It's kind of a long story, needing (ok, wanting) to fill a niche, it's my birthday present to me, Tica had my reel listed for half price, Tackle Direct was offering double reward points on the rod, which was enough to get me $40 off on my handheld VHF/GPS.
St. Croix Legend Glass LGS72MM, 7'2" medium (leaning toward MH)
I already have a wonderful 9' Lami G1000 Pro ML for casting the light stuff out of sight.
My niche on this 7'2" one-pc S-glass is 1/4- to 3/8-oz from a kayak, and 5/8- to 7/8-oz jigs and hard baits from the dock for snook in the dark without having to think about baitcaster backlash.
The action of the rod is fabulous, very well balanced and light in hand, and it's beautifully appointed.
(the fast action really reminds me of the 7' Berkley Tri-Sport I grew up fishing, but the Legend is a fraction of the weight of that 70s 2-pc e-glass rod with its metal spigot ferrule and giant-loop wire guides)
braid- and salt-proof guides - they're the small Fuji K tangle-free guides
It was Tica on Amazon that kicked me over the top. Libra SX is the best $95 reel you can buy.
They occasionally drop the Libra SX3000 price to $50, so I snagged it. I can have both this rod and my Lami going at the same time - great for lure change-up Arroyo fishing - and I still have a spare spool. This frame is also the larger capacity SX3500, and the spools interchange - a larger capacity spare spool may be my next addition.
The spooled line is blue because I have 150-yds YoZuri 15-lb braid underneath, with a working 75 yards or so of 12-lb Seaguar Abrazx fluoro on top.
and the radio
the DSC radio is cool, because if you fall overboard it sends out an all ships discress call and they can see your location by GPS, pleasure boats navigating with DSC and ships navigating with AIM see you on their nav screens, the Coast Guard has all your contact info in their database, you can set up private intercom with other DSC radios, and see each other on your GPS.
And I'll still take out the Lami Classic Glass and Lew's Saltwater in my opening post for drift fishing from the power boat - it was the only rod I fished from the boat last fall, and it was a joy.