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

[galyonj]

1 minute ago, Deleted account said:

Michelin XGV, size 75R14. 

 

I think that's pretty close to an Abu medium heavy mod.

[J Francho]

14 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

I think that's pretty close to an Abu medium heavy mod.

I refuse to accept this refuse as an answer.

[galyonj]

You know you want to.

[Glenn]

To add to the confusion, there aren't any industry standards for these different designations.  So one manufacturer's "Heavy" can be another's "Medium-Heavy", etc.  It's like clothing - sizes are approximate, but no two manufacturers are exactly alike. You have to try them on to see if they fit you.

[Dumbbassanglr]

Nothing

[PressuredFishing]

All blank blends are different and manufacturers don't have an industry standard, they really should make one similar to fly lines and rods, there's an old saying American consumers don't know what they want, just look at the offset circle hook, a hook designed for protecting fish offset so you hook them deeper and more often. 

[papajoe222]

Power determines how heavy of line, lure and fish weight the rod can handle

Action refers to how quickly the rod recovers and is determined by the stiffness of the blank from the tip down

Taper is exactly what the word describes; how quickly the rod tapers from butt to tip. Mag taper being an example of a thick butt tapering to a thin tip section. This description is rarely used unless the blank is at one extreme or the other. 
 

[J Francho]

Action and taper are interchangeable. I prefer the term taper since it more accurately describes how the rod was made. A fast rod tapers quickly. A slow rod tapers slower. Pretty simple when put in those terms. 

[Chris Catignani]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

Action and taper are interchangeable. I prefer the term taper since it more accurately describes how the rod was made. A fast rod tapers quickly. A slow rod tapers slower. Pretty simple when put in those terms. 

...and a medium rod tapers faster than slow and slower than fast.

[J Francho]

11 hours ago, Chris Catignani said:

...and a medium rod tapers faster than slow and slower than fast.

I really dislike "medium" to designate taper. It doesn't tell me anything. I mean, is it medium or extra medium?

[Deleted account]

13 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Action refers to how quickly the rod recovers and is determined my the stiffness of the blank from the tip down

Not really, action mostly is used to describe the arc of the bend, what you are describing is the recoil or rebound speed, also sometimes referred to as crispiness, I've started holding my mood ring and quartz life crystal close to the blank and humming at 440 hz to determine it since reading some of the things put forth on it here...

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

I've started holding my mood ring and quartz life crystal close to the blank and humming at 440 hz to determine it since reading some of the things put forth on it here...

Don't forget the chanting and dancing naked in the moonlight...

[Deleted account]

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

Don't forget the chanting and dancing naked in the moonlight...

Mama Cocha frowns on that sort of thing...

[ironbjorn]

If someone calls the rod power "action" one more time I'm calling the cops 

[J Francho]

6 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

If someone calls the rod power "action" one more time I'm calling the cops 

LOL

[Deleted account]

26 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

If someone calls the rod power "action" one more time I'm calling the cops 

"Nomenclature is the haven of the incapable"...

[papajoe222]

On 9/14/2022 at 6:39 PM, papajoe222 said:

11 hours ago, Deleted account said:

Not really, action mostly is used to describe the arc of the bend,

 

 

Which is determined by the stiffness of the blank from the tip down, is it not?

[Glenn]

Awww, we're waltzing down the semantics isle, aren't we?

 

[Deleted account]

9 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Which is determined by the stiffness of the blank from the tip down, is it not?

Yes, but that has no direct bearing on how quickly it recovers.

[Bankc]

Taper is how quickly the rod narrows as you go from butt to point.  Action is how far down the rod it bends under normal load.  

They're kind of interchangeable, since the taper of the rod is largely what controls its action.  But action is the correct term.  Taper is correctly defined in terms like diameter and length, radius and length, degrees, or maybe something like #2 if it's standardized.  It's describing the dimensions of a cone.  But that's semantics that'll make no one happy.  So for practical purposes, they're largely interchangeable.  

 

Even power and action are somewhat interchangeable.  Just know that there's slow, moderate, fast which describes how far down the rod it bends, and light, medium, heavy, which describes how much force it takes to bend. 

[J Francho]

17 minutes ago, Bankc said:

Taper is how quickly the rod narrows as you go from butt to point.  Action is how far down the rod it bends under normal load.  

Taper is what gives a rod it's action.

17 minutes ago, Bankc said:

Even power and action are somewhat interchangeable. 

Not at all.  Power describes how much weight will cause the rod to bend.  Action or Taper describes how it bends.

 

I'm not picking on you, but using your post as an example of where and how this concept gets confused constantly.  This reply is really for anyone.

 

All of these rods are the same power - doesn't matter what power, just that they're the same, and from the same company.  The actions or tapers are clearly described, and the same amount weight is being applied to display the bend.  Hopefully this helps some.

 

[J Francho]

 

Tack on post: 

Lastly, the lure weight is a range that is pretty subjective, but also gives you a hint to it's actual power.  A bass MH may go up to 3/4 oz. whereas an musky/pike MH may be more.  When moving up and down the tapers, the weights may change a bit too.  I can throw some pretty light stuff on a medium-moderate rod, far lighter than a medium-extra fast.  That doesn't mean that medium moderate has any less power than the medium-extra fast.

 

All three attributes are both marketing and informational, and there to help describe the rod to the consumer.  Most companies are doing their best to rate their rods, but it is not an exact or standardized science.