Rod Tapers.....

[Fontana Finesse Man]

What exactly is rod taper and what effect does it have? I have fished along time and honestly, anytime I ever purchased a rod, never looked at taper. Medium, fast, extra fast. I know taper is how the rod slims, but what is better in what situations?

Sorry for such a novice question, but was looking at various new flipping sticks and some were fast taper, some were extra fast. Always used a old Team Daiwa LT (gray, purple and black one) but it is on it's last leg and was looking to upgrade to a new one and wondered what taper would be best.

[MaineBassFishin]

Things like crankbaits you would want a slow tip so you don't rip the trebles out, and things such as texas rigged worms I used fast or extra fast for a good strong hookset. At least this is in my experience.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Taper has no official definition in regard to rods. It's another subjective term used several ways. IMO Taper is a relation of the tip to butt diameter. It affects action but is not the same as action. A rod described as having a fast taper would be one with a combination of fast action and more back bone relative to another rod with similar ratings. It really doesn't mean much at all. The marketing of the particular rods you're looking at may be making the correlation that the faster taper is a faster action but I don't know since there are no stadardized ratings.

As for picking your new rod, stick to the ratings of lure weight and action and match that to what you want to do with it.

[J Francho]

I agree it's relative term. But a rod's taper is how you achieve the action. The two terms are interchangeable as far as I am concerned. If a rod has a fast taper, meaning it the diameter get smaller toward the tip is faster than another rod, then the action will also be faster than that rod. I also thing that most apply these relative measurements to the tip only, and ignore the middle, transition zone. This is where a really good quality rod steps into the light - a smooth transition from tip bend to power in the butt.

To answer your question in a general sense, a faster taper or action will initially only flex at the top 1/4 of the blank, whereas a slower action or taper might flex 1/2 way down the rod before transitioning to that butt end, fighting power from the rod. 90% of bass fishing can be covered with a medium power, fast action rod or a medium heavy, fast action rod. The line and bait ratings will determine what you need.

[A-Jay]

Taper has no official definition in regard to rods. It's another subjective term used several ways. IMO Taper is a relation of the tip to butt diameter. It affects action but is not the same as action. A rod described as having a fast taper would be one with a combination of fast action and more back bone relative to another rod with similar ratings. It really doesn't mean much at all. The marketing of the particular rods you're looking at may be making the correlation that the faster taper is a faster action but I don't know since there are no stadardized ratings.

As for picking your new rod, stick to the ratings of lure weight and action and match that to what you want to do with it.

Mike, you're the man.

The day you signed on here, this site got better !

Thanks for contributing and taking the time to share you're knowledge and experience.

A-Jay

[J Francho]

I generally respect Mike, and his opinions are usually spot on, but...

IMO Taper is a relation of the tip to butt diameter.

This specifically is the statement I totally disagree with. You can have all facets of tapers, fast, moderate, slow while having the same tip and butt diameter. In fact, I'd suggest that this measurement has more to do with power.

[J Francho]

This picture should help:

[K_Mac]

FFM as you look at the above picture you will see a slower action brings more of the rod into play with the same amount of force when compared to a faster action. This allows a moderate action to be more forgiving when using treble hooked baits. Conversely a faster rod brings the full power of the rod into play faster, making the hook-set easier when using a single hook bait, like a jig or plastic.

I will not jump into the middle of the technical discussion related to rod making and performance. I don't have the credentials. I can say that there is much difference in action and power ratings among different manufacturers, and even differences between models made by the same manufacturers.

[J Francho]

You said it better than any of so far, lol.

[Hooligan]

FFM as you look at the above picture you will see a slower action brings more of the rod into play with the same amount of force when compared to a faster action. This allows a moderate action to be more forgiving when using treble hooked baits. Conversely a faster rod brings the full power of the rod into play faster, making the hook-set easier when using a single hook bait, like a jig or plastic.

That is very similar to how Gary Loomis has described the rod taper issue in the past. It's about as accurate a description you can make in a logical sense. He broke it down from there and has some very good information dealing with blank thickness and speed in relation to rod taper as well.