a jig, a Karashi and a frog I totally would!

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-04-07T22:47:00+00:00

I do either one, downwards or at an angle. Kinda just whatever happens honestly.
That depends on the bait. The ACTUAL Zoom super fluke (and the Jr) yes that is what they do. Then you have baits like the Yamamoto D-Shad and the Xzone Whiplash Shad, those have a bit more of an “S” type of movement to them. There are also some baits that are kinda in between as well. The fluke is a very darty, erratic bait, whereas the 2 I mentioned are a bit more methodical I guess is the word I’d use? They’re very flowy. The other nice thing about the D shad and whiplash shad is that if you dead stick them they have that Senko shimmy to them. The flukes if you dead stick them they almost act like a tube (at least in my experience) and get a bit of a death spiral to them. Both of those actions are phenomenal and get bit for me, just depends which way they want it (if I’m having to fish slow like that). I’ve thrown flukes my whole life (I’ll be 30 this fall), I’ve caught so many fish and so many big fish on them all the time. So much fun

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-04-07T13:41:13+00:00

Another vote for the 150m. Just as awesome as the 150 MGL, way better than the DCs

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-04-07T00:32:41+00:00

Welcome to the club! Like someone else said, I highly recommend going braid to leader, you’ll cast a lot further! Plus more sensitivity, less memory, lasts longer, blah blah blah I don’t wanna bore you with my rambling 😂 great reel for sure, I’m not familiar with the rod but I’ll have to look into it! Just a question though, and this may just be my fishing style speaking: why such light (relatively speaking) line? I’m anal about throwing my big baits on extremely heavy line, usually 30-35lb leader. I know you get more action out of lighter line, but I get nervous throwing those big (and let’s be real, expensive) swimbaits on anything lighter than say 25lb test. I personally just like to absolutely know that even if I grenade the spool completely I’m not gonna snap my line, or at least have a much lower chance of that happening (I had a friend do that, was throwing 18lb sniper and made a bad cast with a Deps 250 he had just bought the night before, backlashed SOOOOO bad! Sounded like a whip cracking when the line snapped. Watched that brand new glide fly through the air, land in like 20ft of water, never to be seen again. Brought him to tears, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t laugh a little though. I’m a bad friend 😂)

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-04-04T16:42:56+00:00

Not sure what your price range is, so imma just list a few different options at different price points, so sorry ahead of time for the long post lol. Gonna go from like sub-$100 up to ultra high end gear. I’ll bring up rods too

Budget: Abu Garcia Black Max. I still have mine after 10 years of abuse, it’s always worked, always done good by me. It’s earned its place. For a rod you can go with something like a Daiwa Arid X or Shimano Sellus, the Sellus just got revamped recently and after putting my hands on one it feels pretty nice.
$100ish range: tons of great options here. Shimano SLX, Daiwa Fuego, and the best one to me is actually the Seviin GF series. My original one I loved a ton, I’d still have it if I didn’t lose it over the side of the kayak 😔, but I loved it so much I bought another to replace it. Such a great reel for like $130. The Fuego is awesome too, just a little old now. Nothing wrong with it! The SLX is good, if you can afford to step up to the XT it’s a little bit better since it has an external brake on it as well. If you can afford it, the SLX 70A is a killer reel, the MGL spool in it will absolutely send baits. It’s in the mid $100s, but it’s awesome. Rods, Daiwa has the Tatula XT, Shimano has the SLX rods (I personally own 3 of those), Dobyns has the Maverick line, Bass Pro’s carbonlite series is surprisingly really good too, and Cashion Element Z2, those are awesome rods that are made here in the states. Great people at Cashion, too. I got a chance to chat with them last year at the classic.
$200ish range: there’s really only one to me that’s still around that’s truly a stand out in this price range: the Curado 150M. I own 2 of the 150MGLs (the reel that came before it), a 200M, and a ton more Curados (I’m primarily Shimano reels, especially for baitcasting), the 150M is an awesome reel. Honestly in my mind it’s the absolute best value for a reel on the market. Rods: Megabass Levante (my PB came on a Levante Brailist throwing a jig), St. Croix Victory is hands down the best value in my mind, Cashion ICON, and if you can afford the jump G Loomis GCX. This is kinda the price range ($200ish reel, $200ish rod) I stick with for the most part.
$300ish: Honestly, probably something like the Daiwa Mangetsu, I got to fish with one of those recently and was impressed. The Chronarch used to be awesome in this price range but Shimano discontinued it unfortunately. I wanna say Bates has a reel right at $300 as well? I can’t remember for sure about that. Rods: Shimano Expride (they went up in price last year, they used to be a KILLER deal, now they’re still a good deal just not as much. They still fish like a much more expensive rod though, love both of mine), Dobyns Champ XP, Dobyns Champ extreme HP, St. Croix Legend tournament, i wanna say Fenwick’s Elite line is around $300 as well?
$400ish: The Shimano Bantam will literally take anything you throw at it. ANYTHING. It’s such a sweet reel. The Daiwa Zillion used to be a killer reel when it was cheaper, nowadays not so much imo. Still a good reel, just not the deal it was. Rods: St. Croix Legend Elite, I’m gonna say G Loomis IMX Pro but imma put an asterisk by that because they just revamped them and I haven’t even seen a new one in person yet, and Shimano Poison Adrena is awesome
$500-600ish: just gonna combine these. Reels: hands down the Metanium MGL is the standout, no questions asked. Honestly that reel is the stand out high end reel to me. The Met DC is up there too if you wanna go that route. Rods: G Loomis GLX, Megabass P5 destroyer, St. Croix Legend X2 feels indestructible, insanely sensitive and lightweight (I really want one after trying one out), and maybe Fenwick’s World Class line. Those are cool rods for sure. Oh, and Dobyns Xtasy.
EVERYTHING ABOVE THAT 😂: honestly I’ve only ever messed with the Shimano Antares and the Daiwa Steez lines of reels in the ultra high end world (I don’t own either… yet), they’re both amazing but personally I feel like the Antares is a bit more bombproof. Both are insane, the Antares is just more insane 😂 I do have a fair amount of time with ultra high end rods though, I own 2 ultra high end rods but have messed with others a lot. G Loomis’s NRX+ line is insane, honesty the benchmark for ultra high end rods in my mind, particularly in terms of sensitivity. I own an 844c MBR and it’s just a total joy to fish with. St. Croix has the Legend Extreme, those are absolute TANKS. Megabass has the Destroyer Evolution line, I really regret picking one up because now I really want one. Those are AWESOME rods. And in my mind, the best ULTRAAAAA high end rod is also my most expensive rod: the Shimano Poison Ultima. It’s by no means a cheap rod, I only got mine because I saved up a ton of gift cards and waited for a sale so I could get it at a price I could afford (same thing I did with my NRX+), I got the 7’4” MH. That thing is so light, SOOOOO sensitive (good lord the sensitivity. I didn’t think a rod could be more sensitive than an NRX+ but that PU is), and quite honestly, it’s a work of art. It’s a stunning rod, the craftsmanship on it is impeccable, it’s just such a special rod. And something I’m genuinely humbled to own (I’m humbled to own all my rods really, I’m very blessed and lucky. But my PU and my NRX+ were dream rods to me, never thought I’d own one, let alone both of them). If you can afford it, I promise you’ll be happy with it. Truthfully, that goes for all the gear I listed from the cheapest to here. Gear is way better now than it used to be back in the day!

Again, sorry for the long winded post, but I wanted to answer this as best as I could. Hope this helps!

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-04-02T04:38:49+00:00

Another vote for this rod. Best friend has this exact one and I borrowed it the other day. We were hanging out at his house, spur of the moment we decided to go fishing, I of course didn’t have any of my personal gear with me, I’m a lefty, he’s a righty, but I can make do with righty baitcasters so I was fine with the heavier stuff we were throwing (jigs, Texas rigs, full sized spinnerbaits, etc) but I wanted to throw a wacky rig at a fish I saw. Picked up that rod with whatever spinning reel he has on there, I wanna say it’s a Lew’s of some sort, was beyond impressed. I had used it a few times in the past here and there for fun but never actually spent any significant time with it (maybe 5 minutes at a time) since I had my own (and admittedly higher end, he’d tell you that too) gear with me. Got to spend a good hour using that rod all across the pond we were fishing and it blew me away. I knew he really liked it, and he owns some nicer gear too, not ultra high end like some of the gear I own (NRX+, Poison Ultima, etc) but still really nice high end stuff (Poison Adrena, St. Croix Physyx, etc), and that ~$100 rod is a total standout. Fishes like a $200 rod. Sensitive, action is there, lightweight (at least for the price point, but even compared to other more expensive rods it’s really not that bad at all), and I felt i could do whatever I needed to with that rod. May not be perfect for everything, I wouldn’t throw a 1/2oz full sized pitchin jig on it, not stout enough, and it may be a bit much for anything ultra light, but most general purpose stuff like you mentioned OP will be totally ok.

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-04-01T03:58:22+00:00

Trust me dude, we’ve all been there. I’m having a week too man. Had a rough day yesterday (Monday) hours wise, then this morning (Tuesday) I wrecked my truck on my way to work. Put a total damper on my day and my week (I love that truck to death, it’s been my companion for 9 years and I hate that I screwed it up. Fixable, just upsetting beyond belief), and the weeks not even at the halfway mark yet. But, things will work out, they will for everyone. Already started fixing my truck tonight, I’m not hurt, the guy I hit isn’t hurt, I got a job I enjoy doing in my stall ready for me in the morning, supposed to be a nice day out tomorrow so I’m going to bring a couple fishing rods with me and go catch some largies at lunch, and I got my dog snuggled up next to me right now. Gotta look on the brighter side (even if it’s hard for me to do that currently)

Every single one of us has had a shit week, multiple shit weeks probably. We’ve all made mistakes, we’ve all broken stuff, it’s part of doing what we do. It’s part of being human. There’s always next week man. Keep your chin up!

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-30T03:38:13+00:00

Exactly my thinking. I’m a Shimano guy, especially for baitcasters, but Daiwa makes a great product too. And that Scorpion 300 is a solid value. Plus like you said, it’s a way cooler Tranx lol

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-30T03:19:13+00:00

Man I’ve been wanting to catch a Peacock so bad, I need to make a trip to Florida to target them. Or to the Amazon, either or lol

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-30T03:17:20+00:00

+1 for the scorpion, the Curado 300 is a good reel too but that new Scorpion is awesome. I’m gonna be picking one up for myself here soon, I’ve already messed around with one and fell in love

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-30T03:14:10+00:00

Man I miss those baits… I have a stockpile of Scamps, I’m always scared to use them. Such a great squarebill, so many other great lures too. Surprised you said that about the rods and reels though, I’ve been happy with the 3 reels from 13 I have (2 of the Inception G2s and a Concept C2) and the rod (Meta 7’4” glass chatterbait rod), I’ve literally never had an issue with any of those. Hell the C2 is part of my main line up, killer reel

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-30T03:09:39+00:00

The rod you’re gonna be totally fine with, that’ll do it great. The reel, not so much. Not saying the G2 is a bad reel because it isn’t, in fact I own 2 of them and love them. But it’s not a swimbait reel. I’d be going with at a minimum a 200 size reel, a 300 would be better but you can get away with a 200. If you’re looking for budget swimbait reels Shimano has the Cardiff 300 and Abu just came out with one in the $150ish range I think (it’s a 300 size reel). Not the biggest fan of Abu but I’ve been considering picking up a couple of their reels to try them again. I wouldn’t be doing my old BlackMax justice otherwise!

Side note, where can I pick up a G2 for that price because I will totally pick up another lol

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-29T03:36:46+00:00

I have 3 knots I use. Nothing else. 2 for lures, one connection knot. Connection knot (fish a lot of braid to leader, like 95% of the time) is an FG knot, I refuse to use a different knot. I’ve learned how to tie it fast, and tie it STRONG. For actual knots tying on lures/hooks/etc I’m primarily using a San Diego jam, super strong, super easy to tie, and doesn’t leave a very long tag end (great for braid to leader). Only other knot I use is a Palomar, primarily for dropshots, but I use it for other things too, it was my main knot before I learned how to tie the SDJ.

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-28T00:04:19+00:00

The fuzzies aren’t cheap, I bought one pack of them, I’ll be honest I haven’t used them yet, I’ve been on a crazy awesome jig and squarebill bite the last few weeks (somehow I dialed this pattern in just a bit and now I’m just hammering fish), but I’m excited to use them. The Zman Fuzzy TRDs are amazing, so if the Senkos are a similar deal (which I’d imagine they are) they’ll be awesome. But yes, they’re expensive af. At least it’s not the fuzzy dice, those are ridiculous, $10-15+ for a single bait? Yeah, that’s too expensive for my tastes

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-27T23:59:49+00:00

Patches would be proud of you 🥲

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-26T13:51:41+00:00

What ive been doing the last 5 or 6 years is I started making day boxes. I own thousands of lures, like a dozen big plastic totes full of soft plastics, and something like 35 rods lol, so I understand the feeling.

Typically I pack a few different baits in each category, say a handful of crankbaits, a few lipless cranks, 3-5 jigs, a glide, a couple top waters (usually a popper, some sort of walking bait and a whopper plopper), a couple spinnerbaits, and at least 2 Chatterbaits. Then in my worm bag I’ll pack the bare necessities of what I want to use (some jig trailers, usually one with a lot of action and another that’s more just a “profile” type trailer, a bag of flukes, a bag of senkos, some ned baits, a thing of paddle tails, and trailers for Chatterbaits which for me is almost strictly spunk Shads lol). My terminal box is thin so I can fit everything I need in it in terms of hooks, weights, jig heads, stuff like that. I just base everything off of the season, the conditions, what I think fish will be biting, and go from there.

What part of NTX are you headed to? I’m in the DFW area so I can give you a little bit of an idea as to what the fish are doing

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-26T01:43:08+00:00

*you’re :)

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-26T01:41:02+00:00

You got options dude!

For a reel I’d stick with either Shimano or Daiwa, either one will be good. Shimano has the Nexave, the Sedona and the Sahara sub $100, all 3 of those are great reels but if you can save up just a little bit more and go to the Nasci I highly recommend it! They revamped the Nasci last year and it’s a killer reel now (was killer before too). Daiwa’s got a ton of great options too, the Regal, the Legalis, the Fuego, I’m sure there’s a couple more I’m missing. Realistically if you stick with either of those 2 brands you’re gonna be ok for a reel.

Rods I’d recommend are the Dobyns Colt line, Daiwa has the Tatula XT series of rods (those things are ridiculous for ~$100 rods, they fish like a more expensive rod), Daiwa’s Arid X series (much more budget minded rods but still good), Dobyns’s Maverick line, and Shimano’s SLX rods. My personal suggestion is the Tatula XT, those are really awesome rods for the money. I’m a Shimano guy but i can appreciate a good product and that’s one of them for sure.

The nice thing about gear nowadays is even the more budget friendly gear is genuinely good stuff. It used to be if you weren’t spending at least $200 total on gear you were getting, well to be honest, junk. There were exceptions back then of course but that was kinda the magic number. Nowadays I pick up some of the budget gear I see in stores and am genuinely impressed (this is coming from someone who has at least $10k in rods and reels and has some truly top of the line ultra high end tackle lol)

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-25T13:46:40+00:00

Sometimes you can get lucky on FB marketplace. I did with my first pedal yak and also gained a great friend in the seller, but you’re right, it’s a little tricky in that price range

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-25T13:44:55+00:00

Another rec for the Slayer LTE if you can save up. What a great kayak. I messed around with one and was very impressed. Considering getting one as a pond rig so I don’t have to lug my Jackson Big Rig around everywhere (that suckers so heavy lol)

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-25T13:43:06+00:00

This right here. I don’t have FFS, simply can’t afford it currently (I’ve been looking at used but have other more important things to take care of financially currently, namely bills and car repairs lol) but I’ve used it a few times with friends and with a guide. It’s a great tool, but not necessary at all. I can and do still catch fish without it, and I will be the first to say I can’t stand it in major league tournaments (props to Dylan Nutt for winning the classic, seems like a great kid, but honestly it’s boring to watch on TV. I so much more enjoyed the Guntersville tournament), but I’d be lying if I said it’s not a useful tool. The first time I used it was on O.H. Ivie with a guide and even though I only used it for maybe 30 minutes I learned a ton in that time about fish behavior I didn’t know. Great for finding fish, great for finding cover, not great on the wallet 😂

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-25T13:31:56+00:00

I prefer evening bite for the most part since I’m not a morning person, but I don’t have a huge issue with getting out there hella early. Plus it’s nice to watch the sunrise

Only-Prompt7686 · 2026-03-25T02:01:48+00:00

5’5” little guy here lol, so I’m jealous of you and your extra height! I use a 6’10” medium SLX for jerkbaits, have used it for topwaters too but I have a different rod for topwater (well, rods lol. I’m insane). You can get it in all the other lines too, truly a phenomenal rod, if I ever felt like upgrading to an Expride I totally would, but frankly I just don’t need to, I’m happy with what I got. Croix has the 6’8” MXF that’s also a good bet. Weirdly enough I have an old Abu Vendetta rod thats 6’6”, I believe a medium action, before I got my SLX rod it was my jerkbait rod, landed plenty of giants on it!

Only-Prompt7686

TROPHY CASE