Calling Bass Experts - Finding A Sensitive Rod

[ozarkgunner]

I'm with mixer. I have 4 loomis rOds and 6 others falcon is best value. I love my cara but bucoo would be fine.

[ollie]

Falcon, Loomis, and or St. Croix I don't think you could do bad with any 3 of these brands. I perfer a Falcon however, but just my opinion based on customer service.

[Ham]

I would lean more towards Medium Heavy than Medium for worn fishing.

[mixermarkb]

Med/hvy to heavy for worms. My short list of rods in that price range would be falcon bucco, phenix recon, and the shimano compre, or skip a couple meals and bump up to a crucial or used loomis.

[mic]

Thanks all.

[Smalliebigs]

Mike, I have been buying from a place in Evansville, IN called American Legacy Fishing Company online.I know some would scoff at the idea of buying rods online but I would only pass on this info as a friend and someone who appreciates good businesses and they are one.

They are currently auctioning off all of their old Shimano Crucials and IMO they blow away the BPS Carbonlite....just my opinion. If you can deal with the ebay thing you can score bigtime. Sunday night I won an auction for this Shimano Crucial http://www.americanl...asting-rod.html the link I provided shows their sale price from their website. I won it on ebay for $58.50 shipped it's already in my boat and has a full lifetime replacement and American Legacy doesn't screw around it's no questions asked and next model up if they don't have what you bought in stock.....great service. It's just a thought as I had a Carbonlite and broke it after about 10 good hooksets. I am very fond of the cork handles on the old Crucials...now they have an EVA foam grip :oh-noes:so I am in the process of buying as many of the old ones as I can. ALFC also has some old Crucials /casting rods that are 5 foot9 md/hvy....IMO the best river rod there is to fish from a canoe or yak with.

just an opinon Mike.....I'm not too fond of BPS rods anymore, a Shimano Crucial will make that Carbonlite feel like your fishing with a 2by4....ther's no comparison and a no haggle replacement even if you buy one for $50 on ebay.

I too am very fond of Falcon rods and have four but they are hard to find at a discounted rate and their warranty doesn't seen to be as simple as Shimano's.....but Falcons are sweet I love my Caras

Let's go hit some smallies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wayne SW/MO]

If you're going to dedicate it to worm fishing I wouldn't worry about sensitivity because virtually any higher end graphite will have all you need. More imporatant is having the power to drive a hook through a ball of plastic and in to the hard mouth of a bass and having enough length to take up any slack and still acheive the above mentioned task.

Looking at the rods you mentioned I would go with the heavy extra fast in 7 or 7 1/2'.

If you talking river smallies then I would go a different route, because they and the baits tend to be smaller.

[hoglaw]

The "action" of a rod refers to where the rod flexes, not how much it flexes or how "stiff" it is. An extra fast rod can feel less stiff than a moderate rod. As RPS said, stiffness is determined in large part by the modulus of the graphite. Lower modulus or composite modulus is going to feel less "stiff" than higher modulus graphite regardless of the action of the rod.

But I agree with everyone's general comments. For a traditional texas rig worm rod, I want a long rod with a "fast" action that feels very stiff. If you're going with a store bought rod, you can check action by flexing the rod against the ground and seeing where it flexes. To check stiffness, you see lots of people waiving the rod around in the air to just sorta feel which one feels stiffer. Personally, I'd do that and get the feel for it, and then narrow down to a few competitors based upon the specs (lure weight, length, line weight). Once you've done that, you can hold the rod near the reel seat, and bang the blank just above the foregrip into the heel of your palm and see how long it takes the rod to recover - get still again. The ones that continue wiggling for longer have a longer recovery time and will feel less stiff.

For maximum sensitivity, find the stiffest rod that's in your category. The lighter the rod is, the more sensitive it will be. The farther back it balances, the more sensitive it will be. The smaller and fewer the guides, the more sensitive it will be. And I really like the exposed blank reel seats.

[mic]

I must not be setting the hooks hard enough...LOL. I've never snapped a rod in my life, and I've done a ton of fishing. Now that I said that out load....

[TRRANGER]

Iam currently using a TFO Temple Fork Outfitters rod that I really am falling in love with, easy on the pocket book $100 designed by Gary Loomis and really sensitive. I am using 15lb flouro and this rod i feel everything, even if a fish breaths on it.LOL Lifetime warranty cant be beat.