Quote Originally Posted by anglerdave View Post
I would look at the Bob Clouser rods by TFO. Bob fishes and guides on the Susquehanna, so I think he has a pretty good idea of what a smallmouth rod should do.

For smallmouth, I fish both a St Croix Legend Ultra 9' 6wt and the Bob Clouser 8'9" 8wt.
Prior to the TFO connection, Clouser worked with St. Croix. My primary warmwater rod is the St. Croix Clouser 8wt. Believe it or not, paired with a Clouser line you can pitch a small housecat into a 20 knot headwind. Pretty good setup for bass.