Bending TOPWATER Rods! Spooks, Shower Blows & More!
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This week we're taking a look at rods that excel for one of the most fun techniques out there - topwater walking baits! The team selected 5 of the most popular or most intriguing topwater rods we carry and put them side by side to see who comes out on top.
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What's going on out there? Kip here with Omniafishing. We're back with another week with the rod bending, but before we get into the details we have some business to attend to. We're making it a goal of ours to get to 7,000 subscribers here on YouTube. You guys crushed it. We hit that mark a couple of days ago and as promised we are giving away a $200 gift card to one of our lucky subscribers. That being Brett Fuller 9208. Brett, we're gonna leave our email address down below in the description. Please email us at [email protected] or send us a DM on Instagram. Let us know you were the winner and we will send you that gift card either electronically or if you want a physical one we'll ship it out to you. Also before we get into the rod bending we just released a video on Tuesday regarding Seth fighters new 2025 boat layout. It's pretty sweet. There's a bunch of new regulations as many of you know with the Elite series. I think he has his boat set up just about as well as you can. We'll link to that video right up here. Give it a watch. Pretty cool stuff and he's going in a big new direction there. Without further ado let's get into today's rod bending. We're talking about topwater rods. Specifically your bigger topwaters, Vicksins, spooks, shower blows, things of that nature. Something you need a little bit more powerful rod than say a popper, but you also don't want a broom stick. First up we've got can't go can't start anywhere other than an NRX. The best of the best. The the priciest of all rods. This is the X plus 843C. The MB Rs are are super cool actions. They're very versatile actions. A lot of the JWRs or other rods in the NRX lineup seem to be pretty stiff. The MBRs are kind of different. They've got a soft tip and have a fairly stout backbone but nowhere near the like the JWRs in the lineup. So again the 843 MBR, 7 foot medium heavy fast action. Let's take it to the wall. See how it would work for a topwater rod. All right. We're here with that G-Lumis NRX 843 MBR, 7 foot medium heavy fast action. And when you load it up it's hard to pin this as just a topwater rod. We threw it in here because it can do just about anything but I would have a hard time pinning this down with just a a topwater lure on it. It's got plenty of backbone when you when you really load into the rod but it does have a pretty soft tip. So I can see where people like this as a topwater rod. The soft tip is gonna allow you to especially with a walking bait impart more action to that bait. Walk the bait easier. But if you're throwing a big topwater and it's got bigger hooks on it you want to rod with a little bit of power. So this is definitely a rod that's gonna excel for those walking baits but I wouldn't be scared to throw a spinner bait, a lighter swim jig, a light wire swim jig. Just about anything that that's a moving bait I could see this working floor. So NRX line you know you've got your recoil guides that start about halfway up the blank so they're super lightweight. Feels awesome in hand especially with this this baits hundo on here. Yeah if you're looking for the boogiest topwater rod of all time. NRX Plus is definitely a great choice. Let's move on to rod number two. Alright we're back with rod number two. Before we get into this rod I forgot to mention that NRX Plus 843 MBR came in at 3.8 ounces. You probably didn't expect anything less from an NRX but on to the next rod this is the Mega Bass X10 Super L seal. You're gonna have to give me a break in the comments there. Not entirely sure I'll pronounce the this rod's name but this is my type of topwater rod. It's a 611 medium power and they call it a medium fast/regular action. We'll see what that means on the rod wall but this feels like a true I mean absolute beast of a topwater rod. Just in hand it seems like it loads a little bit deeper into the the blank which is what I look for in a topwater rod and again it's got the length that I'm after. Sub 7 foot with the right power the right action. To me this checks all the boxes but we'll see on the wall. This one came at 4.5 ounces so Mega Bass typically counterbalances their rods with a little bit of weight. That's probably what you're seeing with a slightly heavier rod but in hand it feels incredibly light. So let's bring it to the rod wall the 611 Super L seal for Mega Bass. Alright here we are with that Super L seal from the Orochi X10 lineup from Mega Bass and one thing to point out is Mega Bass kind of went in a different direction here and they they used some sustainable materials which I mean in the hand it's almost impossible to tell the difference but visually looking at the blank from medium-powered rod it is a little bit thicker so that might be something you have to you know mentally get over that this is a medium-powered rod but the blank looks more like a medium heavy but outside of that it feels fantastic. The real-seared super comfortable obviously it's beautiful aesthetically and the action is is spot on. I wasn't quite sure what a medium-fast/regular action would look like but I would say that's pretty pretty spot on. I've got plenty of power to drive basically any size treble hook home on a bass but soften up tip soft enough tip to impart action on a walking-style bait and yeah not a not a whole lot more to say about this guy. They are a little bit spendy roughly 400 bucks probably don't need a $400 or $625 rod like the NRX for a top water very visual bite but you know if you are looking for just a rod that's super enjoyable light in hand isn't going to cause anywhere in tear in your body either of these first two rods they're spendy but you can definitely tell the quality and the performance that they're gonna they're gonna have on the water as soon as you pick one up so this is the super L seal for mega bass let's check out rod number three this is one that I'm super psyched about this is a rod that is actually meant for in shore fishing redfish species similar to that this is the Daiwa I-law it's a seven foot medium heavy regular action it's not meant for bass fishing but picking it up if if there was a rod specifically made for larger medium to large size top water walking baits this feels like it checks all the boxes seven footer medium heavy regular action the the cool thing is this has a super short handle if you're you know twitch in your rod constantly all day this isn't gonna get in the way at all it's got AGS guides on it so it's fairly light and the tip end of the rod even with a short butt section aesthetically it's very pleasing simple but sophisticated this is one that I'm super psyched about I don't have a a dedicated walking bait rod and in my rod locker but if I did this is one I'd consider roughly three hundred dollar rods but this is one that that's super intriguing to me the Daiwa I-law AGS inshore rods I think would make a great top water rod let's go see what the rod wall has to say I'm excited about this one all right we're here with that Daiwa I-law AGS seven foot medium heavy regular bend forgot to mention you guys are gonna have to bear with me I'm new to this 4.2 ounces fairly light those AG S guides definitely help and when you bend it it's softer than I thought it was gonna be the tip section is pretty soft I think if you give it some power it'll load you hit backbone eventually but it is a little soft and if you think about it for what this rod was designed for which is in shore fishing those fish let's face it have a lot more power than small mouth or large mouth they're gonna make big runs so absolutely you're gonna want a rod that stays loaded for those you know super far runs that those type of fish can make and they knocked out of the park here but I can still see this being an excellent top water rod you could throw poppers on it even definitely walking baits I could even see square bills you know dt6 is some shallow or running crankbaits too super cool rod I love this little tiny butt section full cork I think that would make imparting action on a bait super easy so if you want something new something you're not gonna see in probably any bass fishermen's boat the isles are super impressive these this could definitely find a spot on my deck I would just have to it would be pretty technique specific for me so the dial aila AGS cool rod pick one up if you're looking for something similar to this we couldn't be talking about top water rods without mentioning this one from evergreen this is their shower blows specific rod so the shower blows has been one of the top-selling top water baits for last several years now and this is their specific rod for it so evergreen combat stick it's a 7 to medium heavy moderate fast action I will say feeling it in hand here I think you could do this seems like a super versatile rod you could do almost anything with it I feel like I could throw a jig I could flip docks with this rod but maybe the rod wall has something different to say feels like it has a ton of power but let's bring it to the rod wall the 7 to medium heavy moderate fast combat stick from evergreen all right we're back on the wall with the 7 to medium heavy moderate fast evergreen combat stick this is their shower blow specific rod like I mentioned earlier I'm have I'm not gonna say that it's it wouldn't work for a shower blows but I'm having a little bit of a a tougher time seeing where that label you know you know comes into play for this rod to me this feels like they didn't label it a medium heavy and it feels like a medium heavy but I have jig rods that are similar similar in action to this and similar in power you know maybe the big size of the ever green 125 I think it is with those bigger treble hooks yeah I can see that I could see this rod excelling for that specific bait but if you go all the way down to 77 or the 105 this seems like it's gonna potentially bend out those trebles however they do label it also as a moving versatile rod so a moving bait rod this would be a sweet swim jig rod spinner bait rod you throw a chatter bait on it too if you wanted but I see this just being a junk fishing rod you have three of these on your deck rigged with all different techniques and this rod would be perfect for all of them probably so really cool really cool rod from evergreen don't shy away from this rod if you're you know you see it's a 72 medium heavy mod fast you think it's only a topwater rod because the name I would tend to disagree there this seems like a really versatile rod from ever green I would not hesitate to pick it up for several techniques so if you're looking for a junk fishing rod the evergreen combat stick shower blows rod would be a great one all right this is becoming a reoccurring theme of mine I forgot to mention the weight on that evergreen 4.8 ounces not the lightest rod in the world but for a 7 to 4.8 it's pretty acceptable and felt great in the hand too but lastly we have the physics from St. Croix this is a 7 to medium heavy moderate fast same specs as that last rod we looked at I can tell you right now in hand it feels completely different so this should be an interesting one I will tell you the weight right now on it came in at 5.3 ounces significantly heavier than than everything else we've we've bent today but it's absolutely counterbalanced you can feel weight all the way up in the main grip of the rod you can definitely feel in the butt section too but there's a lot of weight back here that accounts for the slightly heavier weight and you can feel that just holding it in hand it feels like the rod tip wants to lift on me which some people really like I tend to look for a slightly tip heavier rod than that that sounds weird to say but this is an extremely rear weighted rod so 7 to medium heavy moderate fast physics physics line has been an interesting line of rods they have a ton of really cool models and I think that they notch it out of the park with this the grip itself it's very comfortable carbon fiber sensitive and I actually don't mind this little trigger on the butt section either if you're really trying to get into a longer cast it feels like you've got a lot of you know connection with the rod and you can really get some leverage on that cast so let's check it out the 7 to medium heavy moderate fast physics from St. Croix all right here we are with that physics and immediately this is a completely different rod than that shower blows rod same specs 7 to medium heavy moderate fast and this is way softer I mean it would be great for a smaller top waters actually then crankbaits even but it's got a super soft tip you do eventually hit backbone but this is gonna be a great rod for throwing lighter baits I'm talking like quarter ounce maybe even under it's got a very light tip it loads super deep into the blank you can get away with crankbaits on this for sure and maybe that's what they designed it for but the specs to me on paper seemed like a decent bigger top water rod in hand I would say this is probably underpowered for that for that specific scenario and that shows you the importance of you know if you can get into a store and feel a rod definitely do it if not that's why we do these rod bending videos two rods with the exact same specs and completely different actions very much varies depending on the brand but that's not saying that this physics is in a sweet rod I think it would be a killer crankbaits rod so if you're looking for a softer rod to throw lighter top waters crankbaits check out this physics the specific model again is a 72 medium heavy moderate fast came in at 5.3 ounces but again pretty rear weighted here so that wraps up this week's rod bending we just want to take a moment again to thank you for helping us get to 7,000 subscribers a big goal for us we hope to continue to grow the channel and we're gonna bring these rod bendings every week and again if you haven't Seth fighters 2025 boat walkthrough is on the channel right now should be two videos down from the one you're watching give that a watch and we'll see you next time back at the rod bending wall you