Rod Sensitivity, Pick One

[1984isNOW]

Please pick between the two and cast your vote if you comment. Feel free to vote and then clarify/elaborate/add your own definition of the sensitivity you mean when referencing rod sensitivity.

 

Appreciate all your input!

 

Edit to add ...

 

If your buying a rod to feel a subtle take whether finesse Ned rig bite or a quick inhale and spit of a t rig is a $600 high modulus carbon fiber 7 foot rod more or less sensitive than a $35 Conposite Ugly Stik?

[Tennessee Boy]

Sorry but my answers don’t fit your options.  For the first question I would say both.  

 

For the second question I would say it depends on what the angler thinks is the best because I believe the perceived differences in rod sensitivity is mostly in the angler’s head.

[1984isNOW]

@Tennessee Boy just to clarify, you think the only difference between a $600 carbon fiber rod from Loomis/Shimano and a $35 fiberglass carbon composite Ugly Stik is nil, it's all just in our heads?

 

Maybe I'll edit to add clarity, what details would be helpful for you to decide? The fact of it being bottom contact? What is ambiguous for you?

 

And the question is which *better* defines... so if it's both great, now which one is 51% of the equation?

[Pat Brown]

I think a light rod with about 75% backbone and 25% fast but bendy ish tip seems to work for just about everything in bass fishing.  I rarely struggle to feel a bite.  I just struggle to get them committed sometimes 🤪

[ironbjorn]

I just go fishing, man 

[Tennessee Boy]

46 minutes ago, Kites R4 Skyfishing said:

@Tennessee Boy just to clarify, you think the only difference between a $600 carbon fiber rod from Loomis/Shimano and a $35 fiberglass carbon composite Ugly Stik is nil, it's all just in our heads?

I think there are important differences between the two but sensitive is not one of them.  I’m not trying to push my beliefs on anyone because for decades I was a great believer in the importance of buying high end rod for their superior sensitivity.  It was a belief that was hard to give up.  I now believe that the amount of bow in your line is 99% of what determines how well you feel your lure.  The rod may play a role in the other 1%,  I don’t know.   In the end it’s more important to be able to interpret what you feel than it is to feel it strongly.  If you go to France and can’t understand what anyone is saying it’s probably because you don’t speak the language and not because you need hearing aids.  Sometimes you don’t feel the bite,  you just know your bait is no longer swimming through the water.  That’s angler interpretation not rod magic.

 

If anyone is offended by what I’m saying just tell yourself that he getting old and can’t feel the difference between a good rod and a cheap one.  It may be true. 😉

[LrgmouthShad]

I feel an inexplicable urge to post "big game" to add extra spice to the thread

 

[1984isNOW]

I'll add details I suppose haha

[Pat Brown]

15 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I feel an inexplicable urge to post "big game" to add extra spice to the thread

 

 

Oh you mean the best fishing line?  😉😉😉😂

[1984isNOW]

Edited to make explicit, if more explicit content is need please ask - I can add links etc.

[PhishLI]

25 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

 I now believe that the amount of bow in your line is 99% of what determines how well you feel your lure.

 

25 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

In the end it’s more important to be able to interpret what you feel than it is to feel it strongly.

 

25 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Sometimes you don’t feel the bite,  you just know your bait is no longer swimming through the water.  That’s angler interpretation not rod magic.

Word.

[Catt]

In the opinion of a dumb Coonass it depends a whole lot on whose holding the rod & whose brain is interpreting what's being felt.

[Mike L]

Ditto ^^^^^^
 

 

 

Mike

[rgasr63]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

In the opinion of a dumb Coonass it depends a whole lot on whose holding the rod & whose brain is interpreting what's being felt.

Very much so!!! It ain't the wand it is the wizard behind the wand.

[1984isNOW]

Sure, I agree, your all right about the wrong question. If the question is "what's more important regarding fishing and understanding what you feel while fishing, the rod or the angler's experience and ability to interpret what they feel" then yeah you're 100% correct.

 

But let's say the question is which is a more efficient more affective tool to the angler that is trying to feel things: a fat heavy long fiberglass rod or a crisp shorter high modulus latest carbon fiber rod?

 

Imagine a person has hearing loss, which device would be more helpful in providing access to sound: holding a metal cone to their ear or the newest most technologically advanced hearing aid. The answer isn't "he doesn't understand the language" it's either "metal cone" or "hearing aid"

 

So which is the better listening device "heavy long fiberglass rod" or "short crisp Carbon fiber rod"

 

NFC manufactures a blank they call the "xray" because "it's like you can see what's happening under the water" I get the feeling they mean it's sensitive regardless of who's using it.

 

The first nice rod I ever got was a Kistler, I had to relearn what I was feeling on the other end because I was setting the hook into blades of grass. Could never feel the grass like that before, that was a whole new level of sensitivity for me. Since I switched to that high modulus carbon fiber I had greater access to what was happening on the other end of the line, I grew in understanding and improved in interpreting what I was feeling.

 

There's another thread here about spinnerbaits, it mentions how important it is to "feel when something is different "which is a sentiment we've all heard in fishing. Being able to feel is just behind the ability to understand what you feel in terms of importance, because if you're the most perceptive angler who can interpret everything perfectly but you can only fish with an elastic tied to a sponge you're not going to get the chance to interpret and use those skills because you won't feel a thing.

 

Anyway, I was just wondering what was more sensitive between those two options in the poll, that's all.

[senile1]

I chose the crisp carbon fiber rod and on the first question, I chose both. 

 

I notice a noticeable difference in the rods mentioned.  I am quite certain that it isn't just in my head and it makes me a better angler in situations where feeling the movement of my lure and interpreting whether a fish has bitten is paramount.  I do agree with the idea that some of us are better wizards behind the wand, but that does not exclude the idea that a better rod/wand makes even the best wizard a better spell caster.

 

 

[LrgmouthShad]

Kites, respectfully, if you got a nice Kistler rod that offers more sensitivity, you do not need us to tell you which rod is more sensitive. You allude to your answer choices in the first question as well with your last post, where you mention how your Kistler rod allows you to feel grass and your lure better. 
 

Your post simply could have read “I appreciate my Kistler rod’s sensitivity.”

[1984isNOW]

@LrgmouthShad this wasn't about my Kistler, that was just an example. This was to get a feel for the community's take on sensitivity given those 2 definitions and 2 rod choices. I wasn't trying to learn what sensitivity is, I was trying to learn what sensitivity is to you.

 

I do appreciate all the votes and the posts, feels like we're all pretty much on the same page.

 

Seems like nobody believes a longer fiberglass rod is more sensitive than a shorter carbon fiber rod, the angling community can unite on some things

 

Now straight braid or leader in the other hand 😉

[rgasr63]

Sorry for the late reply but a lot of people miss to understand that detecting a bite is not dependent on the rod. So if you take that in reflection now the question then turns to do you have a rod (tool) that fits what you are fishing with. Most will choose the graphite rod because it is very much lighter and it won't wear you out so fast. Mostly the rod comes into play according to the type of technique you want to do. You need a quality tool no matter what technique you wish to do. 

[12poundbass]

17 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I feel an inexplicable urge to post "big game" to add extra spice to the thread

 

What’s supposed to happen when you post “big game”? 🤔

[Tennessee Boy]

3 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

What’s supposed to happen when you post “big game”? 🤔

The words “big game” will start an argument about fish line most of the year.  During college football season they take on a completely different meaning.  

[garroyo130]

This whole thing honestly just feels like you know what answer you want but are trying to see if someone disagrees ... agree with the above. Go fish

[Catt]

Let me explain it this way!

 

I could put any high end reel on any high end rod, spool it with braid for maximum sensitivity, tie on a Texas rig & then give it to my wife.

She could not "feel" any difference if I had rigged it up on a Berkley Lightening rod!

 

Why?

 

Cause what is transmitted up the line, down the rod, through the hands will be lost in the brain.

 

She doesn't fish & would not be able to interpret what she is feeling.

 

Even for the average angler a certain amount of "sensitivity" is lost in the brain.

[Mike L]

Ditto ^^^^^^^^

(Again)
 

 

 

 

Mike

[garroyo130]

10' Fat fiberglass rod, heavy reel, spooled with 30lb big game. 

 

Proof - it catches the most catfish which means it must be super sensitive