Rod Selection guide

[KenDammit]

Figured I'd start this post in this forum for anyone wanting information on rod LENGTHS, POWER, and TAPER/ACTION only for different fishing techniques such as spinnerbaiting, crankbaiting, worming/jigging, dropshotting, whatever else techniques you guys got out there. No mention of brands or anything like that..just the things posted in bold above. You can go into specifics about graphite and fiberglass, that kinda thing..but just keep it as a general thing instead of "get this rod".

For me, I'm mostly a spinnerbaiting and worming/jigging(read:frogs, too) guy.

For Spinnerbaiting, I like a 6'6"-6'10" M power, fast action rod. If I know that I'll be in some heavier stuff with the blades or bigger fish, I may step up to a MH in the same power and action.

For Worming, I like a 6'6"-7'0" M power, fast action rod. Again, if I'm going into heavier cover and the like, I'll step up to MH in the same size. For weightless Senko's, I MIGHT drop down to a 6'0"but I will mostly stick with a 6'6" and always Medium Power. I can also use these same rod for Frogging(horny toads, subsurface) and sometimes even on the surface.

For Jigging and Frogging, I like a 7'0"-7'6" MH, fast action rod. I'll use the same power no matter what I'm fishing if it with a jig. If I'm gonna be fishing strictly surface with a frog of any type, I'll use this size rod.



Now, you guys can add ranges that you like to use or that you feel fit a technique well..and we'll have generated a "guide" in no time.

[Rebbasser]

Good start, Ken!

Spinnerbaits-I like a 6-6 M Fast tip

Texas Rig-6-6 MH to H action
Weightless-6-8 H action, fast tip.
Carolina rig-7' H action

Jigs-6-10 H action

Crankbaits-6-6 to 7' M action Graphite composite-glass tip with a graphite butt section

Topwater-6-6 M action

You don't need a separate rod for each technique-for example, a 6-6 M action crankbait rod will work great as a topwater rod.

[islandbass]

This is a great idea, but I am too new an angler to give anything more than my opinion on what I am currently using.

I think a parallel thread that defines the bolded terms will also be very beneficial to newbies and veterans. I believe this because even those terms it seems are subject to opinions and my focus would be:

1) Defining the terms we use such as Action and Power. There is no standard for these terms even among rod manufacturers. So maybe here we can throw in our thoughts and from those thoughts some general notions.

I believe that Action and Power are related somewhat but not interchangeable. The Action of a rod illustrates how the rod bends along its length. A Faster action rod will bend much closer to the rod's tip. If you visualize the rod into say 4 sections with the first section being the rod's butt and the 4th section the rod's tip, a "Fast" action rod will bend more in that 4th section.

As the "action" progresses from a "fast" action to a "slow" action, the location of this bending point moves farther down the rod, closer to the rod's midsection and farther from the tip.

The "Power" of the rod as defined by one of my favorite companies, Lamiglas, is the effort needed to load the rod. For example, it will take more effort on your part to load (ie, set the hook) with a medium heavy powered rod versus a rod with a power in the ultralight class. For the latter, the rod will already be in a fully loaded mode well before you finished a "cross the fish's eyes" hook set.

Some others define power as the rod's lifting capabilities, or its backbone. The more backbone, the more power the rod has. I think this is a good way to illustrate power in that ultralight rods practically have no backbone. They rely on the rod's action to absorb the brunt of the fish's fight to protect lighter line and it works!

2) Why certain actions are better for certain applications? For example, we say that rods with a fairly fast tip and a medium heavy action rod with a 6-7' rod will usually be a good candidate for fishing lures using single hooks such as soft plastics, worms, etc., but why?

Well, I don't really know myself so someone please chime in? And why is a slower, lighter action rod better for drop shotting? It too uses a single hook and plastics, yet a lighter power is preferred with still a moderate to fast action? Oh well, maybe I think too much and suffer from analysis paralysis.

Anyway, the rods in my arsenal for the techniques I employ are:

Drop Shot/Finesse: Medium Light, 7' length, Spinning
Jigs/Soft Plastics: Medium Heavy, 6'10" length, Casting
Cranks/Spinnerbaits/Topwater/All Around: Medium, 6'6" length, Casting and Spinning

I have a few other rods but these three are used most often.

[Raul]

Power: the amount of energy needed or force to bend the rod

Action: the place along the rod where the rod bends ( the way it bends ).



Only problem is that the power rating depends on the type of material used to build the blank and on how the manufacturer rates his rods so comparison between rods with the same ratings between two different manufacturers is not always possible.

For example: StCroix rods are stiffer than GLoomis rods of the same rating.