[Travis C.]

I'm partial to 7' rods and med for one then med/heavy the other.

That really depends on the rod though and what your doing with it. I personally don't like the broom stick heavy rods for flipping/pitchin instead going with a med/heavy for that and spinnerbaits. The medium will handle my topwaters, cranks and everything non-thick cover.

Line- you will want a heavier line on the heavier rod and heavier line if you are fishing around a lot of cover. Open water fishing you can get away with lighter line. The 10 lbs is a good cranking/topwater line but I wouldn't thrown spinnerbaits or jigs around cover with it. Usually I carry 3 rods, one with 10lb on a med rod, one with 14lb on med rod and a 14lb med/heavy for almost all applicaitons.

Just remember when putting line on the reels to fill them all the way up. It's better to pull line off than to not fill it up the first time. If a baitcaster is at 100% capacity it will cast at 100% distance capabilities just like if its at 80% it will only cast at 80%.

The gear ratio, I don't car much for the 7's but it has its place where the extra 3 inches or so return per crank comes in handy.

Just my opinion, I am sure others have their preferences too.