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Over my 50+ years of fishing, I have run the gambit from a rod blank on a 2X2 ,cork bobbers, 6# test line... Schooley rods/reels, foam bobbers...standard reels on 24" pannie rods and Thill type floats...to where I am today. 48" ML rods, micro and inline reels, 2-3# test lines, 3mm tungsten jigs and...titanium wires...the biggest improvement and investment I have made in terms of terminal tackle that increased my chances to hook more fish. It took me a few years to convert from floats to wires, but I was patient and persistent. I will never use anything else.
48" ML rods? You must fish in the open and do a lot of hole hopping. Last year, if I wasn't in my one man flip over, I fished a 28" ML rod, with a titanium spring bobber, 3# line and a spinning reel.