Just Browsing For A Spinning Rod.

[bigbill]

I'm just browsing for next year's upgrade. I noticed most spinning rods are now med/lite, med/hvy with a few med. There are no hey action spinning rods. I don't get it?

Since I'm slowing down on my booklet timing and speed maybe a baby action 6' rod may help.

I looked at all the quantum up to $245 nothing in hvy action.

What's this fast or slow stuff mean. Taper which is better.

Why do the heavier action rods have no strength in the upper 25%?

I been fishing with 1970 era rods.

I just purchased lews speed sticks. But nothing really hd.

Maybe I'm an old outdated fisherman.

Or should I look for a specific topwater rod.

[Bluebasser86]

St Croix makes heavy action spinning rods in the Premier lineup I'm positive of that and they are a very heavy action rod for a spinning rod. Just looked at their website and they ever have a 7' XH spinning rod in a Premier that's rated up to 25lb test and 2ozs. 

[SirSnookalot]

I'd be looking at an inshore rod, 7' med 8/17 will handle about anything you got up there.  The ones I use cast very far, more than enough backbone to handle 40" fish.  I would step up to  MH for musky, need a rod to handle the lure weight, too much for most mediums. 

[smalljaw67]

Bigbill, you are an outdated fisherman...LOL!!! Action is measured in speed, how fast the rod goes from bent to straight, so you have slow, moderate or medium, moderate fast or medium fast, fast, and extra fast. Slow rods have mostly been replaced by moderate rods which are softer and better for baits with treble hooks, and since there is no industry standard, one manufacturers moderate could be another one's moderate fast or vice versa but I'll give you general uses. Most rods rated with a moderate or moderate fast taper or action are commonly labeled as cranking rods or reaction bait rods, fast action rods are your general purpose rods and extra fast are normally for bottom contact only presentations. It can get confusing with technique specific gear, like punching rods, these are heavy power rods with moderate actions because they are designed to fish heavy weights with heavy braid so they bend further down the blank to provide some much needed give for the braid and to help keep fish on the hook by keeping constant pressure from a deep bend. And fiberglass rods have their own rating, a fast taper on a fiberglass rod is still going to be soft, it will just bend faster at the tip section. I hope that explains it a little bit without being too confusing. 

[Fishes in trees]

I don't know about you, but I can't buy a fishing rod without touching it.  If I am buying a rod over the internet, which I've done a few times, either I'm getting one just like a buddy has or I'm buying a replacement or a twin to one I've already got.

 

For instance - spinnner bait rods,  years ago, I finally found a spinner bait rod I liked (All Star 6'8" Zell Rowland spinner bait rod)  Finally ended up buying 5 of them - found a strong sale on-line.  Point being - if I hadn't already found one, I never would have bought the extras on line.

 

Back to your issue, you line in the north east.  I'm pretty sure that there are some tackle stores in the north east,  independent retailer and big box, low end & high end.   My advice would be for you to start making the rounds until you find one you like.

 

By the way, Fenwick makes a number of  7' and longer rods in medium and medium heavy.  (I've got a few of them)  A Fenwick HMG 7' MH - extra fast tip is the one I'd recommend, just because that is the one I've got.  $100 more or less.    They make the same action in their Aetos line - $180 more or less.   I'm not a big fan of the skeleton style handle on the Aetos, or I'd have one of those - it is a little lighter.   The Fenwick HMG has exactly the same action as their bait casting rod that's rated the same - same blank - just rigged with spinning components.

 

Good luck in your search.  I've got a few 70's & early 80's spinning rods myself, for the most part they loaf in the "retired" section of my rod arsenal.

[SirSnookalot]

I'm an outdated fisherman myself, 1 thing that has served my 70 years well is putting my lure where I want it to go, that in itself catches lots of fish.  The rod merely projects the lure, any run off he shelf run of the mill rod I have does the job with out getting overly teched out.  The number of hooks on the or type of lure is a talking point, reality to an experienced fisherman doesn't mean squat.  

I use nothing but inshore spinning for bass, it's a lot of fun for me providing I keep my rods on the light side, mostly med/ light, I may jump up to a med depending on the water I need to pull fish thru.  I love my outdated rods along with my outdated lures and techniques.  All that matters is the fish on the end of the line, the magic bullet is one's own expertise not any specific rod.  

[smalljaw67]

I'm an outdated fisherman myself, 1 thing that has served my 70 years well is putting my lure where I want it to go, that in itself catches lots of fish.  The rod merely projects the lure, any run off he shelf run of the mill rod I have does the job with out getting overly teched out.  The number of hooks on the or type of lure is a talking point, reality to an experienced fisherman doesn't mean squat.  

I use nothing but inshore spinning for bass, it's a lot of fun for me providing I keep my rods on the light side, mostly med/ light, I may jump up to a med depending on the water I need to pull fish thru.  I love my outdated rods along with my outdated lures and techniques.  All that matters is the fish on the end of the line, the magic bullet is one's own expertise not any specific rod.  

 

I do appreciate your view on a lot of things as they reflect a lot of my own. That said, your view on rods has to do with you being a multispecies angler, and most anglers like yourself don't understand why, when simplicity works just fine, we go out of our way as bass anglers to make things complicated. The reason is getting new tackle like rods and lures is half the fun of bass fishing, catching the fish is just the icing on the cake. There is also refinement, I can make any rod work for any technique but I did notice a huge decrease in the amount of fish I lost when I went to using moderate action crankbait specific rods while fishing cranks, that changed my view on a lot of things when it comes to rods. I found that there are preferred lengths and actions that make certain techniques work much better and the number of fish caught went up, so there is some truth to using the right rod, it is like golf clubs, while you can use a 9 iron for everything, other clubs work better for different things. The biggest thing for me is line, I use braid for heavy flipping and frog fishing in slop, otherwise it is all mono/copoly because fluorocarbon makes it tough on me as I have to really slow down tying a knot and I can't get it to stop jumping off the spinning reel so rather than be frustrated I use good quality mono and it works but I'm sure if I were fishing deep I'd be at a disadvantage but rarely does my fishing go deeper than 20' in my waters. The beauty of fishing is that it is like any other hobby, you can get into it as deep as you'd like, for some of us it is a lawn chair with a Zebco 33 and a 6-pack of beer sitting on the bank watching the line, while others it is technique specific rods and reels on a bass boat stalking fish for cash, it depends on how far you want to wade into the water.

[SirSnookalot]

The intent of all fishermen is to catch fish, what else? Being a multispecis fisherman works to my advantage, I treat most of the same and know I can catch any of them, no fish is hard given the knowledge needed to find them. 1# or 100 it's the same except for time differernce in landiing. Catching a 10# bass is great mainly because it's not a common catch, but for pure fun I can think of many smaller species that are more thrilling. If one gets off on gear go 4it. I'll stick with my outdated stuff. It's all moot if you aren't findiing fish to catch.

[Fun4Me]

Personally, I don't think SirSnook is wrong in what he's saying. He's just as right as someone that wants 25 different combo's.

 

One thing I do think is rather off, as far as a comparison, is this golf analogy that i've seen a few times. No one on the planet can hit their pitching wedge as far as they can their driver, and so on down the line. The correct comparison IMO, would be someone saying that one needs multiple sets of clubs for multiple conditions to have a chance at playing golf well. Or in other random comparisons, it would be like someone asking on a truck forum, what is the best truck to get, and having members say, you should get 3, a 1/2 ton for the light stuff, a 3/4 ton for the slightly heavier stuff, and a 1 ton for towing. Or someone asking about getting a pair of hiking shoes and getting responses saying they should save their money and get 15 pairs, all with different sole compounds and support structures for different dirt make ups and rock densities.

 

Having said that, I don't have a problem with anyone who wants to have all the greatest gear, I just don't think it's completely necessary. JMO of course.

[smalljaw67]

Personally, I don't think SirSnook is wrong in what he's saying. He's just as right as someone that wants 25 different combo's.

 

One thing I do think is rather off, as far as a comparison, is this golf analogy that i've seen a few times. No one on the planet can hit their pitching wedge as far as they can their driver, and so on down the line. The correct comparison IMO, would be someone saying that one needs multiple sets of clubs for multiple conditions to have a chance at playing golf well. Or in other random comparisons, it would be like someone asking on a truck forum, what is the best truck to get, and having members say, you should get 3, a 1/2 ton for the light stuff, a 3/4 ton for the slightly heavier stuff, and a 1 ton for towing. Or someone asking about getting a pair of hiking shoes and getting responses saying they should save their money and get 15 pairs, all with different sole compounds and support structures for different dirt make ups and rock densities.

 

Having said that, I don't have a problem with anyone who wants to have all the greatest gear, I just don't think it's completely necessary. JMO of course.

 

You are correct in the truck forum part but the golf analogy works perfect. No, you can't hit the ball as far with a pitching wedge as you can a driver, but you also can't cast as far with a 6' heavy power rod as you can with a 7'11" moderate action launcher. Try casting a 1/8oz jig head with a 3" grub on it for distance and accuracy with a 7'6" flipping stick..... See what I mean? It comes down to how you play the game, for SirSookalot, his fishing is all about catching the fish as he missed my point, for bass anglers catching the fish is just a part of the entire game. Bass anglers are different, we constantly refine what works, for example, take the Crème Scoundrel, most fished them with straight shank hooks but when Mann's came along with the Jelly worm, it got a lot of attention and so did the method of rigging it weedless which became known as Texas style. It wasn't long when we got worm hooks with the offset shank we have today, then there was the slug-o, and then the fluke and not long after we got the EWG hook and then rod manufacturers got into it and started playing around to see what kind of rods and action work best to fish these things. If we were satisfied just catching the fish, well there would be no graphite rods, or casting reels with brake systems because the rods we use to use and the lures, line, hooks, and sinkers were all perfectly fine but the constant push for refinement is just part of the entire fishing game. This is a great discussion, it shows how different we really are in how we put our priorities, but make no mistake, the end result for all of us is to catch the fish, but how we all get there is where we all take different roads and if you truly enjoy the simplistic approach, then great, or if you like to push the envelope of performance, so be it as well, but there really is no wrong or right as long as the end result is the same. And just like golf, if I use only a pitching wedge, my score will be high but eventually I'll put the ball in the hole, the same with fishing, you may not get the longest or most accurate cast but eventually you will still catch a fish.

[byram bassturd]

We all fish to catch fish. That much is certain. However, with the exception of maybe a few magical days a year when everything seems almost too easy and we're catching them on almost every cast, most of the time we are spending our time: rowing/driving the boat, tying/switching lures, casting/retrieving, cutting/unsnagging our hooks etc all of which does not entail "catching a fish". So I have come to enjoy the process more than the results which is absolutely influenced by the gear I choose to use.

[SirSnookalot]

A 6' 30# ugly stick can and does cast as far as lighter set ups, I see it done daily.  My best bud fishes nothing but, uglies with old Penn 704's with missing bails, 20# mono that he brought down from Long Island 20 years ago, where he was a striper fisherman, now just fishes larger barracuda. those ugliues fling out a 2 oz lure a long way.

This is the guy that laughs at me when I go peacock fishing. 

 

When I was at the Colorado river in California, early July I bought a 6' pro light ugly stik mh, not the rod of my choice but all I could find.   That ugly performed pretty darn well for spillway striper fishing, almost sorry I didn't take it home.