Swimbait Rod Advice

[PikeFishman]

Larry - I am hoping you can provide your expert opinion on a purchase I am going to make soon.

I will be making a trip down south to fish for some Wipers in June. We typically troll or cast 5" swimbaits paired with different size heads. I am looking to buy a new Spinning rod to cast swimbaits up to 3/4oz (occasionally 1oz). Do you have any recommendations for a rod? My dads friend uses a budget friendly Berkeley Amp (7' Medium) which works great, but I would like to find something a little bit nicer that can pull dual purpose walleye/bass fishing. I'm not looking to spend anything over $100. I have been doing a lot of research and have found a couple rods I like so far that meet my criteria (7' or longer):
-St. Croix Mojo Bass - 7' MH
-Shimano Convergence - 7'2" MH

The St. Croix rod is rated up to 3/4oz lure while the Shimano is rated up to 5/8oz. Would I be setting myself up for failure by throwing 3/4oz lead on the Shimano? I like hte idea of saving $40 and I also like the feel of it better. Are there any other rods I should be looking at? My plan is to buy the rod this weekend as my favorite sporting goods store (Thorne Bros) has a big sale going on. Any advice is much appreciated.

[dahlberg]

hi pf
Yours is a great question, and brings up a good subject regarding suggested lure weights/line on rods. In most cases, like 99.99% of the time, rods will handle a much wider range of lures than listed on the handle. I have no doubt that any of the rods you mention will do a great job at fish the lures you describe. And for sure the wipers will help you get your line spooled on really, really tight!
best
L

[PikeFishman]

dahlberg wrote:
> hi pf
> Yours is a great question, and brings up a good subject regarding suggested
> lure weights/line on rods. In most cases, like 99.99% of the time, rods
> will handle a much wider range of lures than listed on the handle. I have
> no doubt that any of the rods you mention will do a great job at fish the
> lures you describe. And for sure the wipers will help you get your line
> spooled on really, really tight!
> best
> L

Larry - thanks for taking the time to respond. Would you have a preference between those 2 rods? Or any other rods I should consider?