new rod

[jimmyjoe]

    Santa twisted my arm and forced me to buy a new rod. It's a Fenwick Elite Tech River Runner, 7'2" light power, rated for 4 to 8 lb. line. I found open water yesterday and baptized it (two hamburger bass) with 8 lb Nanofil. What I'd really like to do, though, is use this with 4 lb monofilament. Seems a tad strong, though. Just a tad. 1) Does anyone here use this rod? 2) Have you used it with 4 lb line? 3) Which 4 lb line? I would guess (and that's all it is) that a stretchier mono would work better in order to protect the line from breakage. I might be wrong about that. Basically,  I want to use this for miniature spinnerbaits and spoons for crappie and yellow bass around rocks.

[Jagg]

I handled that rod in store and test fished it but went with another rod. I really like Trilene XL 4# for rods like these. I've had 10" bluegill break the 4# (super quick movements are not as well protected by even the smoothest drag) so keep some of the same line in 6# around also.

 

BTW, it seems like a super rod. Let us now how it fishes and give us a review if you can.

[jimmyjoe]

    Well, today was the day. Per Jagg's recommendation, I spooled 4 lb. Trilene  and went out to see what I could accomplish. Neighbor said that SMB were hitting in the rocks (my normal environs), and I figured if anything was to test this rod, that would do it. I used a 1/6th ounce Super Rooster Tail (white) and caught a 10" smallmouth. I changed to a 1/8 ounce Bitty Bite from Wahoo, and caught two more, another 10" and a 13". (No scales today.) I tried in-line spinners and small spoons and got nothing. Went back to a Booyah Micro Pond Magic, and got a 12". No crappie, no white bass and no yellow bass. (Surprise, surprise!)

    The rod handles 4 lb. line very well. It's rated as a "moderate fast" blank, and for once I think they got it right. It has good backbone, flexing quickly to the 5th guide back form the tip but stalling there. It has good lifting power. (On the fish in the water; I wouldn't try to lift a fish out of the water with a rod this light!) The reel I used was a Shimano Stradic Ci4+ 2500FA, with factory drag. There seemed to be no problem whatsoever with actuating the drag,  had it set for 1 1/2 lbs. That's high for crappie and panfish, but not for bass, and I wanted to really torture this rod if I could just to see how it reacted. The balance with this reel is very good. I have arthritis, and if the weight or balance is off, I'll be able to tell RIGHT away. But no problem with this outfit. In this cold water, I didn't get any violent headshakers, so I can't tell how well the rod tip follows that, but I got a bass in shallow rocks and had no problem at all.

    I had a #4 Mepps Aglia with me, and I tried that on just for shucks and grins. Definitely too much .... too resistive for this rod. It seems to have enough strength (barely) but the action was deadened, as if it were stacking. And I imagine it was; these rods were originally designed for trout, it I remember right. I guess I was lucky a fish didn't hit it; I'll bet the 4 lb. line would have broken easily. Light line and rocks don't mix well.

    So overall, I'm very happy. This "light" action isn't the same as as "light" action from 30 years ago; it's not as strong or authoritative. But you can say that about a lot of rods nowadays. 30 years ago, if you'd have called a rod rated 1/8 to 3/8 ounce lures a "medium light", people would have looked at you awful funny. Nowadays, that's the norm. So as a light power rod, this one fits in nicely.  It fights well, has a responsive tip and seems to protect light line pretty well. No, it's not an ultralight. I have ultralights, and this has considerably more power. If a person wanted to use it as a so-called "magnum ultralight", I think that would be great. Some of the spinners and spoons I used today were 1/8 ounce, and the feel and control were there, no problem.

    So I guess I have to thank Santa for twisting my arm, eh?  jj

   

[Jagg]

Good on ya, JJ! Fenwick has a good reputation for quality rods specifically for smaller rivers, creeks and streams. I'll probably get my hands on a rod from their River Runner and /or maybe an Elite Tech Smallmouth if I can get my hands on one. Glad it's working out for you.