What is the difference between "action" and "taper"?

[pauldconyers]

When trying to evaluate the differences between different rods I see terms like "action" and "taper" and I have always thought they referred to the same thing and the terms were interchangeable. Recently I heard that is not true and I am confused, can someone educate me?

[GateToWire]

Action refers to the circumference and power associated with a rod

Light

Medium/Light

Medium

Medium/Heavy

Heavy

Mag Heavy or Flipping

The stouter action in the rod the more power you have to control the fish. 

 

Taper refers to how fast or slow the tip is and where on the blank the rod flexes when it loads

Moderate (more parabolic - bends closer to the middle of the blank)

Fast (bends closer to the tip and is stiffer)

Extra Fast (bends even closer to the tip and is even stiffer)

 

[pauldconyers]

3 minutes ago, GateToWire said:

Action refers to the circumference and power associated with a rod

Light

Medium/Light

Medium

Medium/Heavy

Heavy

Mag Heavy or Flipping

 The stouter action in the rod the more power you have to control the fish. 

 

Taper refers to how fast or slow the tip is and where on the blank the rod flexes when it loads

Moderate (more parabolic - bends closer to the middle of the blank)

Fast (bends closer to the tip and is stiffer)

Extra Fast (bends even closer to the tip and is even stiffer)

Great info! In regards to the taper aspect what types of fishing presentation would you want what option?

 

 

[GateToWire]

Just now, pauldconyers said:

Great info! In regards to the taper aspect what types of fishing presentation would you want what option?

 

 

Fast tapers are good for most presentations that use single hooks

Moderate tapers are needed for crankbaits and baits that have treble hooks. The parabolic taper helps you land more fish.

Extra fast is typically used for Flipping and pitching but there is a school of thought that you should have a Moderate more Parabolic rod for flipping and pitching. You could start a whole additional thread on Extra Fast or Moderate for Flipping and Pitching!!!

 

[pauldconyers]

5 minutes ago, GateToWire said:

Fast tapers are good for most presentations that use single hooks

Moderate tapers are needed for crankbaits and baits that have treble hooks. The parabolic taper helps you land more fish.

Extra fast is typically used for Flipping and pitching but there is a school of thought that you should have a Moderate more Parabolic rod for flipping and pitching. You could start a whole additional thread on Extra Fast or Moderate for Flipping and Pitching!!!

 

Again, thank you for the education!

[GateToWire]

5 minutes ago, pauldconyers said:

Again, thank you for the education!

You are welcome

There are lots of videos on YouTube that can explain it visually too

[GReb]

Sometimes it helps to see it

Faster actions get to the backbone quicker which helps drive big hooks. However faster actions also have less load which means the rod is quicker to flatten out. When this happens the line gets slack in it and fish are more likely to get off. 

 

 

[CroakHunter]

41 minutes ago, GateToWire said:

Action refers to the circumference and power associated with a rod

Light

Medium/Light

Medium

Medium/Heavy

Heavy

Mag Heavy or Flipping

The stouter action in the rod the more power you have to control the fish. 

 

Taper refers to how fast or slow the tip is and where on the blank the rod flexes when it loads

Moderate (more parabolic - bends closer to the middle of the blank)

Fast (bends closer to the tip and is stiffer)

Extra Fast (bends even closer to the tip and is even stiffer)

 

What you are referring to action is actually power. Action and taper is the amount of bend the rod has. Extra fast, fast, moderate fast, regular, moderate, Slow. People, and even companies confuse these a lot of times. 

[GateToWire]

19 minutes ago, CroakHunter said:

What you are referring to action is actually power. Action and taper is the amount of bend the rod has. Extra fast, fast, moderate fast, regular, moderate, Slow. People, and even companies confuse these a lot of times. 

Yep.....but I just wanted to answer as smoothly as possible....I actually looked up a bunch of rod manufacturers sites before answering. LOL.

 

[pauldconyers]

On 8/15/2018 at 6:20 PM, GateToWire said:

Fast tapers are good for most presentations that use single hooks

Moderate tapers are needed for crankbaits and baits that have treble hooks. The parabolic taper helps you land more fish.

Extra fast is typically used for Flipping and pitching but there is a school of thought that you should have a Moderate more Parabolic rod for flipping and pitching. You could start a whole additional thread on Extra Fast or Moderate for Flipping and Pitching!!!

 

It seems like all jig rods are fast or extra fast. I am starting to agree that moderate might be better. Does anyone even make jig rods with that action?

[LionHeart]

On 8/15/2018 at 6:10 PM, GateToWire said:

Action refers to the circumference and power associated with a rod

Light

Medium/Light

Medium

Medium/Heavy

Heavy

Mag Heavy or Flipping

The stouter action in the rod the more power you have to control the fish. 

 

Taper refers to how fast or slow the tip is and where on the blank the rod flexes when it loads

Moderate (more parabolic - bends closer to the middle of the blank)

Fast (bends closer to the tip and is stiffer)

Extra Fast (bends even closer to the tip and is even stiffer)

 

Gonna have to disagree here.  What you call action is actually power.  

 

In my mind, action and taper are interchangeable.

33 minutes ago, pauldconyers said:

It seems like all jig rods are fast or extra fast. I am starting to agree that moderate might be better. Does anyone even make jig rods with that action?

I prefer rods with a bit more bend for every technique and see no need for extra fast, ever.  It's purely a preference thing as I find that I tend to lose less fish on a rod with more flex.  My favorite action is Mod-Fast and it can do most things.  A spinner bait rod and a jig rod to me are often the same. I definitely wouldn't want to throw jigs on a true moderate action rod though.  Hook sets would be very difficult.

 

If you get a chance, check out some of Dobyns casting rods.  Something like a 735.  Dobyns are known for having a more limber tip than many other rods.  ALX Ikos Promise would be a good one also.  Or even the ALX Ikos Hammer if you want to throw >1/2 oz jigs.  It is the heavy power version of the Promise but does have a bit faster of a tip unfortunately.

[Heartland]

Rod Mfg's have complicated a rod's power, action and tip unnecessarily by using their own terms to describe their blanks.    There is no true standard, but many agree on the terms power and action.

[pauldconyers]

16 minutes ago, LionHeart said:

Gonna have to disagree here.  What you call action is actually power.  

 

In my mind, action and taper are interchangeable.

I prefer rods with a bit more bend for every technique and see no need for extra fast, ever.  It's purely a preference thing as I find that I tend to lose less fish on a rod with more flex.  My favorite action is Mod-Fast and it can do most things.  A spinner bait rod and a jig rod to me are often the same. I definitely wouldn't want to throw jigs on a true moderate action rod though.  Hook sets would be very difficult.

 

If you get a chance, check out some of Dobyns casting rods.  Something like a 735.  Dobyns are known for having a more limber tip than many other rods.  ALX Ikos Promise would be a good one also.  Or even the ALX Ikos Hammer if you want to throw >1/2 oz jigs.  It is the heavy power version of the Promise but does have a bit faster of a tip unfortunately.

That's sort of what I am doing. Looking for a jig/frog rod and would like to go with the Dobyns Sierra 735C because it is on a great sale on TW. Problem is it is an extra fast and I am not sure I want that. I think that might be fine for a hollow body frog but maybe not so much for a jig. Budget does not allow me to get two separate rods for these presentations.

[Heartland]

Fast and XF are perfect for Jig fishing.

 

[Deleted account]

On 8/15/2018 at 8:14 PM, GateToWire said:

Yep.....but I just wanted to answer as smoothly as possible....I actually looked up a bunch of rod manufacturers sites before answering. LOL.

 

Yup, a lot of folks mistake power for action, as you did above. To the OP's question, action refers to how/where a rod will bend. Taper is the rate of change of the cross section of the blank, ie how quickly it gets bigger or smaller along the blank. So taper (along with material, construction and wall thickness) affect action (as well as power). Oh, and the opposite of fast isn't moderate. 

[LionHeart]

13 hours ago, pauldconyers said:

That's sort of what I am doing. Looking for a jig/frog rod and would like to go with the Dobyns Sierra 735C because it is on a great sale on TW. Problem is it is an extra fast and I am not sure I want that. I think that might be fine for a hollow body frog but maybe not so much for a jig. Budget does not allow me to get two separate rods for these presentations.

I almost never buy a rod without handling it in person.  If it means I have to drive an hour or two, that's what I do.  The Sierra 735 imo would be good for jigs, and the 734 would be good for jigs 1/2 oz and below.

 

Dobyns version of fast is going to have more bend in the tip than alot of other manufacturers.  If you can work it out, I'd try to go handle one in person.  The Sierra is a really good rod though.  Got a friend who has one.  I'll check and see if it is a 734 or 735

[J Francho]

Action is how to describe what the rod does under load.  Taper is what affects that action.  The two can be used interchangeably.  Power refers to stoutness of the rod.

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, LionHeart said:

I almost never buy a rod without handling it in person.  If it means I have to drive an hour or two, that's what I do.

This^.  

[Nills2Gills]

I’m about to break this whole thread so I’m regards to ACTION not POWER what’s the difference between a moderate action or taper, a medium action or taper, and a regular action or taper.

power is relating to amount of force needed to exert a bend in the rod-goes:

ultralight, light, medium light, medium, medium heavy, heavy, XH, XXH(+)

but I have seen rods with the action as being moderate/medium/or regular now in terms of action you have slowest to fastest: ultra slow, slow, moderate slow, moderate, moderate fast, fast, extra fast. That’s where the majority of the bending is going to happen. Faster tips slower moving baits, single points for the most part. Slower trebles and landing ratio yada yada…

 

where from left to right do moderate/ medium/ and regular tapers lie on a ruler side by side comparison to each other tho? Is it all purely speculative, is it all company names using different words interchangeably? Mega bass has medium taper and regular taper so at best if they were cowboys one would win in a duel. Ones faster. Moderate taper of other companies would be regular or medium or none of the above? So confused, please enlighten.

[Hulkster]

medium is normally used in regards to the power of the rod. not the action/taper (which are the same thing). Action is given to a rod by its taper. 

 

words used to describe taper are fast, moderate, moderate fast and extra fast. 

 

words used to describe power are ulralight, light, medium, medium heavy, heavy and extra heavy. 

[MN Fisher]

6 minutes ago, Hulkster said:

words used to describe taper are fast, moderate, moderate fast and extra fast. 

Daiwa likes to use 'Regular' on a number of it's rods - that would equate to 'Moderate'

[Deleted account]

On 8/15/2018 at 6:29 PM, pauldconyers said:

When trying to evaluate the differences between different rods I see terms like "action" and "taper" and I have always thought they referred to the same thing and the terms were interchangeable. Recently I heard that is not true and I am confused, can someone educate me?

Action is where the rod bends, taper is the physical measurement of the blank along it's length

[casts_by_fly]

30 minutes ago, Nills2Gills said:

I’m about to break this whole thread so I’m regards to ACTION not POWER what’s the difference between a moderate action or taper, a medium action or taper, and a regular action or taper.

power is relating to amount of force needed to exert a bend in the rod-goes:

ultralight, light, medium light, medium, medium heavy, heavy, XH, XXH(+)

but I have seen rods with the action as being moderate/medium/or regular now in terms of action you have slowest to fastest: ultra slow, slow, moderate slow, moderate, moderate fast, fast, extra fast. That’s where the majority of the bending is going to happen. Faster tips slower moving baits, single points for the most part. Slower trebles and landing ratio yada yada…

 

where from left to right do moderate/ medium/ and regular tapers lie on a ruler side by side comparison to each other tho? Is it all purely speculative, is it all company names using different words interchangeably? Mega bass has medium taper and regular taper so at best if they were cowboys one would win in a duel. Ones faster. Moderate taper of other companies would be regular or medium or none of the above? So confused, please enlighten.

 

 

think of power as just that- how powerful the rod is as both casting and fish fighting.  The power for casting is normally in the top half of the rod and the power for fish fighting is in the lower half of the rod.  An ultralight has a very small amount of power to cast lures and is designed that way (for lures under an eighth ounce or so).  An extra heavy has the casting power for multiple ounces.  Similarly, an ultralight doesn't have much power down low in the rod (backbone, heft, horsepower, etc).  An extra heavy isn't going to bend in the bottom quarter unless you're winching up a hundred pound blue cat.  Power is normally described as ultra light, light, medium, heavy, and extra heavy or combinations of two).  There are no hard cutoffs and no definitions, so its a spectrum.

 

Action is where the rod bends (normally for casting purposes).  A faster actioned rod will only bend in the top portion of the tip of the rod while a slower actioned rod will bend further down for the same lure/effort/cast.  There are no agreed industry standard numbers but custom rod builders have a couple measurements to put data to it.  Just remember, its a relative measurement.  How much the top is bending relative to the middle and relative to the rest of the blank.  So in a theoretical scenario with a 6' pool cue that you put an 12" buggy whip on the end- the 12" would flex under casting but the pool cue wouldn't.  So only the top 15" of the 'rod' is flexing which is a very fast tip.  Similarly, if you had a 7' buggy whip, the bottom of the whip would start bending with the first little bit of force.  That would be a very slow action.  Action is normally described as slow/medium/fast/xfast or some combination of the two.  There are no hard cutoffs and no definitions, so its a spectrum.

 

Taper is specifically the change in material dimension of the blank itself.  Taper is a large part of both power and action, but so is the graphite, the glue, and the scrim in the blank (not to mention processing conditions).  People will use taper when they mean action.

 

What you use a given action and power for are up to you and your preferences.

[galyonj]

7 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

Action is where the rod bends, taper is the physical measurement of the blank along it's length

 

And both use the same words to mean different things between manufacturers and model lines, much like tire wear/grip ratings.

[Deleted account]

26 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

And both use the same words to mean different things between manufacturers and model lines, much like tire wear/grip ratings.

Michelin XGV, size 75R14.