I know this topic gets discussed to death but I am getting ready to invest some serious money in a swimbait specific rod and reel and wanted to pick the brains of some of you. I know you can't do it all with one outfit but right now I am looking to buy one outfit to cover the size of the baits I primarily fish with-Plastics and plugs in the 7"-10" range. I have a Loomis mbr844c IMX that works OK for the smaller single hook stuff.
Have any of you used the Rogue rods?I see they have a swimbait line and the middle one(8' 15-30 lb. test) sounds good but I have not even seen a photo of these. Any other off the shelf rods good choices? I prefer cork handles and want 8'.Are the Loomis Bucara rods parabolic enough to be good swimbait rods?I know that Calstar,Seeker and GUSA make several 8' blanks.Do any of these really stand out enough to get a custom made? By the way my home lake is Folsom and I will use primarily 20lb. test.
Reelwise it sounds like the 300 te is the hot setup. What reasons make this reel especially well suited for swimbait fishing? Would a calcutta 250 be adaquate? How about a 6500 C4? I talked to Chris at bassworld west and he said he uses a Curado superfree, however I like to cast long and he said they only hold 80-90 yds. of 20#. What retrieve ratios work well with swimbaits? And last, Does anyone use spectra backing with a flourocarbon topshot for this?
Thanks,Dylan