And the best rod is......

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fishshooter99
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Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2011 5:43 pm
Location: Atlanta Ga / too far north

And the best rod is......

Post by fishshooter99 »

I feel sure this subject has been addressed before on this forum, but I think it's good to throw this info out there for anyone new to our sport not to mention, as my wife often points out, I don't know it all!

When fishing the flats, I'm normally targeting reds, trout or snook (down South). I typically have one rod rigged with a top water (a one knocker or a Super Spook Jr), one with a good sized suspending lure ( maybe a live oak scaled sardine, Sabile Stick Shad or a little smaller Mirodine), and a third rigged with an 1/8 oz. jig head. My rods (around 10) are mostly St. Croix and Shimano with 1 TFO thrown in, all of them are 7 - 7 1/2 feet. Probably half are ML with fast action tips. I have a few Med with Fast tips, a couple MH with fast tips and 1 Med with XF tip.

My question is, which rod action do you use for a walk the dog top water, which for a suspending lure and which for a jig? TO be honest I don't know if I've ever used the Shimano Compre Med with the XF tip, I'm not sure what it's best application would be. I tend to use the stiffer rods for the heavier suspending lures. Any thoughts?
Expatriate Floridian living in the "Land of the Ice and Snow" that is Atlanta.
Gary
GatorMD97
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Re: And the best rod is......

Post by GatorMD97 »

I don't have a lot of experience but I have put in a lot of time on the water this year and I really try to pay attention to detail. I have 3 Shimano Teramar rods which are all 7'. Two are medium power with fast action and one is medium power with extra fast action. I really like the medium/fast for my heavier lures (One Knockers, 1/4 oz jig heads, MirrOdine XLs, Redfish Magic, Popping Corks). I find this rod the easiest to walk the dog with. I just started experimenting with lighter weight lures in the past couple of days and the medium/extra fast is far superior for this application with my setup and casting technique. I am throwing lightly weighted (1/16-1/8 oz) shad tails/jerk baits and small TPE shrimp with this rig as well as my smaller rip/slash and 17MR MirrOdine suspending baits. This is now my go to rod for smaller, lightweight lures but I am on the hunt for something better to get more distance out of the lightweight stuff. I can walk the dog with this rod too but it is more difficult (especially with anything larger than a spook jr.).

I've spent a lot of time in the various tackle shops recently and to be honest most of the rods seem quite variable amongst the different manufacturers. Doesn't appear to be a whole lot of standard built into rod nomenclature from what I gather. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong but there seems to be a lot a manufacturer variability in what they label their rods with and I don't have enough experience to be able to tell which is best for what until I get it on the water. There are just too many variables when you consider length, power, action, line, lure, and reel. Hopefully some others will list some of their equipment and experiences to help make informed decisions about purchases as some of these rod and reels combinations can really add up.

I'd like to play around with some 6'6" and 7'6' rods to compare casting distances etc. with similar setups. I have not gone any longer than 7' because it won't easily fit in my truck bed and I find that I bend eyelets in the Hobie rod storage areas or the reels end up banging around too much bouncing around on the trailer inside the Hobie area.
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