Before the advent of the Finesse News Network and In-Fisherman’s blog site, there were only a few anglers who were devotees of the Midwest finesse tactics that the late Chuck Woods of Kansas City pioneered in the 1950s and 1960s by creating his Beetle, Beetle Spin, and several other baits.

Nowadays, the number of ardent recreational anglers who employ Midwest finesse tactics has grown appreciably. Dave Reeves of Lansing, Kansas, is one of them. Reeves’ forte revolves around Z-Man Fishing Products’ 2 ½-inch ZinkerZ affixed to a small jig. And for the past two years, not only has Reeves used this ZinkerZ combo to waylay an impressive array of largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass from a variety of lairs that grace Table Rock Lake, Missouri, but he has verbally trumpeted the virtues of this Midwest finesse rig to many of his fellow anglers around Table Rock Lake’s boat ramps, tackle shops, resorts, and restaurants.

Reeves is also a regular contributor to the Table Rock Lake forum on ozarkanglers.com, where he has posted a goodly number of words, videos, and photographs about the 2 1/2-inch ZinkerZ and jig combo.

He recently sent an e-mail to the Finesse News Network, which said: “Here are just a couple of links to some recent reports on OAF from other folks who are trying the little rig at Table Rock. Should be interesting to keep an eye on OAF, especially the Table Rock page, going forward.”

Here are the links that Reeves included in his e-mail:

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/38778-zman-baits-on-the-ned-rig/

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/38974-the-little-bait-that-can/

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/38830-aunts-creek-55-report/

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/38829-cape-fair-with-my-daugter-and-cousin-today/

It is nice to see that the recreational anglers at Table Rock Lake have discovered the effectiveness of the 2 1/2-inch ZinkerZ. Perhaps, they will soon discover the manifold virtues of Z-Man’s Finesse ShadZ, Hula StickZ and several other Midwest finesse baits and tactics. For information about other Midwest finesse lures, anglers can examine these blogs:

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2012/01/23/midwest-finesse-lures/

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2012/07/10/finesse-news-networks-gear-guide-hula-stickz/

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2012/07/23/finesse-news-network-gear-guide-z-mans-fattyz/

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2013/03/07/finesse-news-networks-gear-guide-z-mans-three-inch-fattyz-prototype/

Berkley’s PowerBait Rib Snake recently caught the eye of some anglers on the Finesse News Network.

They noted that this 5 1/2-inch soft-plastic bait wasn’t designed for Midwest finesse applications, but they liked the looks and feel of it. They suspected that it could be easily customized a touch to fit Midwest finesse jig applications.

Its torso is embellished in 27 ribs. There 25 segments between the last rib on its torso and its small paddle tail. It has a small bulb-shaped head. Some observers say it exhibits the profile of a small lizard that is missing its four legs.

According to the folks at Pure Fishing, it was designed to “fold up” when it is Texas-rigged and coupled with a slip sinker. And this folding phenomenon creates a multitude of unique gyrations during a retrieve. Its tail is said to be exceedingly animated

What’s more, it can be affixed to a weightless hook and retrieved the way a fluke-style bait is employed.  And when it is attached to a weighted extra-wide-gap hook, it exhibits — as it plummets to the bottom — the swimming motif of a typical baitfish.  Of course, it can also grace a shaky head jig.

There are very few soft-plastic baits that Midwest finesse anglers don’t customize, and it is likely that they will trim an inch off of its head and upper torso before they affix to a Gopher Tackle Mushroom Head Jig or similar jig with an exposed hook.

Its ribbed torso accentuates its profile, which also provides more surface area for it to secrete its patented PowerBait scent. The ribs also discharge tiny air bubbles, which are said to be alluring to the eyes largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass.

It is available in nine colors. A package of eight retails for $4.49.

Those bank-walking outings with Patty spawned memories of the days back in the 1960s, when Guido Hibdon and I were young guides at Two Waters Resort on the Gravois Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks. Those were the days before electric trolling motors, and as guides we used to do a lot of bank walking. We did it by beaching our boats on gravel shorelines, and then we and our clients would traipse up and down shorelines and around points, casting from the shallows into deeper water. By walking the banks, we developed this inside-out and deep-to-shallow perspective. Then as the years went by, there were times, when Hibdon could be seeing maneuvering his boat near the shoreline, and he and clients would be casting towards deep water as we did when we used to walk the shorelines. Hibdon said that there are times when the Lake of the Ozarks’ largemouth bass seemed to prefer a bait that is retrieved up a bank (or from deep water to shallow water) than down a bank ( from shallow water to deep water). Hibdon actually called it “fishing uphill.”

On April 18, Kevin Van Dam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, wrote a blog on the Bassmaster Web site entitled “Bull Shoals throws down a challenge.” This was when he and 99 other anglers were at Bull Shoals, Arkansas, for the Bassmaster Elite Series Ramada Quest tournament.

In this blog, Van Dam discussed the weather, water and fishing condtions, and how he planned to deal with those situations.

He wrote: “The weather is weird. We’ve had a long, cold spring and then we had a big warm up.” He noted that during the practice days of April 15 to 17 that the water temperature escalated from 51 to 61 degrees, which Van Dam called “radical.”

He noted the rise in the water temperature provoked a goodly number of the reservoir’s largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass to inhabit their traditional spawning sites.  And “the traditional way to fish spawners is to sit out deep and throw shallow, but I’m going to try to sit shallow and throw deep. I’m thinking that I’ll be less visible to the fish; and by bringing the bait from deep to shallow, the bass will be less spooky.”

Then on April 18, Mother Nature walloped Bull Shoals and its watershed with a massive storm, which postponed the first day of the tournament and caused the water level to rise two feet. During that storm, he penned this blog about fishing inside-out or fishing uphill.

And even though the weather and water conditions were different on April 19 than they were during his practice sessions on April 15, 16 and 17, Van Dam said in a telephone conversation that he utilized the inside-out motif when the wind was not blowing on the lairs he was probing. Thus, when the wind was calm or at locales that were sheltered from the wind, he positioned his boat along the shorelines, where it floated in about five feet of water along flat shorelines and points. And it floated in deeper water along steeper shorelines. From this inside-out perspective, he executed long cast at a 45-degree angle from his position in the front of the boat, and probed depths of 15 to 20 feet of water.

He said his inside-out approach was primarily a calm water phenomenon, but he did employed it on some wind-blown bluff points, where he would position his boat near the shoreline and fan cast the entire point with a jerkbait. This allowed him to fish areas on those points where most anglers would position their boats so they could cast and retrieve their baits from the shallows into deep water. In short, he was alluring suspended bass with a jerkbait from a long way from the shoreline.

His casting rods were spooled with 10-pound-test fluorocarbon line. They sported crankbaits and jerkbaits, as well as a 3/8-ounce Strike King Lure Company’s Tour Grade Finesse Football Jig dressed with a KVD Perfect Plastic Baby Rodent.

On his spinning rods, he worked with six-pound test fluorocarbon line. To the line, he attached a 3/16- and 1/4-ounce shakyhead jigworm. These jigs were dressed with Strike King’s KVD Fat Baby Finesse Worm. According to Van Dam, the Bull Shoals bass exhibited a preference for a rapidly descending shakyhead combo. Therefore he primarily used the 1/4-ounce one.

Van Dam didn’t win the tournament. But this inside-out tactic helped him catch 15 bass that weighed 36 pounds, 14 ounces, and garner 19th place and $10,000. Moreover, he was just one pound short of being in 12th place and competing on the fourth day of the event.

Since last fall, I have been pondering the effectiveness of the inside-out approach, noting that Midwest finesse anglers rarely deploy it nowadays  unless they are walking a shoreline or using a float tube. This is a grand mistake. The inside-out approach to largemouth bass fishing stems back to the beginning of Midwest finesse fishing in the 1950s and ‘60s, when its founder, the late Chuck Woods of Kansas City, spend untold number of hours walking shorelines, catching fathomless numbers of largemouth bass in the waterways of northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri by wielding the Beetle, Beetle Spin, jigworm, jig and pork chunk or eel, and Bass Buster Lure Company’s Scorpion.

What if bass are suspended? Can you swim a drop-shot? Yes. But why swim a drop-shot rig through the middle of the water column? Because you can. Drop-shot rigs can move, baby. They can hug bottom while moving horizontally at a strictly controlled pace. By playing with weight and speed, you can swim plastics anywhere in the water column with a drop-shot rig.

“Swim” conjures the image of a jig-plastic combo gliding through the water on a horizontal plane. But a drop-shot rig can employ heavier weights to keep moving and entice bass. It’s the same principle employed when backtrolling for walleyes with a 3-way rig. With certain advantages.

The swim-drop method is especially intriguing because it offers the option of maintaining constant bottom contact while swimming steadily along, so you know exactly where it is in relation to bottom at greater speeds. And it allows you to swim things slowly near bottom with more consistency and control in deeper water. Slow-rolling plastics with jigs, by comparison, is more of a guessing game in water deeper than 12 feet.

Sometimes bass won’t rise up for a lure. In some environments, they can’t even see it up there. And, when they can’t see it up there, why not swim a drop-shot rig through the middle of the water column?

Where It Began: Drop Shot Retrieves for Smallmouth Bass
Marc Marcantonio, tackle designer, tournament pro, and charter member of BASS, began his bass career in Delaware and now resides in Steilacoom, Washington. He’s been winning a few tournaments along the way. “Swimming drop-shots through the middle of the water column is a technique that, as far as I know, we were the first to use on a regular basis,” he says. “We began in 2002 and we’ve won a lot of money with that technique.”

Marcantonio uses the drop-shot as a mid-column, horizontal technique in clear water or whenever he’s marking bass up high. He won with it at the Tournament of Champions on the Columbia River. “When bass are on suspended baitfish or looking up, drop-shot rigging offers a bevy of advantages for swimming techniques,” he says. “It allows you to use soft plastics in ways you can’t duplicate with any other kind of rigging. And it’s not smallmouth specific. I’ve caught largemouths over 9 pounds and spots over 7 pounds swimming drop-shots through the middle of the water column.”

Along with cranks, suspending baits, and plastics on jigs, Marcantonio says swimming a drop-shot offers one more way to imitate baitfish mid-column. “It’s distinct from those other techniques because you’re able to shake the rod tip throughout the retrieve to create a lifelike up-and-down motion added to the horizontal motion,” he says. “With highly active fish you can burn it at crankbait speeds while adding vertical movement. We use drop-shots like most people use swimbaits. With weight below the bait, rod-tip action is imparted directly to the plastic instead of the lead. The result is an imitation of a feeding, troubled, wounded, or distracted minnow.”

To add action, Marcantonio prefers a rod of average length. “I typically use a Lamiglas 6-foot 6-inch spinning stick with a 3-power rating,” he says. “Sometimes I use a Lamiglas 703, the same action in a 7-foot blank, but I prefer the shorter rod because it’s easier to impart the shaking action. Cast, let it sink to the depth you want to exploit, and start slowly turning the handle. We constantly move the bait, holding the rod tip parallel to the water while shaking the belly in the line between rod tip and water by bouncing the rod tip. Pay attention to the distance the rod tip is moving up-and-down so you can duplicate it. The idea is to combine vertical and horizontal movement.”

Marcantonio spools with 6-pound Yamamoto Sugoi Fluorocarbon line. “Most of the waters out here are oligotrophic and extremely clear,” he says. “Fluorocarbon provides stealth, but also better feel and hook-setting because it has less stretch than mono. Since I’m nose-hooking plastics most of the time, I don’t need to set the hook. They’re stuck instantly, so it’s not really critical to fish with the rod tip down.”

He then uses a Palomar knot to tie on a size #4 Gamakatsu Drop-Shot hook. “When drop-swimming in shallow, clear water with 4-inch or smaller soft plastics, I leave a 5-inch dropper and clip on a 1/16-ounce QuickDrop in calm water, or 1/8-ouncer in a slight breeze. It’s deadly on shallow flats where smallies collect during prespawn. Later, when bass suspend deeper, I typically use a 10-inch dropper with a 3/16-ounce QuickDrop. If I want a faster retrieve I upsize to 1/4-ounce, and so on.

“The key is finding the proper weight,” he says. “It didn’t exist, so I designed QuickDrops by West Coast Tackle & Co. Line twist can be a problem with this technique, so this teardrop weight has the entire swivel outside the lead—providing two swivel points instead of one. The molds were computer designed for hydro- and aerodynamics. It has a compact shape for its size, making it less obtrusive. It’s balanced to cast farther, doesn’t spin, and the patented quick clip works with 2- to 50-pound mono. I want the lightest weight I can get away with in the middle of the water column, so I use 1/16-ounce in calm conditions and 1/8-ounce in normal conditions.”

Marcantonio likes thin plastics for drop-swimming. “We can impart more action with thin worms or baits with thin tails like the 4-inch Roboworm, the Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm, or the Basstrix Bait Fry and Flashtrix,” he says. “But the technique works with any soft plastic—straight or action tail. You can fish it faster than a spinnerbait or slower than a Carolina rig, depending on the amount of weight used, the depth, the speed of the reel, and the pace you establish with the reel handle.”

The Bottom Swim
“Just to be clear, I also drop-swim along bottom,” Marcantonio adds. “It’s basically the same thing, except I’m using a heavy enough QuickDrop to hug the bottom and move quickly, upsizing to 3/8 or 1/2 ounce on a longer 12-inch dropper. In wind I use a 3/4- or 1-ounce QuickDrop. Since the weight is below the hook, and on the bottom, bass don’t seem to mind the heavy weight.”

I always viewed drop-swimming as a method for exploiting fish on the bottom. When bass won’t come up and you need to cover water, drop-swimming became a natural extension of a favorite technique—swimming jigs with grubs, worms, and swimbaits. But drop-swimming keeps a Kalin’s Grub or Berkley Power Worm closer to bottom with much more consistency and speed control than a jig when bass refuse to rise in depths exceeding 8 feet. At 10 feet, it’s far easier to clip on a different weight to change speeds than it is to retie.

At 20 feet, it’s no contest. When smallmouths use rock reefs in those depths on Lake Ontario or Lake Erie, guide Frank Campbell drop-swims down the breaks. “At that depth, you have to make super long casts with light line,” he says. “I use 6-pound Cajun Fluorocarbon with a tiny SPRO swivel. You can use the same technique shallow. I drop-swim when sight-fishing around boulders, too. Around rocky cover, a drop-shot rig is less likely than a jig to snag, making it more efficient. On a deep rock hump, reef, or outcropping, it keeps the bait just off bottom. I nose-hook a 4-inch Gulp! Sinking Minnow most of the time, pulling it off the back end of a reef or outcropping. With a drop-shot rig, you know when the bait reaches the break, which is key. Smallies often hit the bait as it slides down the back end of the structure at 38 to 45 feet. I think they’re just getting out of the current to ambush feed, but it’s a common deal. I caught my biggest bass in the Everstart Tournament on Erie last year sliding a drop-shot rig down the backside of a rock hump.”

Campbell uses the lightest sinker possible, but when casting to deep spots he goes with a 1/2-ounce XCalibur Drop-Shot weight. “Sometimes I use pencil lead,” he says. “It’s easier to create precisely the amount of drop you need with pencil lead, which hangs up less frequently, too.”

Rod power becomes a factor when fishing deep with drop-shot rigs. “The rod has to be heavier,” Campell says. “It’s got to have backbone. At 40 feet, you have hook-setting issues, even when nose-hooking the bait. Force is required to set hooks at depths of 30 feet or more,” he says. “I use a medium-heavy, 7-foot stick for deep drop-shot fishing.”

Another successful bottom swimmer is Kota Kiriyama, six-time qualifier for the Bassmaster Classic. He won the BASS Elite Series event on Lake Erie in 2008 swimming drop-shot rigs near bottom. “I used only three lures during that tournament, including the Jackall Cross Tail Shad on a drop-shot rig,” he says. “I was making long casts with heavier 3/16- to 3/4-ounce weights, using baitcasting gear to swim the bait slowly along bottom. The right rod for me, on big water like that, is long and medium heavy. Right now I’m using a prototype from Shimano—a 7-foot 2-inch medium heavy rod. I use 12- to 14-pound Gamma fluorocarbon.”

To swim drop-shots near bottom, Kiriyama points the rod tip down and reels very slowly, making sure the weight stays on bottom throughout. “If the sinker leaves bottom, I pause until it hits again,” he says. “It’s easier to keep the weight on bottom with the rod tip down. Hold the tip up and it makes the bait rise. You can set hooks better with the rod tip down, too.

“It’s almost impossible to swim a drop-shot at extreme depths,” Kiriyama adds. “At 50 feet, you’re vertical no matter what you do. You can fish 20 to 25 feet deep while steadily retrieving, but that’s about the limit.”

Kiriyama worked with Jackall on the design of the Cross Tail Shad. “But action tails work great for swimming, too,” he says. “Ribbon-tail worms, curly-tail worms, and 4- to 5-inch grubs produce a rhythmic pulse and visual effect on a steady retrieve. I’ve always believed Carolina rigs were great search tools when bass are pinned to bottom, but I can do the same thing with a drop-shot rig and lose fewer fish. You’re less likely to break off because the weight is under the hook. The line above the hook is rarely on bottom, which means less abrasion and fewer problems.”

One essential trigger for the drop-shot rig, in my mind, has always been the stop-and-hover. Pause a drop-shot rig and the plastic doesn’t plummet to bottom. Not completely. It stops and hovers, suspended right where you’ve determined bass are most likely to see it—the zone most active bass seem to be in. I use 12- to 18-inch droppers most of the time.

The problem of swimming deep came into focus late last summer. We had a long, protracted period of hot weather that lasted though mid-fall. Smallmouth bass, following the usual day-length cues, found themselves on fall spots in summer temperatures—deep humps topping out at 20 to 25 feet. The usual cranks and football heads were being refused during those unseasonably long stretches of 80°F weather.

Smallmouths reacted with relish to a jig-plastic combo swimming steadily near bottom, but the bait had to move very slowly. To cover more water, I tried swimming Density Tackle DropSwims and Panic Minnows on 8-pound Seaguar AbrazX—a strong, resilient drop-shot line designed to be spooled. Until the water temperature dropped below the 55°F mark, the swim-drop method clearly outperformed jigging.

On calm days, a 1/4- to 3/8-ounce Owner or XCalibur clip-on style sinker worked perfectly. On windy days, a 1/2-ouncer kept the line straighter. But the key element, so often overlooked, was speed. Swim the bait too slow or too fast and the bite-to-drop ratio fell. You can move a heavier weight as slow as you want, but you can’t move a light weight fast and keep it near bottom at all at 20 feet or deeper. (Fast is relative. It’s still pretty slow.) However, the technique tends to work best when the sinker tickles rather than drags bottom. Playing with different weights and speeds every day produces interesting results.

More interesting than the usual drop-and-doodle. The drop-swim method covers water and puts plastics to work in wild, weird, and wonderful ways that challenge bass to strike. “Can’t touch this.” Say what?

*In-Fisherman Field Editor Matt Straw, Brainerd, Minnesota, is a longtime contributor on advanced tactics for smallmouth bass.

Bass tactics come-and-go faster than new generations of fruit flies. But which  tactics have won the most money over the past 5 years? I recently asked Kevin VanDam and Senior Editor Steve Quinn of In-Fisherman that very question. For the most part, their answers were the same. Here’s 6 best bass fishing techniques according to these two experts.

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Deep Cranking

Rapala DT 16 and Norman's DD22. These are light cranks, easy to throw, great aerodynamics (long casting), and they have great action down there where water pressures are significantly greater. Deep crankin' is the thing to do during prespawn and again during late fall on reservoirs. In natural lakes, I can generally reach the fish with the DT10 or a Bomber 6A.

Alabama Rigs

Looking at my own bass-fishing results, it just so happens I disagree with only one of those options: Alabama rigs. Won't throw them. Cumbersome, awkward, heavy, and just not that much fun. If I did throw one, it would be Rich Zaleski's.

Frogs

SPRO Dean Rojas Bronzeye Frog. I pitch these babies on 40-pound PowerPro Super 8 Slick, which casts relatively light baits much further than standard braids. SPRO frogs are so realistic and cool looking, I think they psych you into thinking they can't miss before you ever throw one. As far as I can tell, that's the major advantage. The trailing rubber "legs" are durable and look great in the water, but it¹s probably that Gamakatsu EWG Frog Hook that does the trick, helping you pull in a higher percentage of the bass that blow up on the bait.

Power Flipping

TriggerX Flippin' Tube on a Stanley Wedge Head Jig The Wedge Head is like a miniature anchor. It slips and slides through everything. In Minnesota, I use the 1/2-ounce version most of the time in heavy weed cover. The Flippin' Tube slides through cover without hanging up in it, too. And it has that TriggerX scent that seems to work so well.

Swimbaits

There are dozens of effective swimbaits out there. So many apply to specific situations, too, and most of them are pretty darn good baits.

Dropshot

Jackall Cross Tail Shad, Owner Mosquito Hook, XCalibur Tungsten Drop-Shot Weights. I catch more bass every year, it seems like, with the Cross Tail Shad. Unfortunately, I can't tell you why it works so well. So many drop-shot plastics seem to be at least equal in shape, profile, texture, and action. Something about it bass can't pass up and that goes for smallmouths and largemouths, both. Tungsten telegraphs bottom changes much better than lead, and the Mosquito hook is my go-to, all around, do-everything hook for steelhead, walleyes, bass, and trout.

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6 Best Bass Fishing Tactics

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The editors at In-Fisherman make it easy to shop for the fishing dad in your life with our 2013 Father’s Day gift guide. Here are some great rods, reels, and combos that would make his day.

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Abu Garcia Revo Premier

Abu Garcia’s redesigned Revo Premier casting reel ($299.95 abugarcia.com ) is even lighter (under 6 ounces) and more compact than previous Revos. Premier has 10 stainless-steel HPCR bearings within an X2-Craftic alloy frame and C6 carbon sideplates.

Shimano Calcutta D

We’re also impressed with the new Calcutta D series, the real deal for round reel freaks ( shimano.com )

Cabela's Depthmaster Metal Linecounter Trolling Reel

Built of machined aluminum with reinforcing stainless steel sideplate rings, the Depthmaster lineounter trolling reel also features a spool made of anodized aluminum that is fed by a heavy-duty stainless steel wide-mouth levelwind coated with titanium to withstand abusive braided and wire lines. The enlarged levelwind allows snag-free use of double lines and knots. The trusty mechanical linecounter measures line out in feet. Cranking power comes from the hardened-brass XL gearing with an enlarged gearing and drag systems. Three sizes available ($129.99 cabelas.com ).

Penn Battle Combo

The Penn Battle Combo features the highly regarded Battle spinning reel with a one-piece composite Battle rod with stainless-steel guides with aluminum-oxide inserts. The reel has a full metal body and sideplates, machined and anodized aluminum superline-ready spool, 7 stainless-steel bearings, oversized EVA soft-touch knobs on the handle, in retrieve ratios of 6.2:1 and 5.6:1. Five sizes are available, from 2000 to 6000 ($119.99 to $129.99 pennreels.com ).

Pinnacle Optimus

Pinnacle’s hand-tuning process has been applied to their Optimus spinning line, with all parts crafted of RCF2 Reinforced Carbon Fiber, a material that’s said to be stronger and more rigid than aircraft aluminum. ( pinnaclefishing.com ).

Cabela’s Pro Guide Spinning

Built with a 10-bearing system and lightweight graphite body and rotor, the Pro Guide Spinning Reel is ultra-smooth. A double-anodized, ported-aluminum spool; oversized hollow stainless steel bail wire with a titanium-coated line roller; and stainless steel, carbon-fiber drag washers provide increased strength and control. The double-anodized, machined-aluminum handle and soft touch handle knob combine for great feel and comfort ($49.99 cabelas.com ).

Megabass Retgraph FIII

Megabass Retgraph FIII digital line counter reel uses a microprocessor to reports retrieve speed as well as distance of cast and water depth where the lure lands. A 4-channel controlled centripetal brake controls spool rotation speed for easy casting ( megabassusa.com ).

Shimano’s TranX

For torquing on muskies and other aquatic bullies, Shimano’s TranX ($499 shimano.com ) might be the last reel you ever buy. Amazingly smooth and light, TranX TX500HG has 6.6:1 gear ratio to wind 43 inches of line per crank.

Tony Roach’s Micro Honeycomb S-Curve Walleye Rods

Tony Roach’s Micro Honeycomb S-Curve Walleye Rods ($99 wright-mcgill.com) join Wright & McGill’s signature rod series. Roach brings a line of technique-specific walleye wands. Micro Honeycomb blanks provide sensitivity, while S-Curve Technology endows blanks with high modulus and extra lifting power. Eight models include a customized 7-foot 7-inch Power Bobber rod and 9-foot 4-inch telescopic Lead Core Trolling rod with a textured, rubberized fighting handle.

G. Loomis

In their recent trend of revising old standards, G. Loomis brings new life to the classic GLX series first released in 1993. The lineup includes 12 crankbait rods (CBR), from 6-foot 6-inches to 7-foot 11-inches and 6 flipping sticks (FPR) from 7-foot 5-inches to 7-foot 11-inches. The new GLX material is from 23 to 35 percent stronger than previous models, while maintaining its legendary sensitivity. Their blank-through-handle construction and Fuji Titanium SIC guides achieve great balance as well ($395 to $465 gloomis.com ).

13 Fishing

With the motto, “Make your own luck,” 13 Fishing brought an array of rods, including ice models, with top components and modern styling ($30 to $240 13fishing.com ).

Legend Xtreme

The Legend Xtreme ($340 to $420 stcroixrods.com ) is perhaps the most advanced rod series yet. They talk about Integrated Poly Curve (IPC) and Advanced Reinforcing (ART) technologies. But I’d say the Xtreme fishes instinctively, the highest praise you can give a rod. The custom-tooled, semi-soft Xtreme Skin handle connects you comfortably to the rod blank.

Cabela’s Fish Eagle 50 Rods

The next generation of Cabela’s popular Fish Eagle II series rods, these blanks are constructed with a high-quality HM50 graphite material that makes them lighter, stronger and more sensitive than their predecessors. Guides are made of black stainless steel with ceramic inserts for use with any line. The spinning rod handles have comfortable composite cork in the grip area. Casting models have Magtouch reel seat design, which puts the reel seat in direct contact with the rod blank for added sensitivity ($89.99 cabelas.com ).

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Rods and Reels for Dads!

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