Spinning rod advice please

[Steve Burke]

If you're going to go spinning from the beach I'd strongly recommend you buy a rod of at least 9ft. It's significant that in my rod-building days that almost none of my bass fishing customers went for a rod shorter than this, and 10ft was the most popular length. Of course you can beach fish with a short rod, but it's not the best tool for the job.

 

The advantage of a longer rod is that it'll cast further, and this is very important from the beach. If you can't reach the fish you can't catch them! It also makes it easier to steer the lure and hooked fish through the rocks.

 

Long casting can also be important on large freshwaters if you're fishing from the bank. The other advantage here is that you can reach out over marginal vegetation to fish parallel to the bank - this is where a lot of predators lie up. It also means that you have the option of staying further back from the bank thus reducing the chance of spooking fish.

 

On the other hand, if you're fishing from a boat (as Peter and Newt mostly do) I'd go for a shorter rod. Here accurate casting (that the short rod does better) is needed rather than long casting. A short rod is also useful on overgrown waters and small streams. Plus for fishing jerkbaits a short rod is definitely preferable, but then you'd be better buying a separate rod for these lures.

 

Despite having a muscle illness that means sometimes I can't even pick a rod up let alone fish with it, I actually find long rods are less tiring to use than short ones. I think there are two reasons for this. Firstly long rods are usually designed to be cast with 2 hands. This spreads the strain over two arms. Secondly, where long casts are needed you have to put more effort into casting with a short rod.

 

Turning to the power of the rod, this will largely depend on the weight of the lures you're going to cast. If they don't match you won't be able to cast very far. In turn you choose the lures largely on the species and the depth you're going to be fishing at.

 

The best action of the rod also depends on the type of lures you're most going to be using. That's why many US anglers take several rods with them - but as they usually boat fish they don't have to carry them! Personal preference also comes into play here. For an all-round rod I like a soft tip with a stiff butt, but then I don't often fish these days with lures where this action would be inappropriate.

 

From what you've said, my suggestion would be to go for a rod of around 9ft with a casting weight of 10-40 grams and designed for a fixed spool reel. Most such rods will have a suitable action. These will cover you for a variety of species including bass, pike and perch. If you get hooked on lure fishing (as I bet you do!) this rod will still be very useful, and you can then buy more specialised rods and reels for bigger or lighter lures. However these outfits won't be so versatile as the one I've suggested you start with.

Edited August 14, 2006 by Steve Burke

[*Ant*]

Once again, many many thanks, really appreciate the help.

[Vidar6]

If you're going to go spinning from the beach I'd strongly recommend you buy a rod of at least 9ft. It's significant that in my rod-building days that almost none of my bass fishing customers went for a rod shorter than this, and 10ft was the most popular length. Of course you can beach fish with a short rod, but it's not the best tool for the job.

 

The advantage of a longer rod is that it'll cast further, and this is very important from the beach. If you can't reach the fish you can't catch them! It also makes it easier to steer the lure and hooked fish through the rocks.

 

Long casting can also be important on large freshwaters if you're fishing from the bank. The other advantage here is that you can reach out over marginal vegetation to fish parallel to the bank - this is where a lot of predators lie up. It also means that you have the option of staying further back from the bank thus reducing the chance of spooking fish.

 

On the other hand, if you're fishing from a boat (as Peter and Newt mostly do) I'd go for a shorter rod. Here accurate casting (that the short rod does better) is needed rather than long casting. A short rod is also useful on overgrown waters and small streams. Plus for fishing jerkbaits a short rod is definitely preferable, but then you'd be better buying a separate rod for these lures.

 

Despite having a muscle illness that means sometimes I can't even pick a rod up let alone fish with it, I actually find long rods are less tiring to use than short ones. I think there are two reasons for this. Firstly long rods are usually designed to be cast with 2 hands. This spreads the strain over two arms. Secondly, where long casts are needed you have to put more effort into casting with a short rod.

 

Turning to the power of the rod, this will largely depend on the weight of the lures you're going to cast. If they don't match you won't be able to cast very far. In turn you choose the lures largely on the species and the depth you're going to be fishing at.

 

The best action of the rod also depends on the type of lures you're most going to be using. That's why many US anglers take several rods with them - but as they usually boat fish they don't have to carry them! Personal preference also comes into play here. For an all-round rod I like a soft tip with a stiff butt, but then I don't often fish these days with lures where this action would be inappropriate.

 

From what you've said, my suggestion would be to go for a rod of around 9ft with a casting weight of 10-40 grams and designed for a fixed spool reel. Most such rods will have a suitable action. These will cover you for a variety of species including bass, pike and perch. If you get hooked on lure fishing (as I bet you do!) this rod will still be very useful, and you can then buy more specialised rods and reels for bigger or lighter lures. However these outfits won't be so versatile as the one I've suggested you start with.

 

Great post and very much spot on

[Ken L]

Check out the Greys rods that are on sale at Harris at the moment. The 8 foot travel spin looks a great little rod for general light lure fishing and will cope with the occasional session on the coast but a longer rod (a carp rod) would do better for rocky areas.

 

Best of all, being a 4 piece, it'll stow away out of site in the car ready for a quick session at a moments notice.

 

I've just ordered one so I'll let you know what it's like if you want.

[Ken L]

Got the Greys rod.

It basicly does exactly what it says on the tin.

8', 4 Pieces and it comes in a hard cordura tube.

First impressions are that it's very stiff.

It's a little heavy for chubing but not excessivly so and is probably a better "all round" choice for that, with the extra power being needed for bigger fish.

The rings arn't the super lightweight type but are adequate and will possibly be a little more robust than some of the options on the market.

The butt section of the handle is a little longer than I like and will make casting and manovering the rod a little awkward but not excessivly so. For the record, it sticks out about 3" past the tip of my elbow and I'd have prefered no more than an inch.

The blank is slim and the overall cosmetics are nicely understated.

 

I'll try to give it a proper workout over the weekend with some pike and chub but it really does seem to have the credentials of an all round rod that can be left in it's tube in the back of the car.

 

Oh yes, and the rod does have the companies lifetime guarantee.

 

 

Now, if only those nice people at Greys would reply to my enquiry about a rather heavier rod, I'd be very happy with them indeed.

[*Ant*]

[Ken L]

Went out with the Grey's rod at the weekend and real world testing showed it to be a bit of a mixed bag.

 

The top two sections are great and there are no flat spots in the four piece blank, but the rod is really let down by the bottom half.

The third and butt sections simply arn't powerfull enough. This makes the stated 15 - 35g stated casting range a bit of a joke and wilst I might lob a lure weighing an ounce, I'd be very dubious about a full throated cast to the horizon with a lure of that weight.

As for 35g, forget it ! The stated casting range should be 7 - 25g.

 

Another problem caused by the lack of power in the bottom half of the rod is a tendancy for the rod to wobble and bounce on the cast. As it goes through the casting ark, you feel the tip snap forward followed by a bounce backwards. There's also a wobble on the strike and I'm pretty sure this caused me to bounce off several fish that I otherwise would have landed.

 

Onto the butt, which I said feels a bit long. This is definatly a problem and caused me to miss fish. With the river flowing left to right, I'd cast upstream and when I got hit, the butt caught on my side and prevented me from striking effectivly.

 

I'm not sure what make the reel seat is but a 4000 size Stradic never really felt secure because the downlocking seat put the rather loose screw fitting directly under my thumb and index finger. As a result, I was constantly checking that it was tight and "feel" was significantly impaired.

 

Because of the soft butt, the rod is really more the sort of thing that I'd want for small river chub stalking than lure fishing.

If I'd paid the apparent RRP of £109.99 for what should have been a high quality specialist lure rod I'd have been more than a little pee'd off but at 60 quid, it'll do as a light rod for my next trip to India.

[Newt]

If I'd paid the apparent RRP of £109.99 for what should have been a high quality specialist lure rod I'd have been more than a little pee'd off but at 60 quid, it'll do as a light rod for my next trip to India.

 

You are a more forgiving person than I am. A rod with those defects at any price and I'd be for returning it.

 

The over-long butt section might be overlooked since it would have been obvious when looking at the blank or a photo of the blank although a decent company would take a return just to keep a happy customer.

 

The rod's action, however, makes it a piece of badly balanced junk and I'm more than a little surprised that a reputible company would go to market with it.

[Ken L]

Sadly Newt. It's the sort of rod that is all to frequently sold as a lure fishing tool in the UK.

In this particular case, I'll try to spend some time next weekend throwing some smallish swimbaits (in the 20 - 25g range) and if I'm not happy with the distances that I can achieve, it may well end up being sent back.

However, it's doubtfull whether the vendor would accept a used rod as a return so I may have to contact the manufacturer to see what they can do.

 

No doubt you'll be used to the likes of Cabellas where they show clear descriptions of the handle styles on the rods they sell. We just get deceptive photographs with no figures or measurements like this http://www.harrissportsmail.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=14416

 

Insuprisingly, my ultralite rod, my main light spinning rod, both of my baitcasting rods, my 9 weight fly rod, my main heavy travel spinning rod and several others are all imports.

 

Despite many UK supliers being part of corperations with a large part of their business in North America (where they know a thing or two about lure fishing), the UK part of the company always seems to want to re-invent the wheel and provide rods that "meet the particular requirements of UK anglers" and that usually means selling c**p.

[Snatcher]

A bit pricey but try a Greys 10 foot spin GRX 15-60g. Cannot believe how good it is. Use it all the time for for pollack and bass on the Mull of Galloway

 

It also has a lifetime guarantee Bit pricey at about £80 I think but pure class