Sensitivity, Separating The Reality From The Propaganda

[.ghoti.]

I started thinking seriously about this a couple of years ago. There is a lot of misinformation being peddled as fact by the marketing folks.

I'm old enough to remember the "before graphite" days. Back then nobody talked about the sensitivity of a fishing rod. The term sensitivity made it into the vernacular when graphite hit the market. It was one of ways graphite rods were marketed to unbelieving anglers. A lot of fishermen wanted nothing to do with graphite in the early days. We mostly wanted our tried and true, nearly indestructible glass rods.

To be clear about, the earliest graphite rods were very brittle, and not at all durable. A lot of people, myself included, broke the first graphite rod we bought, and did so rather easily, and soon. But things got better very quickly. The bugs got worked out of materials and processes almost as fast as the complaints flew. In very short order everybody had a graphite rod on the market. At the time choices for graphite materials were limited. Everybody's rods were basically made from the same stuff. From the same manufacturer.

Tackle companies tried to differentiate their products from others buy touting their "superior sensitivity". The Sensitivity War had begun. And has never ended. The term has been beaten so far into our consciousness that we can't help ourselves. We simply will not even consider purchasing a rod that does not scream sensitivity in every conceivable marketing venue.

What I do not want to get into here is discussion of IM6 vs IM7 vs IM????. The terms are meaningless as a basis for comparison. Ditto the "new" version; 30ton, 40ton, megaton, whatever. Who know what the flame any of that means? I hate to even mention modulus, or the be properly technical, "the modulus of elasticity; maybe the most abused term in the history of hyperbole.

What I want to discuss is how we perceive this. I began by wondering which of my fingers was the most sensitive to the vibrations transmitted by the rod blank. The thought came about because I hold the rod/reel combo differently depending upon the application. When fishing bottom contact baits; jigs and plastics, I hold my baitcaster with the trigger behind my little finger. When fishing moving baits; cranks and spinnerbaits, I hold it with the trigger between my middle finger and forefinger, or between ring and middle finger. So, in the first case, either my little finger or ring finger, or both, was in contact with the blank. In the second case, middle or forefinger.

Wanting to know, and in the best tradition of the scientific method, I formulated a hypothesis, designed an experiment to test said hypothesis and started making observations with the eventual outcome being a rational theory. The basis of the hypothesis was; my little finger, being the weakest and least used of the lot, would be the most sensitive, and the middle finger, being the strongest, would be the least sensitive. So the experiment began at the beginning of the 2010 fishing season.

Note: this is the kind of thing that can and will occur to a techno-geek over a long hard winter.

I started trying to take note of what I felt upon every tick, tap, pull, tug, yank, drop, stop, plop, plop, fizz, fizz, etc. At first this was quite difficult to do. Over time I acquired the proper mental focus to begin making useful observations. I found this was only possible when fishing by myself. So I continued for all of 2010 and 2011. And since I fish alone more often than not, I was able make and record quite few observations. At the beginning I was quite sure my hypothesis would be proved correct. I thought I was on the right track.

So much for thoughtin". I could not have been more wrong in my assumptions.

What I discovered was simple. None of my brazillion megaton, hyper-modulus, nano-fractal resinous wonders of modern technology fish sticks sent any vibrations down the blank that were detectable by my fingers, no matter where I placed said fingers.

Depending on how I held the rod, and at what angle my wrist was relative to my fore-arm, I felt the strikes either in my hand, or in my wrist. Not in my fingers. For all that my fingers told me about what was happening at the end of my line, I may as well have had them jammed up my nose.

I proved my hypothesis thank you very much. Proved it to be dead wrong.

I know this flies directly in the face of what you've been told over and over and over, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

It contradicts what I believed to be the truth of the matter. But I can scarcely discredit my own observations.

My final thought on the matter is this. Almost all R&D being done regarding rods seems to be focused on materials and processes. I think we may need to start looking at ergonomics. Ergonomics as it applies to perception and not comfort or stress.

I'm hoping some young researcher, looking to make a name for himself, will take up the idea, and design a reel seat/grip form that increases sensitivity by putting the hand, wrist and fingers in the most receptive position.

OK folks. Let me have it.

[Dave P]

No, because I think that by and large your right on the money.

[dodgeguy]

i agree totally.my hand palms my baitcaster.all strikes are felt transmitted through the reel seat to the reel and my hand.the blank passes vibrations through the seat better than it does to your fingers directly on the blank.

[Goose52]

Great post!

I thought it was just me but I rarely (never) feel anything directly through my fingers. I do have joint and grip problems and just thought I had associated degradation of the nerve endings in my fingers. And I do have a couple of Loomis GLX rods that theoretically should be pretty good on transmitting vibrations.

So, I agree - I am feeling mostly through my hands/grip. This then puts combo balance into discussion as well, especially for tip up presentations.

[McAlpine]

I agree 100%. This is why I have always bought the lightest, best balanced rig I can get. Even way before it was the "in" thing. The less mass the fish has to move, the more "sensitive" your rod really is. Those guys that try to sell you a sensitive rod because you can feel them flick the end are full of it. A bass does not flick anything. It pulls. The lightest pull you will feel would be by holding nothing but the line. The closest you can get to that 0 additive mass, the best chance you have to feel that pull.

[McAlpine]

Also, the newest boron-graphite-mega-multiplexed-blend doesn't mean a darn thing if it isn't well balanced.

[LgMouthGambler]

My feel is incorperated to my whole hand as it holds the reel and rod in it.

[flippin and pitchin]

I'm no scientist and certainly not an engineer and can't explain my observations, but, I feel my newer rods do transmit vibration or feel better than what I fished many years ago. The materials are quite different though and more, the design, including reel seats. I had one of the very first Lamiglas boron rod blanks and built a rod with it. I hated that rod. It was to have been THE cutting edge material at the time. Haven't you ever picked up a rod and the blank felt dead ? It was like tapping something on a guitar string verses a wet noodle? Materials, manufacturing processes, design and balance all seem to effect the feel I have with my bait.

Now for the mud. Line type makes a larger difference for me than the rod. Blasphemer !!! The first time I fished flouro I was amazed. Then came tungsten. So many factors. Where does that " feel " translate ? I agree, vibration to the hand. Great stuff.

[SirSnookalot]

The term has been beaten so far into our consciousness that we can't help ourselves. We simply will not even consider purchasing a rod that does not scream sensitivity in every conceivable marketing venue.

My biggest asset in fishing is that I'm an idiot. I know nothing of rods, reels, techniques, and have no desire to learn more. I never have and never will buy into the sensitivity issue of rods and won't buy into the concept that the higher price tag of your equipment increases your pleasure, comfortable and smooth operating equipment can come on any ones budget. What increases my pleasure is catching great fish, and that I do it well. Am I great fisherman, not really, just happen to be in a great location, lowly spinning gear is all I need.

Until I joined this forum I had no idea bass fishing was difficult, and so complicated, yet I've been catching them for 60 years on unsensitive and unsophisticated gear and a few lures I can carry in my pocket.

[basscrusher]

If the "feel" comes through the hand (palm/wrist)...should we start making the reels sensitive, instead of the rod? If you palm a baitcaster, the feel is traveling through that conduit into the hand. (This is really just a rhetorical question, by the way).

[Ima Bass Ninja]

Great Post!!...I have always judged sensitivity of a rod by its weight. as one poster said the less mass a fish has to move the easier it would be to tell if there was on on the end of the line. this is not to say that light rods are the end all be all cause a light rod that breaks on the hookset doesn't do anyone any good. so you must find the correct balance between light and durable.

[smalljaw67]

You hit on a lot of things here and I agree for the most part. One thing that is very powerful is POS or the power of suggestion, a lot of companies will take a rod that should retail for say 50 bucks and sell it for 200 dollars, but in order to do it it needs to be marketed and "increased sensitivity" is one of the ploys. You may buy one of these and actually feel incesed sensitivity, but is it the rod doing it or is it the in your mind you know it is more snsititive and therefore you focus just a little more and you percieve that first light tick and then it is confirmed, the rod is ultra sensitive. I proved it with a lot of products over the years, I made jigs using eagle claw black pearl finish hooks for guys saying they only use gamakatsu as they are sharper and better than any hook on the market, and at the same time told me eagle claw was total junk. After using the jig and being told it was sporting a new gammy hook the feedback I got was incredible, in fact the guy told me it was the best hook he ever used and was totally floored when I told hime it was an eagle claw hook. The same thing happens with rods, it isn't that when you buy an expensive rod you aren't getting your moneys worth, more often than not what you are paying for is better components and a more refined look and feel,sensitivity is perception. I just got a rod cheap and the spinning version of it is sensitive, to me but it is my perception because the grip feels good to me and my hand placement seems very natural and that coincides with the rod as a whole being sensitive. BTW, the jigs I did the experiment with were free, if someone pays for a jig with a gammy hook, they will indeed get a gammy hook, I gave those out a free test models with the only costs was to let me know what the user thought about the jig.

[Jason Penn]

i think with fluoro, pretty much any decent rod will work for me for plastics/jigs as long as it feels comfortable to me. i've got an old 6'6" m daiwa tds glass rod that will rattle your teeth out if you fish a squarebill on it using braid. sensitivity is not even a question there.

[senile1]

This was a very good idea for a thread, Gary. I've wondered about this topic as well and I believe you are onto something here. I know there are some rods that have more sensitivity than others but there are a lot of things that go into that and ergonomics could well be a major factor. However, to me, I think the differences in sensitivity are greatly exaggerated in many cases. One rod may be slightly more sensitive than another to me, but to someone else that difference is reported as a huge one. It could be that some just have an intense sense of touch and notice these things more than the rest of us. Or maybe, some are just drinking the proverbial kool-aid provided by the marketing departments.

[Goose52]

This was a very good idea for a thread, Gary. I've wondered about this topic as well and I believe you are onto something here. I know there are some rods that have more sensitivity than others but there are a lot of things that go into that and ergonomics could well be a major factor. However, to me, I think the differences in sensitivity are greatly exaggerated in many cases. One rod may be slightly more sensitive than another to me, but to someone else that difference is reported as a huge one. It could be that some just have an intense sense of touch and notice these things more than the rest of us. Or maybe, some are just drinking the proverbial kool-aid provided by the marketing departments.

Exactly - at least for me. Again, I always thought I just had some sort of diminished ability to pick up the sensitivity differences...and perhaps some people really DO have an increased ability - either through better "touch" or perhaps better concentration/awareness of what's going on with the rod.

I can give two examples of what I CAN feel. I have two 7'mf St. Croix bc rods - one a Premier, one an Avid. I can feel the sensitivity improvement in the Avid over the Premier. Now, when I compare that Avid with a comparable Loomis GLX (MBR842C), I can't really feel any significant improvement. Again, perhaps it's just me...or perhaps this is another confirmation of what's been discussed on the board before that the point of (greatly) diminishing returns on rods is nowadays right around the $180 price point...

And getting back to that Premier, I would bet that that I actually give up very little in the way of true angling success by fishing that rod as my most-used bc rod as compared to my success rate if I used the Avid...

There are some pretty danged good $100 dollar rods on the market nowadays and I'm not even sure that you need to reach that $180 price point to have the best bang for the buck.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

IMO the benefit of carbon fiber graphite over fiberglass is the strength to weight ratio. Scrims, resins and processes all factor in as well to put together a high performance rod. If the end result is a more powerful blank at a lower weight, it stands to reason that the recovery speed and hence the ability to transmit feel will improve. "Sensitivity" as well as "balance" are two terms that are over thought, they are part, but only part, of the big picture and are subjective. Perception is reality and each persons perception is different from the next. Long story short, you are right that claims of im proved sensitivity are to a degree unprovable and can be considered puffing by manufacturers.

[J Francho]

I think Gary has ham hands. Or at least, too much time on his hands.

But seriously, interesting post. Doesn't change what rods I'm going to use. Just have someone put the rod tip to their voice box and hum. If you can feel it, it's plenty sensitive.

[lmoore]

Great idea for a thread, lots of hard work already put into it.

The 2 main factors in sensitivity of a rod are flexibility and weight, which is were the graphite rating comes in. I 100% agree that there's little to be gained from IM6 vs. IM7, and all that, because that's just a label the company uses. Graphite ratings (tensile modulus) for fishing rods are in the 10's of millions psi, and there's no correlation between the label one compny uses for a rating and the label the next compny uses.

The overall purpose of tensile modulus is a comparison between flexibility and weight. As the rating goes up, a rod of similiar power can be made lighter, and will have slightly higher flexibility. The thing is, even though the rod is lighter and should transmit vibrations better, the increased flexibility serves to dampen the vibrations as they move along the rod, so you don't get the full effect of the decrease in mass. You still gain some sensitivity by using a higher tensile modulus graphite, but it's not as huge of a difference as it might appear due to the flex increase.

Now that I've rambled on about stuff nobody cares about.....I've used some of the best rods in the world and still trust my fingers on the line a LOT more than my fingers on the rod!

[McAlpine]

Just a little something I was thinking about that really shows an example of what we are talking about here. I am certainly guilty of paying way to much for equipment at times just because I wanted something. However; to this day my favorite spinning rod and what I consider to be my best combination of "Sensitive, strong, good backbone and soft tip" which is what i use for unweighted soft plastic fluke fishing in the top portion of the water collumn is a 20 year old Daiwa Samuri powermesh. I honestly dont even know what it is made out of and if I remember right it cost me around $25-50 at WalMart years ago.

The rod is a medium heavy, but you would never know it by looking at it, thin rod but strong backbone, has a fast tip but soft enough to toss a light bait. However at only 6 ft, with a non-cork light handle the rod is very light and with a medium sized reel balances so well it feels like it weighs nothing. Combine that with a palm swell at the grip and what you get is an extremely well balanced stiff rod with lots of surface area where it connects to my hand. Best dang spinning rod ever.

[craww]

Great thread. I've wondered about palming baitcasters. 90% of your hand is actually touching the reel, not the rod. I've heard guys mention that reels made predominately of certain materials transmit vibration better...Could it be the lighter magnesium, C6, carbon, etc help you percieve the "pull" better?

[BigMoneyGrip]

What we perceive as sensitivity will come down to surface contact. The more surface, the better the sensitivity. If we take two of the same blanks and use different diameter grips, the one with more surface to hold will feel the best.

I like the "Megaphone Effect" grip that Airrus is using on their new KW Nano Fusion rod. Another thing they are doing is using a "hard" material for the grip. I've often wondered if cork and EVA would damp some of the vibrations of the rod.

I don't know, just my thoughts.

[roadwarrior]

Well, I'm not buying this story, I think we're reading too much into it. I'm not arguing the fact that there is certainly a degree of diminishing return, but sensitivity is not just a matter of perception. Rather than placing the focus on just the materials used in constructing the blank, the taper and action of the rod is of greater significance.

For "moving" presentations the quality of the rod is not as critical as it is for bottom techniques. For treble hooks I want a soft tip and a balanced rig that feels light, whether that is actually the case or not. I don't fish Ugly Sticks or Rhino rods, but perhaps they "will do" for a steady retrieve with a Rat-L-Trap or square bill.

However, when we look at rods for bottom contact, jigs or soft plastics, it's a different ballgame. #1 is balance or the illusion of weightlessness; #2 is power& action; #3 is the quality of the components and craftsmanship. I want a fast or extra fast rod for single hooks, except for live bait. For these techniques. sensitivity is crucial.

On a different note, and as much as I really hate braid, for soft plastics and jigs, swiching to braid might be the answer to improving any equipment you are using. My jig fishing has improved significantly since making the switch.

[Hyrule Bass]

i've always thought the sensitivity thing was overrated. Sure there may be differences in the sensitivity of different rods, but in my experiences, its so minimal you almost cant even tell. I've said as much lately that i dont buy into it either. Other people can tell me about their sensitive $100+ rods all day long, i'll just be like "ok" while im outfishing them or doing just as well as them with my ugly stiks and other cheap shakespeare rods.

Also, i never really understood those ugly split grip rods i see all the time. i hate the feel of them. Whats the point of having a split grip handle if youre holding the rod up by the reel and palming the reel? doesnt make sense to me. please dont tell me its a sensitivity thing, as your hand is above the split grip when holding the rod...

[Hyrule Bass]

Well, I'm not buying this story, I think we're reading too much into it. I'm not arguing the fact that there is certainly a degree of diminishing return, but sensitivity is not just a matter of perception. Rather than placing the focus on just the materials used in constructing the blank, the taper and action of the rod is of greater significance.

For "moving" presentations the quality of the rod is not as critical as it is for bottom techniques. For treble hooks I want a soft tip and a balanced rig that feels light, whether that is actually the case or not. I don't fish Ugly Sticks or Rhino rods, but perhaps they "will do" for a steady retrieve with a Rat-L-Trap or square bill.

However, when we look at rods for bottom contact, jigs or soft plastics, it's a different ballgame. #1 is balance or the illusion of weightlessness; #2 is power& action; #3 is the quality of the components and craftsmanship. I want a fast or extra fast rod for single hooks, except for live bait. For these techniques. sensitivity is crucial.

On a different note, and as much as I really hate braid, for soft plastics and jigs, swiching to braid might be the answer to improving any equipment you are using. My jig fishing has improved significantly since making the switch.

the thing is, i dont really care about any of this stuff as i catch plenty of fish on my cheap "non-sensitive" rods. all i need to feel is the bite, not the bottom. why does anyone need to feel the bottom so bad, especially if you got electronics to tell you whats on the bottom?

[lmoore]

i've always thought the sensitivity thing was overrated. Sure there may be differences in the sensitivity of different rods, but in my experiences, its so minimal you almost cant even tell. I've said as much lately that i dont buy into it either. Other people can tell me about their sensitive $100+ rods all day long, i'll just be like "ok" while im outfishing them or doing just as well as them with my ugly stiks and other cheap shakespeare rods.

Also, i never really understood those ugly split grip rods i see all the time. i hate the feel of them. Whats the point of having a split grip handle if youre holding the rod up by the reel and palming the reel? doesnt make sense to me. please dont tell me its a sensitivity thing, as your hand is above the split grip when holding the rod...

the thing is, i dont really care about any of this stuff as i catch plenty of fish on my cheap "non-sensitive" rods. all i need to feel is the bite, not the bottom. why does anyone need to feel the bottom so bad, especially if you got electronics to tell you whats on the bottom?

Post 1, can't tell difference in sensitivity.

Post 2, can't feel the bottom.

The new electroncis go a long way, but I find the more in-tuned I am with what's going on on the other end of my line, the better I fish(regarding contact baits obviously). I've had times fishing where the best way to get a bit was to pull a jig along a sandy bottom until I hit a rock line, pop it over the first rock, and let it sit. The fishing were sitting right on that change in bottom content. You would be able to see the change was there on your electronics, but you'd never be able to tell if your bait was there or not if you can't feel the bottom. All it does is increase your efficiency.