This Might Be A Silly Question

[The Rooster]

I have a Shimano Compre M/F rod, it's one of the older full cork handle rods. It's rated at 8 - 17 pound line. I have a Citica E on it now with 12 pound Berkley Sensations line, and I usually use this combo for soft jerkbaits and Texas rigged worms of about 7" with no more than 1/4 oz. weights. It works well for that. In the past I've also used it for 1/4 oz. crankbaits and jerkbaits with treble hooks and it works somewhat well for that but I'd say about half the time I don't get a good hookset with treble baits on this rod so I lose the fish. I think I'm just tearing them out instead of setting it right.

So, to keep this rod's use from being so limited, I'm wondering about downsizing the line to 10 pound, or even 8 pound, so I could actually use it for some of the applications I might otherwise use a spinning rod on. Things like shaky heads, weightless plastic worms to let free fall near cover, smaller spoons, drop shot and split shot rigs, and so on. I normally think of some of those rigs as being light line, like shaky heads, I normally fish them on a spinning rod with 8 pound line.

My thinking is, this is a medium rod, like a medium spinning rod but with a bit more backbone. Lately I've been thinking of getting a spinning rod that's just a bit stiffer than my current one, to help my shaky head technique. This might save me doing that. Also, I could still do the soft jerkbaits and Texas rigs with it (maybe not quite as heavy as now but I have other MH/F rods for that anyway). With lighter line, I know I'd introduce just a little stretch factor into it which might help in not pulling a treble hook jerkbait from the fish's mouth so easily. So, basically, I think downsizing the line would help this rod become more versatile. I'm already well covered on the heavier side with a MH/F and a H/F for larger plastics rigs, spinnerbaits, and other things. I also have another MH/MF for crankbaits, and even another rod for deep cranks. So the Citica/Compre combo could go lighter and it would be ok. It isn't covering something now that isn't already covered elsewhere in my arsenal anyway.

What I'd like to know is how well a Citica handles line below 10 pound? It's actually rated to hold 10, but with 8 it might be too light and cause issues. Could it? Also, I've tried throwing just a weightless Zoom U-tale worm on a EWG 3/0 hook with it and only got about 40 feet max, sometimes less, but that was with 12 pound. With 8 pound, could this be any better, or would it even make a difference?

[BrettD]

I dont really set the hooks with a treble its more of sweeping motion to load the rod. I also run my drags really lose win fishing baits with treble hooks to the point when I set the hook the drag slips most of the time.

 

8# line will be no problem on a citica e I use 20# braid on one of mine thats equivelent to 6# in diameter with no problems.

[Arv]

If its any help, I have a 6'6 M/F Compre spinning rod that I use for pretty much all the applications you mentioned. I'm sure if you put 10# line on the Citica it would be fine for what you're talking about. I have a M/F Dobyns with a Curado 50e that I spooled with 10# fluoro which I also use for finesse presentations up to 1/4oz which I like a lot.

[The Rooster]

Alright, I'm going to try some lighter line on it then. Thanks guys.

I actually used to loosen my drag the same way with treble baits. It definitely worked, and was the little trick that I used to get the bass in my avatar on the second strike after tearing it off the first time. I have a crank rod now, but I like the action I get from jerkbaits on the Shimano rod better so I use it. I could back my drag off some, I know, but I'm actually more interested in making this cast rod work for spinning rod techniques so I'll just try lighter line and see what happens.