Buying Longer Rod - Question on Power

[scuba_steve82]

The longest rod I own is currently a 7' rod and am looking at getting a 7'6" rod for making longer casts on say a football jig, and having the rod also double as a pitching/flipping rod. I'm seeing lots of rods to choose from but they are separated into two different powers.

- Moderate Fast
- Extra Fast

Interestingly, I don't see a Fast action really anywhere to meet in the middle. What would some recommendations be on the power?

[The Legend]

What you are referring to is actually the Action of the rod rather than Power. For what you're describing I wouldn't want a Moderate/Fast. Depending on your preferences and abilities to adapt your hook setting technique, you could get by with a Extra Fast, but when setting the hook, especially when flipping or pitching, you risk jerking the lure out of the fish's mouth with an Extra Fast tip. You'd really have to work on your hook setting discipline to get by. I'd say if you look, you should be able to find plenty of rods out there that have a Fast tip with Heavy or Extra-Heavy Power (whichever you prefer). If you don't find something that suits you on the shelf of your local store, holler at me and I can give you some info on a custom build to fit exactly whatever fishing needs/techniques you may have.

Chris
Reel Cleen- Rod and Reel Service
Newkirk Custom Rods
(270) 246-0203
www.reelcleen.webs.com

[R19]

When people fish a football jig they are typically in open water fishing deeper than 10 feet. In that case you usually have several feet of line out so the lure will be on the bottom. In that scenario I want an extra fast action tip to help take up the amount of slack that is in a cast that might have up to 60 feet or more of line. You can get buy with medium heavy because you don't need the power to fight but you need the action of a extra fast tip that come with a heavy power rod to set the hook efficiently with all the slack line you have out.

When flippin or pitchin a extra fast tip is not necessary too take up slack fast because you only have out a few feet of line. As previously described it might cause you to pull the bait away too fast but I still like like an extra fast tip for pitchin and flippin for another reason. My reason is I want the rod to load up quickly and get the fish turned away from the cover. When flippin and pitchin I am typically around cover or heavy cover. When I set the hook I want to turn the fish as fast as possible and get them headed away from the cover. Hence the reason I use heavy power with extra fast action.

For both of the above situations I like a GLoomis Mossyback 855. It is 7'1" heavy power and extra fast action tip. If your wanting something in the 7-1/2 range the the GLoomis E6X 904 is 7'6" heavy action and fast tip.

[GreenGhostMan]

I haven't fished it yet, but I just got a Dobyn's Fury 7'3" mag-heavy, fast action (FR 735C) for Christmas. Although mag-heavy, I'm told Dobyn's run a power lighter than listing, so it's probably more like a heavy. Plan to use it primarily for frog fishing, but it will double as a jig/carolina rig rod. They are $110.