JDK

I want to be careful with what I write. Here I troll up to seven colors of 18 pound lead core with nothing but a mooselook, DB, top gun, or similar lure. No cowbells, flashers, or dodgers. It is my humble opinion that the rod will be fine with that. I can't speak to having a lot more stuff out there.

Just a quick update if anyone cares. Put my money where my mouth is and bought the 9 foot ML Flagship rod. While a very nice rod, it is far too heavy for what I do here in Maine. It will be ok with lead core but not on the rigger. I have no criticism of the quality of the rod, just not what i want for riggers. I plan to pull the trigger on another Ugly Stick to see if they are as different as I have been told. I hate buying rods unseen. Thanks to all for the responses.

I know this gets asked a lot and I have done a search. I live in Maine and fish lake trout, landlocked salmon, brook trout, and lake whitefish. For over 20 years I found the Ugly Stick Big Water 8'3" downrigger rod to be just about perfect and use them downriggers, in-line boards, and up to 5 colors of leadcore. After 20 years I have completely worn them out. From what I have seen and read, the new models are not the same so I'm looking for something different. In particular the FishUSA Flagship Trolling rods. I HATE buying a rod sight unseen but am wondering how these may compare. Thinking the 8'6" 2 piece or the 9 foot ML. I should mention that the rods will be paired with Okuma Coldwater 203D reels and I typically use 10-12 pound main line with 8 pound leaders.. Other suggestion are greatly appreciated.

Thanks all. Will try the Boga next year should we be lucky enough to be in the same situation.

I guess if you don't try they die. We stopped fishing for them because of the hard time releasing.

Just returned from lake Ontario. What a fantastic fishery you have. Perhaps a very dumb question...can kings be released successfully this time of year? The ones that we tried didn't do very well.

What size blank?